Pacheco Retail Insights: Unraveling the Power of Data-driven Decision Making

As the retail industry continues to evolve, it becomes increasingly critical for businesses to harness the power of data and analytics to stay competitive. This article will explore the concept of data-driven decision-making, with a focus on the innovative Pacheco Retail Insights system. We will also discuss the importance of data in the retail landscape, the benefits of using Pacheco Retail Insights, and how this powerful tool can help you transform your retail business like never before.

Table of Contents

  1. The Importance of Data in Retail
  2. Pacheco Retail Insights: An Overview
  3. Benefits of Using Pacheco Retail Insights
  4. How Pacheco Retail Insights Works
  5. The Future of Data-driven Decision Making

The Importance of Data in Retail

With the rapid growth of the retail industry and increasing competition among businesses, the need for data-driven decision-making has never been more crucial. By leveraging data and analytics, retailers can:

  • Optimize inventory management: Accurately forecasting demand allows retailers to maintain the right amount of inventory, reducing stock-outs and overstock situations that negatively impact customer satisfaction and profitability.
  • Invest in the right marketing channels: By analyzing customer behavior and preferences, retailers can determine the most effective marketing channels to invest in and craft personalized offers for a targeted audience, leading to increased sales and customer loyalty.
  • Streamline store operations: Data analysis can identify inefficiencies in store operations, enabling retailers to address them and improve overall performance.
  • Make better strategic decisions: When retailers have access to comprehensive and accurate data, they can make informed decisions on store locations, pricing strategies, and other critical aspects of their business.

In summary, data-driven decision-making is essential for retailers to remain competitive and agile in an ever-changing landscape. To tap into the power of data, businesses need a reliable and powerful analytics solution, such as Pacheco Retail Insights.

Pacheco Retail Insights: An Overview

Pacheco Retail Insights is a cutting-edge, data-driven decision-making platform designed specifically for retail businesses. The robust solution delivers actionable insights on various aspects of retail operations, enabling businesses to make informed decisions that drive growth and profitability. Pacheco Retail Insights offers the following key features:

  • Real-time data: Pacheco Retail Insights provides access to real-time data from multiple sources, such as customer transactions, inventory levels, and customer feedback. This insight enables retailers to make quick, data-driven decisions that directly impact business performance.
  • Advanced analytics: The platform includes advanced analytics tools, such as predictive modeling and machine learning algorithms, to help retailers uncover hidden patterns and trends in their data. These insights can be used to make strategic decisions and optimize retail operations.
  • Customizable dashboards: Pacheco Retail Insights allows users to create custom dashboards that display key performance indicators (KPIs) and other relevant metrics, providing a high-level view of business performance.
  • Seamless integration: The platform easily integrates with existing retail systems, including point-of-sale (POS) systems, e-commerce platforms, and inventory management software, allowing for seamless data flow and ensuring data accuracy.

Overall, Pacheco Retail Insights is a powerful tool that can help retailers transform their business through data-driven decision-making.

Benefits of Using Pacheco Retail Insights

By leveraging the power of Pacheco Retail Insights, retail businesses can enjoy a wide range of benefits, including:

  1. Improved operational efficiency: With access to real-time data and insights, retailers can quickly identify and address inefficiencies in their operations, leading to cost savings and overall improvements in performance.
  2. Increased profitability: By making data-driven decisions on pricing, inventory management, and marketing campaigns, retailers can optimize their strategies to boost sales and profitability.
  3. Better customer experiences: Understanding customer behavior and preferences through data analysis allows retailers to customize their offerings and improve customer satisfaction, leading to increased loyalty and repeat business.
  4. Competitive advantage: Retailers who leverage data-driven decision-making can stay ahead of their competitors by quickly adapting to market trends and continuously optimizing their operations.

In conclusion, the adoption of Pacheco Retail Insights can lead to significant improvements in performance, profitability, and competitive positioning, making it a must-have tool for retail businesses.

How Pacheco Retail Insights Works

Implementing Pacheco Retail Insights in your retail business involves the following steps:

1. Data integration

First, the platform integrates with your existing retail systems, such as POS systems, e-commerce platforms, and inventory management software, gathering data from various sources in real-time. This enables the system to provide accurate, comprehensive insights on your retail operations.

2. Data preparation

Next, Pacheco Retail Insights cleans and preprocesses the gathered data, ensuring its accuracy and consistency. This step involves removing duplicates, filling in missing values, and standardizing data formats to ensure seamless analysis.

3. Data analysis

Using advanced analytics algorithms and machine learning techniques, the platform uncovers hidden patterns and trends in the data, providing you with actionable insights to optimize retail operations and make better strategic decisions.

4. Interpretation and action

Pacheco Retail Insights translates complex analytical findings into easy-to-understand insights by visualizing the data in customizable dashboards. With these insights, you can make informed, data-driven decisions that directly impact your retail business’s growth and profitability.

The Future of Data-driven Decision Making

As technology and the retail landscape continually evolve, the importance of data-driven decision-making is expected to grow exponentially. By embracing Pacheco Retail Insights and harnessing the power of data, retail businesses can stay ahead of the curve and drive long-term success. Some potential future developments in data-driven decision-making include:

  • Adoption of artificial intelligence and machine learning: As AI and machine learning algorithms become more sophisticated, their application in retail analytics will likely grow, providing even deeper insights into customer behavior, inventory management, and other critical aspects of retail operations.
  • Integration with Internet of Things (IoT) devices: As the adoption of IoT devices in retail spaces grows, the ability to capture and analyze data from these devices will further enhance retailers’ decision-making capabilities.
  • Increased emphasis on data privacy and security: As data becomes more critical in retail decision-making, the importance of protecting customer information and maintaining data privacy will also increase, leading to greater investment in cybersecurity measures.

In conclusion, the future of data-driven decision-making in retail is bright, with continued advancements in technology and analytics promising to revolutionize the industry. By staying ahead of these trends and embracing Pacheco Retail Insights, retail businesses can ensure their continued success in an increasingly competitive landscape.

The Rebirth of Campesinado in Mexico – resilience

Ed. note: This piece originally appeared in Spanish in La Jornada, April 25, 2023. The English translation is by Jane K. Brundage.

I discovered the campesino world in the years 1970-71, while in charge of the Tropical Biology Station of the UNAM [National Autonomous University of Mexico], in Los Tuxtlas, Veracruz.

At the age of 25, I organized two field courses in the surrounding ejidos. It was an act of academic transgression in which we analyzed the role played by campesino communities engaged with their jungle environment. Our first course was about traditional knowledge of jungle plants and animals.

VME Note (by Jane K. Brundage, translator): 

The standard translation of campesinado is peasantry, which completely ignores the cultural context. To establish that context, we turn first to el campo, the countryside, then to the campesino — a person linked to el campo where crops are grown. Before the Spanish arrived, campesinos were highly esteemed as stewards of the land responsible for producing the community’s life-sustaining foods. Campesino is often translated as peasant, which derives from Northern European culture and is  indifferent to the cultural context of the Mexican Spanish word. For these reasons, we have chosen to retain the original Spanish terms. Mexico has two forms of indigenous land ownership: communities and ejidos. In both forms, the lands are owned and worked collectively. Communal lands were granted (back) to indigenous communities by the Spanish king after the Conquest. Ejidos developed as the government’s response to the strident demands for land reform made by campesinos who had fought in the Mexican Revolution (1910-1917). To satisfy those demands, the government expropriated lands from large landholders and awarded them to indigenous communities.

