Wendy`s transitioning into higher

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2012
BUSINESS
B5
EDITOR: SHANE MINKIN 204-697-7308 [email protected] I MARKET DETAILS B6,7 I winnipegfreepress.com
Speed-dating event takes off
Local businesses better prepared for city’s second Centrallia gathering
By Martin Cash
K
ATHERINE Devine admits she really didn’t
know what she was doing when she attended Centrallia two years ago.
This time she fine-tuned her approach and the
president and owner of Kiysquared, a high-end
Winnipeg market research firm, came away
from the business speed-dating event with some
successful results.
She scored six solid leads before lunch on
Thursday, the first day of meetings.
There were plenty of stories on the massive
third-floor meeting room of the Winnipeg Convention Centre of companies coming with a
more strategic plan and more determined to get
the most out of the international business-connection event.
More than 700 small- and medium-sized companies from 30 countries are taking part. It’s designed to attract small businesses that wouldn’t
necessarily have the resources to do international market development on their own. Each company is assured of at least 14 face-to-face meetings in sessions held Thursday and today.
“We came in 2010 and ironically we really
didn’t understand the concept all that well even
though there was good information out there,”
Devine said.
This time she honed her pitch, emphasizing
new product development research, market assessment and concept.
With that approach, Devine made contact with
three Winnipeg companies during events held
prior to the speed-dating sessions and has followup meetings lined up. She also made two solid
leads with firms in South Dakota coming out of
Thursday morning’s speed-dating sessions.
“So in the next couple of weeks I’ll be taking a
road trip to South Dakota,” she said. “I’m really
happy with how it went.”
There are some detractors who discount the
value of Centrallia, saying it’s really just a networking event. Organizers of Centrallia emphasize the value of connections that can be made
and stress followups are required to firm up the
initial potential contact.
But deals do get made on the spot as well.
Ingibjorg Snorradottir, the manager of a successful Icelandic jewelry design firm called
Uppsteyt, landed her first Canadian retailer this
week at Centrallia. Bijou Treasures, with two
stores in Winnipeg, has agreed to carry her full
line and she also made a sale with the Winnipeg
Art Gallery shop.
Snorradottir said there is no way she could
have found a Canadian partner for her thirdgeneration family business without the benefit of
these kind of organized, face-to-face meetings.
“This was our first step. I would love to be in
other cities in Canada,” said Snorradottir.
And her connection with Bijou owners Leonie Coulson and Ashiq Katoo might be able to
help with that as well. Coulson said she’d assist
Uppsteyt in making contacts elsewhere in Canada.
It is also a whole new experience for Bijou. The
company has never been on the receiving end of
a pitch to carry an international line.
“We’re really excited,” Coulson said. “We
would never order something like this from a
catalogue. I feel that the style and inspiration is
similar to ours. And the personal connection we
made with Ingibjorg was very important.”
In that deal, Coulson, Katoo and Snorradottir
benefitted from pre-meetings held before Centrallia. Four companies from Iceland attending
the event came a few days early and asked organizers for help in meeting some likely partners before the event. Snorradottir was put in
touch with the Bijou people and hit it off.
The concentration of determined business
people from as far away as Algeria and Argentina with an increasingly savvy Manitoba smallbusiness sector that is more tuned in to opportunities in the global market has given this year’s
version of Centrallia a little more intensity than
was the case last time.
Mariette Mulaire, one of the organizers of the
event, said when it was held in 2010 there were
many local businesses that registered out of a
sense of responsibilty to support a worthwhile
event for the Winnipeg business community.
“This time there are more local companies
registered who know what to expect and have a
real plan in place,” she said.
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Centrallia strategies
THE general idea of Centrallia is for smalland medium-sized businesses who don’t
typically have the time or resources to
comb the global marketplace for partners,
suppliers or customers, to all get together
in one room at the same time to do deals.
But it’s not just about deals. Centrallia is
heralded as a place to make initial connections that then require followup for future
development.
Some companies use the event as an
opportunity to embark on longer-term
business development projects and there’s
plenty of local businesses who find each
other at Centrallia.
Glenn Crook, vice-president of commercial services for the Royal Bank of Canada
in Manitoba, had a meeting at Centrallia
in 2010 with a local company that offers
translation services.
“It wasn’t me the person wanted to meet
but he wanted to see if I could help him
get in touch with RBC officials in Toronto,”
Crook said. “I admired his creative approach.”
As it turned out, Crook was able to help
the Winnipeg translation company get in
touch with other RBC people and the company was successful.
This year, two of Crook’s senior account
managers who specialize in manufacturing
and information technology had two full
days of meetings lined up.
But those meetings weren’t so much to
find new clients for the RBC, as they were
to see if there were contacts that could be
made for existing RBC clients.
“We grow if our clients grow,” Cook said.
“This is an opportunity for our clients to
grow. That’s why we want Centrallia to be
successful.”
— Martin Cash
DAVID LIPNOWSKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS
Ingibjorg Snorradottir, left, manager of Icelandic jewelry maker Uppsteyt, meets with Bijou Treasures
co-owner Ashiq Katoo at one of the company’s Winnipeg stores Thursday. The Icelandic jewelry company
has made a deal with Bijou Treasures through Centrallia.
Wendy’s transitioning into higher-end eatery
NEW YORK — Wendy’s pigtails are getting a tweak.
For the first time since 1983, the Dublin, Ohio-based fast-food company is updating its logo in a move intended to signal its ongoing transformation into a higher-end hamburger chain.
Instead of the boxy, old-fashioned lettering against a red-and-yellow
backdrop, the pared down new look features the chain’s name in a casual red font against a clean white backdrop. An image of the smiling,
cartoon girl in red pigtails floats above — though this girl looks more
vivid and not quite as childlike.
In an interview with The Associated Press, CEO Emil Brolick said
the current logo had served the company well for the past three decades, but it was time for an update. Still, Brolick said he was encouraged by consumer feedback in testing dozens of new logo variations
over the past several months.
“When we pushed things too far, they very much reeled us back,” he
said, noting it showed just how attached people are to the brand.
It’s only the fifth logo update since founder Dave Thomas opened the
first Wendy’s in 1969, and perhaps the most significant. The makeover
comes as the chain known for its square burgers and Frosty shakes
struggles to redefine itself in the face of intensifying competition.
Wendy’s push has intensified since Brolick came on as CEO about a
year ago. In addition to raising perceptions about its food, Brolick is
focusing on renovating outdated restaurants with a look that features
natural lighting, flat-screen TVs and a variety of seating options, including cushy chairs in nooks.
— The Associated Press
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