>> this is "taking stock" for wednesday, may 20, 2014. i'm pimm fox. today, we have two things. today's theme is the perfect fit. plus, the business surrounding burger chain is

looking for the international bid for the for the burger. let's get headlines from su keenan. >> we have some earnings for you. numbers after the close of u.s. trading. estimates with sales coming in at $2.4 billion. bank of america is set to be dissident mentally market-making unit. this is according to two people with knowledge of the increased regulatory scrutiny. in tiffany posted profits that exceeded expectations. .

stock was up nine percent. those are the top headlines. >> thank you very much. for more on tiffany and the rest of the retail sector, i want to bring in craig johnson, the president of growth partners. also joining us. -- we were waiting for the jcpenney results to come in. we thought they would show better margins and would be able to download the business. has that happened? >> absolutely. they achieved better than expected sales. they are seeing their customers -- the results were simply spectacular. they did better when everybody else was doing worse. >> better when everybody else was doing worse? >> this is the tallest of the midgets. jcpenney had a good quarter compared to where it was at.

ist is for a company that 25% lower than it used to be. a very low bar to climb over. cannot beat if you a decrement, you are in the wrong business. >> this is a one-off situation. they have a big turnaround going on. landscape of the different sectors. stock goes up for tiffany. >> tiffany is very strong. step-by-step rss. this is a long turnaround. run.ave to crawl, walk, they will be coming up to speed. on the marketing side, that is

an improvement. >> they are opening for business. business wastheir that the upper end ranges. and we believe one of the reasons for that is buyers like the chinese and others coming here and buying tiffany as partly a currency hedge. yes, you get the great value that you are giving your wife or your girlfriend, or both. a nice item, but then there is this currency head, whether it is the yuan or yen or whatever. >> i would agree with that fluctuate -- fluctuation echo >> i agree with that as far as buyers from japan or asia. but if you look at the stock market overall, the prices are all up.

the luxury consumer has a sense of more wealth. >> we got the berberry results as well and they did very well. >> they did. and the high-end continues to do well and it is a trend we have seen for a few years. >> what does that mean for the big department store chains ike macy's? >> macy's, i would say, is aspirational luxury. they fell short on sales, which they blamed on the weather, but also being in a more promotional letter -- promotional he competitive landscape. they are doing well, but not as well as the burberry customer or the tiffany customer. >> what do you think? >> macy's has had not a very good quarter. that happened in retail. the other issue affecting not just macy's, but the entire apparel sector more broadly is that discretionary spending on

goods is softening. there is a rotation in discretionary with a distressed consumer, high utility bills in the winter, with taking the oxygen out of the room on discretionary goods. as people rotate into the nondiscretionary goods, and gasoline, other necessities. >> what do you make of target? >> target is an interesting study. they came in relatively well in a sense. to say -.3 is good -- they had tremendous problems in canada. this will be a multiyear turnaround. it is not just flipping a switch, get a new seo, and things will be better. they have to fix merchandise that has lost its shine in the last few years. they need to get a new seo -- ce o on board.

and they need someone who is combination left brain and right brain. >> i agree. target is a multiyear turnaround. and when you speak to the canadian customer, and especially target on their apparel front, the import duties that they pay to bring that apparel in prices them above the u.s. prices, which their customers recognize. they have crossed the border and shopped target. in terms of the u.s., what i found was the difference between investment and price. walmart competes and you've seen them be much more promotional in the first quarter. what does that mean for the margins in the long run? do they continue to promote at a discount to compete with walmart, which usually has the best price? >> one retail content right now you think is really working, what is it? >> the one that is still great is the warehouse costs.

costco is the one exception to everything year in and year out. you don't hear them complaining about the weather. >> like home depot did yesterday. they said sales were soft because of the weather. >> that is partially true. but the housing comeback is headed back south again. it has been very weak since last labor day. and the home improvement are still very tight to the health of the -- tied to the health of the housing market. and the real health to lowe's or home depot won't return until people return to those big ticket kitchen and back remodel items. then that industry will come back. and that won't come back until housing comes back. >> home depot, lowe's? >> quite a bit of an asterisk.

