Ken Chang's blog

Known as the bakery of the “World’s Best Cream Puffs,” Beard Papa’s has been a household name since 1999 when Yuji Hirota opened the first Beard Papa’s store in Osaka, Japan pumping out this unique cream puff to happy people. Since that time, the company mission has remained unchanged, to pursue uncompromising quality in serving the World’s Best Cream Puffs. By remaining focused in quality commitment and attention to customer service, Beard Papa’s has courted a devout following of puff lovers who will attest that to the taste of cream puffs.

First Fast-Food Chain to Roll Out Technology Nationally

Jack in the Box has decided to pop up ahead of all major fast-food chains in the use of RFID credit card technology. According to eWeek, 95% of Jack's 1400 corporate owned and 600 of its franchised restaurants in 17 states will incorporate VivoTech’s contactless credit card readers by December 31. Micro electronic radio transponders in your credit card can give authorized readers the account information when your card brushes against it. 

With a sky-rocketing price of oil, small businesses and franchisees are looking for cheaper alternatives in fueling their car fleets. The Los Angeles Times wrote a story about a shop called Lovecraft. The operation outfits diesel automobiles to run on vegetable oil. Not only does it save fuel costs but it could help each of us to do our bit to save the environment.

According to Lovecraft's owner Brian Friedman, cars running with vegetable oil produce cleaner emission.  Friedman also is patenting a conversion kit for do-it-yourselfers and sells an at-home filtering system for waste oil.

What else can the cell phone do for you ?

The Korean cell phone manufacturer LG Electronics's LP4100 brand, to be released in the U.S. later this year, not only takes pictures of your friends' bar tricks, it can also ward off two of a a wild party's most undesirable consequences - drunk dialing and DUIs.

The LP4100 has a built-in breath analyzer that, when blown into by an intoxicated partier, gives a warning and displays a nifty little animation of a car swerving on a road and crashing into traffic cones. (Which should be easy for even the tipsy mind to understand.)

After the lawsuit against KFC, another consumer-health group may want to take on the ever popular Starbucks. The Center for Science in the Public Interest said it is planning to campaign against the global cafe chain because of the increased risk of obesity, heart disease and cancer associated with high-calorie, high-fat products it sells.  And a lawsuit is a possibility. According to the story, A 20-ounce Venti banana mocha Frappuccino with whipped cream contains 720 calories and 11 grams of saturated fat, and a banana cream crunch bar weighs in at 630 calories and 25 grams of saturated fat. By comparison, a Big Mac has 560 calories and 11 grams of saturated fat.