Papa John's, Applebee's And Others Pay Huge Price For Anti-Obamacare Politicking

I think that this pretty much demonstrates just how alone Right-wing Tea Party fanatics are in their opinions of Obamacare even though they see themselves as some type of majority. The public obviously doesn't buy into their crap and the fact that these businesses are suffering big time for their anti-Obamacare rhetoric is proof. Maybe you nuts should start buying more pizza?


It turns out that being a good corporate citizen is as important to selling pizzas as the thinness of the crust or the quality of the cheese.

If you don’t believe it, just ask Papa John CEO, John Schnatter.

As covered—and criticized—in this column in great detail, Mr. Schnatter decided to mix his politics with his pepperoni when suggesting that he would be cutting the work hours for Papa John employees in order to bring them below the 30 hour per week threshold that would require Schnatter to provide his employees with healthcare benefits.

It turns out, the pizza eating public did not approve.

Indeed, so serious was the reaction that Schnatter was forced to publish an op-ed piece where he sought to convince us that he never really intended to cut back worker hours but had simply been speculating on what he might do in response to the legislation.

According to YouGov BrandIndex, a leading marketing survey that measures brand perception in the marketplace (called “Buzz”), Papa John’s had good reason for concern as the pizza chain’s brand identity has plummeted from a high of 32 on election day, to a remarkably low score of 4 among adults who have eaten at causal dining restaurants during the past month.

Ouch.

Papa John is not alone in his anti-Obamacare misery.

Fast food server, Applebee’s, possessed a healthy Buzz score of 35 before Zane Terkel, CEO of one of the company’s largest franchisees, appeared on television to complain about the law and to announce that he would not be building more restaurants or hiring any more workers in response to his objections to Obamacare.

Applebee’s “pre-Terkel” Buzz score of 35 now sits at a pathetic 5.

I don’t imagine Mr. Terkel will be getting many Christmas cards this year from other Applebee’s franchise owners.

While these corporate complainers have sought to explain away the hit they are experiencing at the hands of the public’s perception, one such company is facing the music straight on. Darden Restaurants, Inc.— owner of Olive Garden, Red Lobster and LongHorn Steakhouse—has lowered its profit projections for the quarter ending November 25th, acknowledging that its bad numbers are the result of poorly performing promotions, Superstorm Sandy and…wait for it…the poor publicity it engendered by its decision to test out a plan to cut back on healthcare costs by putting more workers on part-time schedules.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickung...ay-huge-price-for-anti-obamacare-politicking/

 

The data...

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Hmmmm... not bad. In fact, Papa John's and Darden's are nearly at their 52-week high. Something must be driving their profits. Good business practices? Good product? Good marketing? Who can say? But, bad politics? Nah.

View attachment 2198


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Did you happen to notice that data is over a year old?

 

BTW, Little Joe, the article you referenced was from 2012. You need to get up-to-date. As you can see from the current stock prices, the companies are doing quite well.

 

Beat ya to it!

 

I admit defeat.

 

Little Joe, your article was written by Rick Ungar, a self-admitted "Leftie" and "liberal talking head" who also serves as a Democrat strategist. Do you think his perspective might be just a little biased? Well, of course you do.


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http://blogs.forbes.com/people/rickungar/

 

I believe you guy are missing the point here. These restaurants were doing fine until their CEO's opened their big mouths and then the public turned on them. A year later, only after they walked back their comments, they are now recovering. My bet is that we will unlikely hear their opinions of Obamacare again.

 

What did he say that was incorrect in his article regardless of his political leanings? If pointing out your opposition's flaws could be disregarded simply by being a member of the other side, no one could ever be criticized for anything ever. I guess if you merit a lot of criticism, that might work out well for you but is an unlikely winning strategy since people will generally call you out for your dishonesty.

 

If it was new, it did not even make last years news. IT was 2012!

 

Missing what point exactly? I charted the stocks for the last FIVE years. Those stocks have steadily risen during that time. The companies are doing just fine regardless of what you or Leftie Rick Ungar said from over a year ago. Move on.

 

Is this the same JoeNation that immediately disregards anything from any conservative commentator? What did you do with our Joe? Oh, I know! I bet he's busy with the Obamacare/Student Loan scandal. Nowwwwww.... I'm beginning to see why Little Joe likes Obamacare so much (being a student loan provider and all...):

Funny money: How student loan profits make Obamacare look good

Cato education scholar Neal McCluskey revealed how a little-reported feature of the Affordable Care Act uses shady accounting to hide its overall cost.

“The change in student loans was part of Obamacare — and why was it part of Obamacare?” McCluskey said in an exclusive interview with The Daily Caller. “So that the profit they were supposedly making from the student loans could then be plugged into how much money would come from Obamacare, so it didn’t look like it cost as much.”

In the last days of Obamacare’s formulation, the projections had student loans folded into them to make them not seem so expensive.

“At the last minute, they said, ‘Look, let’s take what was then called the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, make it part of healthcare and then we can make the budget numbers come out right… [W]e will take these projected profits from the student loans, and we will say that’s part of Obamacare.’”

McCluskey warned that this fiscal conjure trick could lead to problems in the future.

“It’s very dicey to look at federal profits on student loans, and say they will make those profits, and to know why they are doing it and what the money is being used for,” he said. “To follow the smoke and mirrors of budgets — especially Obamacare — is impossible.”

Catch the full interview with Neal McCluskey on Monday on The Daily Caller.


Read more:http://dailycaller.com/2014/01/05/funny-money-how-student-loan-profits-make-obamacare-look-good-video/#ixzz2parj4oyv

 

Oh, really? Let's take a look at Papa John's profits for the last seven quarters ending in September, 2013. Now, "Papa John" Schnatter made his Obamacare remarks in August, 2012 so, if what you say holds true, we should see a decline in profits after those remarks were made.

Let's really look at those profits:

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Considering he made the comments in August, 2012 we need to look at the quarter ending September 23, 2012. Profits that quarter were ~$157M. The next quarter ending December 30, 2012 profits were up to ~$179M. The next quarter ending March 31, 2013 dropped to ~177M. The next quarter ending June 30, 2013 dropped to ~173.M. The next quarter ending September 29, 2013 dropped to ~169M.

I realize all these numbers are intimidating to you, Little Joe, but the thing to keep in mind while looking at all these numbers is that profits were up considerably and consistently for the entire year following Schnatter's Obamacare comment. Even though profit dropped quarter-to-quarter, it was still considerably higher than before Schnatter made his comment. In fact, if you want to look at the quarter following Schnatter's comment, profit rose ~$22M. Even the most recent quarter quantified (Q3-2013) lists a profit of more than $9M compared to the quarter (Q2-2012) before Schnatter's comment.

So, for you to come on this forum and try to tell us that Papa John's is just "now recovering" is... well... complete bullshit. They've only INCREASED profit since Schnatter's comment was made.

http://www.9wsearch.com/thestreet-financials/report/quarterly.htm?cid=9302&co=&sym=PZZA

 

http://www.brandindex.com/ranking/us/2013-mid/category/dining-casual



Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Applebees....1, 2, 3.

 

Business people, across a wide spectrum, have spoken out against BO's so-called economic policies and Obamacare and have been met with overwhelming support!

 

Hmmmm.. I wonder why Little Joe shut his big, liberal mouth after I posted all the data showing he was spouting bullshit.

 

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Cut and paste.

 

Hijacking your thread. But, what do you think of the data I posted?