Tampa owner of hotel, club charged in sales tax theft

TAMPA - A Tampa hotel and nightclub manager stole more than $46,000 in sales tax from the state, according to the Florida Department of Revenue.
Jai Lalwani, who operated and was chief executive of the Westshore Hotel and the Temple Lounge, was arrested Dec. 23 in Polk County. Charges against the 32-year-old Wesley Chapel man include tax evasion and theft of state funds.
Lalwani collected tax from customers at the two businesses but during periods in 2008 and 2009 failed to file tax returns or send sales tax to the state, a Department of Revenue release states

New Jersey Restaurants look for Beer and Wine Licenses

New Jersey's restrictive liquor-license laws have some owners of BYOB restaurants looking for ways to uncork their profit potential.

Kitty Stillufsen wants to offer beer or wine with the scallops and lobster at her small seafood restaurant at the tip of Point Pleasant Beach. But state laws limiting the number of licenses based on a town's population mean the licenses can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars—too expensive for owners of smaller restaurants such as Ms. Stillufsen.

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Investors buy Sheraton Safari near Disney

The Sheraton Safari Hotel and Suites near Walt Disney World has been bought for an undisclosed price and its new owners are planning a $25 million renovation.

AREA Property Partners and Winston Harton Holdings LLC, both based in New York City, announced their purchase of the 489-room hotel Tuesday. The companies said they will begin extensive renovations of the facility immediately, and plan to complete the project by spring 2012. Once renovated, the hotel will keep the Sheraton brand.

Located at 12205 S. Apopka Vineland Rd., the Sheraton Safari is just outside the gateway to Walt Disney World's hotel plaza.

Hotel Acquisitions in Americas to Increase 25% in 2011, Jones Lang Says

Hotel sales and acquisitions in the Americas will jump as much as 25 percent this year, buoyed by real estate investment trusts and foreign investors seeking to deploy cash, according to Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels.
Transactions may total $13 billion this year, the London- based company said in a statement today. Volume was about $10.5 billion in 2010, almost five times the previous year’s levels, according to Jones Lang.

“Due to additional capital raises, REITs are expected to continue to be dominant buyers in 2011, and private equity groups and institutional investors will increasingly join the mix as leverage levels and terms improve,” Arthur Adler, managing director and Americas chief executive officer at Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels, said in the statement. The U.S. will be one of the most active markets for deals globally, the company said.

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Snotel launches new ski hotel brand

Snotels will innovate the lodging market by launching a niche hotel brand, network and experience, for existing hotel owners and developers, solely in ski resorts and alpine towns, across the world.
 
Snotels is a mid-range hotel brand focused on creating experiences, freedom and altitude for hotel owners and alpine enthusiasts. Negotiations with hotel owners are underway.
 
Independently run and resort owned hotels typically struggle with brand awareness, hotel technology, marketing and service innovation.

The venture founder, Michael Metcalfe says: “Snotels will increase occupancy, guest satisfaction and revenue for Snoteliers with united brand power, reservations and systems, marketing, international reach and support services”.

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KFC ordered to pay Iowa Income Taxes

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa didn't violate any laws when it assessed fried-chicken giant KFC Corp. nearly $250,000 for unpaid corporate income taxes, even though it had no restaurants or employees in the state, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled Thursday.

All KFC restaurants in Iowa are independent franchises, whose owners pay KFC for the use of its logo and systems. The company also requires franchises to adhere to its requirements for menu items, marketing and facilities.

The Iowa Department of Revenue and Finance assessed KFC more than $248,000 in unpaid corporate income taxes, including interest and penalties, in 2001. The taxes were for 1997 to 1999.

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A&W takes on McDonalds in Canada

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A&W, long-time purveyor of draft root beer in frosted mugs and the quaint “burger family,” is challenging industry leader McDonald’s Corp. for the growing downtown market.

Aiming to reignite a decades-old brand name, A&W is rapidly expanding in dense urban centres, opening a quartet of outlets on its home turf of Vancouver, plus locations in Calgary, Toronto and Montreal. The restaurants have modernized the chain’s signature orange decor, playing Arcade Fire on the sound system and offering free wi-fi along with the traditional burgers and onion rings.

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Dunkin Donuts comes out with new Ad Campaign

The new campaign, which includes print, TV, and digital ads, is the chain’s latest effort to one-up its biggest rivals, Starbucks and McDonald’s, in the java wars. The ads mostly feature everyday people who were picked as part of a nationwide casting call in November, which drew 1,000 people.

Among the ads’ pitchmen are two firefighters from Georgia who, when asked, “What are you drinkin’?’’ respond: “I’m drinkin’ Dunkin’.’’

