10 Reasons NOT to Boycott BP

(UnhappyFranchisee.com) by Sean Kelly

We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them. – Albert Einstein

Despite the “oil crisis” in the 1970’s, the catastrophic Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989, and two oil-related Gulf wars, we continue to choose convenient self-delusion over logical, intelligent, honest and actionable thought.  We Americans prefer the illusion of environmental action to any path that might require us to modify, even slightly, our own oil-dependent lifestyles.

There’s no better illustration of this misguided thinking than the boycott of BP service stations.  Despite the obvious inanity of this non-solution, the Boycott BP Facebook page has nearly 700,000 fans.

BP franchise owners have become convenient, local scapegoats.  They’ve had oil-soaked animal carcasses chucked on their doorsteps, and had to withstand protests, vandalism, verbal abuse and sales declines… but to what end?

If you are boycotting BP stations or considering it, here are ten good reasons to reconsider:

#1  BP Stations Aren’t Owned by BP

The 11,000 BP-branded gas stations in the U.S. are owned by independent franchisees – not BP.  BP makes a tiny portion of its profits from retail gas sales, and can simply sell excess fuel inventory to other retailers… like the one boycotters are burning an extra gallon of unleaded to patronize. 

Bottom line:  Your boycott won’t hurt BP.

#2  Gas at No-Name Mini-Market May Still be BP Gas

Boycotting BP gas isn’t as easy as you think.  Even if you fill up at Joe’s Mini-Market instead of a BP station, you may still be buying BP-refined gas.  BP, like other oil companies, sells “unbranded” gasoline to a wide variety of local gasoline retailers.

Bottom line: Even if you bypass BP stations, odds are you’re still buying BP products.

#3  You’ll be Attacking Small Business Owners, Not Big Business

Think your boycott is anti-big-business?  Think again.  BP franchisees are small business owners with the misfortune of being locked in to franchise & fuel purchase agreements with the corporate giant.  Some even chose BP because of its alleged corporate responsibility. 

Bottom line: Depriving BP stations of your gas/cigarette/green tea purchases isn’t an attack on big business, it’s an assault on small to medium-size employers.

#4  Boycotting BP Hurts Local Economies

BP franchisees are small business owners.  They are employers, taxpayers, homeowners & community members. They write paychecks to local citizens, pay  local taxes, purchase good & services from other businesses and draw traffic to the local area and nearby businesses.  What if your boycott is successful?  Is a vacant lot, boarded windows, and a longer line at the unemployment office your idea of success?

Bottom line: You’ll hurt your neighbors more than BP with this boycott.

#5   Korn, Lady GaGa & The Backstreet Boys

No catastrophe is so devastating that attention-starved celebrities won’t exploit it for their own financial gain.  To promote its upcoming album release, rock band Korn is exploiting the BP Boycott with a publicity push so inane it borders on self-parody.

Korn’s enlisted fellow 2D media hoors like Lady GaGa (pictured left) & The Backstreet Boys to take the bold step of filling their gas-guzzling tour buses at non-BP stations.

Bottom line: You’ll help the environment more by boycotting Korn, Lady GaGa & The Backstreet Boys.  Demand that they cancel their energy-sucking, oil-wasting tours altogether.

#6  You Can’t REALLY Boycott BP

In an The Atlantic Wire article, John Hudson quotes Kait Rayner at WJBF in Augusta: “BP does more than just sell gas. their petroleum is used to make tires, sunglasses, and cleaning supplies. It’s in your lipstick, your shampoo…and even in your toothpaste.”

Bottom line:  Boycotting BP completely is pretty much impossible. All you can do is pretend you’re boycotting BP.

#7  This Guy

Speaking of self-delusion, behold the picture of the fun, jolly guy who’s put more thought into making his pirate hat than thinking through the impact (or lack thereof) of the boycott he’s promoting.  The fact that he feels he’s taking meaningful action by promoting a counterproductive boycott keeps him from putting his time and energy into endeavors that might actually have a positive impact.

Bottom line: Feel-good boycotts divert time and energy from activities that might yield real, positive results.

#8 “Bankrupt BP!” Lunacy

We want BP to spend lots & lots of money cleaning up the catastrophe in the Gulf, right?  We want BP to continue to spend lots & lots of money for years to come, right?  So where is the logic in trying to diminish the revenue they’ll have available to put into clean-up efforts?  Where is the logic in diverting our gas dollars to competitors that are not being required to put a portion of those dollars into cleaning the gulf? 

Bottom line:  Cutting off BP revenue threatens its ability to finance aggressive and long-term cleanup efforts in the Gulf.

