Just got back from a initial visit with MDMI. Met with Dana Verrill and found him to be very upfront and cordial. Toured the Plant, enjoyed the smell, tasted a couple of pastries combined with a "Bawls" drink. Even saw a 1/2 million dollar custom bakery machine. Here's some of things discussed,saw, and my impressions. If it seems like I'm rambling, please excuse. First off,this is NOT a retail bakery so forget about dropping by for just a few pastries. The manufacturing plant is about 20,000 square feet, 1/5 refrigerated. Saw the many specialty items. The pastries looked pleasing and tasted favorfull, therefore probably command a higher price. Institutional users usually do pay a higher price, in my experience years ago, when I was involved with institutional food products in a regional capacity. Concerning time-labor capibility for growth, about 30%- 40% being utilized. Capable of adding additional labor shifts as the need dictates. Asked about the growth and was told no salesmen needed at this time due to the company's excellent reputation for many years. They pick up accounts "word of mouth" frequently. That is a good cost containment, in my view. Have been shipping an entire tractor trailer load of one bread product(total product line is 300 items)every week or so to a west coast distributor with the distributor paying the freight costs. Asked if there is potential there for more products to be sold to them and was told, yes. Mr. Verrill said the West coast distributor is very pleased with MDMI. That's why they prefer MDMI over using west coast institutional bakeries. Saw the 20 foot blue Bawls mobile Promo unit. This unit was at SMU university earlier this week and will be placed in front of some of the current accounts in the days to come for more brand exposure. Asked about any competition and was told the wholesale pricing is extremely competitive. Really impressed with the packaging of the "BAWLS" drink. Very eye appealing with the blue color. MDMI is preparing to deliver an initial order of 13 pallets to a Lousiana distributor this week (13pallets x60 cases x24 bottles= 18,720 bottles. Lotsa "BAWLS" going to the cajun country. Asked about the financials and was told CPA and Attorney are in place and the form 10 is currently being prepared (this usually takes 45-90 total to get through the SEC approval). Took some pictures while I was there. Will try to post them soon for all to see. I remain long and still think MDMI is just starting to rumble,especially with the "BAWLS" addition to the product line for the current 4 states.
Kind regards,
DD |
