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Log In / Register | May 23, 2013

from Our Reporters

Franchise Services to Buy Advantage Rent-A-Car

Member | BMM | Aug 30 | service
A quiet Advantage Rent A Car desk at Louisville Airport. photo/bmm CALGARY — Another rent-a-car brand is passing hands. Hertz Global Holdings has agreed to sell off their no-frills Advantage Rent-A-Car brand to Calgary-based Franchise Services of North America, Inc. (TSX-V:FSN).  Australia's Macquarie Capital funded the $16 million deal for 49.76 percent of its equity stake. That's below half of the $33 million in 2009 that Hertz paid to pull Advantage out of bankruptcy. The acquisition is a condition of a much bigger deal of Hertz, with its 8,100 locations, acquiring Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group for its offered $2.3 billion. It is only able to escape a federal antitrust kibosh on the deal if it jettisons Advantage. In turn, the completion of the...
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Wendy’s Franchisees See Improvements in Back Office Software

Member | BMM | Aug 29 | food, manage
A software dashboard reports restaurant hourly sales, speed and customers LOUISVILLE — Mike Allen is a believer in the "value menu," and not just on his restaurant menu boards. After struggling with a frustrating and costly back office software system, the Florida Wendy's franchise owner replaced it with one that he says provides more information, accuracy and convenience at a fraction of the price he paid before. The owner of Allen Properties LLC upgraded his old back office system for his four restaurants in Florida to one provided by Restaurant Technology Inc., expecting the usually cumbersome process of software setup, POS integration and training to take weeks to complete. It wasn't. "In our case, because we were already using a back office...
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Hotel Owners Protest Exclusion from BP Oil Spill Settlement

Member | BMM | Aug 24 | hotel
Hotel owners and families protest against BP. photo/AAHOA HOUSTON —Gulf Coast hoteliers and hundreds of small business owners gathered Thursday at the headquarters of BP America in Houston to protest being excluded from compensation of their financial losses from the 2010 BP oil spill. Others have applied for assistance and were successful. But for these hotel owners, BP ha srefused. "This strong turnout emphasizes the frustration among small business owners who were impacted by the oil spill and who are now being ignored by BP," explained Dipak "Danny" Patel, a hotel owner from Texas and a board member of the Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA). The franchise owner organized the event along with other AAHOA leaders and members. "...
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Convenience Store Visits Stable While Channel Sales Increase in Q2

Member | BMM | Aug 23 | retail
A 7-Eleven in New York City. photo/ps HOUSTON —Convenience store visits were stable while total channel sales were up in the second calendar quarter of 2012 compared to same time period of a year ago.  Market researcher The NPD Group research of convenience store  finds that there were 2.2 billion visits to c-stores in second quarter, which is roughly the same traffic level as in the same quarter for 2011. Aggregate channel sales were up 5.9 percent quarter-over-quarter. Customer visits were up 2 percent at small and other c-store chains. However, patronage was down 2 percent at major oil chain c-stores in the second quarter. According to NPD's Convenience Store Monitor, which continually tracks the consumer purchasing behavior of more than 51,000...
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Puig: My Cold Stone Stores Are Profitable

Member | Janet Sparks | Aug 21 | food, legal
MIAMI – Attorney Robert Zarco and his client Rodolfo F. Puig, franchisee of Cold Stone Creamery, have now declared that Puig’s three stores are profitable, despite having numerous tax liens, judgments and litigation from creditors against him.In a CNBC documentary, Puig defended Cold Stone from distraught former franchisees, who accused the franchisor of having a flawed business model that was the source of their failed businesses. Rudy Puig was selected by Robert Zarco and approved by Cold Stone Creamery to represent profitable and happy franchisees when being interviewed by CNBC. Puig was chosen because he was president of the independent franchisee association. On Sunday, Robert Zarco responded to Blue MauMau after several failed attempts had been made prior to the...
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Consumers Eat Three Meals and Snack Often

Member | BMM | Aug 21 | food
Source: NPD Group, year ending Feb 2012 (Not including skipped meals) CHICAGO — Today's U.S. consumers are less likely to skip breakfast, lunch and dinner meals than they were five years ago.But meals are often described as mini-meals rather than full meals. A recent food market research report by The NPD Group finds that although Americans still carve out main meal times, the number of items consumed at each main meal has declined over time and consumers snack in-between meals often.  The average American today has 4.1 food and beverage items at dinner compared with 5.3 items in 1985, and dinner is the only meal in which a majority of the meal occasions are considered by consumers to be a full or complete meal, according to NPD's Snacking in America 2012...
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Although Unable to Pay Bills, Cold Stone Owner Said on CNBC He was Profitable

Member | Janet Sparks | Aug 16 | food, legal
Franchisee Puig (left) and Cold Stone's president Dan Beem speaking on CNBC MIAMI – Cold Stone Creamery franchisee Rudy Puig was spotlighted on national television in 2011 exclaiming to viewers, “All my stores have been profitable,” but court records show otherwise. The purpose of Puig appearing on CNBC’s documentary, sitting between president Dan Beem and attorney Robert Zarco, was to help defend the franchisor from bad publicity caused by the network’s first airing of Behind the Counter: The Untold Story of Franchising. Puig, approved by Cold Stone, was supposed to be indicative of the hundreds of franchise owners in the system—happy and profitable. Puig’s testament was to counter the negative stories presented on CNBC’s...
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Dunkin Franchisees Help Pass Mass. Health Cost Reform

Member | BMM | Aug 13 | legal
Photo from NECN video clip BOSTON, Mass. — Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick on Monday, August 6, signed a health care cost amendment into law that the Dunkin' Donuts Independent Franchisee Association pushed for, along with the National Federation of Independent Business, the New England Convenience Store Association and the Restaurant and Business Alliance. This latest legislation is considered the second half of Massachusetts' health care reform, the original of which was signed by then-governor Mitt Romney. It aims to curb medical costs. The problem with Massachusetts' health care was that franchisees were penalized for staff who did not wish to be covered by the franchisee insurance plan, but rather chose to be insured by their parents' or...
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CKE Restaurants Pulls IPO

Member | BMM | Aug 9 | food
Bull on Wall Street eludes CKE Inc CARPINTERIA, Calif. — CKE Inc announced this evening that it is pulling its initial public offering because of poor market conditions. The company oversees 3,263 franchised and company-operated hamburger quick service restaurants under Carl's Jr. and Hardee's brands. CKE had hoped to use part of the proceeds to pay back its high debt load, close to $1.5 billion accrued from the firm's original buyout in 2010 when it went from publicly traded to privately owned. Now its owner, private equity firm Apollo Global Management, along with investment bankers, will have little to show for their efforts in preparing the company to go public. "I don't think Apollo or anyone at CKE messed up," says restaurant...
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California Senate Confirms Jan Lynn Owen as Dept of Corporations Commissioner

Member | BMM | Aug 9 | legal
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The California State Senate voted on Monday to confirm the appointment of Jan Lynn Owen as Commissioner of the California Department of Corporations. Governor Jerry Brown appointed Ms. Owen to the position on December 27, 2011. She was recommended for confirmation by a unanimous Senate Rules Committee vote on June 6. "I am honored to be confirmed to serve as commissioner of the Department of Corporations," said Commissioner Owen.  "I am proud to be in state service and to have the opportunity to lead the Department to greater efficiency and effectiveness during these challenging fiscal times." California Commissioner Jan Lynn Owen. photo:DoC "There are two main functions of a regulator of financial services,"...
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