With things already nuts right now, one can only
imagine how it could get worse. Yet a small business in Arlington, Texas, now
has 1.7 million pounds of nuts on their hands, and they are not sure what to do
with them.
Forbes.com revealed that American Airlines, without
prior noticed, cancelled their order of 1.35 million bags of nuts from GNS
Foods, co-owned by couple Don Milroy and Kim Peacock.
The beloved pack of mixed almonds, cashews, pecans, and
pistachios has been served on their flights for over 30 years, and now, close
to one million dollars' worth of nuts will remain with GNS Foods—with no
customers for them. The company has a small retail store in front of the
manufacturing and warehouse facility and also sells nuts through their website.
However, greatnuts.com was not prepared to have to sell and ship over
1.7 million pounds of nuts separated into such small quantities.
The couple explained how some of the nuts were already toasted and even bagged up for delivery to American Airlines.
"What are we going to do with all these extra nuts, now?"
Peacock said. "Well, we're having a big sale on nuts. And we're selling more
nuts through the website and our retail store than I ever imagined we would or
could. But even at this new rate, which we know won't last past Christmas,
it'll take us a very long time to sell all the product we've been stuck with in
our warehouse."
Milroy explained how American Airlines has bought 1.35
million 20-ounce bags of mixed nuts from GNS. He predicted to top that record
this year, but Covid had other plans.
"People have been very supportive of us, and that's
wonderful," Peacock says. "Especially American employees: the flight
attendants, the flight crews, the airport staff, the headquarters staff. They
have loved our nuts for years and years, and when they heard we've been stuck
with all these nuts, they've come to help us out and to get a good deal on the
nuts they love."
But she and her husband have been disappointed in the
airline's official interactions with them. The airline has refused to
compensate by placing an ad in their communications with staff and dedicated
customers.
To make matters worse, "American attorneys sent GNS a cease-and-desist
letter, threatening action against the little nut company if it didn't stop
using American's name or symbols in its retail nut sales channels," the website
read. This forced GNS to edit their website and the thousands of bags that were
ready to be shipped to the airline.
GNS initially had to pay for all the nuts intended for
American Airlines, who stopped paying them in March. "We went four months or
more without being paid by American," Peacock said. American did end up sending
them a check in July and also promised two more payments.
"Still, we were stuck with close to $1 million in inventory
that will be very difficult for us to sell at even a break-even price, while
they still owe us half a million dollars," she said.
GNS Foods has been faced with a problem they never saw
coming. It is sad to hear that an airline loved by many handled the situation
poorly, leaving the couple with a heap of nuts and financial problems.