you definitely need to see a turnaround. $50,000 is a big ticket. either you are taking out a home equity line or you have savings. and for those midtier customers, that is a big rice to pay all of a sudden. >> yes, home depot's stock is down about five percent this year and those about eight percent this year. thank you for joining us. coming up next, i will introduce you to the cofounder of a shirt maker looking to get you but and using the internet. they're giving money away, literally. also, technology and how we discussed the $50 billion a year wedding industry. we are talking the latest wedding trends with bride magazine. >> luxury shirts from virginia.

how do you take an online business that is on track to make 8 million dollars in sales? and wisest man giving away money? meets the cofounder of library. tell people the story of your not so direct route of haberdashery. >> right, i was not always a business maker. i went to business school and was in the school of finance. i met partner there. we were unemployed in london with about 20,000 other people and we said, what next? we got into the clothing business, particularly shirts. the problem was we didn't know

how to make shirts at the time. fast forward, we ended up partnering with the german street taylor for about a year. we launched a business in virginia in 2009. we sold about 100,000 shirts to about 25,000 customers that first year. >> i'm curious, when you let your family know that you had decided to go into the world of learning how to make shirts, cut fabric, and make clothing, what was their initial reaction? >> they thought i was a little crazy. i think i had one or two people tell me that i should make her lap shirts, because -- burlap shirts, because that was where they thought that market was headed. but we have been able to grow through the recession. >> virginia, is there an advantage to being in virginia when starting a business like this?

>> first, there is the cost advantage over being in new york relate to but there is also the brand perspective. we are based in virginia and telling the story of who we are. we are making clothing, whether it is a dress shirt that is more english or a moleskin hunting shirt. we have a different perspective. >> what is the most popular stuff right now? >> probably the basic twill that we have right now, the gorgeous italian twill in blues and whites. they feel incredible and you can wear them all day. we come out with a new style shirt for each week. >> right, for 30 days? >> yes, and it exposes our customers to fabric they would not see anywhere else. they find what they love and they keep coming back. >> where are the shirts made? >> they are made all over.

we do a lot of production in poland. we do production in turkey, italy, and some in scotland and the u.s. >> did you learn this as you went along echo >> we did. we work with a german street anchor -- street shirt maker for about a year. we learned how to make it into a great garment. >> what are the big buyers right now? >> we are based in virginia, but we run nationally. new york is our biggest market. chicago as well, texas, done in houston. and san francisco and l.a.. >> and you are making so much money and doing so well that you decided to give away $25,000. what are you doing? >> it sounds a little crazy, but we started with a handful of friends who believed in our

business and they gave us the capital to start creating our shirts. it is now thriving. we have always said, how can we pay that forward? only for started we had a section called "meet our friends," where we tell their story. what we're doing is giving $25,000 to one deserving entrepreneur to help them get their dream of the consumer business off the ground. and we are loving it. people are applying. we will get a chance to pay something forward in a small way. >> and how can they connect if they have a dream? >> they can apply for the next four days during application timeframe at our webpage le dbury.com. we are having a great time with it. and we will make a small

difference in one entrepreneurs life. >> fast-forward for five years, how would you like people to describe ledbury? >> that we sell lots of great shirts, but more important, that we are a great business. we can sell shirts, created good business, and create some other small businesses along the way. >> keep us up to date on who gets the $25,000. >> definitely. >> the chief executive and cofounder of ledbury. coming up, you will meet the chief executive of the blood -- taboula. they want you to clicked and clicked and clicked and they need your help. ♪

>> millions of eyeballs every millions of people's eyeballs reading articles everyday. what are the links at the bottom of the story? who are "they"? one of them is tabula. we are joined now by the chief executive. how do you explain to people the position on the screen so they understand what you're talking about when you are talking about

tabula? >> similar to buying content on amazon, we do that. several years ago, i saw people looking for content and content looking for people. that is where we need help to find things in real life. we need assistance. >> how do you build those things behind the scenes to make those connections? >> we started with 130 billion recommendations a month, recommending to 70% of this country, which means that two out of three people you see on the street are interacting. we found a way to look at the relationship between people and objects, articles, videos,

