I'll admit that I'm being a little selfish here, but it REALLY bothers me when a company can buy up a successful business, run it into the ground in a short amount of time, and then ask so much money for it that most investors can't see the justification in investing in it.
Of course, I'm talking about the Bell Canoe line.
I just got done trying to send a note to them asking how this could happen, but wouldn't you know, the service is down. After this, I searched the web site for the board of directors, but no names exist. Most that run a successful company are proud of it, and aren't afraid to publish their names. There is a phone number posted, but I'm not going to waist my time talking to an answering machine. They brag about employing persons with disabilities, and this is great! I find myself hoping that the working conditions aren't sub-par, and that the wages are decent, but I also think that the people running the company did the workers an injustice by taking on a project that THEY (meaning the management) couldn't handle. All this would be much better if they'd just lick their wounds and sell the company to the highest offer. But it seems instead that they want it to just disappear, and be no more. I suppose that doing it that way bring them more government money(?)... whatever.
Originally, I'd hoped that the right persons would scoop it up and give us some more great canoes, but now I only hope that any one of the bigger canoe companies can get the rights for the great hull designs that Bell had, and build some canoes.

i'm with you on this as i'm sure lots of MN canoe lovers are.as a prime canoe tripping state we should have a healthy building industry.
all company's have there run,maybe Bell had theirs.as for the inside story on whats going on who knows.maybe a local newspaper can dig around and find out.

bad timing for one, they bought the company a little over a year before the economy went in the tank, I know canoe sales of Wenonah were down, and I suspect Bell as well during the recession

The other thing is that it's a non-profit, I guess I better say no more or I'll PO people

No sense villifying ORC. If you talk to David Yost and Charlie Wilson, two of the driving forces behind the old Bell Canoe, ORC never should have bought the company.

Reasons?

The workforce was ill suited to making canoes, which is a detail oriented quick moving process.

ORC continues to be in business making other products. It is a shame that they are not realistic in their selling price and have chosen to wait out the economy. Meanwhile Swift is capitalizing on the loss of Bell and making some fine boats again with the Yost/Wilson collaboration. ORC believes, and I think very misguidedly, that absence will make the heart grow fonder.

I don't know what ORC paid for the Bell business, but I'd bet they paid a fair amount and probably financed a large part of that. They probably still have considerable debt remaining from the purchase and may be hoping to recoup that. Otherwise they would have to repay it with cashflow from their other business if they do not sell the assets for enough to cover the debt.

Maybe it was in ORC's best interest to walk away from making canoes.

I know that the high end canoe business really took a dive during the recession, then shot way up when it got better because of pent up demand

the new management probably didn't deal with that well and could have easily made decisions exactly opposite from what it should have

imagine you train a bunch of workers, but then there are no orders
so you reassign them or let them go
then suddenly you need workers again, but they are doing something else and aren't available plus they probably need some retraining anyway
plus you have no materials, and the people you need it from were burned when the business dove earlier, they probably were paid late, if at all, or forced to take product back, not happy, and more interested in dealing with someone else

and if the guy responsible for managing the production went elsewhere, they would have nobody to give direction

a perfect storm,

ORC being a non profit company does not have to answer to stock holders. After they purchased Bell and actually started production they discovered that the level of skills required to produce high quality canoes could not be achieved with their workforce. ORC is a great employer for many workers with disabilities. Too bad a poor decision was made. The fans of Bell Canoes could organize and pool some money together and form a new company, there is probably money to be made.

If the design is superior, why don't BWCA.COM'ers organize an investment group and buy the company and run it correctly? Sounds like a good opportunity to be entrepreneurial.

quote hiawatha: "The fans of Bell Canoes could organize and pool some money together and form a new company, there is probably money to be made."

I’m pretty sure plenty of such pools have been assembled, one or more have included Ted Bell himself, the sticking point has been and still is the asking price for the company.

Not sure if this is new news or old news to anyone.

I spoke with the owner of KC Paddlers today and he informed me that sometime in 2013 there will be new Bell Canoes, Not from ORC but rather Ted Bell. Two tandem models will be available come mid 2013 and the Magic or equivalent towards the end of the year. Apparently, there are only a few retailers who will carry these new Ted Bell creations. KC Paddlers being one of the few.

Yes, my name is on the list if only to see what all the fuss is about when they come in. LOL!

quote troutdude: "Not sure if this is new news or old news to anyone.

I spoke with the owner of KC Paddlers today and he informed me that sometime in 2013 there will be new Bell Canoes, Not from ORC but rather Ted Bell. Two tandem models will be available come mid 2013 and the Magic or equivalent towards the end of the year. Apparently, there are only a few retailers who will carry these new Ted Bell creations. KC Paddlers being one of the few.

Yes, my name is on the list if only to see what all the fuss is about when they come in. LOL!
"

Word is that Ted is only making them in natural kevlar, and with no tumblehome. The color and tumblehome were two of the things that people liked about them. I'd imagine that they'll still paddle nicely though.

quote PortageKeeper: "

quote troutdude: "Not sure if this is new news or old news to anyone.

I spoke with the owner of KC Paddlers today and he informed me that sometime in 2013 there will be new Bell Canoes, Not from ORC but rather Ted Bell. Two tandem models will be available come mid 2013 and the Magic or equivalent towards the end of the year. Apparently, there are only a few retailers who will carry these new Ted Bell creations. KC Paddlers being one of the few.

Yes, my name is on the list if only to see what all the fuss is about when they come in. LOL! "

Word is that Ted is only making them in natural kevlar, and with no tumblehome. The color and tumblehome were two of the things that people liked about them. I'd imagine that they'll still paddle nicely though."

there was one on craigslist a couple of weeks ago. a tandem.

That's the boat Ted is selling directly as he gets his new business off the ground.