O'Brien's Sandwich Bars, a major success story of Ireland's dead Celtic Tiger economy, was handed over to liquidators on Wednesday after a judge declined to set aside the chain's expensive Dublin leases on more than 80 franchises.
Dublin-born O'Brien's was Ireland's answer to Starbucks. It spread across much of the globe over the past decade of unprecedented Irish ambition, reaching more than a dozen countries, including Australia, China, India, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia.
But like many pub and restaurant groups in Ireland, O'Brien's has struggled with crippling debts ever since the economy plummeted into deep recession over the past year. The company's British unit sought protection from creditors in June, followed a month later by its Irish parent, which employs 800.
O'Brien's founder, Brody Sweeney,had hoped to sell his business to an investor group led by Graeme Beere,owner of several rival fast-food chains in Ireland, including Abrekebabra and Gourmet Burger. But Beere's consortium had insisted that O'Brien's transfer ownership of its property leases over to franchise operators, who objected that they couldn't afford them either.
Beere withdrew his offer on Tuesday after a Dublin High Court judge, John MacMenamin, ruled that he couldn't set aside the leases.
It's only the latest in a series of spectacular implosions for top Dublin restaurateurs and publicans, who are struggling to make debt payments following rapid Celtic Tiger expansions on cheap credit that's evaporated. Other recent casualties are the Thomas Read Group,which owned more than a dozen of Dublin's most popular and architecturally impressive pubs, and Michelin-starred restaurants, Mint.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Magnificent seven
In the most important, most revered event since the invention of the brontosaurus trap,Microsoft shipped the most incredibly fabulous operating system ever made; the release of Windows 7 also spurred a new generation of personal computers of all sizes at prices well below last month's offers.The top reason Windows 7 does not suck: There is no registered website called Windows7Sucks.com
Kindle e-book reader maker Amazon.com and new Nook e-book reader vendor Barnes and Noble got it on; B&N got great reviews for the "Kindle killer"Nook, with dual screens and touch controls so you can "turn" pages, plays MP3s and allows many non-B&N book formats, although not the Kindle one;Amazon then killed the US version of its Kindle in favour of the international one, reduced its price to $260(8,700 baht), same as the Nook; it's not yet clear what you can get in Thailand with a Nook, but you sure can't (yet) get much, relatively speaking, with a Kindle;but here's the biggest difference so far,which Amazon.com has ignored: the Nook lets you lend e-books to any other Nook owner, just as if they were paper books; the borrowed books expire on the borrower's Nook in two weeks.
Phone maker Nokia of Finland announced it is suing iPhone maker Apple of America for being a copycat; lawyers said they figure Nokia can get at least one, probably two per cent (retail) for every iPhone sold by Steve "President for Life" Jobs and crew via the lawsuit,which sure beats working for it -$6 (200 baht) to $12(400 baht) on 30 million phones sold so far, works out to $400 million or 25 percent of the whole Apple empire profits during the last quarter;there were 10 patent thefts, the Finnish executives said, on everything from moving data to security and encryption.
Nokia of Finland announced that it is one month behind on shipping its new flagship N900 phone, the first to run on Linux software; delay of the $750(25,000 baht) phone had absolutely no part in making Nokia so short that it had to sue Apple, slap yourself for such a thought.
Tim Berners-Lee, who created the World Wide Web, said he had one regret:the double slash that follows the "http:"in standard web addresses; he estimated that 14.2 gazillion users have wasted 48.72 bazillion hours typing those two keystrokes, and he's sorry; of course there's no reason to ever type that, since your browser does it for you when you type "www.bangkokpost.com" but Tim needs to admit he made one error in his lifetime.
The International Telecommunication Union of the United Nations, which doesn't sell any phones or services, announced that there should be a mobile phone charger that will work with any phone; now who would ever have thought of that, without a UN body to wind up a major study on the subject?;the GSM Association estimates that 51,000 tonnes of chargers are made each year in order to keep companies able to have their own unique ones.
The Well, Doh Award of the Week was presented at arm's length to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development; the group's deputy secretary-general Petko Draganov said that developing countries will miss some of the stuff available on the Internet if they don't install more broadband infrastructure; a report that used your tax baht to compile said that quite a few people use mobile phones but companies are more likely to invest in countries with excellent broadband connections; no one ever had thought of this before, right?
Sun Microsystems , as a result of the Oracle takeover, said it will allow 3,000 current workers never to bother coming to work again; Sun referred to the losses as "jobs," not people; now the fourth largest server maker in the world, Sun said it lost $2.2 billion in its last fiscal year; European regulators are holding up approval of the Oracle purchase in the hope of getting some money in exchange for not involving Oracle in court cases.
