Summary of Joe Coulombe & Patty Civalleri's Becoming Trader Joe

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.

Book Preview: #1 The Tail O’ the Cock was a prominent drinking establishment on La Cienega Boulevard, where Los Angeles and Beverly Hills come together. In 1965, Merritt Adamson, the president of Pronto Markets, a 16-store chain of convenience markets in Los Angeles, was having a business luncheon there. He was having problems with his largest customer, Adohr Milk Farms.

#2 In 1962, I had to sell off parts of my company to fund Pronto. I was blackmailed by a competitor who had found a way to avoid California’s high labor costs. I had to figure out what to do.

#3 I had the opportunity to thank Bud Fisher, the handsome scion of one of the founding families of Southern California, for being such a great mentor to me. We were both left-handed, which is the most important thing about a person.

#4 I had been hired to find out why the Owl Drug Company was failing. I had learned all I could at Owl, and was afraid I would begin to lose my Stanford standards for management if I stayed. I quit and went to work for Hughes Aircraft as the financial planner for their Semiconductor Division.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Mar 14, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669359432

IRB Media

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Book preview

Insights on Joe Coulombe's Becoming Trader Joe

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The Tail O’ the Cock was a prominent drinking establishment on La Cienega Boulevard, where Los Angeles and Beverly Hills come together. In 1965, Merritt Adamson, the president of Pronto Markets, a 16-store chain of convenience markets in Los Angeles, was having a business luncheon there. He was having problems with his largest customer, Adohr Milk Farms.

#2

In 1962, I had to sell off parts of my company to fund Pronto. I was blackmailed by a competitor who had found a way to avoid California’s high labor costs. I had to figure out what to do.

#3

I had the opportunity to thank Bud Fisher, the handsome scion of one of the founding families of Southern California, for being such a great mentor to me. We were both left-handed, which is the most important thing about a person.

#4

I had been hired to find out why the Owl Drug Company was failing. I had learned all I could at Owl, and was afraid I would begin to lose my Stanford standards for management if I stayed. I quit and went to work for Hughes Aircraft as the financial planner for their Semiconductor Division.

#5

The first experimental chain of six Prontos was successful. Two years into the project, however, lightning hit: Justin Dart, the president of Rexall, bought Tupperware, against the unanimous vote of his board of directors. Within a year, Tupperware was generating a third of Rexall’s profits.

#6

I had to buy Pronto or find a new job in 1962. The decline of the stock market accelerated, and I had to raise the money within 90 days.

#7

I was able to find the money to buy Pronto Markets, but I was still way short when I went to see Tom Deane at Bank of America. He loaned me the money on my personal signatures.

#8

I did not like Pronto Markets as it existed in 1962. I did not have to find an optimum solution