That experience was the ignition point for the development, decades later, of the new fields of rural metabolism and ethnoecology, now recognized worldwide. Above all, it radically changed my way of looking at the world. To the young middle-class man from Mexico City, a shy inhabitant of the Narvarte neighborhood, was revealed a universe full of unknown values of natural women and men that today are defined under the concept of communality.

This revelation not only allowed me to assess the enormous significance of the 1910-17 Revolution as a re-campesination and reindianization of the country, but also committed me forever to the defense of that world, which I consider the nation’s civilizing and spiritual reserve. New studies along these lines followed in Uxpanapa, the Lake Pátzcuaro Basin, Totonacapán, the Lacandona jungle, the Purhépecha Meseta | Mesa, the northern Sierra of Puebla, the Tehuacán Valley, and many others.

In 1992 we made fierce criticisms of Carlos Salinas de Gortari’s anti-campesino, mercantilist, and privatizing reforms in the Unomásuno [One-plus-one] newspaper and other forums. During the long neoliberal night of more than three decades, the ejidos and indigenous communities resisted in a thousand ways the predatory attacks of capital and the State, creating hundreds of organizations at community, municipal and regional levels for the defense of the territories, communal practices and rural culture.

With the government of the 4T, a radical change in favor of campesinos took place on four fronts:

After four years, all these government actions have fostered an atmosphere of hope and recovery of community values. The response has been faster than expected: dozens of regional and state assemblies culminated in the National Agrarian Convention on April 10 in Mexico City, which brought together 5,000 communal and communal authorities from 20 states, and whose manifesto, the recovered campesino voice, reverberates again a century later.

I conclude with a few paragraphs from the manifesto:

“Faced with such a situation…, we have organized the diverse campesino proposals in order to analyze them, agree on them and subscribe to them in this first National Agrarian Convention, which takes place precisely on the 104th anniversary of the assassination of General Emiliano Zapata. We have convened, on this emblematic date and in the country’s capital, to raise the Zapatista flag, and put forth a new agrarianism that recognizes the contribution of the campo to the country’s history, economy, culture, and sovereignty.

“May it translate into public policies that effectively promote food sovereignty, bring well-being to rural residents and preserve natural resources. Under the banner of New Agrarianism, we reclaim the campesinado as an indispensable participant in the country´s development, and restore the agrarian nuclei and their representative bodies as guardians of the social property of the land and territories”.

Teaser photo credit: Ejido in Cuauhtémoc. By Eduardo Robles Pacheco from Tapachula, Chiapas., México – En el ejido Cuauhtémoc (28), CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=38271769

Tech Branding Uncovered: Transforming IT Companies into Industry Giants

In today’s highly competitive technology industry, developing a strong brand identity is crucial to differentiate your IT company from the competition and establish your expertise within the sector. This article will delve deep into the world of tech branding, examining every aspect of the process from initial strategy to implementation, in order to help you transform your technology company into an industry giant.

Table of Contents:

  1. Developing a Comprehensive Branding Strategy
  2. Identifying Your Core Offerings
  3. Effective Brand Communication
  4. Creating a Consistent Visual Identity
  5. Crafting Compelling Content
  6. Storytelling: Positioning Your Brand
  7. Developing Partnerships
  8. Enhancing Customer Experience
  9. Measurement and Optimization

Developing a Comprehensive Branding Strategy

A successful tech branding campaign starts with a solid strategy. Begin by defining your company’s unique selling points (USPs), target audience, and overarching goals. Take the following steps to develop a strong foundation:

  1. Analyzing the market: Research your competition and identify areas where you can differentiate your brand.
  2. Setting objectives: Define measurable goals for your branding efforts in alignment with your overall business objectives.
  3. Target audience profiling: Develop a clear understanding of your ideal customer by defining their demographics, motivations, and preferred channels of communication.
  4. Creating a brand positioning statement: Craft a clear and concise statement that embodies your brand’s unique value proposition and sets you apart from the competition.

Identifying Your Core Offerings

Next, focus on your company’s core offerings – the products and services that set you apart from the competition. Use these offerings to build brand awareness and credibility. To accomplish this, consider the following:

  • Highlight the features and benefits that make your products or services unique.
  • Create compelling case studies to showcase the real-world success of your offerings.
  • Offer free trials or demos to entice potential clients to experience your offerings firsthand.
  • Emphasize your commitment to innovation, cutting-edge technology, and industry expertise.

Effective Brand Communication

Clear communication of your brand’s value proposition is key to building a strong brand identity. Consider the following tactics to ensure effective brand communication:

  1. Developing a brand voice: Establish a consistent tone of voice that reflects your brand’s personality and values. This can be authoritative, informative, or even playful, depending on your target audience and industry.
  2. Using clear, concise language: Communicate your brand’s value proposition in a way that is easy to understand, without relying on jargon or technical terminology, which may alienate some potential customers.
  3. Designing for readability: Consider how the design of your marketing materials reflects your brand’s values and supports your communication goals. This includes typography, colors, and overall design aesthetics.

Creating a Consistent Visual Identity

A cohesive visual identity is essential in creating a memorable brand that resonates with your target audience. To create a consistent visual identity, take the following steps:

  1. Developing a brand logo: Design a distinctive logo that reflects your brand’s identity and values. Ensure that it is versatile enough to be used across various platforms and in various sizes.
  2. Defining a color palette: Select a color scheme that supports your brand’s messaging and stands out from competitors.
  3. Consistent typography: Choose typography that complements your logo and aligns with your brand’s voice and values.
  4. Creating visual guidelines: Develop a style guide that outlines how your logo, colors, and typography should be used across various marketing materials and platforms.

Crafting Compelling Content

High-quality content not only promotes your brand, but it also engages your target audience and helps establish your company as an industry leader. To create exceptional content, consider the following:

  • Write informative blog posts that demonstrate your expertise and offer valuable insights to your audience.
  • Produce case studies and whitepapers to highlight the success of your products and services.
  • Host webinars or podcasts that discuss industry trends and showcase your thought leadership.
  • Develop video content that demonstrates your products or services in action and provides testimonials from satisfied clients.

Storytelling: Positioning Your Brand

A strong brand narrative allows you to establish an emotional connection with your audience and forge long-lasting relationships. To create a compelling brand story, consider the following:

  1. Identifying your brand’s story: Determine the core narrative that encapsulates your brand’s journey, mission, and values.
  2. Integrating storytelling elements: Incorporate storytelling techniques, such as conflict, resolution, and relatable characters, into your marketing to make your brand narrative engaging.
  3. Highlighting your brand’s purpose: Communicate how your brand impacts the lives of your customers and the world at large, beyond just providing a product or service.

Developing Partnerships

Collaborations with other brands or industry influencers can amplify your brand visibility and strengthen your credibility. To forge successful partnerships, consider the following tactics:

  • Seek opportunities to co-create content, such as joint blog posts or webinars with industry influencers.
  • Explore mutually beneficial partnerships with complementary brands to increase exposure and offer added value to your customers.
  • Leverage user-generated content, such as testimonials, reviews, or social media posts, to boost brand credibility.

