Thanks again,
Sarah Johnson
Greenstreet Cycles, Omaha, NE

We received the bikes. They are awesome, and on our test drive around the block a wedding photographer pulled us over and booked us for July. You weren’t kidding. These are going to be a big hit.

Thanks for all your help and hope to purchase more soon.

Andrew, Montgomery, Alabama

We love our Pedicab!  Our primary vehicle year-round in Ithaca, NY!

Thanks for all you do.

Elisabeth Harrod (mom of 2 boys), Ithaca, NY

I received the pedicab that you made for me.  All I can say,… it is beautiful!   It was a little bit of work riding it 7 miles home… but have to say, I have never been happier to have my legs feel like rubber… I knew that it would be harder than a regular bike… riding against the wind and up hill… still, I don’t think that I could be any more pleased.

I just want to thank all of you, for the work that you have done, to build this Pedicab for me.  I promise that I will take as much care it riding it as all of you have taken in building it.

Again, thank you all, very much.

as I am
R Henry Blum, Madison, Wisconsin

The cooperation I received from the people at MainStreet Pedicabs in Denver, Colorado was exceptional and they worked very hard to make our Pedal Pickup unique.

The bike has been used for a week now and is working out very well in assisting me in the performance of my normal work duties.  Most noticeable to me is the reduction in noise pollution.  What a quiet ride.  Also notable is the reduction in air pollution and natural resource consumption.  Additionally, the purchase cost was less than our gas run work vehicles, the maintenance cost will be reduced considerably, and fuel cost will be zero. It is my hope that a few more of these work bikes can be put to use on this campus in the future.

Thank you,

Michael Griffith, Groundskeeper, UC Davis

Got here today, looks great, rides great.  We’ve been around pedicabs for years, working with them almost evey day.  We’ve also had experience with several makes:  Main Street Pedicabs are the best.
Jim Wallace, Charleston, SC

Our family and friends marvel at this unique transportation. My parents are in their mid 80′s, and they absolutely love to ride around the neighborhood in it with us. My Grandchildren think that it is an awesome toy. People stop and comment about it all the time. We are having a blast with it! I am 58 years old and love bike riding. This system is so easy to handle! My 10 year old Grandson handles it just as easily as the adults that have ridden it.
Thanks again, Connie Davis, Lexington, SC

Let me first tell you that the white cab ROCKS!  It looks awesome at night, and it really stands out. I know I have gotten rides (customers) only because people can’t believe how nice it is (really)! You guys definitely set the standard. Natasha and I feel lucky to have gotten as much help, and a sweet pedicab, from you at Main Street.
Matt Elliott, Modesto, California.

Wonderful!! Our guests love them.
Mandie Brenczewski, The Department Restaurant, Joliet, Illinois

I am thrilled to say I received the pedicab yesterday and it’s everything I’d hoped for and more. It’s beautiful to ride and the family love it. I can’t thank you enough for your help and totally love my new pedicab.
Kindest Regards Andrea Kumar Whyalla, Australia

This year i got a Main Street Broadway pedicab. This is the king of pedicabs in the U.S. and it shows. I was never as happy as when I rode this yellow monster. If youre going to buy yourself a pedicab dont mess around and buy some cheap sh-t from ebay, spend the cash and get one of these. They’re worth every penny.
Cole Bates, Muskeegon, Michigan

I have never had anyone be so accurate with describing a new product to me as you did with the motor for my Trike. You are the greatest. Thanks for encouraging me with my selection and with your problem solving after the sale. I really appreciate you.
Glenn Ballantyne, Pueblo, Colorado

The traffic was so bad (at the Obama Inauguration), and so chaotically handled, that everyone had a story. Mine: Stuck for more than an hour near the Mall one night and late for an appointment, I jumped out of a car and hailed an open-air bicycle with a backseat. The driver threw a blanket on me and began to pump the pedals. “What is this called?” I shouted as we raced around limos and town cars. I expected some politically correct name like Energy Saving Mobile Apparatus. He looked back at me quizzically. “A rickshaw!” We got there on time, 15 blocks in four minutes, and like a happy capitalist, the driver, gauging the moment, the need and the competition, opened bidding at $25. I was grateful to pay.
Peggy Noonan, author and former speech writer for President Ronald Regan.

