Kellogg pulls crackers as peanut butter recall hits manufacturers originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 15 Jan 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This post is part of our Big Company, Small Town series, featuring large companies and the small towns in which they are headquartered.

Ah, Spam. Doesn't the word make your mouth water? Or maybe not. Either way, Spam must be given its due. It is the most famous of the mystery meats, those exciting concoctions of the meat-packing industry. It has been sold by the billions of cans since its invention in 1937. It helped feed the Allies and win World War Two. It is central to a Monty Python skit about Vikings in a greasy spoon, and now a Broadway musical. It provides a name for unwanted e-mail. It theoretically lasts forever. And it is a product of the Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE: HRL).

Spam is made in several places, but its ancestral home and main production facility is in Austin, Minnesota, sometimes called Spam Town. Austin is the small town south of Minneapolis that is home to Hormel, proud maker of all things Spam. (I should note that Hormel would prefer that we write "SPAM luncheon meat" but I don't think we'll take that suggestion too seriously.)

Hormel has long dominated the town of Austin, and not just because the Spam Museum is located there. It is by far the largest employer in town and the majority of workers in Austin work for Hormel, producing many of the company's meaty foods. Hormel's roots in the town go deep. Drawn by the town's good rail and river access, George A. Hormel opened a meat packing business there in 1891, and his small company eventually grew into the billion-dollar colossus that today owns a dizzying array of food brands, from Chi-Chi's and Valley Fresh to Dinty Moore and, of course, Spam. (Does it seem fair that one company gets to own both Dinty Moore and Spam?)

Continue reading Big company, small town: Hormel Foods, Austin, Minnesota

Big company, small town: Hormel Foods, Austin, Minnesota originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 27 Jun 2008 14:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

We recently took a look at the Best & Worst of 2007 in sixteen categories and asked you to vote for your favorites, as well as sharing the reasons for your picks and any other contenders we may have overlooked. And voting is off to a strong start, with more than 100,000 votes in each category so far.

Some categories have shaped up to be close races. Chuck Prince, Bill Ford, and Bob Nardelli each have a little less than a third of the vote for Best CEO Departure of the Year. Britney Spears and Michael Vick are neck and neck as the Celebrity Most Likely to Lose It All, while Lindsey Lohan's relatively low profile recently has garnered her just 6 percent of that vote. In the Most Shameless Attempt at Cashing in on '15 Minutes', Sanjaya Malakar has a slim lead over Howard K. Stern/Larry Birkhead, but poor Chris "Leave Britney Alone!" Crocker has gotten no respect with a mere 6 percent of the vote. McDonald's has a small lead as the Hottest Chain Restaurant, thought Chipotle isn't far behind with more than a quarter of the vote. And while the iPhone has the lead now as the Hottest Gadget of the Year, it and the Nintendo Wii have been trading places as the front runner.

Continue reading Best & Worst of 2007: Early voting results

Best & Worst of 2007: Early voting results originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 08 Dec 2007 16:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This post was part of the AOL Money & Finance Best & Worst of 2007 feature. The voting has now closed and readers have chosen the Dubai as the breakout city of the year. Be sure to let us know in the comments if you are pleased with this result.

What are breakout cities? Cities that seemed to pop up in news stories with uncommon frequency, that have developed a cachet, that appear on the itinerary of early adopters. For your consideration here are four outstanding, very different candidates for this honor. Which whets your travel appetite?

Dubai City, U.A.E.
Nothing helps build a city quicker than petrodollars and a monarchy devoted to world-class projects. Dubai has all of that and more. The city that calls itself the "City Built For Tourism" is known as the home of the world's largest free-standing hotel, the Burj Al Arab. This ultra-ultra-luxury, 1,000-ft. tall hotel with a profile evoking billowing sails has quickly become the symbol of Dubai.

Under the vision of the ruler Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai has used its free-trade zone status to also develop into a world center for business. Having the world's largest manmade harbor and an airline that serves as a hub for the Persian Gulf region (with a new one under construction) helps, too. Dubai's acceptance of other culture's mores has helped turn it into a popular tourism destination, as well.

Continue reading Best & Worst of 2007: Breakout cities of the year

Best & Worst of 2007: Breakout cities of the year originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 29 Nov 2007 14:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Well, it's here again. Next Wednesday, the South by Southwest (SXSW) Music Festival kicks off in Austin, Texas. I won't be attending, so don't look for a sequel post to this one about how much fun I had or what acts I saw perform. Needless to say though, many music listeners and fans will be attending the festival, now in its 21st year. If there is a larger festival in terms of sheer number of venues, I am not aware of it. But, the fact that more than 1400 acts perform in 65 venues makes the amount of music just immense, in the simplest of terms.

These numbers follow a previous blog by me about how concerts and music festivals are only positive forces for the music industry. The only problem is that there is no "real" way to translate the experience of attending the shows outside the actual festival. Of course, that does not stop Apple Inc.'s (NASDAQ:AAPL) iTunes store from including music and videos from various performances, but these always seem to be the largest acts and the venues they play. I'm reminded of the Coldplay videos that were showcased on iTunes last year.

In any case, if any readers are attending the festival next week, I implore you to enjoy the music for what it's worth because you won't experience music that way anywhere else (especially on a CD or from a download). Of course, the advantage of live musical performances is always that the experience is better than listening to an album in your home, or at least that is this blogger's opinion and past experience. At the same time, opening a new CD for the first time and listening to an album has its perks as well, but that is another story and opinion for another time.

South by Southwest Music Festival gearing up originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 09 Mar 2007 15:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.