Enhancing Customer Experience

A seamless and exceptional customer experience is vital to creating and maintaining brand loyalty. Implement these strategies to improve your customer experience:

  1. Resolving issues proactively: Monitor customer interactions to identify potential issues before they become major problems.
  2. Providing support channels: Offer multiple channels for customers to reach out to your support team, such as chat, email, or phone.
  3. Investing in employee training: Ensure your customer support team is well-trained and knowledgeable about your products or services, enabling them to resolve issues quickly and effectively.

Measurement and Optimization

Finally, measure the effectiveness of your branding efforts and tweak your strategies as needed. Here are some methods to evaluate your branding performance:

  1. Tracking KPIs: Establish key performance indicators (KPIs) related to your branding objectives, such as website traffic, social media engagement, or lead generation.
  2. Conducting surveys: Gather feedback directly from customers through surveys or interviews to gain insights into their perceptions of your brand.
  3. Monitoring social media sentiment: Use social listening tools to track conversations about your brand, as well as competitors, to better understand consumer sentiment.
  4. Adopting an agile approach: Continuously refine your branding strategies based on insights and performance data to optimize your efforts and deliver the best results.

By implementing these proven strategies, your IT company can develop a strong brand identity that resonates with your target audience, ultimately transforming your organization into an industry giant. Stay ahead of the competition and achieve long-term success through robust tech branding!

A New Era for Tourism in the Dominican Republic

by Valentín Fuentes
Last updated: 1:55 PM ET, Tue May 9, 2023

Punta Cana recently celebrated the Dominican Annual Tourism Exchange (DATE) 2023, the most important tourism fair of this attractive Caribbean island destination promoted by the Association of Hotels and Tourism of the Dominican Republic (ASONAHORES).

Leading the meeting, David Collado, the country’s Minister of Tourism, said that between January and March, the Dominican Republic received 2.8 million tourists, confirming the industry’s boom, which, according to the Dominican Central Bank, represents 25 percent of the nation’s economy.

Before key hoteliers, travel agencies, tour operators, and service providers of the tourism industry, Collado said that the Dominican Republic had become an international benchmark in the sector with the arrival, in 2022, of more than 8.5 million tourists, of which 7.1 million visited by air.

“Never before in history has our country surpassed 6.5 million tourists by air. The dream of the Dominican Republic is to reach 10 million tourists, and it will be a reality because we are planning to reach 9.8 million,” he said.

From the point of view of sustainable tourism, he assured that the Dominican Republic increasingly seeks to be a more environmentally friendly destination by implementing a vital resolution with which hotels will gradually eliminate the use of plastics. Another of the country’s key strategies is to reduce the price of air tickets with the signing of the Open Skies Treaty with the United States.

Dominican Annual Tourism Exchange (DATE) 2023. (Photo Credit: Valentin Fuentes)

“We already had meetings with the State Department, and we hope that a delegation from the United States will come to the Dominican Republic to finalize this issue. The United States is our top tourist-sending nation.” He announced that the Dominican Republic had increased by more than 10 percent in terms of American tourists in the first quarter of the year compared to 2019.

“We are also evaluating the reduction of the tax on airplane fuel and the fuel price. This will be effective over the next month because of the European market, which is very important in summer tourism, and we need to see how we lower costs for airlines for long-haul flights,” Collado said. Indeed, it is important to note that Salim Arkuch, Vice President of Expedia Group for Latin America and the Caribbean, recognized the Dominican Republic as the number one producer in the Caribbean.

In addition, he reported that the Dominican Republic is leading specific meetings to seek a solution to the sargassum problem that affects Caribbean beaches. To that end, $6 million has been invested, of which $1 million has been sent to various universities for research. Along with this investment, he said that the Inter-American Development Bank supports 90 million dollars for the restoration of the Colonial City (Santo Domingo), which includes churches, neighborhoods, streets, and emblematic places of the Dominican Republic’s culture.

“This transformation includes art, fashion, and gastronomy. We will leave the Colonial City as a polished jewel because it is a treasure and heritage of humanity,” said the Minister of Tourism. In addition to this initiative, the government is promoting a project to improve beaches through a heavy investment focused on ending prostitution and abuse of young people.

According to Collado, security is one of the top priorities on the agenda; that’s why the Dominican Republic is investing more than $3 million to strengthen the tourist police. “In December, when more than 1 million tourists arrived by air and by cruise, we didn’t have a single incident to regret; and the same happened in Easter Week.”

Meanwhile, Andrés Marranzini, Vice President of ASONAHORES, said, in an exclusive interview with TravelPulse, that the Dominican Republic has already fully recovered the number of visitors, and now the challenge is to resume the agenda of improvements in terms of sustainability, in addition to other practices that developed before the pandemic.

“We are going to implement the Zero Plastic program throughout the Dominican Republic, and also, we are now reincorporating the agenda into programs for washing and reusing towels, optimizing refrigeration and the liquids used in their processes,” he said.

Andrés Marranzini, VP of ASONAHORES, announced that Dominican Republic will implement the Zero Plastic Program. (Photo Credit: Valentin Fuentes)

He also stressed that thanks to the implementation of the e-ticket, it has been possible to collect critical statistical information for the benefit of travel agencies. “With the e-ticket, we have found precious information, such as the type of passenger, their companions, the hotel they are looking for, etc. All this helps us to be much more efficient in optimizing resources and finding partners such as travel agents.”

He told TravelPulse that in the next 20 months, the Dominican Republic is projecting between 2,000 and 3,000 rooms in different destinations which new tour operators with booking capabilities, agent distribution and marketing, will help fill these rooms. He also said that the average stay of customers is seven days with an average expenditure of $100. Moreover, he assured that the Dominican Republic has recently focused on tourists from the East of the United States interested in activities such as culture, golf, sustainability and social work.

Another of the most relevant participants of DATE 2023 was Víctor Pacheco, CEO of Arajet, a low-cost airline based in Santo Domingo, which operates a network of 17 destinations in 11 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. 

Víctor Pacheco, CEO of Arajet, said that their flights are focused on democratizing travel in the Americas. (Photo Credit: Valentin Fuentes)

“The idea is to establish our hub in Santo Domingo to connect these destinations with Mexico City, Cancun, Guatemala, San Salvador, San José, Barranquilla, Cartagena, Cali, Medellín, Bogotá, Quito, Guayaquil, Lima, Aruba, Caracas, San Martin and Jamaica; as well as expanding to Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia and Uruguay.”

In addition, he said that they have recently applied to fly to New York City, Florida and Puerto Rico, with Santo Domingo serving as a hub when adding those routes. 

He noted that Arajet is committed to fuel-efficient operations with state-of-the-art sustainable aircraft. “When we started 2022, the company made a big effort with MAX 737 aircraft because we believe in sustainability, so now we have the youngest fleet of sustainable aircraft throughout the region,” said Pacheco, and he said that this allows them to offer the best cost per kilometer.

He reported that, with its 17 routes and 42 new connections, Arajet has made more than 2,500 flights and transported more than 180,000 passengers. “We have travel agencies and tour operators as partners. Those interested can send us an email to make a customized plan for them; we have a list of about 300 partners with direct access to our website, and we want more,” said Pacheco.

