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New in 2025

New in 2025!

by Danny Summers

We are just 2 days away from the arrival of the New Year 2025 and in some ways, it has already begun. Just look at Week 1 above!

We have been busy working on a number of changes, tweaks, modifications and leap-forwards in a number of Group programs. Most of these have come through your input and suggestions along with sharp observations by our Service Provider Team.

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Progress Ahead

Progress Ahead

by Danny Summers

Were you with us last Thursday for our December GROUPtalk LIVE Session?

We were fortunate to have some of our Centers who received the new Best in Category Awards with us to explore "How are they do it". Tim Quebedeaux began the session by sharing new data on three of the key categories: Annuals - Perennials - Tropicals (be sure to watch the recording for these new data views). And Group Best of Category Award Centers shared ideas on what is working well for them in these categories. There were important details being shared during this 1+ hour session so if you missed it, you can watch the full session recording. It has been added and is now available on the GROUPtalk LIVE Series for 2024 page in The Group WebSystem.

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Going Beyond Average

Going Beyond Average

by Danny Summers

This past week, I have been working on the newest addition to our Group Educational Training content coming from The Fall Event 2024. Two weeks ago, I shared the compiled recording of Katie Tamony's "The Evolving Customer" presentation. It was added to our Group WebSystem for all Group Centers to experience.

This week, we have added Tim Quebedeaux's presentation "Big Profits: Aim Big, Don't Shoot for Average." During this 45-minute presentation, Tim highlighted the 2023 P&L Study and then drilled down into the Top 8 Product Categories.

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Drilling Down for Higher Performance

Drilling Down for Higher Performance

by Danny Summers

We are excited to announce a whole new level of Awards that we will present at The Fall Event 2024. They have been developed through collaboration within The Group Team, particularly Tim Quebedeaux and Sid Raisch. In the last 3 years, the level of benchmarking through The Group's Annual P&L Study has become more detailed. For years, Group Centers were comparing themselves to Total Group Averages and then against the Best Practices Group Averages.

But, as the terms apply, these are Averages and within each of these groups, there are Centers that are higher and lower to produce the Average. But what about the best-performing Centers? Who is performing best?

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2023 P&L Study Review - Part A

2023 P&L Study Review - Part A

by Tim Quebedeaux

Congrats to all the Garden Group Centers that reported in the 2023 Profit & Loss Study, a record 86 Garden Centers with 66 of those reporting to at least Part 4 (Inventory Turns & Gross Margin Return on Inventory Investment - GRMOII). This is an EBIDTA (Earnings before Interest, Depreciation, Taxes and Amortization) P&L Study otherwise known as an Operating P&L Study. We use this type of Profit & Loss so that we can compare apples to apples, how your Garden Center operates compared to other centers. The Study compares your center to The Total Group, Centers in your Region, Centers that are either Retail or Retail-Grower, Similar Sales Level to you, and ultimately to the Best of the Best Group.

To be able to even think about comparing your business to others, you need to be able to measure what you are going to compare. Reporting to the Garden Center Group Annual P&L Study is a great start! Once you have that accountability in the numbers, the all-important Key Performant Indicators (KPI’s), you can begin to compare your profitability to other centers and begin to ask the questions – how and why did they do it?

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Drumroll Please!

Drumroll Please!

by Danny Summers

THIS THURSDAY... our next GROUPtalk LIVE session, will feature Tim Quebedeaux presenting the results of The Group's Annual P&L Study for 2023!

It's a BIG DEAL!

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Are You All-In?

Are You All-In?

by Danny Summers

It's only the 3rd week of January but still a busy time of the year with a lot going on. Group Centers are well underway with spring preparations. At the same time, several important programs are getting underway within The Group. The first two are included with your annual retainer.

Weekly Department Review for 2024
While the WDR is now more than 20 years in the making, last year was the very first year it became an online, live system. Group Centers accepted and embraced the new experience by uploading 5,506 weekly reports! That represented an amazing 97.3% reporting rate! The 5,506 uploads created a tremendous amount of data that is now available for comparison in 2024 and beyond. Tim Quebedeaux has been working on formatting the reporting so that the 100% reporting Centers don't even need to include any of their 2023 data this year... we already have it, saving them more time each week. We encourage you to report every week and save time the following year!

