Daddy Warbucks
Daddy Warbucks
New book praises Don Tyson’s leadership
It won’t be a New York Times bestseller, but Don Tyson and his business leadership is front and center in a new book filled with Tyson’s ideas on doing things the right way.
Written by a former Tyson vice president and titled “I Refuse to Have a Bad Day,” the book chronicles the business techniques of former chairman and CEO of Tyson Foods, Don Tyson and other company leaders, past and present. It’s a business read.
Paul Whitley, the author, who now lives in Texas, writes: “Don’s road to success was not a freeway of inherited wealth or years of post graduate work. Don is someone who learned experiential and by a lifelong pursuit of knowledge. He became one of the foremost effective and results-driven transformation leaders in the food industry.”
A pretty good testament of praise from a former employee.
In other feather news, Tyson Foods and its help will be appreciated along the Gulf Coast. Tyson sent 26 truckloads of chicken and pork to food banks in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi recently to supply more than 3.2 million meals to Gulf Coast residents affected by recent hurricanes. It’s part of Tyson Foods commitment to hunger relief through a partnership with Feeding America, formerly known as America’s Second Harvest.
BIG QUESTION
In a lifetime, how many pounds of food will a normal human eat? See end of this column for the answer.
TO THE MAX
A new clothing line will soon appear at Walmart. Designer Max Azaria’s “To The Max” line will bring higher priced clothing to the world’s largest retailer. Can this association be a part of Walmart’s rag merchandising department move to NYC? We will have to see if it will play out here in the sticks.
NOW REOPEN
As Daddy W. predicted a couple of weeks back, the Little Bread Company on Block Avenue in downtown Fayetteville, has reopened. Good for them.
GREENHOUSE SOON
Daddy W’s seeing that the dirt’s been removed from around Greenhouse Grille, which is a good thing. A major construction project of rebuilding a failing retaining wall behind the restaurant, closed the eatery temporarily, but hopefully it won’t be long now ‘til they’re open.
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NEW FOLKS
Two management changes have been noticed on Dickson Street of late. John McMillan is the new ops manager at Hog Haus Brewing and Jeremy Smith will head-up the bar activities at Common Grounds.
OGDEN MESS
There is a nasty lawsuit brewing over the impending sale and previous loans made to Athletic World Advertising, the once thriving sports poster company on North College. The company once headed by the late Greg Ogden, was a money machine when he was alive, but it’s now mired in a lawsuit. AWA is also up for sale, sources tell Daddy W.
HIGH PRICES
Daddy W. has asked this before. Folks will pay big bucks $75-$100 for classical music superstar, Itzhak Perlman who performed this week at Walton Arts Center and all the while, the North Arkansas Symphony is seemingly floundering to find enough financial support to hold its season together. Heck, you can almost get a season ticket to all the NWA Symphony gigs for not much more than that $75-$100.
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DIXIE DOWN
As predicted weeks ago, Dixie Development and former Fayetteville optician Dr. Ben Israel, have filed Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. The puckish eye doctor sold his practice and began some of the early retail development in Fayetteville. But the economic downturn and other events led to the filings last week.
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A&P IN JULY
The mid-summer Advertising and Promotion Tax numbers for July, one of the deadest of summer months is out. On top was Chartwell’s Dining with a whopping $5,090 in tax revenue, next were Golden Corral, Logan’s Roadhouse, Chick-Fil-A and Red Lobster. The 6-10 place finishers were: Olive Garden, Razorback 12 Cinema, Shogun, Jason’s Deli and Penguin Ed’s. A careful reader asked Daddy W. to list the bottom five, too. Here goes. Of the top 66 restaurants reporting, at the bottom, at number 66, was Colton’s Steakhouse ($759 taxes collected), with Starbucks, Wal-Mart Deli (near the mall), Pesto Café and Hugo’s rounding out the list.
TOP HOTELS
The Clarion was the top grossing hotel in the July A&P tax receipts followed by Hampton Inn, Courtyard by Marriott, Inn at Carnall Hall and the Holiday Inn Express. The bottom five of the 14 hotels reporting were: Red Roof Inn and Sleep Inn at the bottom with $580 in taxes with Comfort Inn, County Inn Suites and Days Inn, not too far ahead.
BIG ANSWER… In a lifetime an average human will eat about 60,000 pounds of food.
