“We would love to put ourselves out of business. But, unfortunately, the risk factors for heart disease and stroke continue to rise, and we don’t see an end to our work.”
Nancy Brown, CEO of the American Heart Association, on the nonprofit’s future.
“We were hammered with the high price of corn, which led to the high price of the turkeys, but I’m anticipating that that will be down greatly this year.”
Sam Greenberg, CEO of Tyler-based Greenberg Smoked Turkeys, on prospects for turkey prices in 2009.
“Eighty percent of our product is takeout. You don’t have to tip because we don’t have table service, and then you can take it home and eat it with the beverages that you bought in the grocery store, as opposed to what you pay at retail. So it makes a very cost-efficient meal.”
Jim Flynn, CEO, Richardson-based Wingstop Restaurants Inc., on why the chicken-wing chain continues to grow in a down market.
“One thing I am sure of: that cyclicality will get worse, the volatility will get worse, year by year by year.”
Jeff Morris, CEO of Alon USA, on the energy business.
“We were postponed; we didn’t postpone. We can’t get the money [for the wind farm]. I don’t get the turbines until 2010, so I’m hopeful we can have a recovery between now and that point, and we can go ahead and finance it.”
T. Boone Pickens, founder and CEO of BP Capital, on stalled plans for a wind farm in West Texas.
“We’re in an absolute crisis mode. We’re only selling about 10 million units a year on an annualized basis, and we need to sell 14 [million]. The real question is: How do we get from where we are to that number?”
Drew Campbell, president of the New Car Dealers Association of Metropolitan Dallas,
on sluggish vehicle sales.
