McDonald’s chief attacks children’s meal ‘food police’

The chief executive of McDonald’s has described critics of the company who have tried to curtail the sale of Happy Meals aimed at children as “food police” and accused them of undermining parents in making decisions for their families.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Jim Skinner responded to last month’s vote by the San Francisco board of supervisors to forbid restaurants from offering toys with meals unless the food complied with limits on calories, sodium, sugar and fat.

“We’ll continue to sell Happy Meals,” said Mr Skinner, in the face of a ban that does not become effective until December 2011. The new rule “really takes personal choice away from families who are more than capable of making their own decisions”.

 

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Coney Island Food-Service Company Sodexo Paid Out $100 Million In Lawsuits

The food-service company tapped to open eateries in Coney Island's revamped amusement district is leaving a bad taste with a lot of people -- neighbors, students, minority employees and Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.
The French cafeteria-services giant Sodexo has paid $100 million in legal settlements since 2005 to settle allegations of overcharging New York students and of denying black employees promotions.
Sodexo -- which was quietly selected by the operators of Luna Park to run a full-service restaurant a block off the fabled boardwalk and is expected to operate other food establishments on the boardwalk -- paid $80 million in 2005 to settle a lawsuit brought by thousands of its black employees in America.

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Miami Prostitution Ring Did Big Business In Detroit

The Feds call it a sophisticated multi-million dollar international call girl ring.  And despite having the worst economy in the nation, they did a lot of business in Metro Detroit.  In fact, the Feds brought them down at a Hotel in Novi.  Fox 2's Simon Shaykhet has the inside scoop into the investigation.

Toddler found in hotel fountain dies

The 18-month-old boy who was found unconscious in a hotel fountain in San Francisco last week after wandering away from his mother has died, officials said Monday.
Olivier Matera of San Francisco died Saturday at a local hospital, said Stephen Gelman of the chief medical examiner's office.

Police found the boy in the Hyatt Regency fountain Wednesday afternoon, a few minutes after his mother placed a 911 call from the Embarcadero hotel to report that she couldn't find her son. Officers were able to get him breathing again by administering CPR.

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Ashford Hospitality Trust Announces Offering of 7.5 Million Shares of Common Stock

(Hospitality Business News) December 13, 2010 - Ashford Hospitality Trust, Inc. (NYSE: AHT) today announced that it commenced an underwritten public offering of 7.5 million shares of its common stock. Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. is acting as the sole book-running manager for the offering. Ashford intends to use the net proceeds to repay a portion of its outstanding borrowings under its senior credit facility, although it may also use a portion of the net proceeds for general corporate purposes, including, without limitation, financing future hotel-related investments, capital expenditures and working capital or repayment of other debt or maturing obligations as they become due. Ashford will grant the underwriter a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 1.125 million shares to cover over-allotments, if any.

Moving Violations: In Chicago, Cooking and Driving Don't Mix

CHICAGO—Tiffany Kurtz was cruising the downtown streets here in her powder-blue van when a group of women flagged her down.
She punched her hazard lights on, pulled into a loading zone and began selling her wares. Within minutes, a police officer rolled up with his lights flashing.
"We're stopping the sale of cupcakes," she recalls him saying, before he handed her a ticket and shooed her away.

Food trucks—essentially restaurants on wheels—have taken off in cities such as Los Angeles and New York, spurred by the weak economy, trendy fare and the proliferation of social media, like Twitter. Food & Wine magazine voted an L.A. food-truck chef one of its "Best New Chefs" of 2010 and the Food Network has a show devoted to such vendors. But in Chicago, one of the nation's most progressive culinary cities, the trucks are held back by restrictive rules and operate in a legal twilight zone.


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Blackstone hotels firm restructures $633mln debt

LONDON, Dec 13 (Reuters) - A European hotel company owned by Blackstone (BX.N) property funds has restructured 480 million euros ($633 million) of its debt, extending the maturity by five years to ride out a rough patch for the hotel industry.
The restructuring includes a new 150 million-euro mezzanine loan, fully placed with Morgan Stanley (MS.N) Real Estate Fund (MSREF) VII Global, a statement from Blackstone and its bankers Citi (C.N) and ING Real Estate Finance (ING.AS) said on Monday.

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49ers legends Montana, Eddie DeBartolo plan luxury hotel

Former 49ers great Joe Montana and ex-owner Eddie DeBartolo Jr. are two of the most storied names in franchise history. Now they're maneuvering to participate in the 49ers' most ambitious real estate venture ever: the $937 million stadium the team hopes to build in Santa Clara for the 2015 season.

Montana, DeBartolo and a third business partner, Connecticut developer Kurt Wittek, want to build a luxury hotel, sports bar and entertainment complex on two parcels of city-owned land adjacent to the site of the planned 68,500-seat stadium. The Hall of Fame quarterback and his partners capped a series of meetings with Santa Clara officials with a written request last week for an 18-month exclusive negotiating agreement to complete a deal.
City officials said Sunday that the City Council won't take any action until after the new year. But the concept proposed by Montana and his partners has significant support on the council, and it appears to fit with Santa Clara's long-standing plan to develop land around the stadium site as an entertainment district.

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Chesapeake Lodging Trust Announces a DefinitiveAgreement to Acquire the Le Meridien San Francisco

(Hospitality Business News) December 13, 2010 - - Chesapeake Lodging Trust (NYSE:CHSP) announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the 360-room Le Meridien San Francisco located in San Francisco, California for a purchase price of $143 million, or approximately $397,000 per key. The Company intends to fund the acquisition with a $60 million term loan secured by the hotel that is expected to be funded at the closing of the acquisition, a $45 million borrowing under its revolving credit facility, and remaining proceeds from its recent equity offering. Completion of the proposed acquisition is expected before the end of 2010, subject to satisfaction of customary closing conditions. The Company intends to enter into an agreement with a subsidiary of HEI Hotels and Resorts, the hotel's current operator, to manage the hotel under its current franchise flag.

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The Potential Effect of the Proposed Payroll Tax Reduction

(Hospitality Business News) December 13, 2010 - - By R. Mark Woodworth - - After suffering through the all-time worst year of performance in 2009, U.S. hotel owners and operators are eager for growth.  The domestic lodging industry has experienced a definite turnaround in 2010.  Considering the drags on the economy such as the depressed housing market, high unemployment, and Federal deficit worries, the swift pace of recovery in the lodging industry has been remarkable.  Recently released updated forecasts from Colliers PKF Hospitality Research (“PKF-HR”) reveal that a base has been established for very strong gains in both revenue and profits in the years to come.  The near-term future could be that much brighter if certain elements of President Obama’s recent tax proposal are enacted into law.
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Hotel manager stole $5m to cover debt

A County Court has heard a central Victorian hotel manager was struggling with debt when he stole close to $5 million from the pub's betting agency. David John Keogh, 43, faced court today and admitted to 12 charges. The thefts happened throughout 2008 when Keogh was running the One Tree Hill Hotel in Spring Gully. He issued more than 1,000 betting vouchers without payment to help cover the hotel's bills, while the majority of the funds were then put back through the agency to settle the account. Defence lawyers told the court Keogh had treated the funds as an overdraft and had not used the money to fund an extravagant lifestyle.
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