You cant handle the truth! — Mistakes Were Made

Gerald Ratner joined his family jewelry business in 1966. By 1984, he worked his way up to become CEO of the Ratners Group. Under his watch, the company grew from 130 stores to 2,500. This included 1,000 United States locations better known as Kay Jewelers. In a matter of 6 years, Ratner turned it into a multimillion-dollar empire.

In the mid-80s, one couldn’t pass one retail block in London without seeing a Ratner affiliated store on it. The store catered to “working class” individuals by offering lower priced but still “quality” jewelry that they could afford. During this period, Ratner was on the level of a modern day Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk. He constantly had meetings with Margaret Thatcher (the than Prime Minister of the U.K.,) and was a regular at many high society events.

On April 23, 1991, Ratner was invited to be a guest speaker at the Institute of Directors. Over, 6000 business professionals and journalist attended the event. During his speech, he made the following comment:

“We also do cut-glass sherry decanters complete with six glasses on a silver-plated tray that your butler can serve you drinks on, all for 4.95 pounds. People say, “How can you sell this for such a low price?”, I say, “because it’s total crap.”