- HOSPITALITY NEWS - SEPTEMBER 2007
- Presented by Raymond Cote, Author of
 
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Special Reports
http://www.qsrweb.com/article.php?id=8743&na=1
Rodent Control in Food Operations. Go to: http://www.qsrweb.com/article.php?id=8190&prc=66&page=58
Buttermilk Biscuits Popular as a Breakfast item: See:http://www.qsrmagazine.com/articles/features/106/biscuits-1.phtml
Zagat issues its 2008 ratings of top restaurants: Go to: http://www.knbc.com/food/14193289/detail.html
The World’s Best 50 Restaurants by S. Pellegrino: http://www.theworlds50best.com/2007_list.html
United States News 
Watch this Up and Comer
CiCi's Pizza is unlike other pizza places. CiCi’s features an all-you-can-eat buffet with offerings of 16 kinds of fresh-from-the-oven pizza, pastas, salads, desserts - all for under $5 – with many locations charging just $4.49. (Children under three eat for free.) The ingredients include fresh tomatoes in the sauces, pizza dough baked everyday, 100% whole milk mozzarella, fresh vegetables (never from a can). CiCi’s signature operation is its dine-in restaurants. CiCi’s presently has 8 "to-go" operations. CiCi’s us developing a marketing plan for expansion of the To Go locations.
Surprising News
- Subway replaces McDonald’s: Subway is now Wal-Mart's primary quickservice concessionaire replacing the former in-store operation of McDonald’s.
- Massachusetts is the only state requiring an in-state ID for the purchase alcohol.
Foie-Gras Update
- A group of Philadelphia restaurants, with backing by the largest U.S. foie-gras producers are having a seven-day promotion called "Freedom Foie for Five." Lunch and dinner portions priced at $5 to introduce the controversial foie-gras to customers.
Wendy’s International Update 
- Wendy’s. has sold its 18-unit Café Express fast-casual chain. Terms, including who bought the chain, were not divulged. Wendy's business now consists of its burger chain and the Pasta Pomodoro and Pomodoro Cucina full-service Italian concepts.
- Billionaire investor Nelson Peltz’s company, Triarc Cos., owner of fast-food chain Arby's, is interested in buying Wendy's. He has sent a letter he sent to Wendy's Chairman James Pickett that was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
- Fidelity National Financial Inc and several private equity firms are now in the bidding for Wendy's International Inc. After entering a bid in the first round, the group plans to bid again in the second round of within the next 30 days.
- Another group in the bidding includes David Karam, a Wendy's franchisee and president of Cedar Enterprises Inc.
- It is reported that more than a dozen parties have interest in the acquiring Wendy's.
Technology Update 
- Pay-at-the-table systems, which let customers swipe their cards at the dining table, are common in Europe. The technology has not yet become popular in the U.S. because the systems can cost as much as $12,000. However, interest is growing because (1) pay-at-the-table systems eliminate scams in which employees use handheld computers or cell-phone cameras to record credit-card information, (2) these system help with faster table turnover, and (3) the systems can eliminate or reduce the customer wait while the server goes to the pay station to process their cards.
Update on Smoking Bans
- Tennessee's "nonsmokers protection act" bans smoking in restaurants but does not apply to businesses with three or fewer employees or to restaurants and bars that only serve customers who are 21 or older.
Acquisitions, Merger, Divestitures
- Darden Restaurants will purchase all outstanding shares of Rare Hospitality LongHorn Steakhouse, Capital Grille) in a deal Darden valued at $1.4 billion. Darden plans to challenge Outback.
- Over 99% of IHOP's 1,319 restaurants are franchises. After IHOP completes its purchase of Applebee’s, it hopes to franchise most of Applebee's 508 company-operated locations.
- Brinkers International has plans to sell its Romano's Macaroni Grill restaurant chain.
- FOCUS Brands bought Moe's Southwest Grill from Raving Brands this year after previous acquisitions of Schlotzsky's, Carvel and Cinnabon.
- McDonald's is selling its 630 Boston Market chain to Sun Capital Partners, a private equity firm that also owns Bruegger's, Fazoli's and Sweet Tomatoes.