For this year, Ajaret plans to open 10 new routes, in addition to doubling its fleet to close the year with 10 aircraft equipped to operate with a 14 percent fuel reduction over the most efficient single-aisle aircraft, plus a 50 percent reduction compared to other aircraft. “For now, our flights are focused on the Americas with the idea of democratizing travel in the region. By the end of our five-year plan, we will have to operate 54 destinations in America with a fleet of about 25 aircraft,” says the Arajet CEO.

Finally, he stressed that, as part of the company’s social responsibility program, the Pilot for a Day initiative has been created (with volunteers from Arajet) that consists of students from various schools in low-income areas, cohabiting with pilots, flight attendants, mechanics, and technicians to learn and planting development possibilities “so that children can aspire to reach such worthy dreams.”

With the Pilot for a Day Program, students from low-income schools learn with pilots and staff of Arajet. (Photo Credit: Valentin Fuentes)

ASONAHORES, with the support of the Ministry of Tourism of the Dominican Republic, created DATE in 2000 to highlight the Dominican tourism product by offering a commercial exchange for international wholesalers, tour operators, incentive groups, airlines, and charter operators to generate business with the most crucial tourist suppliers of the Dominican Republic.

Topics From This Article to Explore

Turtle Mountain prepares to move its brewery next door to North taproom

The spacious new space that will soon house Turtle Mountain’s brewing system. They’ll have to find a new place to paint little green trash cans.

After having talked about it for a while now, Turtle Mountain Brewing is preparing to make a big and necessary move.

No, not a new taproom or anything like that. Instead, the brewhouse and beer tanks will soon be loaded up onto trucks and moved from the original location off Southern Blvd. to the space next door to the North taproom off Enchanted Hills Blvd.

I made an unplanned stop at TMBC North after giving another Brew Crew member a ride to his job, which turned out to be just up the street. In a rare stroke of good timing, I caught up with North’s general manager, Adam Galarneau, when he wasn’t too busy.

After a bite and a pint, we went next door to the space just to the east of the taproom.

A mix of new tanks, which are currently horizontal, and used tanks from other breweries will be joined by the equipment currently in use at the original location.

“I’m glad we’re moving it up here,” Galarneau said. “It’s just too small (of a space at the original) for what we’re doing with both locations, and then with this Top of the Block opening up, and we’re going to be doing beer and spirits for over there. There was no way.”

The entire building that the taproom occupies is 15,000 square feet, and roughly a third of that will be available for brewing. With a license in hand and approval from the Rio Rancho city council, TMBC can start construction shortly. Trench drains and piping will come first, followed by a glycol system.

“We’re probably going to start doing concrete cutting in a week, two, or three, as soon as we get the approval,” Galarneau said.

Galarneau said that once the physical space is ready, they will move all of the equipment up from the original location at one time.

This keg stack by the windows will be replaced by the fermenters.

“Over here in front of the (south-facing) windows we should have our tanks, all of our fermenter tanks, so if you walk by you’ll see all the tanks,” he said.

The brewhouse will likely go up along the west wall. In addition to the tanks moving up from the original, TMBC has already purchased a mixture of new tanks and used vessels from other breweries.

“We have two 14-barrel tanks that were donated by Rod (Tweet) over at Second Street when he was making his move,” Galarneau said. “I always loving having friends in the industry. These are our new guys, two 20-barrels. We’ve got three 10s and a 20 over here. And, next week, we’re getting our 30-barrel hot liquor tank delivered. I can’t wait.”

One of the used tanks still had blue tape with the names of the last beer it contained at its former brewery. It turned out that Elder Dweller (great name) was a stout from Revival Brewing in Providence, R.I., showing just how far those tanks traveled.

Now what beer should succeed that Elder Dweller stout in this tank?

In addition to all of that, Galarneau said that TMBC will have a new water softening and cleaning system installed, as the north side of Rio Rancho has particularly high levels of hard water.

If everything goes according to plan, the hope is have everything up and running by late summer/early fall.

“I can’t wait until we come in here and have a pint off the pigtail of something brewed here,” Galarneau said.

I guessed aloud that Wooden Teeth, a past gold-medal winner at the Great American Beer Festival, would be the first beer brewed on site.

“You just said it,” Galarneau said. “(Head brewer David Pacheco) was like, duh. One, it’s a lager, two, it’s a gold-medal winner, (and) three, it’s delicious.”

These old workhorses were purchased from Second Street.

All of us in the Crew look forward to those pints of Wooden Teeth. A big congratulations to the Turtle Mountain staff on receiving approval for their big, necessary move. We will certainly swing by again to show the finished brewing area later this year.

And, of course, a huge thanks to Adam for taking time out of his workday to show me around.

Keep supporting local!

— Stoutmeister

Developer Perfumes

Developer Perfumes

Keep in mind that developer fragrances come in a number of brand names, and also each brand name has its very own one-of-a-kind fragrance. Prior to you run on the market to look for developer fragrances, make certain that you currently have a target aroma in mind.

Well, to offer you a suggestion of what to search for when purchasing a developer fragrance, I have actually stated listed below a few of the leading vendors that you might want. You can discover these developer fragrances in a variety of trusted scent shops nowadays. If you favor, you can also go shopping for these items online.

Right here are the leading vendors:

Christian Dior Dolce Vita

This fragrance was in fact released by the firm itself in 1996. It is extremely kept in mind for its sharp, woody as well as asian aroma that is so womanly. This developer fragrance for ladies is really suggested for daytime usage.

Calvin Klein Obsession

Made particularly for guys, the Calvin Klein Obsession is yet an additional developer fragrance that covered the market for its one-of-a-kind fragrance. It likewise has notes of lemon, sage as well as bergamot, with center notes of brownish-yellow, brush, and also carnation. With all these blends, this developer fragrance is very advised for enchanting wear.

Burberry London

Simply presented just recently, the Burberry London is one of the most recent, one-of-a-kind items in the Burberry line of developer fragrances. A number of evaluations have actually additionally kept in mind that this item is revitalizing and also so trendy, and also although you have a number of fragrances at residence, this will certainly stand out from the remainder.

Chanel Chance

Chanel Chance is one of leading vendors in the line of Chanel fragrances. Chanel itself suggests this developer fragrance for daytime wear.

A few of the finest alternatives are laid down to you. You can discover these items anywhere. Since they hold a terrific, preferred name, these developer fragrances are provided at quite costly rates.

Keep in mind that developer fragrances come in a number of brand names, as well as each brand name has its very own special aroma. Prior to you run on the market to look for developer fragrances, make certain that you currently have a target aroma in mind. Well, to offer you a concept of what to look for when going shopping for a developer fragrance, I have actually discussed listed below a few of the leading vendors that you might be interested in. Developed particularly for guys, the Calvin Klein Obsession is yet one more developer fragrance that covered the market for its one-of-a-kind aroma. Simply presented just recently, the Burberry London is one of the newest, one-of-a-kind items in the Burberry line of developer fragrances.

US soldiers drugged, kidnapped by Colombia crime ring led by man nicknamed ‘Harry Potter,’ DOJ says | Fox News

The Austin Police Department (APD) Robbery Unit released video and is asking for the public’s help in identifying robbery suspects brutally stomping a victim before fleeing on foot.

Two U.S. soldiers were drugged, kidnapped and robbed at an upscale sports bar in Colombia, according to the Justice Department, which announced that a suspect has been extradited to the U.S. to face trial.

The suspected ringleader used the fake name “Harry Potter” and regularly committed similar robberies, according to the FBI and Colombian police.

