• HOSPITALITY NEWS - NOVEMBER  2007
• Presented by Raymond Cote, Author of

                                                      

• For more information on these texts. press the buttons at left of any page accordingly labeled as:
•               Principles/Systems Text                      Managerial Acctg Text

New Research Reports on My Website 

• What is Organic Sales Growth? Press button at left of any page labeled "NewResearchReport#1"
• Job Description of Casino Cage Worker. Press button at left of any page labeled "NewResearchReport#2"
• Comment: The Special Reports Archive contains previously issued research reports on this site. Click the Research Report Archive button at the left of any page on this website.

Hospitality Articles 

• World’s Most Expensive Restaurants. Go to: http://www.forbes.com/forbeslife/2007/11/14/restaurants-meals-expensive-forbeslife-cx_pl_1114restaurants.html
• Shoney’s Restaurants went from 1200 stores to 272. Read what the new owner plans are. Go to: http://tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071118/BUSINESS01/711180376/1003
• 10 Tips Before Buying a Franchise. Go to: http://www.miamiherald.com/business/small_business/story/293894.html
• 20 Important Questions to Grow/Stay in Business: Go to: http://www.forbes.com/entrepreneurs/2007/11/21/walmart-microsoft-apple-ent-manage-cx_bn_1121importantquestions.html

U.S. Hospitality News 

Marketing

• Bison was once an endangered species in the U.S. Buffalo meat is now popular food item because the high-protein meat is leaner and lower in fat than other meats.
• McDonald's will add sweetened iced tea, upscale coffee drinks, smoothies, breakfast burritos and chicken biscuit sandwiches to its U.S. menus.
• Quiznos is adding four "Sammies," to its menu. A Sammie is a $2 snack flatbread sandwich to attract customers other than at mealtimes. More Sammies options are planned. Quiznos is also testing breakfast sandwich sales.
• Early next year, Burger King Corp. will market a $1 double cheeseburger to compete with McDonald's and Wendy's; it burger will be 30% larger in size than that of McDonald's.

Profit Builders

• Premium coffee, quality teas, juices and fancy beverages are not a fad. This growing product line is generating great profits and incremental sale increases for the fast food industry.

Technology

• Papa John's will be taking pizza orders via text messages. Customers can save their favorite orders, payment information and delivery addresses with the company, speeding order entry with a simple code.

Economic

• Starbucks Corp. has reduced its 2008 financial targets because of softer consumer spending and rising commodity costs.

Growth and New Market Entries

• Dairy Queen expands in China. Read more in the International section below.
• The Pollo Campero restaurant chain opened restaurants inside U.S. Wal-Mart stores. Pollo Campero specializes in fried and grilled chicken, and has 260 restaurants around the world,
• Qdoba Mexican Grill has opened its 400th store; the new location is in Nampa, Idaho. More than 80 new locations have been opened in the past year and between 75 and 100 more stores are planned in the coming year.
• Denny's is testing its first drive-through in Indianapolis. PFC Classic owes the restaurant.

Mergers, Acquisitions, Divestitures

• Ruth's Chris Steak House plans to purchase Mitchell's Fish Market and Cameron's Steakhouse from Ohio-based Cameron Mitchell Restaurants.
• IHOP has completed its $1.9 billion acquisition of casual-dining chain Applebee's International.
• Avado Brands in Chapter 11 bankruptcy has sold 83 of its Hops Grillhouse and Brewery eateries and Don Pablo's Mexican Restaurants.

Notes of Interest 

• Japanese diners emphasize lunch much more than U.S. diners do.
• German diners seldom go to restaurants for breakfast or snacks.
• Some chefs are disappointed with the flavor of farm-raised fish. Barracuda and other fish previously avoided are now being found on menus.
• There are 43,139 Chinese restaurants in the US; more than all the McDonalds, Wendy's and Burger Kings combined. (Grace Niwa, media consultant for Chinese Restaurant News)
• The Super Bowl will draw an estimated 150,000 visitors to the Phoenix area in February.
• A National Restaurant Association survey reveals the following. The latest highly popular food items include Bite-size desserts, small plates, locally grown produce and organic products. Items whose popularity has decreased are, while low-carb dough, tofu, chai and foie gras.

