What Recession? 5 Companies Doing Well

The recession has been a boon for some companies. Here are five you simply can’t ignore.

Author:: David Seaman
Publish date:: Sep 16, 2009 5:33 PM EDT

Even though alcohol sales are fairly flat, Patrón has seen a 10 percent boost in worldwide business this year. But why? John McDonnell, Chief Operating Officer at Patrón Spirits International, told MainStreet: “It’s a proven fact that companies and brands that continue to spend through a recession are that much stronger long term. While other companies cut back on marketing spend, discount and coupon, we’ve done none of that. We’ve continued our marketing support of each of the brands in our portfolio – Patrón tequila, Pyrat rum, and Ultimat vodka – and as a result each of these brands are showing worldwide growth.” We think it’s because people just like to drink, and tequila happens to be the most festive shot.

Qdoba has over 500 locations and plans to open 55 to 65 new restaurants this year. Todd Owen, Qdoba Mexican Grill’s VP of Franchise Development, credits their unique strategy of partnering with high-level, multi-unit entrepreneurs for the boost in business—but we think it may have more to do with the fact that burritos are delicious, and affordable.More consumers are bound to look for lower cost meals due to the economic downturn. Expensive steakhouses are out; cheap Mexican food is in.

The golden arches are invincible. CEO Jim Skinner says the hamburger giant is "recession-resistant." McDonald’s (Stock Quote: MCD) is still the first thing that comes to mind when you think "fast food" and, recession or not, it will likely remain successful at what it does.

Google (Stock Quote: GOOG) has reportedly seen a rise in searches and continues to dominate the overall search market.Whether this is due to more users searching for bargains or greater numbers of unemployed people at home with time to spare is up to some debate. (It will be interesting to see what affect Microsoft’s (Stock Quote: MSFT) newcomer Bing.com search engine will have on the industry heavyweight, but for now Google is still king.)

Patrón Spirits Company

Even though alcohol sales are fairly flat, Patrón has seen a 10 percent boost in worldwide business this year. But why? John McDonnell, Chief Operating Officer at Patrón Spirits International, told MainStreet: “It’s a proven fact that companies and brands that continue to spend through a recession are that much stronger long term. While other companies cut back on marketing spend, discount and coupon, we’ve done none of that. We’ve continued our marketing support of each of the brands in our portfolio – Patrón tequila, Pyrat rum, and Ultimat vodka – and as a result each of these brands are showing worldwide growth.” We think it’s because people just like to drink, and tequila happens to be the most festive shot.