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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Man rides horse into Humpty Doo Hotel Bar

BAR staff at the Humpty Doo Hotel got a surprise on New Year's Eve when a patron rode a horse into the pub and ordered a beer.
Riding bareback and wearing no more than shorts and a pair of thongs, Trevor Yeend steered horse Elvis through the crowd and went straight for the bar.
The 48-year-old jockey said it was easier to ride to the bar than walk.
"I think people were a bit stunned," he said. "But it was just another night at the Humpty Doo pub I guess."

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Analysts say recovery is coming for Vegas

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- The gaming industry is entering uncharted waters in 2011.

For the first time since 1989, the Strip will not witness a new hotel-casino opening nor are any new resort developments on the horizon.

The unprecedented building boom that covered parts of three decades and remade the look and image of the 4-mile-long boulevard is over.

It ended Dec. 15 with the unveiling of the $3.9 billion Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.

Barring an unforeseen miracle -- and a multibillion-dollar cash infusion -- neither the shell of what was to have been Echelon nor the 70 percent-complete Fontainebleau will be finished anytime soon.
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Dubai confident it can fill 10,000 extra hotel rooms

Dubai says growth in its cruise ship industry, more exhibitions, and increased efforts to promote the sector will help boost tourism to the emirate this year to fill the 10,000 hotel rooms it plans to add over the next 12 months.
The Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) said it would also focus on the implementation of a new hotel classification system, which was announced last year.
"The year 2011 is expected to outperform 2010 in terms of increasing the numbers of tourists, hotels, hotel rooms, and participation in international exhibitions and conventions, in addition to increasing awareness of Dubai abroad," said Eyad Ali Abdul Rahman, a spokesman for DTCM.
Tourism directly accounts for about 19 per cent of the emirate's gross domestic product.

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The inn crowd hungry to buy hotels

A former airline CEO with a liking for expensive red wines.
A reclusive family patriarch of a pub empire. A former rugby league high-flyer, two glitzy upstarts who lord over Sydney's premier nightspots, and a company better known for selling tinned beetroot.
With major banks set to call last drinks on a multitude of struggling pubs and beleaguered corporations, a queue of cashed-up buyers is waiting to pick up the scraps and expand their pub empires.
Paddy Coughlan, who heads up a consortium bankrolled by John Singleton and investment banker Mark Carnegie, said 2011 would be the best time to buy pubs in decades, with many licence holders to hit the wall.
His Singo-styled consortium has already snapped up four pubs - Darlinghurst bar Kinselas, the Peakhurst Inn, Paddington's Bellevue Hotel and Manly's Steyne - with former Qantas CEO Geoff Dixon and retail maestro Gerry Harvey chipping in for the latter two.

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Man Robbed, Shot By Woman At Tulsa Hotel

A man was hospitalized overnight after police say he was shot and robbed by a woman.

It happened shortly after eleven o'clock Sunday night. Police were called to the Tulsa Inn & Suites where they found the victim suffering from a gunshot wound to the leg.

The man told police he was from out of town and was eating at a restaurant when he was approached

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