His real name is Jeffersson Arango Castellanos, and he made his first appearance before an American judge in Miami, Florida, on Monday on charges of conspiracy, kidnapping and assault targeting internationally protected persons.

He and two alleged conspirators could face a maximum of life in prison if convicted.

A still from surveillance video released by Colombia’s Office of the Attorney General shows a drugged robbery victim being dragged out of a car. (Office of the Attorney General of Colombia)

According to court documents, the two U.S. soldiers went to a sports pub in Bogota’s Zona T commercial district, on March 5, 2020, to watch a soccer match. On that day, the U.S. Women’s National Team defeated their rivals from the United Kingdom.

Both men vanished overnight and failed to report to work the next morning, a criminal complaint states.

Both had been robbed of their phones, wallets and other valuables and were covered in bruises, court documents allege. And neither of them could remember what happened the night before.

Investigators quickly assumed both had been drugged, and testing confirmed the presence of benzodiazepines, or tranquilizers, in their systems.

Investigators discovered their debit cards had been used at stores and at least one ATM, and they recovered surveillance videos.

Colombian police arrested Arango Castellanos on Dec. 30, 2020, for an unrelated but similar string of robberies. While in custody, he agreed to speak with the FBI and allegedly confessed to drugging both soldiers and stealing their belongings.

Two U.S. soldiers stationed in Bogota, Colombia, were drugged, kidnapped and robbed after a night out at a sports bar in the country’s capital city, according to federal prosecutors. (iStock)

While the victims were distracted by female accomplices, he allegedly spiked their drinks with the tranquilizer. Later, he fooled one of them into handing over his PIN number by handing him a cellphone and telling him he needed to enter it to process a payment, court documents allege.

According to a Facebook profile in Arango Castellanos’ name, he made a living by “buying and selling clothes and accessories.”

But he really made a living by drugging and robbing people, according to the criminal complaint.

Spanish-language media reported that his drug ring was also responsible for the death of Yuddith Alexandra Anaya Pacheco, the sister of a former prosecutor in Bogota.

She died from a lack of oxygen to the brain after the gang drugged her, the Colombian news outlet Caracol reported.

The extradition comes shortly after police in New York City announced indictments against two similar rings in the Big Apple.

In those cases, several of the drugging victims died from the fentanyl-laced cocktails used to knock them out, and the thieves used facial recognition technology in their prey’s cellphones to drain their accounts.

Arango Castellanos is due back in court on May 11 for his arraignment. 

Michael Ruiz is a reporter for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to [email protected] and on Twitter: @mikerreports

Lake Michigan College commencement Sunday

Set for this Sunday are Lake Michigan College’s 76th annual commencement ceremonies. LMC Registrar Sara Skinner tells us 456 students will receive 472 degrees and certificates from 31 areas of study, including 431 associate degrees, 15 advanced certificates, and 26 certificates of achievement. Some are entering their fields right away, while others will move on to more education.

“We always have a very large number of graduates who planned to transfer from the outset,” Skinner said. “So, we work vey closely with their advisors both here and at their transfer institution. A lot of our students will transfer within the state of Michigan. Western is very close by, while MSU is always a favorite. Then we also have students who also are able to take their first two years with us and even transfer out of state.”

Skinner says it’s an emotional and joyous day for the students graduating. Speakers at the events will be students Kalyah Watson and Aalyah Watson at the 10 a.m. ceremony, and Alejandra Ramirez at the 1 p.m. ceremony. LMC trustees and President Trevor Kubatzke will also speak. The events will be broadcast on LMC’s YouTube channel.

Associate Degree Recipients

Allegan

Joseph Patrick Allen*, Kenna McKenzie Baker**, Ryan Christopher Brink, Joran Ruth Brown, Olivia Terese Clearwater*, Kathryn Renee Cliffman*, Holly Ann Curtiss**, Liberty Anne Laforest, Cameron Roger Pierce, Nova Jean Plumley**, Laura Michelle Rogers, AnnaBelle Kean VanderScheer*, Layla Marie Webb, Hunter Jacob Weeks** 

Arlington, Texas

Leaya Elizabeth Larson 

Ashmore, Australia

Douglas Ryuta Briese 

Bangor

Johnathon Eugene Borsodi, Carter Stephen-Hale Fowler*, Erica M Karr, Angelia Marie Ross 

Baroda

Aurelia Grace Davis*, Melanie Yareli Hernandez*, Katie Jo Rainey, Jose Mauricio Ramirez Ochoa, Paige Alexis Schubach*, Chapin E Schultz, Chelsey Sobralski-Cole, Marissa Kathleen Turcotte* 

Batavia, Illinois

Paige Elaine Ashby** 

Battle Creek

Hailey Jo Borden

Benton Harbor

Kolen Jamel-James Adams*, Alexandra Arrans*, Kelly Renee Bartalone, Joanna Katrice Blue, Jonen Bravo*, Alex N Bryant III, Monica R Buford, Paula Jean Camp**, Kendra Canary Cook, Elizabeth Bryanne Cox*, Tracie Crenshaw***, Olivia Marie Dowmer, Brandon Wayne Edgarton, Madison Ann Ficks, Ametrius R Fleming, Alondra Gallardo*, Kierra Irene Lowe, Gabriela Trinidad Mancera, Sharon Marr*, Mackenzie Leigh Matheny*, Katherine Rose Mattner**, Darlene Joyce Mattson, Sydareha K Moss, Jodi Louise Prillwitz, Taylor Ashley Prillwitz*, Andrew Jonathan Quinones, Dayja Le’Shai Randolph, Edwyn Jafert Rodriguez-Zarco, Reyna Jazmin Steed, Quincy Sulton 

Berrien Center

Gabriella Alyse Cuthbert**, Karl Edward Garcia Overton***, Kara Lynn Villwock* 

Berrien Springs

Nadege Hadjatou Minda Adamou*, Vitor Costa Nogueira Barbosa**, James Christopher Burke***, Jackson Robert Christner*, Isabela Susann Constable*, Richmond Dwomoh, Ryan Christopher Fernando, Matthew Holden Grimm**, Brandon Joseph Haygood*, Jacob Douglas Haygood**, Alexa Jean Kesterke*, Linda Marie Klein, Isaiah Michael Patrick McCrevan*, Logan Eric Mead*, Aldrich Nathanael Mongkau**, Tabitha Ashley Nelson**, Bethany Grace Shelley, Jack Vernon Tourangeau*, Brandon M Tripp**, Josiah Gabriel Ward*, Sebastian Ashburne Warsop*   

Bloomingdale

Nancy Pearl Furlan

Boothville, Louisiana

Joseph Noel Taylor II* 

Brazil

Grazieli Martins de Galiza*, Angelina Flandoli Rieli*** 

Bridgman

Morgen Elisabeth Ales*, Priscilla Jean Brinker*, Madison Ann Catania*, Ashley L Davis*, MyKayla Ann Hays, Haylee Diane Kanous*, Bryan James Nelson*, David Glenn-Reece Ott*, Brandon Christopher Owen**, Christina Anne Shaffer-Wahr, Ava Marie Ward  

Buchanan

Sierra Renee Abrahamson, Meikelle Angeleise Andrews, Camryn E Baber, Lauren Ashley Bentham*, Maria Alexandra Bouzas, Sierra Dawn Cahill**, Lanna-Marie Jean Draper, Georvon Flores*, Daniel J Lane*, Lainie Nicole Miller*, Miranda Lee Miller, Christopher Scott Powers*, Dwayne E Ridgway Jr**, Alexis Olivia Scott, Brett Martin Valentine 