images. >> how do you bring that to the world of advertising and serving us the right kind of information? >> there is a major transition in the industry. it is half $1 trillion built into $120 billion in advertising. people are less and less clicking on banners and pictures and more on social like facebook. people are consuming content from their mobile. with things like candy crush, facebook, twitter. what are we supposed to do next? we collect the signal and the direct content throughout the day and every 15 minutes, we find a relationship between those items. >> i want to pick up on one of

the words that you use, the signal. it is almost like you're able to take the electronic pulse rate of each individual viewer as they migrate through the pages of the internet. if that kind of what the system will allow you to do? >> yes, most companies that are doing targeting in this dimension have 20 to 40 sensors that target consumers with different types of ads. we found a way within our company to invent a sort of blender, a device that will connect more than 1000 signals in real-time. and then we look at everything we've connected and we find those relationships. that is why it is very efficient and it teaches itself to get better every moment that people are consuming content. >> and a lot of your previous experience connects with us.

you were in the israeli defense force and one of the top engineers. >> yes, we were tasked -- this was my first job after seven years as an officer of intelligence in the israeli army. we were tasked with an interesting and challenging security task with a small amount of resources. it was a combination of a lot of data, a lot of applied mathematics and computer science. i met amazing people and many of them are still at taboola right now. >> what about competition? how do you combat that? >> it is a huge space. we are happy that other companies in this space are going in. it will only get more exciting.

>> thank you very much, adam singolda, the chief executive of taboola. coming up, people spend 50 billion dollars a year on weddings in the united states. do they spend it intelligently? we will find out. ♪ >> this is "taking stock" on

bloomberg and i'm pimm fox. now for the headlines with su keenan. >> chinese president she's you be -- the chinese president has agreed on a $400 billion natural gas deal with russia. it gives moscow and economic boost at a time when washington and the european union have imposed sanctions against russia. and general motors is said to be overhauling its legal

department. this comes after the latest recall yesterday. g.m. says it wants the latest information about defects shared more quickly between departments. and finally, president obama says he can appreciate a team overcoming long odds. he welcomed the seattle seahawks to the white house today. he says he roots for the underdog. pim, back to you. >> thank you very much. money may not guarantee happiness, but it helps. at least $51 billion a year says it does. it employs more than 800,000 people in the bridal and wedding industry. it is approximately the cost of a ford mustang, on average, $27,000. we are joined by kia minor and

the executive of a website called new wish. glad to have you both here. when it comes to brides and weddings, give us an overview about who spends, why did they spend, and how much? >> it is not about parents paying for your wedding anymore. we are seeing that they really want to customize their day. and that is where technology and new developments come into play, and all of the apps out there that are helping couples land the wedding they want. >> because she mentioned the word technology, that is a great segue for you to describe exactly what you do and you came to the federal reserve to do this. >> i did. that was my previous life. >> you left the fed to go into the wedding business?

are people surprised? >> i spent several years at the fed and i went back to grad school. i happened to be engaged at the time. that is how new wish was born. it was following my own experience with my own wedding registry. particularly the fact that we were not able to get into some of our favorite brick-and-mortar shops. after doing a lot of research, i realized i was not alone. in fact, generation y accounts for about 70% of weddings today. this is new and emerging technology. this is also an audience that creates choice, convenience, and personalization. it is every aspect of the wedding, and registry is no different. with this cohort in mind, we

created newly wish, which helps couples get beyond the conventional sources and allows them to tap into boutiques, brands, artisans all over the country and allows them to add all of the costs in one place. it also allows them to personalize gifts, anything from dance lessons to art to feed to wine -- to food to wine. >> you mentioned apps in the industry. give us an idea of some of the more popular ones. >> there are so many. we talk about this all the time, that you can plan your entire wedding from your desk if you want to. and we know that our budget tracking tool is so popular. two out of three couples do use some sort of online device to budget.