Instructors require an up-to-date, authoritative text that offers relevant supplementary materials.  Students deserve a text that is easy to read, meaningful and useful in the real world of hospitality.  The customer market consists of more than teachers and students: it also includes a very important market; namely, the hospitality employers who play an important role in the professional cycle.  Both of my texts serve all three members of this critical audience.

Your school graduates face enormous competition for the great opportunities in the hospitality field.  Today's business technology and competitive environment demand much more than the traditional methods of bookkeeping and other routine accounting process.  In fact, today's hospitality accounting texts must venture into new topics and fields that include computerized principles, the Internet, case studies for critical thinking, managerial emphasis, and governmental influence.

Basic Hotel and Restaurant Accounting is a principles text that exceeds fundamental educational requirements.  For example:

• Each chapter concludes with numerous Internet reference sites for research relevant to that chapter
• Challenging business case studies and ethics cases are in each chapter
• Chapters on setting up an Internet Store, starting a new business and an introductory budgeting chapter make this much more than a starter book in an accounting series.
• Important topics such as merchant accounts, the SEC, and Sarbanes-Oxley Act insure that the student is properly educated in basic legal and governmental business requirements

Accounting for Hospitality Managers is a managerial accounting/financial management text that outpaces any other text because, for example:

• Each chapter concludes with numerous Internet reference sites for research relevant to that chapter
• Each chapter concludes with case study related to the chapter material
• Important topics such as the SEC, Sarbanes-Oxley Act , 10-K Report, Fair Value Accounting, and Feasibility Studies are a must reading for any management student
• Chapters such as Casino Accounting, Financial Decision Making, Interim Reports, and Cash Management  upgrade this text to be much more than the usual managerial text

 

International News 

Canada

• Choice Hotels International and Winport Developments, Inc. have signed a development agreement whereby Winport will build a minimum of 25 MainStay Suites and Suburban Extended Stay hotels in Canada. All are planned to open by September 30, 2010.
• Manitoba’s minimum wage will rise from $8.00/hour to $8.50/hour on April 1, 2008.
• New Brunswick’s minimum wage will rise from $7.25/hour to $7.75/hour on March 31, 2008.
• The average weekly earnings for foodservice employees rose 9.4% in the first eight months of 2007; the number of hours worked per week did not increase.

China

• Dairy Queen is opening 500 more franchised stores in China in 17 cities where it is already operating and in second-tier cities over the next five years. Dairy Queen is controlled by Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway. The present stores are in shopping malls but the expansion is planned for sites on street sides and near metro stations. Dairy Queen entered China in 1992 by opening the first store in Beijing; its focus in the past two years has been in east China, where it added 40 stores. Competition includes Haagen-Dazs, which runs more than 60 stores in China and local rivals like Bright Food Group.

India

• Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc will manage three new Westin hotels in three of the fastest growing markets in India; (1) The Westin Hyderabad, Mindspace. (2) The Westin Pune, Koregaon (3) The Westin Kolkata, Rajarhat. The Westin hotels in Hyderabad and Pune are scheduled to open in 2009, The Westin Kolkata, Rajarhat will open in 2010.
• Golden Tulip opened its first hotel in India, Golden Tulip Jaipur (also known as the Pink City).

Japan

• IHG ANA Hotels Group Japan today will re-brand six ANA hotels to ANA Crowne Plaza hotels by December 17Two more ANA hotels will be co-branded next year.
• The W Yokohama will make its debut in 2010 offering 245 guestrooms, more than 10,000 square feet of meeting space, a W Living Room Bar, two restaurants and a signature spa. Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide will manage the hotel.
• Hilton Hotels will manage the Hilton Niseko Village, a premium ski and golf resort for all seasons in Hokkaido's beginning July 1, 2008.

Korea

• California Pizza Kitchen, Inc. has opened its first location in South Korea.

Mexico

• Casa de Sierra Nevada, an Orient-Express Hotel, has opened Casa Limón in San Miguel de Allende.

Switzerland

• In 2010, Marriott International, Inc will open a 174-room Courtyard by Marriott property in Basel, Switzerland under a franchise agreement with SV Group subsidiary, owner of the Courtyard by Marriott Zurich North property.