The multi-gazillionaire and very annoying investor Carl Icahn resigned from the board at Yahoo ; he spun it as a vote of confidence, saying current directors are taking the formerly threatened company seriously; Yahoo reported increased profits but smaller revenues in the third quarter.
The US House of Representatives voted to censure Vietnam for jailing bloggers; the non-binding resolution sponsored by southern California congresswoman Loretta Sanchez said the Internet is "a crucial tool for the citizens of Vietnam to be able to exercise their freedom of expression and association;"Hanoi has recently jailed at least nine activists for up to six years apiece for holding pro-democracy banners. Iran jailed blogger Hossein "Hoder" Derakshan for 10 months - in solitary confinement.
Kindle e-book reader maker Amazon.com and new Nook e-book reader vendor Barnes and Noble got it on; B&N got great reviews for the "Kindle killer"Nook, with dual screens and touch controls so you can "turn" pages, plays MP3s and allows many non-B&N book formats, although not the Kindle one;Amazon then killed the US version of its Kindle in favour of the international one, reduced its price to $260(8,700 baht), same as the Nook; it's not yet clear what you can get in Thailand with a Nook, but you sure can't (yet) get much, relatively speaking, with a Kindle;but here's the biggest difference so far,which Amazon.com has ignored: the Nook lets you lend e-books to any other Nook owner, just as if they were paper books; the borrowed books expire on the borrower's Nook in two weeks.
Phone maker Nokia of Finland announced it is suing iPhone maker Apple of America for being a copycat; lawyers said they figure Nokia can get at least one, probably two per cent (retail) for every iPhone sold by Steve "President for Life" Jobs and crew via the lawsuit,which sure beats working for it -$6 (200 baht) to $12(400 baht) on 30 million phones sold so far, works out to $400 million or 25 percent of the whole Apple empire profits during the last quarter;there were 10 patent thefts, the Finnish executives said, on everything from moving data to security and encryption.
Nokia of Finland announced that it is one month behind on shipping its new flagship N900 phone, the first to run on Linux software; delay of the $750(25,000 baht) phone had absolutely no part in making Nokia so short that it had to sue Apple, slap yourself for such a thought.
Tim Berners-Lee, who created the World Wide Web, said he had one regret:the double slash that follows the "http:"in standard web addresses; he estimated that 14.2 gazillion users have wasted 48.72 bazillion hours typing those two keystrokes, and he's sorry; of course there's no reason to ever type that, since your browser does it for you when you type "www.bangkokpost.com" but Tim needs to admit he made one error in his lifetime.
The International Telecommunication Union of the United Nations, which doesn't sell any phones or services, announced that there should be a mobile phone charger that will work with any phone; now who would ever have thought of that, without a UN body to wind up a major study on the subject?;the GSM Association estimates that 51,000 tonnes of chargers are made each year in order to keep companies able to have their own unique ones.
The Well, Doh Award of the Week was presented at arm's length to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development; the group's deputy secretary-general Petko Draganov said that developing countries will miss some of the stuff available on the Internet if they don't install more broadband infrastructure; a report that used your tax baht to compile said that quite a few people use mobile phones but companies are more likely to invest in countries with excellent broadband connections; no one ever had thought of this before, right?
Sun Microsystems , as a result of the Oracle takeover, said it will allow 3,000 current workers never to bother coming to work again; Sun referred to the losses as "jobs," not people; now the fourth largest server maker in the world, Sun said it lost $2.2 billion in its last fiscal year; European regulators are holding up approval of the Oracle purchase in the hope of getting some money in exchange for not involving Oracle in court cases.
The multi-gazillionaire and very annoying investor Carl Icahn resigned from the board at Yahoo ; he spun it as a vote of confidence, saying current directors are taking the formerly threatened company seriously; Yahoo reported increased profits but smaller revenues in the third quarter.
The US House of Representatives voted to censure Vietnam for jailing bloggers; the non-binding resolution sponsored by southern California congresswoman Loretta Sanchez said the Internet is "a crucial tool for the citizens of Vietnam to be able to exercise their freedom of expression and association;"Hanoi has recently jailed at least nine activists for up to six years apiece for holding pro-democracy banners. Iran jailed blogger Hossein "Hoder" Derakshan for 10 months - in solitary confinement.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Minor to take The Pizza Company, Swensen's to more provinces
The Minor Food Group, the leading operator of quick-service and fast-casual restaurants, will expand its core brands - The Pizza Company and Swensen's - into third-tier provinces through franchising.
The company claims 100-per-cent coverage of first- and second-tier provinces, which have populations of more than 1 million and between 500,000 and 1 million, respectively.