Dan Saia, vice president of consumer engagement at Dunkin’ Donuts, a unit of privately owned Dunkin’ Brands Inc. in Canton, said the campaign is designed to let real customers tell the Dunkin’ Donuts story.

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Heston Blumenthal, Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver take on the villains of the fishing world

In an Islington studio on one of the coldest nights of December, three of Britain’s most successful chefs have spent several hours lying face up in a giant sardine tin for a Channel 4 publicity shot.
So when Live arrives and asks them to do another shoot – this time wearing freshly deceased fish as neckties – there are some nervous looks among their agents. Jamie Oliver agrees, so long as the tie is sustainable. He’s not joking. A fresh mackerel is procured.
Gordon Ramsay grumbles that we’re making him late for his ‘day job’ at the recently reopened Savoy hotel. But during the shoot he tells a story that has the entire room hanging on his every word. His contribution to Channel 4’s Big Fish Fight series saw him investigating the illegal trade in shark fins, which led to a confrontation with heavily armed Costa Rican gangsters…
‘It’s a multibillion-dollar industry, completely unregulated,’ he’s saying.

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Orco's Chief Executive Is Detained in Croatia in connection with Resort development

Jean-Francois Ott, chief executive officer of east European developer Orco Property Group SA was questioned by police in Zagreb in connection with a criminal investigation into a luxury island resort development.

Two officers took Ott from a Zagreb hotel this morning after he finished a briefing with reporters, company spokeswoman Petra Zdenkova said by phone today. The shares sank 4 percent to 178.96 koruna in Prague, the lowest in more than a month. Zdenkova said Ott cooperated with police before his late- afternoon release.

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Chinese firm buys Universal City landmark hotel

LOS ANGELES—The Sheraton hotel that looms over Universal City's studios and theme park is being purchased by Chinese real estate firm Shenzhen New World Group Co., a company official said Monday.
The Sheraton Universal Hotel's purchase by Shenzhen New World Group Co. is set to close on Wednesday, said Daniel Teng, an executive with the company's U.S. operation.
 
He would not discuss the sale price. The 20-story hotel and its surrounding property was last assessed at $123.3 million, according to county records.

Teng said his company, which in March purchased a 469-room Marriott hotel in downtown Los Angeles, plans to spend about $5 million to renovate the Sheraton's pool area, meeting rooms and other public spaces.

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More airport restaurants open closer to gates - and fliers

Airport restaurant operators are testing their latest gambit to sell more food and drink: getting their offerings within closer reach of passengers.

They're working with airports to get space closer to gates — or, in some cases, occupying entire holding rooms at gates — to cater to travelers who are reluctant to wander too far from where they board.

To do it, they're squeezing the size of gates, converting unused ones into food or snack areas and building smaller kitchens in gate restaurants that can function without a lot of equipment

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Pizza Hut's 500th Chinese Restaurant Opened In Lanzhou

The chain pizza restaurant Pizza Hut has announced that its 500th pizza restaurant in China has opened in Lanzhou, capital of Gansu province.

According to Zhu Zongyi, president for the China business department of Yum Brands, parent company of Pizza Hut, over the next two years Yum plans to invest CNY30 million in Lanzhou. Zhu said that Yum started developing the Chinese western market ten years ago and in 2010 the number of its restaurants in the Chinese western areas was seven times as five years ago.

Gao Yao, general manager for the Pizza Hut brand of Yum China, said that unlike other multinational enterprises who usually focus on the development in coastal cities in China, Pizza Hut has been exploring cities of various tiers step by step. Its footprints are all over China, from the coastal and economically developed regions to the southwestern, northeastern, and northwestern regions.

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Struggling restaurateurs sought for new TV show

Local restaurants on the brink of failure -- there may be hope for one of you.
A new Food Network series that debuts this month is looking for prospective candidates from San Diego to be featured in a possible second season of the show.
While there is no guarantee a San Diego County eatery will make it onto "Restaurant:Impossible," or even that the new series will be renewed, the producer says the more applications submitted the better.

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Starbucks Deal With Kraft Costs It Potential Grocery Store Sales

Starbucks Corp., the world’s largest coffee chain, will miss out on a surge in home-brewing unless it can break a 13-year-old deal that ties its fortunes to Kraft Foods Inc.’s slow-selling Tassimo machine.

Under the terms of the deal, Starbucks can’t put its coffee in the Keurig Home Brewer, according to a complaint from Kraft filed in federal court in White Plains, New York. Kraft’s brewing system has 2.6 percent of the grocery market; Keurig, which dominates the U.S. market for machines that make single cups of coffee in a minute or less and is owned by Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc., has 71 percent.

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