David Dantzler, a Taylor Bean lawyer, says the lender didn't have access to funds to keep its insurance plan going.

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The best way to increase bean sales, Berthold says, is to convince more Americans to eat them.

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The latest thing in business-planning simulation, says Mr Bean, is to link real data (inventories, sales figures and so on) into the simulation.

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Slaback told her BigSmart had a contract with Bean and the problem was Bean's inability to track affiliate sales, Hamlin says.

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"The holy grail is a heat-resistant varietal that provides quality coffee, " says Patrick Criteser, chief executive of Coffee Bean International, which supplies the private-label coffees to such retailers as Target and Kroger and is part of World Coffee Research.

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Put another way, "What once was relegated to a bean counter is now being taken much more seriously in companies, " says Berman.

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