THURSDAY January 2, 2020
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Daily Record JACKSONVILLE
THE BASCH REPORT
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Open Sunday? Changes brewing for Maple Street
JACKSONVILLE
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JEA headquarters at 21 W. Church St. in Downtown Jacksonville.
Turmoil at JEA: The story so far
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JACKSONVILLE
A look at events leading to the shake-up at the city-owned utility. BY MAX MARBUT ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Photo by Monty Zickuhr
A sign in the window of Maple Street Biscuit Company in San Marco shows the store’s hours. The chain’s new owner, Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc., is considering opening on Sunday, according to a research report by C.L. King & Associates.
MARK BASCH CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Report says the chain’s new owner Cracker Barrel will open two stores on Sunday as a test.
When Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc. bought Maple Street Biscuit Company in October, it promised to leave Maple Street’s restaurant operations basically intact. However, C.L. King & Associates analyst Todd Brooks said in a research report last week that Cracker Barrel is considering one major change for Maple Street’s 33 restaurants: opening on Sundays. When Cracker Barrel bought Maple Street for $36 million, it said it was targeting annual sales of about $1 million per restaurant and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of at least 17% of sales. “Currently, the MSBC units are not at these targeted economics, but they are also currently closed on Sundays,” Brooks said in his report.
“Cracker Barrel will test opening two of the units on Sundays to confirm if the additional operating day will quickly get the concept to the targeted unit economics,” he said. As a private company, Maple Street had not reported financial data, but Cracker Barrel’s latest quarterly report showed Maple Street’s business produced about $3.9 million in sales for the quarter. Brooks also said in his report that Maple Street CEO Scott Moore and other executives are relocating from their corporate office in Orange Park to Cracker Barrel’s headquarters outside of Nashville, Tennessee. Cracker Barrel CEO Sandy Cochran said during the company’s quarterly conference SEE BASCH, PAGE 6
The prospect of selling Jacksonville’s customer-owned utility has been discussed every few years since 1968, when the city Electric Department became the Jacksonville Electric Authority as part of the consolidation of city and Duval County governments. The latest attempt led to major changes in leadership at what now is called JEA. Its board halted sales talks Dec. 24. Here’s what happened the past 25 months.
SUGGESTING PRIVATIZATION
On Nov. 28, 2017, at his final meeting as a member of JEA’s board of directors, businessman Tom Petway asked: Would JEA’s customers and the people of Jacksonville be better served if the utility was privately owned, and whether JEA and the city should consider the financial benefits that would come from privatization? The following January, JEA staff began a “strategic planning process” that led to issuance of an “invitation to bid.” That procurement process is similar to a request for proposals or a call for bids, but with more SEE JEA, PAGE 4
THE BAR BULLETIN
Full calendar of events is planned for 2020 Plus: The legality of ‘granny cams.’ PAGE 10 VOLUME 107, NO. 32 • TWO SECTIONS