and 30% actually go over budget. perhaps they are those that are not using it to track their finances. in addition to that, you can actually shop for your wedding dress or bridesmaids dresses through a website called wedding connect. nowadays, brides and bridesmaids could be spread out throughout the country and it's difficult to shop for the dresses. and the dresses that the bride likes, she can pull up more than 100 dresses, make a selection, put them in a virtual dressing room and her bridesmaids can logon and vogue a ornate for those that she likes -- and vote yay or nay for those that she likes. all of the bridesmaids can comment on what she likes. it is a much more streamlined way. >> amanda, a little bit more on this idea of budgets and how much things cost. do you find there is a way to set a budget and then say, i

will draw down just as you would draw down from a bank account so you can actually meet the goal of getting married and still being solvent at the same time? >> the wedding registries probably the one thing you are not paying for. and besides your self, it is the one thing you will have long after your wedding. it is not something in my world that you have to budget for. being very conscious of having a consumable price link for the quick something for everybody. >> something where everyone can contribute. >> the cost of weddings is not just limited to the wedding itself, but also the travel, the hotel, the hospitality involved. how is that connected to the demand that people have in organizing a party? how many people showed up on time? is there an invitation? is there an integrated approach? >> there definitely is. there is something that takes the wedding website a step

further, where a couple can develop an app that their guests can download and have all the details of the wedding, or wedding weekend more likely, right at their fingertips. they know they need to be at the clambake the night before the actual wedding, then they will have those details on their phone. >> newly wish not only has the traditional types of registry gets, but experiences. tell us about the more extraordinary experiences. >> what is hot right now really are the experiences. especially with those couples that may have known each other and been together for years. there are cooking experiences, museum memberships, and then

also contributing to honeymoon activities. it was not common practice five to 10 years ago. >> as far as using all of this great technology, is there any way to track what is successful and what is not? in other words, how do you rate those experiences? >> we test them and we get a lot of feedback from our audience based on social media. we throw a question out there and people tell us in a heartbeat whether something is working for them or not. we are constantly trying to identify a better pool for our audience to stream in the process for them and we get feedback on that. >> thank you both very much. coming up, i will speak with a burger executive on the company's 2000 calorie burger.

expanding the burger brand beyond the united states. later on, look inside the life of a bartender in what are new york's hottest cocktail bars. ♪

>> according to a recent research report, fast casual restaurant sales grew by about 11% in 2013. one company that has capitalized on this trend is called the way back burger. they are in 24 states and 30 different countries. i am joined now by way back burger's executive vice president. give us an example -- the story. >> we started many years ago and

had an indication that it could be multipliable. >> and now has expanded to 24 states in the united states. but your overseas expansion, how did that begin? >> it began because one of our customers that visited the u.s. quite often fell in love with the burger and met with us. he came to our offices and went back to the middle east and decided they wanted to have a branch of their multinational type company in the food and beverage business. we finally worked out the details and we are now in 28 countries in the middle east and north africa. >> let's go some of the -- through some of the country. i've noticed you have signed agreements in places like egypt, as well as turkey -- >> algeria. >> saudi arabia. >> iraq, iran. >> what was the biggest

challenge starting it up in iraq? >> perception. the company that helped us start up was really familiar with the country and very assuring that we would be able to bring burgers into countries like these. >> how do you supply your restaurants? do you have international distribution? >> we do. it is a small world. we have food branches of our offices throughout the world. the challenge is fresh beef. we have solved that issue. there are many countries nearby that do a lot of exporting of fresh beef. other than that, proprietary buns and other ingredients. >> are you going to pursue other

agreement? >> absolutely. we are pursuing mexico and canada. it seems to be a very interesting area where people want to get involved in american brands in these countries. the key for us and the one thing we bring to the table is you have to love our product. we invite them to the u.s. and they spend a couple of days with us. we get to know them. and when you have a master franchise, you are giving your brand to another entity or individual, so you want to make sure they take care of it. >> is there a fundamental difference in franchising outside the u.s. aced on the way this done traditionally? >> absolutely. here in the u.s., it is more of a one or two or three store process. individuals that may be out of work or looking for a career change and always wanted to be in the burger business. maybe they worked at a burger place in college. in the international market, we are dealing with a lot of

companies that have a lot of different divisions and are well capitalized. that is the difference. >> tell us about the link this mountain of a hamburger. >> are you referring to the triple triple? >> yes. >> that started out as a single store challenge by a franchisee, and through youtube and social media has morphed into a national campaign right now. there is a contest for who can eat it the quickest. i think we are down to 32 seconds for the person to eat that burger. it has been in our face for the last couple of months. >> is that also with international franchisees? is that part of the whole brand they are trying to bring to their customers? >> absolutely. they like anything americana, anything over-the-top the top. the bigger, the better. >> can you give us an idea of the total chain sales right now?