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Reaching New Heights

Reaching New Heights

by Danny Summers

Last week, we shared a photo of our 2022-2023 100% Club Award Centers that were with us at The Fall Event 2023. It was an amazingly large group. Keep in mind there were 20 more that will receive their plaques by mail this month! The 100% Club recognizes Centers that report every week in The Weekly Department Review (WDR) over a full 52-week period (July 1-June 30). This calendar year we now have over 4,200 weekly reports as of Week 40, ending October 8th!

This week we spotlight awards from the 2022 Annual P&L Study, recognizing performance levels based on profit! Over the years it is so gratifying to see Centers progress from one level to the next. Doing so takes time and great effort and creates pride in a business that reaches these heights.

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2022 P&L Study Review & Awards - Part C

2022 P&L Study Review & Awards - Part C

by Tim Quebedeaux


Part C – “Best Practices Standards” – Inventory Turns, GMROII, and Balance Sheet

The last parts of the Study: Turns, GMROII & Balance Sheet, are only available to the participants who report through parts 4 and 5 of the P&L Study. They can compare how they performed as compared to their different sectors – Region, Mode of Operation, Sales Levels, and then Total Group and Best of the Best. They get to compare these metrics down to the category level! The level of detail here is where they have the information to win the game!

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2022 P&L Study Review & Awards - Part B

2022 P&L Study Review & Awards - Part B

by Tim Quebedeaux

After recognizing the Winners of the Game – in P&L Study 2022 – Part A, we begin to look at what standards they set. Besides the big KPI’s reported in the first part of the study, we now look into the next few KPI’s measured in the study.

Your Physical Facility is an important part of your business and ultimately your profitability. Besides being a leading factor in which products you prominently present to your customers, it also gives you an allowance to charge what you need to so that you are profitable. Let’s dive into some Physical Facility Standards or benchmarks. We measure 3 major ratios: Revenues per Parking Space, Revenues per Acre, and Revenues per POS Terminal. By measuring these key ratios, we compare against the benchmarks as an alarm bell. If you are generating more than the standard in any of these metrics, you should be alarmed not into action but into investigation. For example, if you are generating more than one million per POS terminal, then you want to look at your busiest weekend to determine if you need to increase the number of terminals to handle peak business. From there take action as needed.

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2022 P&L Study Review & Awards - Part A

2022 P&L Study Review & Awards - Part A

by Tim Quebedeaux

Congrats to all the Garden Group Centers that reported in the 2022 P&L Study! To be able to even think about changing your business for the better, you need to be able to measure what you are going to change. Being able to report to The Garden Center Group Annual P&L Study is a great start! Once you have that accountability in the numbers, the all-important Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), you can begin to hold your business accountable for its profitability!

The P&L Study measures many different KPI0s. It starts with the big one, Revenue by category or department. Then it measures the next three as a percentage of those revenues, Cost of Goods Sold (and the reciprocal, Margin), Operating Expenses, Wage & Wage Benefits. Leaving us with the most important measurement that we all depend on, Profitability.

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The BIG Squeeze of 2022

The BIG Squeeze of 2022

by Danny Summers

If you were with us last Thursday for our March edition of the GROUPtalk LIVE Series, you experienced Tim Quebedeaux revealing the results from The Group's 2022 Annual P&L Study. We had a large crowd assembled for the presentation and Group Centers can see the details in the recording, now available on the 2023 GROUPtalk LIVE Series Resource page from their landing page following login.

As Tim presented each area of this year's study, I was amazed. We knew from the Weekly Department Review (WDR) that sales were down in 2022 compared to the previous year. The BIG question in most of our minds was... how much would this affect profit?

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History of the P&L Study - Part 4

History of the P&L Study - Part 4

by Tim Quebedeaux

Last time we finished talking about Average Inventory and how it is key to inventory management which is graded by two KPI’s: Turns and GMROIIs.  Historically The Group has not done well with these two metrics.