#9  Lack of a Worthy Alternative

So if you are going to award your business to a more worthy oil company, which pillar of ecological responsibility will it be?  ExxonMobil? ConocoPhillips?  Citgo?  Chevron?  Valero (Diamond Shamrock)? QuickCo? Sunoco? How about Shell?

Can you name an oil company you feel good about?  Maybe that’s why neither the Sierra Club, Greenpeace nor UnhappyFranchisee.com backs the boycott. 

Bottom line:  As Sierra Club spokesman Dave Willet says, “This is broader than just BP.”

#10  It Lets YOU Off The Hook

BP & 32 other companies are drilling deepwater wells in the Gulf for a simple reason:  to keep up with the demand created by you, me and our fellow oil-addicted Americans.  We’re consuming 800 million gallons of petroleum per week, and 25% of the world’s oil.  Will switching gas brands change that? 

Bottom line: Let’s stop doing things that make us FEEL LIKE we’re taking action, and actually TAKE ACTION.

#11  (Free bonus reason!)  Let’s Boycott Stupidity Instead

We’re a smart, educated nation but let’s face it: the public puts more energy into choosing the next American Idol than addressing our energy addiction.  Let’s demand more fuel efficient automobiles.  Let’s demand greener energy practices for both individuals and businesses.  Let’s replace any governmental watchdog agency that’s laying down with the dogs they’re supposed to be watching.  Let’s actually develop and use the alternative sources we’ve been talking about for 30 years.

Most of all, let’s boycott our own stupidity. Boycott laziness. Boycott apathy. Boycott convenient self-delusion.  Let’s start by boycotting the moronic BP Boycott, and stop using phony environmental activism to attack innocent business owners.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?  SHARE A COMMENT BELOW.

Sean Patrick Kelly is a writer, consultant and publisher who is not funded by Big Oil.  Connect with him via FaceBook, LinkedIn, Twitter, his FranBest.com franchise blog, or email (seankelly[at]ideafarm.net).

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Photo credits: BP Sign by dno1967, Lady GaGa by Michael_Spencer BP Pirate protester by Infrogmation. Gas brand signs by anolobb NY BP station (World Naked Bike Ride) by bitchcakesny. All licenses:  Creative Commons

BOYCOTT STUPIDITY: Support BP Franchise Owners!

BP franchisees are small business owners.

They are employers, taxpayers, homeowners & community members.

They have expenses, loans, payrolls and mortgages to pay.

They have families to support.

Yet their American dreams and livelihoods are under attack by a huge insurgency of adversaries calling for their demise and plunge into bankruptcy.

Some of these adversaries are well-meaning but misinformed activists who are either too callous, too lazy, or too empty-headed (or all of the above) to actually think through their call for the destruction of local small business owners.

Others calling for a BP station boycott are rich & powerful groups and celebrities who are shamelessly exploiting an environmental catastrophe for their own gain.

Exploiters range from multimillionaire energy-wasters like Lady GaGa & Justin Bieber to has-beens like Korn & The Backstreet Boys.

Shameless opportunist celebrities and their teams of publicists are all too willing to toss hardworking franchise owners under their gas-guzzling tour buses for easy headlines and a little more attention from their moronic fans.

BOYCOTT STUPIDITY! SUPPORT BP FRANCHISE OWNERS WITH YOUR PATRONAGE… AND A COMMENT BELOW!

Photo credits:

BP Pirate protester by Infrogmation. License:  Creative Commons

NY BP station (World Naked Bike Ride) by bitchcakesny. License:  Creative Commons

Ex-Con Gary Growden to Franchise Pasta Bars

Gary Growden went to prison for selling investment deals that were, literally, too good to be true.  So what’s the next logical step in his entrepreneurial development? 

Why selling franchises, of course. 

Just a year after his release from federal prison, one of the irons in Gary Growden’ entrepreneurial fire is plans to develop a pasta bar franchise opportunity.

Yes, Gary dreams of once again being behind bars once again… pasta bars this time around.  And while Gary hasn’t disclosed a name for his franchise, may we suggest Ponzi’s Pasta Bar?

According to a story by Dan Browning in the Star-Tribune:

Growden, 59, has reinvented himself many times over the years. He’s been a singer-songwriter, an Amway salesman, the owner of an equipment-leasing company and a finance broker, which led to his 27-month prison sentence in 2007.

Court records show that Growden pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud. One related to an investment scheme he ran between 2002 and 2005 in which he promised to invest money in "midterm notes" issued by Couthars, a Luxembourg-based company he ran. The other had to do with his promise to invest money in a collateralized note.

In both cases, Growden admitted to spending the money for his own purposes.

Amway Salesman?  Cloud merchant? Investment schemer? Gary Growden sounds like he has the credentials to be a featured franchisor on UnhappyFranchisee.com!

But for those of you who might be hesitant investing your life savings with an ex-con, don’t worry. 

Gary Growden has given his word.

"I’m not a crook.” Gary Growden promises. “And I am not a con man," he said.

I, for one, am relieved to hear that.  And I’m eagerly awaiting the launch of the Ponzi’s Pasta Bar franchise.

ARE YOU FAMILIAR WITH GARY GROWDEN?  WHAT DO YOU THINK?

INCREDIBLE PIZZA COMPANY Franchise Lawsuit Alleges Fraud, Vendor Kickbacks

America’s Incredible Pizza Company claims that it has 100 franchise locations “scheduled to be built,” including 20 in Mexico. According to its website, “the sky is the limit for America’s Incredible Pizza Company!”

However, that sky grew a bit cloudier when the franchisor – with fewer than 20 locations open – was hit by a franchisee lawsuit.

Incredible Pizza Company Franchise Group, LLC is being sued by area developer FEC Holdings, LP, and its related franchisee entities for fraud, negligent misrepresentation, price discrimination,violation of relevant state consumer protection and business opportunity laws. breach of contract and the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing.

The complaint filed by America’s Incredible Pizza Company franchise owner Lloyd Robert (Robin) French, III alleges “As a result of Defendants’ breaches of their affirmative legal duties to Plaintiffs, Plaintiffs have invested over $46 million in family entertainment centers that operate at a substantial loss.”

Jillian M. Suwanski of Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz PC has written an article on the case, and on the effect that the Quiznos franchisee settlement may (or may not) have on it and other franchise supply chain disputes.  (See Quiznos settlement sparks franchisee focus on supply chain disputes).

Writes Suwanski:

Incredible Pizza requires its franchisees to purchase food and supplies from particular vendors and has entered into national and regional contracts with vendors for food, supplies and merchandise. The plaintiffs allege that Incredible Pizza “solicited and accepted payments by third-party vendors” which were “in fact, kickbacks which have not been paid for services rendered in connection with the sale or purchase of goods, wares, and/ or merchandise.” As a result of the “kickbacks,” the plaintiffs argue that they were “restricted in their choice of and access to independent vendors and consequently have paid prices for goods, wares, and/or merchandise, and other products that were higher than they would have paid in the absence of [Incredible Pizza]’s kickback scheme.”

The plaintiffs also allege that Incredible Pizza had agreed in the Area Development Agreement and disclosed in its Item 8 that “it would not accept any vendor rebates, commissions, and kickbacks as a result of franchisee purchases from required suppliers, other than a 10% markup on proprietary items and [a] Coca-Cola rebate.” The rebates were more extensive than the 10% markup and the Coca-Cola rebate, according to the FEC plaintiffs, resulting in a breach of the Area Development Agreement and rendering the Item 8 disclosures false.

The Incredible Pizza case was recently transferred from the Southern District of Texas to the Western District of Missouri, and Incredible Pizza filed an amended Answer in mid-March. It will be worth watching how the case progresses. Because of the settlement, the Quiznos cases did not set any formal legal precedent on which franchisees can rely. However, the franchisee friendly results of the Quiznos settlement should make franchisors cognizant of the risks of inflated prices and rebates and any perception that improper “kickbacks” are being received.

Vendor rebates, even when properly disclosed, are often perceived as “kick-backs” and are one of the most contentious areas of the franchisee – franchisor relationship.

Franchisees ask:  why do franchisors believe that it’s acceptable to profit from the purchases of franchisees – and to intercept funds that could either be passed on to franchisees or deposited in the systemwide advertising fund?

Aren’t most franchise opportunities marketed with “group buying power” being a key benefit?

Isn’t the implication that the franchisor derives its income from the franchise fees and royalties and that the benefits of group buying are passed on to the franchise owners?

Poor Strategic (Greedy?) Decisions Can Stunt Growth.

The America’s Incredible Pizza Company website states the goal of donating millions of dollars to Christian missionary groups.  Unfortunately, at the present time those funds will be needed for a legal battle with its own franchisee.

If this potentially incredible pizza franchise fails to reach its lofty goals and stalls out, the cause will likely be traceable to two (in our humble opinion) bad decisions:  Selling pie-in-the-sky Area Development agreements and keeping vendor rebates.

Read the initial complaint (.pdf format): FEC Holdings, LP v. Incredible Pizza Franchise Group, LLC, 2009-cv-03289, S.D. Tex. (October 9, 2009)

Also read: Incredible Pizza” Franchisee Loses $46 Million (Blue Mau Mau)

WHAT DO YOU THINK?  SHARE A COMMENT BELOW.