- Friendly Ice Cream shareholders have approved selling the company to Sun Capital Partners for $337 million. The current board of Friendly will resign. Sun Capital intends to improve the look and menu of Friendly restaurants.
- Sun Capital Partners
completes its purchase of Boston Market.
- Falfurrias Capital Partners has purchased a controlling interest in Bojangles' Restaurants’ parent company for an undisclosed amount. Bojangles' posted a record $508 million in sales in 2006.
Food Service News 
- Many food products produced in the U.S. contain ingredients imported from China and other countries because U.S. production cannot meet demand for common ingredients such as honey and B vitamins.
- Doug Martinides, v.p. of Aramark Corp. for culinary development says "He has not seen a significant difference between the performance of traditional oils and trans fat free oils. The new formulations have generally required more vigilant filtration procedures to maximize their longevity. Thus, Aramark is placing heavy focus on fryer management training and maintenance procedures."
Legal News
- The NYC rule previously imposed on quickservice restaurants to post calorie content on menus was "thrown out" when a U.S. District Court judge said the rule conflicted with federal law.
- California Restaurant chains with 15 or more locations in the state will have to list the fat, calories and salt content of their standard menu items if a bill is passed.
- The Los Angeles City Council is considering passing a moratorium of up to two years on any new quickservice restaurants in South Los Angeles.
Market News
- North Carolina News:
- Restaurants do not have to face a ban on smoking. The bill intended to ban smoking in was a few votes short of passing.
- Lone Cedar Cafe in Nags Head, N.C. (owned by state Sen. Marc Basnight) was destroyed by a fire four months ago; the family plans to reopen it in August.
- Major chains such as Burger King, McDonald's, Wendy's, Starbucks, Taco Bell and Jack in the Box are competing in the lucrative breakfast market.
- New Orleans had a number of new restaurants that did good business last year. However, many of those restaurants closed for the usual slow summer season. Normal business cycles have yet to return to New Orleans.
- Tijuana Flats with 53 units in the Southeast, Pennsylvania and Indiana offer inexpensive Mexican food in a science-fiction decor. The company will not franchise new restaurants.
- Foie gras is still available in Chicago: some restaurants serve it upon request and others serve it as a complimentary dish; thus avoiding the law.
- Subway and Dunkin’ Donuts are now into the "pizza business".
- Subway offers an 8-inch personal pizza in about 13,000 stores nationwide.
- Dunkin' Donuts has 15 stores serving pizzas in six states.
- Subway is now selling Dannon products, making it the first major national restaurant chain to provide yogurt in restaurants.
- Upscale restaurants have broken a price barrier – there is now a $40 Entrée.
Tax Notes 
- The House of Representatives is considering a bill that would make permanent the 15 years accelerated depreciation schedule for improvements and new building construction for restaurants.
- Cafeteria Plans: The proposed effective date of the regulations is Jan. 1, 2009. Cafeteria plans allow employees to choose from among a variety of benefits, including life, health and disability insurance; health and dependent care flexible spending accounts; and sometimes contributions to a 401(k) plan. A restaurant chain cannot have one health plan for executives and another for workers. The regulations explicitly state that "sole proprietors, partners, directors of corporations and 2 percent shareholders of S corporations can sponsor a plan for their employees but cannot participate."
- Tip Credit: Restaurant owners pay Social Security and Medicare tax on tips that are treated as part of the minimum wage. Although Congress has raised the minimum wage, to $7.25 an hour over two years, restaurant owners can base the tax on the old minimum of $5.15.
 SERVICE MESSAGE TO ALL EDUCATORS
?Does your hospitality managerial accounting text provide the latest in hospitality accounting developments?
Leading hospitality schools use Accounting for Hospitality Managers, 5th edition, providing their students with the latest technology and accurate hospitality accounting and financial education. Your future graduates will be competing against these students who have had the best up-to-date and pragmatic hospitality accounting education available. For instance, this hospitality managerial accounting text contains: Special Topics
Sarbanes-Oxley Act
SEC, 10-K Report
Fair Value Financial Statements (Now required for all corporations with publicly issued stock)
Recently revised Uniform System of Accounts for the Lodging Industry, tenth edition
RevPar
Casino Accounting
How to Prepare a Feasibility Study
- -----------AND much more special topics too numerous to list
Special Features
Chapters provide Internet Sites related to the topical material.