Canton

Angela Martina Schmidt* 

Cassopolis

Caitlyn Lee Steensma*, TiLynne La’Nae Williams* 

Chesterton, Indiana

Bradley Thomas Petersen 

Chicago, Illinois

Abdoulaye Ba, Kea’ka Julia Stokes, Jadon Curtis Williams 

Coloma

Jordane P Baushke*, Loghan E Baushke**, Amanda Jane Bennett*, Brittany Nicole Bovo*, Caleb Israel Dahlke**, Richlie Marie Fikes, Grace Madeline Gagliardo*, Ashley Lynn Gilson, Abigail Lynn Huttenga*, Sara Ann Krieger**, Catherine Marie Kusnierz*, Melissa Latsch, Michelle Ann Nicholson-Menter, Hunter Lane Rennick, Samantha Lyn Nicole Rogers, Kimberly K Salinas, Christopher Paul Smith**, Mackenzie Leann Strunk* 

Coopersville

Madison Lynn Ruwersma* 

Coppell, Texas

JoCorian Armond Freeman

Covert

Jermara Simone Blackmon, Jennifer Fabian, Marshawn Octavious Jones, Keytra Monique De’shay Lewis, Hayley Marie Rose, Aloniea Jhanea Yancey, Tamara Renee Yancey 

Davison 

Ellary Grace Darling** 

Decatur

Andrea Lee Feury* 

Delton

Leah Joy Grentz* 

Detroit

Kayla Kristie-ineal Cramatie 

Douglas

Margaret Adele Rininger* 

Dowagiac

Katlyn Nicole Briney** 

Eau Claire

Shannon Nicole Arndt, Toni Lynne Dunn, Tamara Jane Gilson*, Terry McCain*, Frank R Kuiken*, Anna Kaeleen Lechleitner*, Kassandra Lopez, Pamela Jo Hess*, Brittany Rachelle Riippa, Betty Kaye Timmreck, Brigg Harrison True** 

Fennville

Adriana Gisselle Almanza, Alyssa Shay Beeson, Vivianna Espino**, Isabel Garcia, Sarah Marie Pitts, Delinna Ramos, Crystal Anne Salyers  

Fort Meyers, Florida

Cargan Ross Murray** 

Fort Worth, Texas

Mathias David Carnero 

Gobles

Libbee Elaine Nason 

Grand Junction

Autumn Amber Beck, Christopher Michael Garrison, JeanAnn Lorraine Miller, Katelynn Marie Slater 

Grand Rapids

Brooke Michelle Stegehuis** 

Granger, Indiana

Jaspal Kaur, Priya Singh** 

Hales Corners, Wisconsin 

Alexa Merrill Berg 

Harbert

Abigail Grace Folsom*

Hartford

Jessica Cardoso**, Olivia Castelan-Rodriguez**, Lilah Alyn Cray, Charity Marie Johnson, Russell Raymond Smith*, Tia Marie Thomas, Keri Lynn Williamson* 

Holland 

Nayla Marie Alvarez-Gomez*, Tamara Lee Hill*, Hannah Paquette 

Hopkins

Jalynn Marie Dean, Brynn Landrigan**, Kenton Charles Landrigan**, Riley Fay Landrigan**, Aubrey Paige Russell 

Howell

Kimberly Niccole Steele***

Jenison

Jillian Elizabeth Sutton**

Kalamazoo

Tannah Aliese Perin*, Sha’brea L Shepherd, Marah Joy Slager** 

Kingsford

Alicia Christine Morgan** 

Lapeer

Charity Kathryn-Mae Dundas*** 

LaPorte, Indiana

Samuel Richard Garrison 

Lawrence

Emma Grace Hasse, Kelly Lynn Jasensky** 

Little Elm, Texas 

Brian Antony Tenille Hunter Jr. 

Livonia

Carson Van Dike 

Marshall

Teagan Lynn Giannunzio 

Martin

Zachary Michael Bailey, Trent Michael Kimmel**, Javan Michael Lowe, Jenna Paige Marsman** 

Mattawan

Olivia Grace Eubank* 

Medellin, Antioquia, Columbia 

Heyder Uriel Conde** 

Mexico

Faviola Ramirez-Mata 

Middlebury, Indiana

Robert Tyler Baumgartner** 

Midland

Gabriella Marie White 

Milwaukee, Wisconsin 

Aalyah Autom Watson*, Kalyah Summer Watson 

Mishawaka, Indiana

Jon Michael Badur***, Kaleb Jefferson Johnson* 

Mount Clemens 

Micah Porter Johnson 

Mt. Pleasant 

Mia Rui-Rong Vanderveen 

New Buffalo

Yasmine Mia Boyd**, Jasmine Jane D’Arcangelis, Amanda Paige Geisler**, Michael Christopher Mark*, Tannah Lorraine Nieman 

New Carlisle, Indiana

Kelseigh Morgan Kopinski* 

Niles

Annelise Heather Bedell, Hannah Jane Bullard*, Jonathon Thomas Bybee, Jazmin Capula*, Madison Renee Cavanaugh*, Micah Jeffrey Colby, Cassandra Dianne Cook, Ty Oliver Elms*, Kade Willard Erwin*, Zachary Ryan Fillwock*, Lisa Marie Folkers, Cheyenne Rosejoy Ganshorn, Jordan Ashley Jameson, Drew Edward Johnson*, Miranda Lynn Jones*, Kayla Christine Lindsley*, Kevin Magana, Alexia Renee Martinez, Krystal Rose McCully, Hayleah Marie McFadden*, Janenne Spring Mercer**, Chelsie Nicole Messer*, Cricket Elizabeth Nelson, Josiah Steven Nichols*, Mark Anthony Pacheco**, Eva Perez Gonzalez*, Olivia Renae Riddle, Rachel Lynn Riffel***, Britteney Jeanette Stanczyk, Caitlin Michelle Stanner*, McKenna Ann Thompson, Hope Hudgins Typer*, Madelyn West Van Dyke*, Noah David Vogl, Cristian Andrew Wilson*, Kenley Renee Witherspoon**, Rymma Won***,  Paul McCray Wreggelsworth** 

Oak Park, Illinois 

Joseph Robert Ratz 

Ostego

Kaleb Douglas Baker**, Chais Paul Carpenter, Dagim Isaac Deboer*, Evelyn Naomi Dekema, Kendalyn Marie Haskins*, Trenton Anthony Johnson*, Kathryn Kay LaBonte*, Cailynn Elizabeth Phelps*, Elise Renee Tolan*, Destiny Lynn Wheeler 

Otsego Township 

Donovan William Goodwin** 

Paw Paw

Jared Scott Smith*, Mercedes Kathleen Strachan 

People’s Republic of China 

Zian Ren* 

Philippines 

Jenia Jade Monaghan 

Plainwell

Evan Tyler Beauregard, Kenison Paige Bosma**, Olivia Rebecca VanderLugt* 

Plymouth, Indiana

Amialla Rose Wojcik** 

Portage

Gary Chris Roberts* 

Portage, Indiana

Leslie Ann Stormont* 

Pullman

Matthew Brian Christie*, Isabel Guadalupe Garcia, Stephanie Martinez*, Alexander Thomas McNeely**  