The critics were out again last week after The Times revealed that, faced with recession, Mr Mason was being forced to slow the store rollout programme. Worried? He hardly looks it. One minute, he’s jumping on to a Fresh & Easy rickshaw for a photo shoot; the next, he’s leading a chorus of Happy Birthday at the head office in Palm Beach, Los Angeles, to mark the chain’s first anniversary.

Asked about the prospect of a looming supermarket price war in America, he jokingly cites the line about amplifiers in This is Spinal Tap, the spoof “rockumentary”: “We’ll do better than the rest,” he says. “Our knobs go up to 11.”

Mr Mason dismisses speculation that Tesco’s most daring foray of the past decade is turning into failure. He wants people to focus on the “exceptional” achievement of the past 12 months.

In the dozen countries where Tesco operates, it has always entered a market by taking over an existing business, Mr Mason says. Fresh & Easy is a new concept, based on the Tesco Express convenience stores In Britain, and from a standing start it operates 100 stores, each of about 10,000 sq ft, across Southern California, Arizona and Nevada.

While Fresh & Easy will not reach its original target of having 200 outlets by February 2009, Mr Mason expects to reach that goal by this time next year — that’s one new store every three or four days.

Whatever doubts analysts may have, they appear not to be shared by two of Tesco’s biggest rivals in America, Wal-Mart and Safeway. It seems that have seen enough and have responded to the threat with small-store formats of their own.

Nearly 600 Tesco staff played some part in setting up the business, including personnel managers flown out for three months last year to help with recruitment. They were easy to spot, coming in every Monday morning bright red from a weekend on the beach.

“Looking at the past year, you have to be deliriously happy,” Mr Mason says. “At the same time, we are absolutely focused on what we need to do for this business to be as absolutely successful as it can be.

“It has taken a bit longer to penetrate catchments around the stores than we thought it would [and] I think the reason is because this is the first mature market, well-served market, that we have opened into, so actually it’s not filling a vacuum and, therefore, has to earn its place. But as we go into the second year, we would expect to see unbelievably good like-for-like growth.”

Mr Mason, chief executive of Tesco’s operation in the United States, believes that one of the biggest problems of the past year has been a failure to make enough of Fresh & Easy’s price credentials. It claims to be 20 per cent cheaper than the average American supermarket, such as Ralphs or Albertsons, but it relies on an everyday low-price model rather than one-off specials, which can grab customers’ attention.

The emphasis on promotions is far stronger now. The array of fresh and chilled American and Hispanic foods, including breakfast burritos, carne asada and shrimp siu mai, still dominate a Fresh & Easy store. However, shoppers are greeted with specials as they walk through the door – After Eights are going for $2.99 a box in Manhattan Beach – as well as weekly offers, such as three apples or three pears for 98 cents. You could be forgiven for thinking that you had walked into an Aldi.

Mr Mason says: “There is a real difference between the way Fresh & Easy loyalists and secondary shoppers perceive us. The loyalists have worked out that Fresh & Easy is incredibly good value for money day-in, day-out. It’s a great deal for 52 weeks of the year. The ones who haven’t used it as much, it’s taken them longer to work that out, so we have got to use communication to accelerate that process and get them up the learning curve faster.”

The need for a change in emphasis stems from a high-profile three-month pause in the store opening programme in March. First revealed in a blog by Simon Uwins, Fresh & Easy’s marketing director, the move was taken as a clear sign that Tesco was struggling to read the market, despite years spent researching American shopping habits. The brake has also been put on a much-heralded move into Northern Californian cities, including San Francisco and Sacramento.

Mike Dennis, retail analyst at Piper Jaffray and a long-time sceptic of the Fresh & Easy story, reacted with a note questioning whether Tesco may decide to “head for the exit” and quit America, writing off £1 billion of losses and capital investment in the process.

Mr Mason reponds: “People can write what the hell they like, but my view is the best thing for us to be is prudent.

“With each of the businesses I’ve been involved in, whether it’s with Express, Extra, dot.com, Tesco Personal Finance, Fresh & Easy, you have a business plan and Tesco has a tendency to set very stretching targets. I don’t think any one of them has at first hit that plan, so what you do is adjust your original plan and adjust your original activities to bring the two back together, so ultimately you generate good returns and good returns for your shareholders.

“When something is going really well, like the store extensions in the UK, which are going phenomenally well, then you go as hard as you can.