Arth Prakhunhungsit, general manager-franchising, said the company would open 10 new franchised restaurants each for The Pizza Company and Swensen's focusing on third-tier provinces, which have a population of less than 500,000. These include Nakhon Phanom, Yasothon, Kalasin, Mae Hong Son, Tak, Kamphaeng Phet, Trat, Satun, Phang Nga and Narathiwat.
"With franchising, we are able to expand our flagship restaurant brands more aggressively, especially in second- and third-tier provinces," said Arth.
He added that the company had reduced the investment cost for its franchisees opening restaurants by 15 per cent on average by simplifying store designs and fixtures.
The initial cost for opening each The Pizza Company outlet through franchising is about Bt10.5 million, and about Bt6 million for each Swensen's restaurant. Each store occupies an average space of between 180 and 200 square metres.
He said the company also required local entrepreneurs to have knowledge and skills in their own communities.
"We have a strong management system, which can be applied and implemented immediately by our franchisees," he added.
Arth said the company started franchising The Pizza Company brand in 2002, while franchising of Swensen's began in 2004.
Minor Food Group operates 203 The Pizza Company restaurants in Thailand, 49 of which are franchised outlets.
The company also has 39 The Pizza Company restaurants in many markets abroad, including China, Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Bahrain and Cambodia. About 14 of these outlets, mainly in China, are the company's own.
Arth said the company had 216 Swensen's restaurants in Thailand, of which 102 are franchises. It also has six franchised Swensen's in Dubai, Saudi Arabia and Cambodia.
"We plan to open new franchised outlets for both The Pizza Company and Swensen's in Laos in December, and early next year in Vietnam and India," said Arth.
He said all franchisees would run their restaurants under 10-year contracts. The payback period will be about four years.
Minor Food Group yesterday announced 24-per-cent growth in year-to-date sales by The Pizza Company franchised restaurants. The corresponding growth for Swensen's franchised outlets is 38 per cent from the same period last year.
Average same-store growth for both The Pizza Company and Swensen's in the first nine months of the year came in at 2 per cent. This represents an improvement on the 1-per-cent average posted last year.
"We expect our franchised outlets, both The Pizza Company and Swensen's, to generate combined sales of about Bt1.6 billion by the end of this year, about Bt790 million of which will be from The Pizza Company," said Arth.
The company claims 100-per-cent coverage of first- and second-tier provinces, which have populations of more than 1 million and between 500,000 and 1 million, respectively.
Arth Prakhunhungsit, general manager-franchising, said the company would open 10 new franchised restaurants each for The Pizza Company and Swensen's focusing on third-tier provinces, which have a population of less than 500,000. These include Nakhon Phanom, Yasothon, Kalasin, Mae Hong Son, Tak, Kamphaeng Phet, Trat, Satun, Phang Nga and Narathiwat.
"With franchising, we are able to expand our flagship restaurant brands more aggressively, especially in second- and third-tier provinces," said Arth.
He added that the company had reduced the investment cost for its franchisees opening restaurants by 15 per cent on average by simplifying store designs and fixtures.
The initial cost for opening each The Pizza Company outlet through franchising is about Bt10.5 million, and about Bt6 million for each Swensen's restaurant. Each store occupies an average space of between 180 and 200 square metres.
He said the company also required local entrepreneurs to have knowledge and skills in their own communities.
"We have a strong management system, which can be applied and implemented immediately by our franchisees," he added.
Arth said the company started franchising The Pizza Company brand in 2002, while franchising of Swensen's began in 2004.
Minor Food Group operates 203 The Pizza Company restaurants in Thailand, 49 of which are franchised outlets.
The company also has 39 The Pizza Company restaurants in many markets abroad, including China, Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Bahrain and Cambodia. About 14 of these outlets, mainly in China, are the company's own.
Arth said the company had 216 Swensen's restaurants in Thailand, of which 102 are franchises. It also has six franchised Swensen's in Dubai, Saudi Arabia and Cambodia.
"We plan to open new franchised outlets for both The Pizza Company and Swensen's in Laos in December, and early next year in Vietnam and India," said Arth.
He said all franchisees would run their restaurants under 10-year contracts. The payback period will be about four years.
Minor Food Group yesterday announced 24-per-cent growth in year-to-date sales by The Pizza Company franchised restaurants. The corresponding growth for Swensen's franchised outlets is 38 per cent from the same period last year.
Average same-store growth for both The Pizza Company and Swensen's in the first nine months of the year came in at 2 per cent. This represents an improvement on the 1-per-cent average posted last year.
"We expect our franchised outlets, both The Pizza Company and Swensen's, to generate combined sales of about Bt1.6 billion by the end of this year, about Bt790 million of which will be from The Pizza Company," said Arth.
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