Managerial accounting case studies in each chapter
Exclusive
- No other text has the topic: Fair Value Financial Statements
- No other text contains a comprehensive chapter on hospitality payrolls, including coverage of tip reporting.
Plus Chapters covering topics such as
Forecasting and Budgeting
Cash Management
Financial Decision Making
And the usual managerial accounting topics Plus Customer Service from the Author: Link to: Customer Service  Check your present text with this 5th edition.
It will not contain many of these topics that are instrumental to the success of your students.
Customer Service Items Available from the Author 
1. Free Conversion Guide: To purchasers of the new ACCOUNTING FOR HOSPITALITY MANAGERS, 5th edition. The Guide will be save time in the preparation of your class notes. [This guide will not be of value unless you have both editions.]
2. Free Test Bank: ACCOUNTING FOR HOSPITALITY MANAGERS, 5th edition. (20 questions per chapter) For free test bank: please provide your name, position, and school. [If you are not a customer of this text, request instructions for payment: the purchase price is US$100.]
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International News 
General
- McDonald’s gourmet coffee has gone international - McCafes (small snack bars and gourmet coffee) are now in 33 countries, including Australia and Germany, Japan.
- Denmark joins Ireland, Italy, Malta, Norway, Sweden and Britain as the most recent European country to ban smoking in public places, including restaurants and bars.
Australia
- Up to 2010 new hotel room supply is expected to increase by about 1.4% per year. 'Despite the encouraging RevPAR, that growth will need to overtake construction cost increases and land costs.
- Outrigger will manage the Twin Towns Services Club (343 rooms and suites) on the Queensland-New South Wales border.
- Outrigger will manage the Viridian Resort & Spa, to be built in the resort town of Noosa, on Australia's Sunshine Coast
Bahamas
- Baha Mar Resorts, Harrah's Entertainment and Starwood Hotels will develop Baha Mar, a $2+ Billion destination resort in the Bahamas.
- Baha Mar Resorts Ltd., together with Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. opened the all-new Sheraton Cable Beach Resort in Nassau.
Bahrain
- The Diplomat Radisson SAS Residence has opened, it is located in the heart of Bahrain's capital, Manama City, adjacent to the existing 246-room Diplomat Radisson SAS Hotel.
Belgium
- Wyndham Hotel Group International has opened the first Ramada hotel in Belgium, the 210-room Ramada Plaza Antwerp.
Canada
- Hampton has opened a 92-room Hampton Inn by Hilton London, Ontario in Canada. This is the 20th Hampton hotel in Canada bringing the total room count in the country to 2,238.
- A 136-room hotel, the aloft Montreal Airport, will be developed as a joint venture by Silver Hotel Group and Northampton Group Inc. slated to open in 2008,
China
- Fog Cutter Capital Group Inc. has opened the company's first Fatburger restaurant in China, located in the Venetian(R) Macao-Resort-Hotel.
- Marriott opens its 23-story, 588-room JW Marriott Hotel Beijing
- By 2010 Accor plans to have opened or under development more than 180 hotels (40,000 rooms).
- Rigorous export regulations by Chinese officials have resulted in a reduction of export sales of garlic, honey and fish products.
- The Olympics bring 109 planned hotel projects. The largest hotel project for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games is the Beijing Marriott Hotel with 615 rooms (opening in February 2008). The largest hotel project overall in PR China is the Sheraton Macao Hotel with nearly 4,000 rooms (opening in December 2008).
- Wyndham Hotel Group's Super 8 brand, has opened 49 Super 8 hotels in China, representing more than 4,700 rooms, and has signed agreements to develop additional 67 hotels.
- The Xianglu GRAND Hotel has joined WORLDHOTELS, which now number 32 WORLDHOTELS members in China.