“When things are not quite getting there, well, we slowed down our early rollout of dot.com ten years ago until we improved the operating model, as it wasn’t clear to see how you’d make money. Now if you think about how much money most people managed to lose because they didn’t do that, well I think it gives you a great insight into how Tesco manages these things.”

One look at the American media suggests that Mr Mason’s caution could be well-founded. British executives upset about the doom and gloom in newspapers on this side of the Atlantic would have turned pale at news in America last week covering housing foreclosures, credit card charges, airlines cutting routes and the financial perils faced by the country’s carmakers. In one small town east of San Francisco, 90 per cent of homeowners are in negative equity.

Mr Mason says: “The better we do, the faster we will go. If it proves to be hard yards, then we may have to go slower, but we will be opening stores all the time.

“The only difference it will make is that we become the fastest ramp-up in history – instead of absolutely the very, very fastest ramp-up in history.”

Q&A

If you could change one thing in the financial and commercial environment, what would it be?

The economic turmoil is obviously a difficult situation for everyone, but for Fresh & Easy, by offering great value and not compromising on quality, we are in a great place to offer customers a good deal

Who is or was your mentor?

There have been many influential people to me, especially at Tesco, but (Sir) Terry (Leahy), in particular, is a real mentor to me

Does money motivate you?

I’ve got seven kids, so absolutely.

Which business person do you most admire?

Not quite one person, but the Medici family of Florence

What was the most important event in your working life?

It has to be moving to LA, to start Fresh & Easy. It’s proving to be an amazing opportunity. Bringing Clubcard to the UK market comes a close second

What gadget must you have?

My BlackBerry

What does leadership mean to you?

To create a compelling vision and share it. To lead by example, motivate others and create a positive team-based culture where everyone is treated with respect

How do you relax?

Watching my kids play sports, re-learning golf and eating with my family

The bloggers’ view

“I have tried to like it. They just opened a new one in Palm Desert. With their robotic checkout stations … their stupid product selection … their employee-vacant aisles. Hmmmm … I always feel like I’ve entered some food twilight zone. Please don’t make me go back”

Jim Bob H (www.yelp.com)

“I actually like them better than Trader Joe’s. I like their prepared meals, a bit on the expensive side but very convenient. They have nothing but self-checkout, which was weird but it’s the future. At least they had someone to bag my stuff and gave me a $5 off $20 coupon”

Mr Hollywood D (www.yelp.com)

“These Fresh & Easy people are clearly lovers, dreamers, grocery store poets, obviously from Seattle or somewhere, where people still do manifest the almost Emersonian hope of locally grown fresh organic produce at prices your neighbors can afford. With a hint of tarragon”

Sandra Tsing Loh (www.scpr.org)

“The only time I would see myself shopping there is if most of the population was infected by some rage-inducing virus and I was one of few to survive and needed food”

Corazon R (www.yelp.com)

SPEAKER: Steve Meyer – Founder and CEO Mainstreet Pedicab
DATE: August 20 & 22, 2007
TOPIC: Peddling Your Way to Success – The Mainstreet Pedicab Story

Pedicabs are human-powered taxis seen in many of the major cities around the world. They work well for not only transporting people, but also for the delivery of food and merchandise.

In a world that is becoming overwhelmed with too many cars, pedicabs offer a green and sometimes romantic alternative. While they work best over short distances ranging from 2 to 10 blocks, they are fully capable of traversing much greater distances.

Steve Meyer didn’t invent the pedicab, but he is in the process of perfecting the marketplace for it. With multiple income streams and a loyal following, the pedicab industry is breaking into new territory.

Here is what it took for Steve Meyer to become one of the leading figures in the pedicab industry, and how Donald Trump had a hand in his success.

Speaker: Steve Meyer is the Founder and CEO of Mainstreet Pedicab in Broomfield and has worked most of his professional life self-employed, interspersed with periods of employment.

He attended the University of Colorado from 1972 trough 1979 getting both a BA in Environmental Biology and an MA in Economics. He spent more than a year of this time traveling in S. America, Asia, Europe and Africa.

For many years, Meyer worked in the real estate industry doing economic and market research for real estate developers. His interest in the redevelopment of downtown areas and his experiences in Asia were key factors in his development of Main Street Pedicabs. Main Street was founded in 1992 and is the largest manufacturer of this type of vehicle in N. America.