O'Charley's, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHUX)

PsychVamp (< 20) Submitted: 2/22/2008 3:19:04 AM : Start Price: $11.74 CHUX Score: +18.22

Being a former Manager for this company at the Operations end, I have seen first hand how this company has begun to fail. I can almost mark the date. A little less than six years ago, Chux stock price was trading in the mid to upper $20's. Their target market was upper middle class and they were doing fine. Corporate decided that they wanted to try for the middle and lower income families and by doing so, they alienated much of their loyal customers. With the sale of the commisary and the outsourcing of the company's core pillars, their product has decreased tremendously. This is a stock that I wish I would have unloaded around the time that the original corporate higher-ups were seeing a grim future for the business and left for better opportunities. The company as a whole is on the brink of shambles. Poor staffing in the stores with little or no leadership at the corporate, regional and area management levels has put a major strain on the individual units. The management and staff in those units is working blind and unit morale is at an all time low. With the inception of certain area directors to various "problem" markets, they either are too stubborn for change or do not posess the nuts to run the business. I left the company shortly after I was told by one area director that I needed to do things in a more Christian manner. I guess I missed that section in my original corporate training. He was very lucky that I am not Jewish.