A Wall Street Genius's Final Investment Playbook-Chapter 96

The title of the report released by Shark Capital was identical to that in a previous life.

<Saving Toscana Garden>

This report sharply criticized the operational status of Toscana Garden, the flagship brand of Epicura.

Its purpose was clear.

To highlight the incompetence of the current CEO Whitmer and the board, and warn that entrusting them further would ruin not only Toscana Garden but also potential successors like Chipotle or Panera Bread.

As expected, the report caused a stir.

This was because late-night comedy shows didn’t miss the opportunity.

[Our next news is about Toscana Garden. Remember them? Yes, somehow they’re not extinct yet.]

[Tonight’s main character is Toscana Garden! Yes, the graveyard of Italian cuisine.]

Hosts blatantly mocked Toscana Garden.

But this was just the beginning.

[Hedge fund Shark Capital criticized Toscana Garden for overcooking their pasta. They say the pasta is way too chewy… What? Is this even news?]

A host dramatically threw away the script, stared directly at the camera, and continued speaking.

[Breaking news, everyone. The sky is blue, and all politicians are liars.]

This was essentially mocking the obviousness of Toscana Garden’s poor food quality.

Of course, Toscana Garden’s dishes weren’t that terrible to deserve such ridicule.

If anything, they were average at best.

While that might have sufficed in the 1990s, such mediocrity was laughable in 2014, when the dining market had significantly improved in quality.

After all the satire and mockery, the main discussion began.

[Anyway, Wall Street has shared tips that would make Gordon Ramsay cry. ‘Salads should be lightly dressed, and extra dressing should be served in bottles for customers. However, Epicura excessively pours three to four times the appropriate amount of dressing from the start.']

The host paused while reading the report, raising their eyebrows.

That subtle gesture alone caused the audience to burst into laughter.

[Toscana Garden doesn’t add salt when cooking pasta. They claim it’s to extend the pot’s lifespan. A Google search on how to cook pasta tells you to add salt first. How can the world’s largest Italian restaurant chain not know this basic rule?]

No clever wit or exceptional delivery was needed.

Simply reading the report verbatim was enough to spark laughter.

The host feigned confusion for comedic effect.

[Why is everyone laughing when I’m doing nothing? This is the easiest broadcast I’ve ever done.]

[Well, let’s keep reading. ‘This is the portion size of a two-serving salad. Does it look appropriate?' ‘The vegetable sizes vary wildly across menu items. Standardize them.']

The laughter stemmed from two reasons.

One was the mockery of Toscana Garden’s quality, and the other was the irony that Wall Street was nitpicking these details.

As the political comedy shows ended in the early hours, the next phase unfolded.

It was the rapid spread on social media.

Various memes exploded under the theme “Wall Street vs. Toscana Garden.”

One popular meme featured intense battle scenes with captions like, “The proper amount of salad dressing is 47ml!” and “No, it’s 72ml!”

Among these, the topic of unlimited breadsticks sparked the most significant reaction.

A single line in the report became the trigger.

<The unlimited bread policy is the root of waste. Ten years ago, bread was served according to the number of guests. Now, due to poor staff training, bread is handed out indiscriminately.>

<Toscana Garden’s bread loses its taste rapidly after seven minutes. These are all discarded once the seven-minute mark passes. Can anyone eat this much bread within seven minutes?>

A comedy show even staged a skit parodying this point.

In a set resembling Toscana Garden, customers frantically devoured bread, while waiters carrying trash bins roamed to collect leftovers every seven minutes.

This scene gave rise to a new wave of memes.

Someone posted an image of a basketball player throwing a ball with the caption "Bread from Toscana Garden after 7 minutes" edited into it, and it gained popularity.

Before long, the caption "Bread from Toscana Garden after 7 minutes" began to appear on photos of actors who had aged dramatically within a year or on once-popular items that had faded into obscurity.

However, while most enjoyed and ridiculed these memes, regular customers were furious.

This was because of a particular passage in Shark Capital's report.

"Unlimited bread should be eliminated. Instead, one extra piece per guest should be provided, with additional bread served only upon request."

Strictly speaking, Shark Capital didn’t advocate for eliminating bread entirely.

No matter the amount, they suggested it would still be available upon request.

However, this sentence struck a nerve with regulars.

In a Korean context, this would be akin to removing ladles and free fish cake soup from street food stalls and saying, "Ask if you want it."

Regardless of logic or efficiency, it was seen as an act of erasing cherished memories.

– Those guys have crossed the line. They’re messing with unlimited bread?

– What is this, a bread ration system? This isn’t North Korea.

– Unlimited bread is a fundamental right!

Angry customers launched an email protest campaign against Shark Capital and some staged solo demonstrations in front of the hedge fund’s Wall Street building.

Related memes also proliferated rapidly.