>> $30 million here in the u.s. >> and you would like to grow that to any particular level? >> we take it day by day. we do not have a set number out there. we grow our business every day. one of the attractive features to our business is that we request that the customers love the product. >> right. >> and the best way to do that is to get your employees to engage, communicate, call the customers by name. that is how we do it, and we build it that way. >> did you have to build a restaurant menu to suit each particular market? >> we do. in certain countries, we have to alter the menu. that has always been the biggest challenge. but we have done that in the u.s. in certain regions as well. it is something we are accustomed to doing. >> thank you very much. coming up, you will meet a new york city bartender who keeps track of how to make

historically accurate cocktails for all of her wall street clientele. ♪

>> this is "taking stock" on bloomberg. i'm pimm fox. nobody ever said bartending is easy. i don't know, maybe they did. imagine trying to keep track of a dozen cocktail recipes from the 19th century. she doesn't have to imagine. she is a are tender at the dead rabbit in the financial district. she is here to tell us about the business of being a bartender, but also a certain kind of cocktail. how do you go and become a bartender? how does that become a career? >> for me, it was because of the recession. i lost my job and i needed to pay rent. i had bartended in college and i said i would love to do it

efficiently when i got a job. i loved the interaction. i loved all of the bottles behind the shelf and i thought, i could make a career out of this. when i started to make that jump, i saw how lucrative a career he can be and how wonderful the community really is. >> talk about the community at the dead rabbit, because that is a particular bar with a post together -- a particular philosophy. >> it is a family, honestly. working there is quite a dream. we focus on craft cocktails. we look at the initial cocktails from pre-prohibition ages and give them a modern tweak. >> i noticed that one of the first things that can happen at the dead rabbit is that people can be introduced to a punch that has alcohol or some kind of flavoring to it. who came up with that idea and what does that do for the

atmosphere? >> one of the owners, his idea was that we need go to a restaurant, you get a little treat with your meal. why can't you do that when you come to a cocktail bar? when you sit at the bar and you get a little teacup of one of our punches. it is a great way to start off the day. and we make a lot of tea. >> let's talk about one of the ingredients that we know is behind every bar. that has to do with vodka. and you are the brand ambassador for american harvest. >> i work with a wonderful company. i love the vodka category. sometimes in the cocktail community can get a bad rap. it is very versatile. >> and you also are the president of the new york chapter of the bartenders guild. you have your professional pin. >> yes.

>> what you do to become the president of the bartenders guild? >> you have to be elected. we have 3000 members strong over 41 chapters across the country. a wonderful organization with bartenders across the country, and even globally with other organizations that work with us. it is wonderful to be part of something that represent something you are passionate about. >> and it means other people have to like the way you are preparing drinks, right? >> yes, everybody brings a lot of creativity to the table and there is an exchange of ideas and networking. >> you brought some recipes with you today. could you describe some of the ingredients that go into these historical cocktails? >> what we prepared today am i wanted to show you the american harvest drink. this is the winter wheat. it goes really well for infusions. these are the best way to make a great cocktail at home.

flavored vodkas are one thing, but making your own flavored vodka with less sugar and more creativity -- and it looks beautiful. i used rhubarb today, cherry, and ginger. and the best thing to do is to put them into a mason jar. you can add whatever flavor you want, whether it be herbs or fruit or spice. keep it in a dark place and turn it not vigorously, but thoroughly three times a day. before you go to work, when you get home from work, and before you go to bed. >> for how long? >> about two to five days and then you are done. and then you can make a punch. >> what is that one called? >> i call it the afternoon barbecue punch. it is an all-american based on. all of being redeemed.

we are using local cherries that we have infused into our american harvest vodka. we are using ginger lacour that comes from brooklyn. and then a little bit of cider and lemon juice and honey. it is easy and refreshing. >> what would you like to see more of in your business? >> i would like to see more young adults coming into the career, into the bar as a career. it's wonderful to see hungry and ambitious people. i think it is a great place to be in. >> i want to thank you for sharing your story. bartender at dead rabbit and president of the new york bartenders guild. coming up, priced at nearly 94 million shares, 19 million -- $19 a share.

thanks for "taking stock" and i'm pimm fox. good night. ♪