Rancho Cucamonga, California 

Christopher Hosea Sihotang 

Rogers City

Jillian Lee McCallum Delke** 

Saginaw

Michael Mark Martinak 

Saint Joseph

Austin Mitchell Archer**, Kaitlyn June Bailey*, Danielle Sue Baldwin, Lauryn Michelle Bennett, Ryan Scott Bluschke, Emma Carolyn Breitkreuz*, Margaret Elizabeth Brunner*, Darius Comfort, Dana Marie Conard*, Tavion Hassan Crump, Jessica Lynn Dandron, Timothy Brian Dokter*, Anne Lynn Doyle*, Ronda Jewell Dunn, Dillon K Falcone*, Lucia Therese Forestieri***, Olivia Isabelle Gilfoyle*, Jasmine Kalis Jones*, Sierra Dawn Jorgensen, Eric William Keeler**, Ellen Kersjes*, Ashlyn Raine Kohn**, Carrie M Montemayor*, Christine Jean Neeley, Madelyn Anne Ostenson*, Kenzie Storm Page-Wood, Arden Lee Paustian, Parker Kelley Preis, Kelsey Ann Renfro**, Brittany Nicole Rixie*, Baylee Anne Elizabeth Rodriguez*, Alana Noel Scaccia*, Miranda Maye Shindeldecker*, Helena Lechelle Vankirk*, Karri Elizabeth Weber*, Christopher Cody Wigginton*, Alex Michael Wood, Michael Joseph Wright

Saugatuck

Lisa Marie Lungaro* 

Sawyer 

Caroline Trendel Horist** 

Shelby Township

Bumeun Lee Park 

Shelbyville

Jamille Alyssa Flores Vanderzand* 

Sister Lakes

Korey Danielle Jones* 

Sodus 

Evie Ruth Clare**, Alexis Hobbs 

South Bend, Indiana 

Lauryn Amanda Ashford*, Anna Stasia Balsbaugh**, Emily Marie Nelson**, Kyle Ryan Smith 

South Haven

Gabriel David Bocock, Patricia Lynn Boyce, Heather Lynn Brewington**, Konnor Rigel Brugh, Paige Elizabeth Burson*, Teagan M Burson, Daniela Calderon-Andrade, Keyana Marie Ewing, Aaron Daniel Fillmore*, Jessica Garcia-Gomez*, Silita Monique Gist-Sullivan, Kathrine Kelly Hecker*, Jennifer Jean Homola, Grace Elizabeth Kelemen, Chloe Sue-Lynn Kinney, Dezmin Lajuane Marshall, Susana Mojarro, Erin Grace Schneider*, Lauren Michelle Thaler, Sydney Taylor Todd, Caleb James Vochaska*** 

Stevensville

Olivia Grace Bingham*, Dylan Nicholas Breault, Meghan Leigh Bronicki*, Olivia Kate DeHaven**, Emma Kay Doyle*, William Brian Etheridge***, Ethan Michael Faris*, Terry DeWayne Fulbright*, Lanie Rushelle Gage, Ashley Renee Galbraith, Angela L Gordon, Savannah Kristine Gostlin**, Shelby Renea Grau, Alexandria Marie Hardin, Paul Whitney Harrison, Madelynn Marie Isbrecht**, Meeta Sonthalia Kedia**, Nycole Marie Kirby, Devin Jamal Lewis, Emily J Martindale*, Michael Reinhold McGilvra, Amber Maria-Hardy Mendoza*, Logan Patrick Morrow, Sam Allison Moyle*, Noah Daniel Newman**, Peggy Dineen O’Neill*, Mckenzie Ja’el Outman**, David Adam Pliml, Becca Lynn Rosenthal*, Anthony M Scaccia, Eric Michael Smith**, McKayla Rae Spears, Meetra D Varnes, Kelsey Jade Walsh*, Dylan Michael Wedde*, Delaney Nicole Zubik* 

Three Oaks

Kelsey Marie Gnodtke**, Gina Grace Graziano**, Ella Jean Olson*, Autumn Dawn Strauss, Madison Jean Whitlow 

Union

Adrionna Nicole Eversole** 

Venezuela

Alejandra Del Valle Ramirez* 

Watervliet

Catherine M.A. Brooks, James Lee Butler, Kylie Cheyenne Cannon, Kelly Ann Cotman*, Carlos Hernandez Jr.**, Emma Kathleen Kraklau*, Sterling Bracken Schoonover**, Deven Lee Schultz, Ashton Richard Shall* 

Wayland

Camden Robert Strader**, Abigail Marie Tuinstra* 

Wright City, Missouri 

Wesley Thomas Jaspering 

Advanced Certificate Recipients

Bridgman

Ashley L Davis*, Lawrence Barton McVay*

Coloma

Nichole R Sommer** 

Covert

Jermara Simone Blackmon 

Granger, Indiana 

Jaspal Kaur

Holland 

Tamara Lee Hill*

Lawrence

Kelly Lynn Jasensky** 

Niles

Jazmin Capula*, Emily Joy Mokwa, Nathalie Aileen Sanchez*, Nathan Samuel Town*** 

South Haven

Paige Elizabeth Burson*, Christopher Leroy Schmidt*** 

Stevensville

Meeta Sonthalia Kedia**, Sara Nicole Moncrief* 

Certificate of Achievement Recipients

Bangor

Jocelyn Ponce 

Baroda

Paige Alexis Schubach 

Batavia, Illinois

Paige Elaine Ashby 

Benton Harbor

Iesha S Guynes, Cody Wallace, Kathryn Ann Ashbrook Young 

Berrien Springs

Devin Alexander Crispin, Elizabeth Grace Kubsch, Jonathan Charles Shoemaker, Joshua Aiden Wood 

Buchanan

Kathleen Michelle King 

Hartford

Russell Raymond Smith

Holland

Nayla Marie Alvarez-Gomez  

Jacksonville, North Carolina

Aidan Joseph Zwiller 

Kalamazoo

Lacey Nicole Olsen 

Lawton 

Alexander Kenneth Austin 

Mazomanie, Wisconsin 

Ivy Angela Kartman 

Rhinebeck, New York 

Alexa Aurora Venezia-Dasse

Saint Joseph 

Max David Agens, Jackson Thomas Harrington, Benjamin Robert Holleman, Irina Z Tikhonova  

South Haven

Adam Joshua Byrd, Kendra Rae Kingsbury 

Stevensville

Andrew Nicholas Klinke 

Vejle, Denmark 

Benjamin Höllsberg Grøndahl Vinter

HOT & SAUCY PIZZA GIRLS (1978)

“All I want in this life of mine is some good clean fun.” – Little Feat, “Fat Man in the Bathtub”

Country Girl Pizza is the home base for Bob Chinn’s Hot & Saucy Pizza Girls, a freewheeling, deep-dish slice of gooey, west coast goodness from 1978. Set in a screwy and oversexed heightened reality, screenwriter (and one-time milkman) John Chapman, working from an idea from Chinn’s then-girlfriend, Deanna, flips the genders on the hoariest of chestnuts regarding lucky service workers and the bored and libidinous folks they encounter when making their house calls.