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History of the P&L Study - Part 3

History of the P&L Study - Part 3

by Tim Quebedeaux

Last time we left off with the premise that we can avoid the wearing of the red if we manage our inventory better. Inventory management can be “graded” by two important KPI’s: Turns and GMROII (Gross Margin Return on Inventory Management). Those two KPI’s are driven by three metrics, COGS, Margin Dollars, and Average Inventory. Average Inventory is a key component when analyzing these KPI’s.

Let’s start with reviewing what happened with Cost of Goods Sold and how that is related to Margin.

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Commitment

Commitment!

by Danny Summers

Commitment... It's a word that depicts The Garden Center Group experience in a number of ways. At the foundation of The Group, every Center joins with a commitment to sharing at some level. In the beginning, there may be some hesitation to jump right in but as they see others sharing they quickly see the benefits of having such an open-sharing platform. Certainly, the level of sincere helpful sharing that exists in The Group is a unique experience.

While there are a number of ways a commitment to sharing is exemplified in The Group, one of the strongest levels of commitment is sharing through our Weekly Department Review (WDR). And the Centers that receive our 100% Club Awards annually have made a firm commitment to share. This year, there are 115 Centers participating in the WDR Program, and 58 of these centers reported EVERY WEEK and received our 100% Club Award. Now that is Commitment!

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History of the P&L Study - Part 2

History of the P&L Study - Part 2

by Tim Quebedeaux

Last time we left off, seeing that it took 5 years to go from 0.7% profitability to 5.3%, high achiever status, while in one year we went from 5.3% to an amazing 14.9%.  Let’s dig into the three KPI’s in the Simple Income Statement to try to gain clarity on how we accomplished both feats.

The smallest piece of the pie is Operating Expenses.  These expenses can be described as the other expenses section of the P&L Statement.  Any expenses that are spent on things OTHER than people (W&WB) and product (COGS).  This section is the lowest as a percentage of revenues, but the largest listing of accounts.  Let’s look at the historical trend of our target centers in the P&L Study.


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History of the P&L Study - Part 1

History of the P&L Study - Part 1

by Tim Quebedeaux... and a little help from Steve Bailey!

The Annual Profit & Loss Study has been an industry exclusive since 2004 and is the most comprehensive P&L study of its kind.  It started with 40 centers reporting in 2004 and has grown to a high of 78 centers in 2018 and 2021.  The Study made a big step in 2006 when it started measuring Average Inventory, allowing us to measure Turns and Gross Margin Return On Inventory Investment (GMROII).  After only 9 centers started reporting the new metrics in 2006, it quickly gained in popularity as it ramped up to 40 centers in 2009 and increased to 60 by 2021!

 

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Annual P&L Study 2021 - Being the Best!

Annual P&L Study 2021 – Being the Best!

by Tim Quebedeaux

From Raising the Bar to Pushing the Boundaries!  In the 2019 P&L Study the top line comparison was changed from the High Achiever and Best Practices group, to only the Best Practices Group.  Well, that changed in 2020, in creating the Best of the Best Group, which in 2021’s P&L Study, took the place of the Best Practices group as the lop line in the Study to compare against.

Like in marksmanship, we want everyone to aim small, miss small. This small group of Best of the Best (BOTB) had 9 of the 10 Garden Centers repeat in 2021.  We wanted to show a standard above what had been presented in the past. Not only did this give everyone a higher standard to aim for, it gives the Best Practices Group (largest number ever at 48) a chance to raise their own standards.

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Annual P&L Study 2021 - Part 4

Annual P&L Study 2021 - Part 4

by Tim Quebedeaux

To unlock the door to profitability, two Key Performance Indicators are needed to hit their goals, Inventory Turns and GMROII.  The largest Best Practices group in the P&L Study history (with 44 Garden Centers in 2020) was surpassed in 2021 with 47! Below is a list of 37 of these Centers with the remaining 10 (Best of the Best) to follow.

2021 P&L Study Best Practices Group


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Annual P&L Study 2021 - Part 3

Annual P&L Study - Part 3

by Tim Quebedeaux

Today we will reveal who is in the High Achievers Group defined as attaining between 5% & 10% Adjusted Profit in 2021. Eighteen Garden Centers were able to navigate through all the challenges of last year to achieve an average of 8% profitability. 

The High Achievers of the 2021 P&L Study:

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