One popular image was a picture of Marie Antoinette at the guillotine with the caption, "You don’t mess with bread."

Another showed a scene from ‘Star Wars’ with the protagonist holding bread instead of a lightsaber, captioned, “You’re not my father.”

The public’s message was clear.

The charm of unlimited bread lay in its "excess," and they couldn’t tolerate a hedge fund’s attempt to meddle with it.

At first glance, it seemed like public sentiment was on Epicura’s side.

However, Whitmer’s camp, including Epicura’s campaign strategists, saw this differently.

“We must not confuse the public with the shareholders. Shareholders are not the ones eating the bread—they’re the ones running the operation that supplies it.”

Indeed, Epicura’s shareholders were effectively the owners of the restaurant, and their establishment was losing value day by day.

Amid this, a new brand entered Epicura’s portfolio.

And this brand had the potential to be a massive success. fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com

The question was: who would take charge of this opportunity?

While shareholders were deliberating, Shark Capital’s report surfaced.

“This situation is catastrophic for Whitmer. The negative image is too deeply ingrained.”

Shark Capital’s report perfectly achieved its intended purpose.

It planted a strong impression in the public’s mind that Toscana Garden was outdated and poorly managed, turning Whitmer’s crowning achievement into a national laughingstock.

Who would entrust a new business to an executive team that had become a nationwide joke?

But Shark Capital’s strategy didn’t stop there.

“They’re proving their qualifications. Despite being unfamiliar with the field, they’re presenting concrete alternatives, demonstrating that their accumulated expertise can also be applied to the food industry.”

When the humor was stripped away, a closer look at the report revealed practical suggestions:

<Toscana Garden uses microwave-safe packaging containers, often dubbed the ‘Cadillac of packaging.’ By replacing these containers, packaging costs could be reduced by 25%.>

<Using vegetables of varying sizes requires purchasing pre-cut vegetables of each size, incurring additional costs. Standardizing the sizes alone could reduce costs by up to 30%.>

Shark Capital didn’t stop at criticism. They proposed immediately actionable cost-saving measures and even provided detailed calculations of the anticipated savings.

In doing so, they not only criticized Epicura’s management incompetence but also showcased the hedge fund’s signature strengths: quantitative analysis and optimization strategies.

The public dismissed this as mere entertainment, but the shareholders viewed it differently.

For those considering the operation of a new brand, such meticulously detailed cost-saving proposals were undeniably valuable.

– I thought Shark Capital couldn’t possibly manage a restaurant, but look at this detail. No wonder their stock soared 140% after acquiring Office Depot.

In truth, many shareholders doubted whether Shark Capital had the capability to lead the restaurant business.

It was a completely different industry, and they lacked significant prior experience, raising inevitable skepticism.

However, this report dispelled those doubts.

"If this continues, we’ll lose. We urgently need a groundbreaking plan to shake off the negative image and prove we are the more qualified option."

Shark Capital had a track record of successfully optimizing acquired companies, along with concrete ideas and meticulous planning.

The media also unanimously identified them as the right candidate, naturally swaying shareholder sentiment in their favor.

This momentum needed to be reversed.

But how?

The election strategist’s face darkened with worry.

Yet, amidst the crisis, one person was smiling—Ha Si-heon.

“It’s finally here.”

The “Bread Wars” had become a national issue, drawing everyone’s attention to a single focal point.

This was the debut stage Ha Si-heon had been waiting for and the perfect opportunity to deal a decisive blow to Shark Capital.

“There is one way.”

Anticipating Shark Capital’s attack, Ha Si-heon had already prepared a countermeasure.

With a sly smile, Ha Si-heon began explaining.

“We repay them in kind, just as planned. The time is now.”

Thirty-eight days remained until the shareholders’ meeting.

As the Toscana Garden memes reached their peak and began to wane, Epicura released an official statement.

[We will maintain the unlimited bread service as is.]

This decision catered to public sentiment.

[While it may appear wasteful in numbers, there are values and identities that cannot be compromised.]

This was a statement that appealed to the public.

At the same time, however, it caused some shareholders to raise their eyebrows.

Maintaining unlimited bread meant increased costs.

At this rate, the shareholders would turn their backs on Whitmer. But Whitmer’s next move defied expectations.

[However, apart from unlimited bread, we humbly acknowledge that there are numerous areas in need of improvement. We accept past operational flaws and will actively implement enhancements with humility.]

Rather than counter Shark Capital’s criticism, Whitmer chose to embrace it head-on.

[We’ve been complacent, settling for fifth or sixth place in the past. But now is the time for change. As we strive for the top, such complacency is unacceptable. We will thoroughly improve ourselves.]

Following this, Epicura unveiled a new report.

<Saving Toscana Garden 2>

Epicura had created their own report.

This reignited an issue that was beginning to fade, sparking fresh momentum.