And at Country Girl Pizza, the delivery gals (Desiree Cousteau, Christine DeShaffer, Candida Royalle, and Laurien Dominique) deliver more than just pizza as each order comes with its own special code that corresponds with some kind of sexual act that ranges from plain Jane oral pleasuring to full-on threesomes. As they are unwittingly profiled and harassed by a cabal of male fried chicken franchisees (Paul Thomas, Richard Pacheco, and Spender Travis) who aim to take them and their pizza business down, the girls are also being stalked from behind bushes and in alleyways by the mysterious Inspector Blackie (John Seeman), a shadowy figure who is forever reporting the girls’ every move back to headquarters.

Aside from the fact that he should not have ever been close to a pizza cutter because no sane person wants their slices made in the shape he invents while using one onscreen, John Holmes is a whole lot of fun in Hot & Saucy Pizza Girls. Loose, relaxed, and genuinely funny, he gets two choice sex scenes, one with Cousteau and the other with Royalle and DeSchaffer which is a threesome upon which dreams are made; but he truly feels like a good-natured supporting wheel more in the style of his turn in Hard Soap, Hard Soap, than cock-of-the-walk centerpiece. And as John and Bob, restauranteurs with a secret and righteous agenda to battle against the anti-capitalist and assaultive San Francisco Night Chicken, Holmes and director Bob Chinn, respectively, display a really fun chemistry. And, though Chinn isn’t a fan of his own cameo appearances and sells his own screen presence short, he seems like he’s having a grand ol’ time and, not for nothing, but it takes a certain amount of skill to deliver the line “I just don’t wanna get fucked by no chicken” with the right attitude and still get the laugh you’re going for. So mission accomplished there.

Hot & Saucy Pizza Girls is one of Chinn’s many home runs where the action is mostly centered around a core group of randy, tight-knit, take-action gals who may have tiny internal squabbles but otherwise have each other’s back all the way down the line. This film may be set in cartoonland where the logic of how everything works is a bit fuzzy and the roles may be played broadly but how else would you play this kind of material and make it work? The camaraderie between the girls is absolutely top notch and each one inhabits an actual, distinguishable character which is nicely established early in a backroom chat between the four of them. Desiree Cousteau dials down the Dumb Dora routine that she played to the max in her star-making turn in Alex DeRenzy’s Pretty Peaches and has a ball as Ann Chovie, a bubbly bumpkin from Alabama; Christine DeSchaffer finds just the right note as exasperated and overworked, frizzy and frazzled Celeste; Candida Royalle’s “G’head” tough-chick, Gino, is just sassy perfection; and Laurien Dominique’s Shakey is the softest and sweetest ingredient added to the mix.

One of the strengths to the film is that its interiors were shot in real locations, including a furnished home used as the meeting hub of the dastardly Fried Chicken Gang (and other interiors) and the actual pizza parlor. As to the latter, used in the wee early hours before its doors opened for actual business, shooting in an authentic, functioning pizzeria lets the film play in a real, recognizable world that is also pretty nostalgic for those who grew up in a world when going out to eat to a pizza joint with the family or friends was an exciting prospect. And I don’t know if it was a coincidence or it was just canny wardrobe choices but Chinn and Holmes lend to the pizzeria authenticity by wearing matching shirts that look like they were made out of the tablecloths that Pizza Hut had around the same time. But woe to the parents who let their kids ride on this specific Shakey’s coin-operated rocking horse as they were no doubt completely unaware that its best, though likely uncomfortable, utilization had already been mastered by Holmes and Cousteau.

And what begins on that machine-operated, bouncy romp is a smorgasbord of great sex scenes; nine in number with zero wasted, all of them perfectly balanced between humorous and hot. Cousteau really pops in the film and her two scenes, one with Holmes and the other with Seeman, are incredible. With an absolutely adorable and spunky personality and an ass that worked overtime, it would be hard to argue for a lack of understanding as to why Desiree Cousteau was a superstar. Though seemingly buried in the mix of cast members, DeShaffer does a lot of heavy lifting as she works in a funny, recurring bit with Vicky Lindsay, participates the aforementioned threesome with Royalle and Holmes, and mixes it up with Paul Thomas in a scene with an anal capper. While not given much in terms of a character, Dominique turns up the heat in her own threesome with Thomas and Davis. And though the pairing of Royalle and Pacheco had to be cheated (thanks a lot, loudmouth production manager who sapped Pacheco’s concentration), it’s hard to dislike watching them crack each other up with their silly cowboy banter while faking it, the scene smartly cross-cut with Cousteau’s humorous reciprocal oral encounter with Carl Regal. And just for some tasteful cheesecake value, Chinn pads each delivery with some wonderful footage of all the actresses riding up and down the San Francisco sidewalks on their skateboards, their outfits helping to accentuate the ripple found in the in-fashion voluptuousness of the late 70’s.

Dick Aldrich, weary of Armand Atamaian’s miserly ways at Freeway Films, put together a deal to produce Hot & Saucy Pizza Girls for his Tehana Timpson Releasing. This caused him to find funding that came with mob strings which created a pretty familiar scenario for Bob Chinn who had made Candy Stripers earlier in the same year which also had similar type connections (albeit the two films were underwritten by DIFFERENT mob organizations as they, too, believe in a competitive marketplace). Shot with a clean and uncomplicated style by Charles Rudnick, the film is also snappily edited by Joe Sherman who would graduate to direct the hilarious but all-but-doomed Ms. Maginificent (aka Superwoman) for Aldrich the following year. Toni Diamani, only loosely connected to the production by being the girlfriend of one of the film’s financiers, gets a producer credit and pops up in a cameo as one of the two patrons who flirt with John and Bob in the pizza parlor.

Though I actually did deliver pizzas during my early college years (and it goes without saying that the film makes that gig look way more fun and adventurous than it actually is), Hot & Saucy Pizza Girls occupies a very special place in my heart as it was the very first hardcore film I ever saw. Having it in my possession also drew my first porn bust from my parents, a formative benchmark for many a teenager. My grandfather, a retired man of leisure and low-key adventure who spent his twilight years traveling up and down Interstate 35 in a deluxe motor home with his well-to-do girlfriend, generously took it off my hands. While he no doubt gave it a good home, my heart was broken over having to dispose of it.

Maybe even more so than the raucous, ribald, and most excellent Candy Stripers (and that’s a BIG maybe), Hot & Saucy Pizza Girls is bronzed in a sunny crispness that, forty-five years later, still feels as fresh as a daisy and as guiltlessly irresistible as cotton candy. Festooned with skateboarding, tennis shoe poms, halter tops, short shorts, hot sex, pizza, and a super light, kinda-crime caper sprinkled over the whole affair, it is a transportive journey to the best weekend party 1978 had to offer and one can almost feel the warm California breeze radiating from the screen as it rolls out over its 71 minute running time. Though shot in April, it exudes a heavy summertime vibe and playful atmosphere and, boy howdy, does it ever sparkle and shine. Funny and goofy with a sense of humor that is both corny and horny, only Christian Nationalists, puritanical squares, and people who hate puppies could actively root against Hot & Saucy Pizza Girls. And, honestly, who gives a flying fuck what those people think?

(C) Copyright 2023, Patrick Crain

Regarding non-delivery by Amazon vendor

Amazon not delivered order , costumer care person wrong talk. Value: 1099.00I ordered 22 april 2023 on Amazon last diliver product date 28 april but not deliver

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