Burger King’s lays off over 400 employees

Burger King's new owners continued their purge of headquarters Monday, dismissing a large number of workers there in an effort to catch-up with McDonald's in the fast-food wars.
The Miami-based company announced 413 dismissals company-wide, including 261 in South Florida. Most of those jobs came from the No. 2 burger chain's headquarters in the Blue Lagoon commercial park.
The company refused to say how many people worked at headquarters before the cuts, but in recent years Burger King put the number at between 500 and 700, according to the Beacon Council, Miami-Dade's economic development agency.
``It's significant news,'' said Frank Nero, the Beacon Council's president. ``They've told us they remain committed to having a headquarters here. Obviously, a much smaller headquarters.''

Here is a list of positions

Read More:

Not all going well at Chavez's “Socialist McDonalds”

Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez has created a fast-food restaurant chain to promote his brand of Socialism, according to a top-secret diplomatic cable released from Wikileaks in the Cablegate scandal.
The January 19 cable, reprinted by The Atlantic, discusses the December 22 opening of Arepea Socialista, a sort of Socialist answer to Capitalist fast food chains. The restaurant serves arepeas, a thick type of tortilla sandwich, for about a quarter of the price of competing commercial enterprises, using ingredients and other products from government-owned companies. The diplomat who visited the place noted the fast service, and that customers only paid for what they ate after their meal. Staff said they served some 1,200 customers a day.

Read More:

Hackers Steal McDonald's Customer Data

McDonald's is working with law enforcement authorities after malicious hackers broke into another company's databases and stole information about an undetermined number of the fast food chain's customers.

McDonald's has also alerted potentially affected customers via e-mail and through a message on its website.
"We have been informed by one of our long-time business partners, Arc Worldwide, that limited customer information collected in connection with certain McDonald's websites and promotions was obtained by an unauthorized third party," a McDonald's spokeswoman said via e-mail on Saturday.

Read More:

A new way to accept credit cards

(Hospitality Business News) December 12, 2010 - - Square is a new system that allows anyone to accept credit cards. Square works with any US-issued credit, debit, pre-paid, or gift card with a Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover logo. Perhaps the US only restriction will be a hindrance in some major cities so you should be aware of this.

Square's card processing fees are:

·          2.75% + 15¢ for swiped transactions

·          3.5% + 15¢ for keyed-in transactions

There are no activation, gateway, monthly, early termination, or hidden fees.

Square can currently be used with the following devises

Apple iOS

·         iPhone, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4

·         iPod touch (2nd generation or later)

·         iPad

Google Android

·         Motorola Droid, Droid X

·         HTC Nexus One, Droid Incredible, Evo, Desire, Hero (With Android 2.X)

·         Samsung Galaxy S Series, Intercept

·         LG Ally

Read More:

Istithmar weighs up sell-off

  Istithmar World is considering selling its share in the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront shopping and entertainment development in Cape Town as property companies show interest in South Africa's biggest tourist attraction.
A source at Dubai World, the parent company of Istithmar, confirmed talks had taken place but said no deal was imminent and added it would sell only at an attractive price. It said it would otherwise strive to hold on to the site, reckoned to be one of the country's most valuable.
The site could fetch as much as 10 billion rand (Dh5.36bn) with potential buyers including Growthpoint, a publicly traded South African property investment company, among those interested in the asset, according to a person familiar with the situation. "People are pushing to buy [the V&A Waterfront]," said a Dubai World source familiar with the discussions. "But we aren't pushing a sale. There is always a price difference … We are just looking at maximising returns," he said.

Read More:

Big market for low-cost hotels in Dubai and Abu Dhabi

Budget hotels in the Dubai and Abu Dhabi stand to be the big winners from the growth in stopover traffic and the rapidly expanding low-cost carrier business, analysts and hoteliers say.

As a result, there is room for much more budget accommodation in the UAE and the wider region, as the phenomenon of jumping on a cheap flight and taking several short breaks a year, which is now well-established in Europe, starts to take off in the region.

A number of budget properties have launched in Dubai this year, including an easyHotel, and new Premier Inn and Holiday Inn Express lodgings next to Dubai International Airport.

Read More:

Britain's top tax official enjoys £6,000 four-night stay at luxury hotel in India

Britain's top tax official Dave Hartnett has enjoyed a four-night stay in a luxury hotel in India – at a cost of thousands of pounds to the taxpayer – to attend a conference at which he delivered a speech lasting just half an hour.

Mr Hartnett, Permanent Secretary for Tax at Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs, flew business class to Mumbai to participate in the low-key conference largely for Indian accountants and tax officials.

He was even joined on the trip by another senior executive, Melissa Tatton, who is the HMRC’s Deputy Director of Business International.

Read More:

Make way for the Cosmopolitan Hotel and Casino

Even before The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas opens Wednesday, gaming industry analysts are saying that to succeed financially the hotel-casino will have to offer something different from what is found at other properties along the Strip.

The Cosmopolitan also needs to generate income for Deutsche Bank AG, which acquired the property out of foreclosure in 2008 and spent $3.9 billion to complete the 2,995-room hotel-casino.

"It's important for them to maximize the property's long-term financial potential, no question," said Edward King, managing director of Morgan Stanley's investment banking division.

Read More: