Cookie chain Mrs. Fields to file for Chap. 11 bankruptcy protection

[RamboLiberal]

Source: USA Today/Reuters

NEW YORK — Cookie retailer Mrs. Fields Famous Brands said Friday it plans to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to help restructure its business, according to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

The company, which licenses and franchises about 1,200 Mrs. Fields Cookies and TCBY frozen yogurt locations worldwide, has begun soliciting votes from creditors for a "prepackaged" bankruptcy reorganization plan.

Under a prepackaged plan, creditors vote on certain aspects of the plan prior to the bankruptcy filing in court.

More than two-thirds of its bondholders have agreed to vote in favor of the prepackaged plan, though their support is contingent upon the company submitting its bankruptcy filing to the court by Aug. 25, according to the regulatory filing.



Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2008-08-15-mrs-fields_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip

[Theres-a]

1. That's the way the economy crumbles.

:(

[Tempest]

2. I stopped eating Mrs. Fields cookies

When they decreased the size of the cookies and left the packaging the same size.

It was a rip-off.

[DJ13]

3. Same thing that has kept my wife and I from buying carton ice cream

The new size of 1.5 qts is no longer worth the money, even when its on sale.

Up until this year we would normally buy 2-4 (what used to be) 1/2 gallons every week.

We havent bought any at the smaller size.

[clixtox]

16. I bet your veins and arteries thank you...

I love ice cream but sadly I am not supposed to indulge, except rarely, in any "heart attack on a plate" type stuff anymore. Ice cream is mainly for children and young adults, I guess. Cookies are slipping down the list of fun stuff to eat also nowadays for personal health reasons.

Our whole country needs to eat healthier in general, obviously.

[orleans]

28. fieldcrest still has half gallons. n/t

[Deja Q]

31. Gotta love the irony of irony...

I got a couple 1.75qt containers (weren't they 2qt about 6 years ago?) and saw some 1.5qt containers next to them.

Then we'll be blamed for not consuming, hence the downfall of Kemps or Edy's. :eyes:

[liberal N proud]

12. It's our fault

We stopped paying the ransom for dry stale cookies from a vending machine and now they are bankrupt.

[sasquatch]

4. That's how the cookie crumbles

:shrug:

[pennylane100]

5. and the mop flops.

Had to add that.

[heliarc]

18. That's how the gravy stains....

That's how the moon wanes.

Bill Burroughs

[Parche]

6. They Lost A Lot Of Dough Last Quarter

:woohoo: :hi:

[paparush]

36. OUCH! :-)

[bluedigger]

7. Let the chips fall where they may...

:9

[treestar]

8. Too bad

Wasn't she a symbol of how we could all pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and becomes millionaires based on our brilliant ideas?

[connecticut yankee]

13. With the help

of a very rich husband who backed her.

[kestrel91316]

9. While buying a single cookie was really tasty and gratifying,

and provided portion control (as opposed to baking and then promptly EATING an entire batch of homemade), ultimately I just pretty much quit eating crap like that, that I had no control over ingredients in. I don't do trans fats anymore, and I guarantee those thing had them in spades for years.

[Betsy Ross]

17. I freeze a portion of our freshly baked cookies

but they're still gone in a few days. I justify eating them by using good ingredients. I know this thread was about Mrs. Fields, but it was nice to know everyone scarfs on home baked goodies. I was feeling so bad and so alone on this. Just kidding.

[kestrel91316]

21. I put raisins and pecans and rolled oats into my chocolate chip

cookies so I can pretend they're healthy.

And that freezer thing: just results in me snarfing FROZEN cookies.

[CrispyQ]

32. I worked for over a year on a lower fat, lower sugar choco chip cookie recipe.

I finally have one that both my husband & I love! I bake up five cookies at a time & keep the dough in the fridge - it keeps for at least two weeks & there is nothing quite like a cookie fresh out of the oven!

PM if you'd like to check out my recipe. It's not secret, & it's vegan. :9

[not fooled]

37. Yes...

...Mrs. Fields used to be made with real butter--I used to indulge occasionally--but when they started cheapening the ingredients and using hydrogenated oils, I gave up on them.

