Hartco Inc HCIZF

Just got off the phone with Janik

[MartyP]

I'm very pleased with his approach to regaining shareholder value and a successful future as a Master Franchiser. Following are some of the highlights of our conversation.

PLATINUM INTERMEDIA

He couldn't say much about the deal with platinum at this point (for competitive reasons), but did mention that he had to chase them for several months to get in. He's very enthusiastic about them. More news will be released on it before the AGM in December. One thing that I found very comforting is that Jerry is a computer geek(?) from way back and was part owner of a software company - NorthNet Research - some years ago. He aint no newby to this game.

GREAT CANADIAN SOUP COMPANY

Two new GCSC's will probably be opening up in the near future. Possibly Atrium On Bay and a high traffic area in Oakville. Anyone who's interested can pretty well buy one of these cash cows (I say cash cow based on the performance of the flagship location) for about 100K! Not bad, eh? HCI will make about 5K on the deal PLUS 1% royalties PLUS rebates on in-store products and supplies. For those not familiar with the franchise business (I'm not that seasoned myself), this adds up to substantial revenue for a company with a successful concept. Janik isn't just stopping there, however. He's trying to get GCSC into various food oriented shops that are already leaders in the industry but are lacking a soup and sandwich section - such as what you'd find at Tim Hortons. As you already know, there is a definite competitive advantage to having a Soup and Sandwich section in a Donut or Coffee shop these days. I don't know about you, but when I think of leaders in the Coffee industry I think of Starbucks, Second Cup, and Timothy's. Hmmmm. Gets ya thinkin' though doesn't it?

News Releases

There will be a steady flow of news releases being disseminated between now and the AGM. Some of which will cover new locations for GCSC (which means "sold" franchises), the Ontario region franchise for Grandma Lee's, and various updates.

JANIK'S POSITION

He owns a cool 40 million shares at an average of .145/share. I think that says a lot about what motivating factors! Personally, I don't think he's gonna let any of them go until the stock is trading much higher.

All the Best Marty P