So you’ve probably heard about how the “Bring Georgie Pie back” campaign on Facebook has over 21,000 members (and climbing fast). And that McDonalds owns the brand and they haven’t decided if it will consider bringing it back yet.
I have 2 questions:
- Why did Georgie Pie fail last time?
- Who owns GeorgiePie.co.nz?
Q1: Why did Georgie Pie fail last time?
For some background first, see Georgie Pie on Wikipedia.
It seems that 3 factors contributed to Georgie Pie’s failure last time:
- They expanded too fast, and when demand didn’t climb at the same level they ran out of money
- A price rise from the iconic $1 (and even 75c menu), killed the value for money that drove thousands to the restaurants
- There is some talk about people becoming more health conscious in the mid-late 90’s (I think this is bullocks. Most people don’t give a damn. If a pie looks tasty, they’ll buy it).
So the question is: Could Georgie Pie suffer the same fate this time around? Not likely. And with such a ground swell of support and huge public awareness, I think it could work.
I think a key to success would be to roll out the chain very slowly, so it keeps the demand and excitement high. Imagine being able to tell your friends “I was craving a Georgie Pie Steak and Cheese and drove from Hamilton to Auckland to get it. The queue was so long, it went out the door and up the street, I had to wait 2 hours. It was awesome!”
Q2: Who owns GeorgiePie.co.nz?
Some guy called Eddie Powell who lives in Tuakau, South Auckland. He also owns www.UnitedTrucks.co.nz and www.EddiePowell.co.nz.
He purchased GeorgiePie.co.nz in November 2008. Smart guy.
But it could go in 1 of 2 ways:
- Either McDonalds/Georgie Pie will keep the offer to buy the domain on the down low and offer him a few grand to get it back (maybe $10k, maybe $20k, who knows?)
- Or they sue is ass for TradeMark infringement, and the court orders him to give it to them for a couple of hundred bucks (and they might pay his court costs to be nice)
Well, I’ve learned a couple of things about the director of Marketing First. (1) He has a blog on his website (2) He loves Georgie Pie? Surprising…
I was a Trainee Manager at Georgie Pie, but left before they were sold, thankfully. When I was there, they were undergoing massive expansion and had a booming business. I think they were bought out by rival McDonalds and owners Progressive received an offer too good to turn down. Rather than admit that Progressive took the money and sacked a huge number of people, I think they put a rumour around that things weren’t good at mill. Or perhaps I’m a conspiracy theorist. But remember back queues of people morning til night buying up multiple pies, a well run business and good takings at the couple of joints I trained in.
I reckon Georgie Pie went broke because they sold their $1 pies and shakes too cheap. If they were $1.50, Georgie might have survived. I loved stuffing my bratty kids with them and I would have done the same even if they were 50% dearer. Come on back, Georgie! We luv ya!
Hector, you’re a fool, that was one of the reasons they went under, because they ditched the $1 menu, read you der brain!
Mcdonalds will sue eddie for trademark infringement and force him to hand over the domain, he’s not a smart guy at all, he might think he is.
If they bring GP back there will be huge intial interest and hype but it will dissipate very quickly and no one will care again and they will go under… again. 🙂
May you self destruct, you twat. And may someone stuff your fat wee cheeks with numerous GPs of the mince and cheese variety.
It’s first come first served in domain land however there is nothing Eddie can do with the domain. Eddie has now said how much the domain is worth and is now trying to sell it. Eddie has just admitted he is a cyber squatter looking to get paid out for the useless domain that could only really be used by the TM holder. Eddie has blundered big time and used the registered trademark device (182282) to advertise the domain as for sale on Trade Me so he is now violating and passing off on someone TM.
Eddie is not smart. Perhaps if Eddie had kept quiet he might of been smart.
Thanks for the update Matt, here is the TradeMe auction for GeorgiePie.co.nz.
I think Georgie Pie would be able to find a judge to order the domain name over to them but that would involve expensive lawyers fees. I think Eddie stands a good chance of them settling out of court.
Its quite easy to resolve this, the Domain Name Commissioner (dnc.org.nz) has a domain resolution service in place, cost is less than a couple of grand I believe. Georgie Pie would have no problem proving that the registration is unfair. I doubt Eddie has the nouse to prove his case, which is really only personal gain off the back of someones trademark.
Eddie is a slug. Give him nothing.
Bhahahahahahahaa Eddie Powell fail!