Thursday, June 10, 2010

After 10 Million Ribs, Burger King Begins to Run Out

Make no bones about it: Burger King Holdings Inc. restaurants are running short of ribs.

Amid brisk demand, some Burger King outlets have already exhausted their supply of the relatively pricey new pork ribs, and the company expects to use up its entire rib order in the next week or so, said John Schaufelberger, Burger King's senior vice president of global product marketing and innovation. That means the limited-time offer on the ribs, slated to end June 20, may be cut short.

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Latest Jekyll plans call for mix of hotels, shops

Jekyll Island's latest redevelopment plan calls for a $75 million mix of hotels, shops and restaurants in the heart of the state park beloved by generations of vacationing Atlantans.

After numerous proposals the last four years, a failed deal with an Atlanta developer and the crippling recession, Jekyll officials were elated and relieved Wednesday to announce that construction on the scaled-back plan should begin in October. All projects should be finished by mid-2012.

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McDonald's Still Hungry for U.K. Growth

High energy levels are no guarantee of success as a chief executive, particularly at a fast food chain in the UK where its 2.5 million customers a day can vote with their feet. But it helps, and if the recent exploits of Steve Easterbrook, the president of McDonald's Northern Europe, are a guide he has plenty.

Last weekend, Mr Easterbrook, who became chief executive of McDonald's UK in 2006, completed a sprint triathlon at Blenheim Palace, comprising 750m in the water, 20km on the bike and a 6km run. For the record, he completed the event in one hour 48 minutes.

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Singapore squashes PETA chicken protest at KFC

SINGAPORE (AP) -- Singapore police squelched a planned demonstration against a KFC restaurant Thursday, but the detained animal rights activist vowed to return to protest in the tightly controlled city-state.

Edward Basse, a 24-year-old American activist with the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, said plainclothes police snatched him off the street and interrogated him for several hours before warning him not to leave his hotel until his flight out of the country Friday.

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Extended Stay seeks court OK of Centerbridge group bid

Extended Stay said the group, which emerged as the successful bidder at a court supervised auction last month, had also agreed to contribute certificates representing interests in a $4.1 billion mortgage loan for equity of the company.

"The Debtors (Extended Stay) are confident that the investment agreement embodying the successful bid is the highest and best bid submitted at the auction and, thus, provides maximum recoveries and distributions to creditors," the company said in court papers filed late on Tuesday.

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Euro Disney hit by growing debt fear

Euro Disney runs the Disneyland Paris resort on the outskirts of Paris and it has been battered by the downturn as more holidaymakers have stayed at home and the pound has reached record lows against the euro.

Euro Disney still has €1.9bn (£1.6bn) of the debt used to fund the park’s construction on its books. The company made a €26.4m operating profit on revenue of €1.2bn in the year ending September 30 2009 but paying €89.2m of financial charges on the debt left it with a €63m net loss.

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Fuddruckers shutters all of its Colorado restaurants

The burger chain with a name everyone loves to say (or is it slay?) has packed its beef and left the state for good.

Fuddruckers has closed its three Colorado restaurants as a result of the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing of its parent company. The closures, effective April 30, came down less than two weeks after parent company Magic Brands, LLC announced it was selling off $40 million worth of its assets to an investment company called Tavistock Group.

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TGI Friday’s operator hopes to cut debt through bankruptcy

BiState Bistro Associates of Chesterfield, which operates a dozen TGI Fridays restaurants, included an outline for a reorganization plan and said it hopes to cut its more than $9.5 million in debt in a bankruptcy it filed June 2.

The Chesterfield business, controlled by Steve Bell and Bradley Bax, sought bankruptcy June 2 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for Eastern Missouri. The action came after facing increased expenses with a TGI Fridays remodeling program that came at the same time revenue at its restaurants started to drop as the economy declined, BiState Bistro said in its bankruptcy disclosure. Its largest secured creditor is General Electric Capital Corp., which is owed about $5.6 million, according to bankruptcy court

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$525m Ginn foreclosure: Credit Suisse closing in

A major international financial institution is moving to obtain the necessary Bahamian government approvals to foreclose on a major chunk of Grand Bahama's $4.9 billion Ginn sur mer project, with the 2006 Heads of Agreement that expanded the development's size alleged to have been central to a scheme to artificially inflate its net worth.

The allegations are contained in a May 17, 2010, lawsuit filed against Ginn and all the entities associated with the Bahamian project's development by yet another group of disaffected real estate purchasers, whose motto seems to be: 'If at first you don't succeed, try, try, try again.'

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McDonald’s Targets Emerging Markets With Restaurant Openings

June 10 (Bloomberg) -- McDonald’s Corp., the largest restaurant chain, plans to open 100 more restaurants in South Africa and 120 in India over the next five years as the company seeks out further growth in emerging markets.

The Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa area contributes about 14 percent to the company’s operating income, compared with less than 8 percent five years ago, Tim Fenton, McDonald’s president for the region, said in an interview today.

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Sands Singapore Casino Sued for Conference Mishaps

June 10 (Bloomberg) -- Las Vegas Sands Corp.’s Singapore casino resort was sued by organizers of the first conference it hosted for misrepresenting a “complete disaster” as a world- class venue and for imposing duress, fear and force.

IPBA 2010 Pte, on behalf of the Inter-Pacific Bar Association conference, is asking the Singapore High Court to assess damages for misrepresentation, breach of agreement and Marina Bay Sands Pte’s conduct, according to a lawsuit filed June 8. The case counters the casino’s suit over unpaid bills.

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Wynn Shareholder Universal Aims for Casino Unit IPO

June 10 (Bloomberg) -- Universal Entertainment Corp., a Japanese pachinko game maker and the biggest shareholder in Wynn Resorts Ltd., plans a Hong Kong initial public offering within three years for a unit that is building a $2.7 billion Manila casino resort.

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UNITE HERE Wages National Actions Against Billionaire Pritzkers

Inside the plush Hyatt Regency McCormick Place in Chicago on June 9 assembled blue-chip Hyatt stockholders - anxiously anticipating dividend announcements that would perhaps justify a nice evening on the town, maybe in one of the city’s acclaimed five-star restaurants. Protesting outside were hotel workers who had their own concerns about how to put food on the table. Hyatt employees average less than $30,000 a year in most of the country.

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American Express CEO: Customers 'are traveling again'

American Express CEO Kenneth Chenault says U.S. card holders are traveling more and spending more on hotels this year than last year, even though they remain cautious travel spenders.

"Our mutual customers are traveling again," Chenault told the audience of about 1,000 people at the 32nd annual NYU hospitality investment conference luncheon on Monday.

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Ian Schrager launches a hotel chain with a difference

Legendary hotelier Ian Schrager - who revolutionised the travel industry with his creation of the boutique hotel genre - is celebrating the launch of his new hotel brand Edition today.

The American real estate developer - whose Ian Schrager Company already owns /magazine/the-gold-list-2010/gramercy-park-hotel,-new-york- Gramercy Park Hotel and who launched Morgans Hotel Group and Studio 54 - has teamed up with luxury group Marriott International to create an original hotel range that is the 'antithesis of a chain', and will be characterised by personalised and unique design spaces, modern service and outstanding beverage and entertainment facilities.

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