Mrs. Fields To Buy Cookie Man Chain

As  discussed in earlier post  Indian firm was hot favorite to take over  Cookie Man  but finally its was Mrs Fields  which won the bid.
Franchise chain Cookie Man has been rescued from liquidation, with former rival Mrs. Fields acquiring the brand in a deal announced this morning.
Cookie Corporation, with owns the Australian master franchise for Mrs. Fields, will buy the business and tip it into a new subsidiary called Cookie Man Australia. The Cookie Man chain has 43 stores, which are supplied cookies from a manufacturing plant and warehouse in Sydney.
Cookie Corporation will continue to separately operate the Mrs. Fields chain, which has 27 stores. Managing director Andrew Benefield says Mrs, Fields will continue to import its trademark cookies from the United States, although Mrs. Fields will have some access to the Cookie Man manufacturing facility and warehouse, allowing it to develop new products for the Australian market.
Benefield has also brought former Cookie Man owner Peter Elligett on board as general manager of the Cookie Man business, a move Benefield says will be "very popular with Cookie Man franchisees".
Benefield told SmartCompany the two brands can co-exist in the marketplace as separate entities.
"Mrs. Fields is a premium brand with a very specific, soft-baked cookie where Cookie Man has always been popular with kids and senior citizens – it’s a very different market."

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Mrs Field's Opens Co - Branded Stores With New Zealand Natural Ice Cream

 A Unique concept which has now gained as innovative marketing strategies for companies to  cross promote products which are complimentary to each other .Mrs Field's is one of the premier chain offering cookies and baked goods to  390 outlets in United States and 80 bakery  chains world wide .

Mrs. Field’s Australia has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with New Zealand Natural Ice Cream to develop co-branded stores in Australia.
Mrs. Fields Australian Managing Director Andrew Benefield announced the deal alongside David Foreman, the General Manager of Emerald Foods which owns New Zealand Natural.
According to Benefield, the product synergies between the two brands made it a logical partnership.
“I believe that co-branded outlets  still need to have an offer that makes sense to consumers.  Cookies and Ice Cream are a natural fit,” he said.
“There are lots of complementary products we can develop such as ice cream sandwiches, affagato’s and brownie sundaes.”
The new combined operations would also be instrumental in helping the franchisee smooth the daily and seasonal sales curve, according to Benefield.
“Ice cream is obviously a popular item in summer as are cookies in winter. However they are also complementary during the course of a single day as coffee and cookies are strong in mornings, and ice creams and smoothies are big in the afternoon.  Both have a very similar frozen goods supply chain, making it an easy fit into rear of house operations.”
Continuously improving sales and the profitability of the franchisee is  vital to the success of both companies moving forward, Benefield added.

read more on www.dynamicbusiness.com.au