John Donohue              (Use the Back Button To Return) Work History 1986 Tarzana, CA Chef Joseph Donohue

I was employed by my brother, Chef Joseph Donohue (Joey D') and his business partners to facilitate the launch of a packaged food product, namely the salad dressing he had perfected that accompanies a dish called "Chinese Chicken Salad," a huge hit in L.A. restaurants beginning in the 80's and continuing even now. That trend was to a great extent fueled by the Chef's promotional enthusiasm. My task was to source the manufacture and model the capital requirements for the rollout.     This began as a very pleasurable endeavor, engaging both my culinary background and my business plan skills. I also got to seek out obscure manufacturing facilities, such as an enterprise on Soto Street that does nothing but roast and press sesame seeds for their oil. The smell of that place is permanently fixed in the mind's eye of my palate. Much of my research involved compliance with food labeling law. I ended up also deeply involved in marketing decisions such as packaging, image, positioning, etc. The glimpse into the arcane and hotly contested world of the supermarket shelf space wars opened my eyes.     The proforma spreadsheet I maintained on this project was critical because of the economies of scale involved, the timing of cash flows depending on volume, the complex nature of terms granted by vendors in the food world, the visible (and invisible) 'discounts' involved in retaining possession of slots on the shelf, and the narrow margins overall in the industry. I ushered the test batches and the first few runs of the product through their cycles like a mother hen. The spreadsheet was the working document of the startup.     My part of the project was competently and enjoyably accomplished, and the product turned out to be a winner, a true phenomenon. It managed to wedge its way onto the top shelf of many supermarkets and is now a bone fide staple. The website for the company is here.     However, the partnership between my brother and the other principal terminated in a bitter and acrimonious "divorce," and neither myself nor my brother are currently involved. This result and what led up to it is a business lesson, no less than learning how to debug a product written in a programming language published by Bill Gates, and has its place on this resume.