Plus, it always bothers me when a shop doesn't post prices. I used to make the attendants tell me the cost before I decided, but that doesn't make for a fun shopping experience. I guess you are just supposed to sit back and pay whatever they charge :mad: .

[damntexdem]

10. That's the way the cookie crumbles.

Had to be said.

[sasquatch]

11. Beat you to to it

[Franc_Lee]

14. Well, $2.25 for a cookie has the same results $tarbucks scenario has for it's over-rated coffee...

[Hulk]

15. Hey Mrs. Fields....just have them made in China with sawdust and honey for $0.30 an hr labor

I am disgusted with sending our jobs overseas. I absolutely REFUSE to buy anything that says made in China, Indonesia, Thailand, etc, etc.

Granted, I'll end up buying some crap that has parts made there and assembled off shore so we won't read the label...but I'll do all I can to keep my money on this side of the Pacific.

Cheap is not necessarily "good".

[heliarc]

19. I used to eat a Mrs. Fields cookie in Hong Kong after work...

when I lived there in 2005... they were really satisfying after a hard day at work and they tasted quite the same as the ones in the US. Those workers were Chinese, and they were selling to the Chinese people (and me). I'm sure you are criticizing a different model, for the bulk production of dough in some factory somewhere, but I'm sure that the Chinese have a problem buying crap made in some other country (namely the US and our "quality" automobiles). I don't think they'd trust our dried scallops... but we better start making some dried scallops soon, and cheap, because China is beating us into the ground.

[madeline_con]

26. Dried scallops are so in demand here.

:sarcasm:

[heliarc]

29. I'm sure the chinese feel the same way ....

about all the crap we have them make in their factories.

http://current.com/items/77367671_beads_breasts_business

Pretty soon 1 billion Chinese people (roughly 4 times the population of the US) is going to require us to make their dried scallops for them... You should see the street in HOng Kong where they sell dried seafood. There is certainly a demand over there.

[madeline_con]

30. They can stop making the part allotted to me. I'd rather buy

American, but the've glutted the market with Chinese crap.

spell edit

[daggahead]

33. What's made here?

Hulk -

Please let us all in on the secret of buying non-China/Indonesia/Taiwan, etc. products. Last time I went to ANY store to buy something other than food, everything is made in some far off Asian country (or Jordan, Honduras and Bangladesh).

[Trillo]

20. Granola is so much healthier anyway.

We make a variation of this excellent Granola recipe, pat them down flat on baking tray, bake, then cut into strips during the cooling stage. They still don't hold together quite as well as a cookie (we're trying some variations), but it's close. Much less fat (perhaps sugar) versus "cookies".

Sunflower seeds and Craisins (instead of raisins) seem to have an excellent flavor together.

[gulliver]

22. Trying to remember how many of these bankruptcies we had under Clinton

Anyone? Anyone?

[Frank Cannon]

23. Debbi Fields, the original Fast-Food-Dessert MILF

I know it makes me sound like a Neanderthal, but I LOVE those fucking cookies, and the woman behind the franchise is undeniably fine. Whenever I order a Mrs. Fields' cookie, no matter where my travels lead me, I always picture Madame Fields herself handing it to me over the counter, her little French Maid outfit hiking up just so much, revealing the hot, fresh-baked secrets of all time.

Screw you Mrs. Fields haters. This is horrible news.

[Buns_of_Fire]

27. THAT'S the real "Mrs. Fields?" Whoa!

For some reason, I always pictured "Mrs. Fields" as someone like "Mrs. Butterworth" (before she sold out to GEICO) or Aunt Bee -- a kindly old lady, tut-tutting and pitter-pattering around the kitchen, cranking out toothsome delights for Andy, Barney, and Opie.

Without the French Maid outfit, of course.

[snooper2]

34. original MILF?

more like the original stepford wife

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[SpiralHawk]

35. Mrs. Fields can kiss Famous Amo's choclate chip butt

[cyr330]

24. Uggh.

No great loss-- disgusting cookies-- they give you the runs.

Too bad for the employees though. . .

[dysfunctional press]

25. all those people passing her recipes around the internet- how could she survive???

:shrug:

i'm surprised she made it this long.