- Four Points by Sheraton plans its first hotel in Tibet and is also opening two new hotels in China: Four Points by Sheraton Lianyungang and Four Points by Sheraton Sanya Bay. These hotels are scheduled to open between 2007 and 2010.
- St. Regis Hotels & Resorts is planning a new hotel in Tianjin, China.
France
- Hotels and Resorts offers another hotel in Paris, France, the Hospes Lancaster, just steps away from the Champs - Elysées.
India
- Yum! Brands plans to add about 30 to 40 restaurants per year over the next three years.
- Starbucks has postponed its plans to enter the India market scheduled for this year. Its reasons are undisclosed.
- India’s population is over 1.13 billion people and is predicted to become the world's most populous country by 2050 growing to 1.6 billion and surpassing China.
- The Metropolitan Hotel is a 5-star hotel located in downtown Connaught Place, joins three other hotels in India under the Preferred Hotels & Resorts brand: The Imperial, Devi Garh and Samode Palace.
- Pizza Hut has 134 stores in India and Domino's has 149. Both companies are adding about 50 locations a year.
Japan
- In January 2008, Solare Hotels & Resorts Co. Ltd. will begin construction of three new roadside hotels in Okayama, Iwate and Nagano Prefectures. Openings are scheduled from September through November 2008.
- Cold Stone Creamery's is giving samples in upscale shopping areas and has tried to boost its image by sponsoring a fashion show.
Korea
- McDonald's customers can download a special program that provides them with the ability to order food from their tables; they then receive a message via mobile phones and sensors when the meal is ready.
- Marriott opened its third property in Seoul; a 103-room Marriott Executive Apartments under a management agreement with re-plus corporation, based in Tokyo.
Mexico
- Quintess introduces brand new concept "resort within a resort" experience with enhanced services and amenities in its most popular destinations. The Company's first of several resorts worldwide is Cielos Palmillas in Los Cabos, Mexico at the Palmilla Resort. The new custom-designed Cielos Palmillas residences are in a private gated community featuring at least 12 four-bedroom, free-standing luxury homes, each with its own expansive terrace with pool and built-in spa. The first four homes will be available in January 2008; additional homes will be completed during the year.
- Sizzler USA and Grupo Payger have signed a franchise agreement to open four locations in Mexico City and Acapulco within a year.
- California Pizza Kitchen, Inc. opened its first location in Mexico located in the Bosques de Las Lomas neighborhood in Mexico City.
- Los Angeles-based Kor Hotel Group newest Mexico acquisition is the Hotel Villa del Sol on the Mexican Riviera which will now be the Tides Zihuatanejo.
Netherlands
- Golden Tulip signed a franchise agreement for the Golden Tulip Papendrecht with Hotel & Exploitatie Maatschappij Papendrecht. It is Golden Tulip’s 80th hotel in the Netherlands.
Puerto Rico
- Pierre Hotel to join Doubletree Hotel and Resort Portfolio upon completion of $18 Million renovation.
Russia
- In September, Starbucks will open its first store in Russia at the Mega Mall north of Moscow.
South Africa
- Pezula Resort Hotel & SPA and Cape Grace in South Africa are new markets for ARTEH Hotels and Resorts.
Switzerland
- Fairmont Hotels & Resorts Switzerland portfolio now includes the Fairmont Le Montreux Palace, located on the shores of Lake Geneva. The hotel has been attracting visitors for over 100 years. The 235-room hotel offers five restaurants and two bars, a 2000 sq.m (over 21,000 sq. ft) Willow Stream Spa, fitness facility and distinctive meeting space for up to 1,200 people.
Turkey
- Marriott International, Inchas opened its 238-room Istanbul Marriott Hotel Asia, the first of its upscale Marriott Hotels & Resorts brand in Turkey under a franchise agreement with the Buyukhanli Group.
- The Mövenpick Resort Bodrum opened in July; the 5-star boutique hotel has 92 rooms.
- Banyan Tree signs its first contract in Bodrum, Turkey. It will manage a boutique resort and residential development featuring an all-pool villa resort and branded residences having unblocked views of the Aegean Sea and dramatic cliff terrains, and a 4,000 square meter spa facility.
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