Category: business

Burger King Comes to India

Posted on by Scott Hodges

Burger King Worldwide is opening 12 outlets in India in the next 60-90 days. This is according to the chief executive of the India unit, Rajeev Varman. The chain has changed its menu in India and will sell mutton, chicken and veggie sandwiches.

As Varman said, “In the long run, India is going to be one of the largest markets globally. Burger King most certainly sees India as one of the biggest opportunities in the future.”

McDonald’s has already been around for almost two decades in India. Burger King is a bit behind the times and is hoping to catch up on this front.

Varman said in a recent email, “Turkey, China and Russia are each growing by around 100 restaurants a year. Here in India, we will set up our first few restaurants and use that to fine-tune our operating model before determining our growth plans.”

Bleak Numbers for America’s Workforce

Posted on by Scott Hodges
The most recent US job report showed that the unemployment rate has fallen to a six year low of 5.9%. However, the number of Americans looking for work hit 13,346,000 in September and this is the highest level since December of 2007 and the start of the Great Recession.
Similarly, the number of underemployed remains quite high with seven million people working part-time out of necessity. The number of unemployed and marginally attached part time workers is at 11.8%.

And the news is even worse for black and Hispanic workers who have unemployment rates of 11% and 6.9% respectively. 

Dreaming of DreamWorks Animation

Posted on by Scott Hodges

There is speculation that Japan’s SoftBank Corp will acquire DreamWorks Animation SKG, the Hollywood studio behind hits such as “Shrek” and “Madagascar.” The talks between the two were first reported by the Hollywood Reporter which quoted a source as saying the buyout would value DreamWorks at $3.4 billion.

Hollywood Reporter said that SoftBank had offered $32 per share for DreamWorks, a dramatic offer when Friday’s closing price was $22.36.

If SoftBank picks up DreamWorks, they will become the second Japanese technology company to buy a Hollywood studio, after Sony Corp bought Columbia Pictures in 1989.

SoftBank has stakes in many large listed companies including US mobile carrier Sprint, internet portal Yahoo Japan and onli8ne game maker GungHo Online Entertainment.

Time will tell if the deal goes through – but it’s certainly worth having our eyes on these two companies.

Retail Sales Up

Posted on by Scott Hodges
Good news for the US retail business. Sales rose in August and consumer sentiment hit a 14 month high in September, according to data that was just released by the Commerce Department. They reported that retail sales, which account for a third of consumer spending, increased .6 percent last month. The only decline that they saw was at the gas pump, but this is more a reflection of declining gas prices which should actually help the economy.
Core retail sales increased .4% in August. This excludes the purchase of cars, gas, building materials and food and corresponds most closely with gross domestic product spending.
Showing similar findings, the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment index rose to 84.6 in early September. This is the highest reading since July of 2013.

The Race Against the Clock in India

Posted on by Scott Hodges
Talk about a strange real estate story. Indian tycoon Subrata Roy is racing against the clock to try to sell the New York Plaza and London’s Grosvenor House in order to raise the $1.6 billion that he needs…for bail.
Roy is currently in Tihar, a New Delhi prison complex that houses 12,000 inmates. He needs to post the 100 billion rupees in cash and bank guarantees to get released. He’s been jailed since March after failing to appear at a contempt hearing in a long-running dispute with the capital markets watchdog over the company’s failure to repay billions of dollars to investors who had outlawed bonds sold to them.
Now, Roy has been given a 600 square feet office space where he can have video conference calls and receive visitors while still in jail. It’s not easy to sell a lavish hotel from a jail cell, and Roy is hoping that now he’ll be able to wheel and deal his way out of the hotels and out of jail.
Time will tell is he manages to pull this off.

Vending Machines: Not Just for Sodas Anymore

Posted on by Scott Hodges

The world is constantly on the go and the business world understands that they simply have to keep up with this pace. To do so, some ingenious businesses have started added unusual vending machines to their repertoire. Here are some examples.


Get your cupcakes here: Sprinkles, a cupcake company in New York, is stocking its vending machine with as many as 750 cupcakes a day. For $4.25 you can choose from cinnamon chocolate, black and white and seasonal specialties such as Irish chocolate and maple bacon. They opened their first cupcake ATM in California in 2012 and now have machines in NY, Atlanta, Chicago and Dallas.

Flip-Flopping Away the Day: You never know when you’re going to need new flip-flops. That’s the idea, at least, according to Havaianas which has a flip-flop vending machine in Sydney, Australia’s city center.

Getting Caught in the Rain: It’s rarely fun to get caught in the rain, and the airport in Vancouver understands this. They have a vending machine for umbrellas that allows you, for $5 to get a pocket-sized umbrella.

 Life is Better with Caviar: At least those in Beverly Hills seem to think so. There are actually three caviar machines in Beverly Hills sold by Caviar Automated Boutiques. They offer more than a dozen types of caviar from around the world. Check it out at the Westfield Topanga mall.

Spotlight on: Kona Ice

Posted on by Scott Hodges

Many businesses and potential business people benefit from hearing about the paths that others have taken. Recently, the Fresno Bee did a story on Lisa Quiroz, the owner of the local branch of Kona Ice. Her Kona Ice business follows the Smart Snacks in School nutrition guidelines and provides low-sugar snacks to kids and adults.

The Kona Ice brand started in Kentucky. As Lisa recounts her story, “We found Kona Ice back in 2011. It just kind of struck us as a great business. We purchased our first truck in May 2011, and that was for Fresno. It quickly grew, and we ended up having to turn down so many events that we ended up getting a second truck in 2012. That was for Clovis. We have just continued growing. In 2013 we bought a little mini-cart that we use at Grizzly games and Fresno State football games. We’re hoping to continue growing.”

When asked what drew her to Kona Ice, Lisa said, ” My favorite time — I love when kids are screaming and they’re chanting “Kona Ice” — but my favorite is when I get a really tough guy that you wouldn’t want to see in a dark alley come up, you hand it to them, they take a bite and just smile ear to ear. And they may come back five times and are chatty as can be. It brings out the child in everybody, and that’s what I love about it.”

They serve two types of customers – those who come to their window and those who book them. And they try to create an experience for everyone involved.

Cisco Making Large Investment Plans

Posted on by Scott Hodges

Cisco plans to accelerate its investments into communications in the coming two to three years. They have recently announced that they will give $150 million to start-up companies in this time frame. Senior vice president for corporate development, Hilton Romanski, explained that this Internet-based focus will complement other investing themes that include big data and connecting mobile devices.

Cisco Investments is becoming on par with mid-sized venture capital firms with this investment strategy and with the $100 million that Cisco said in January that they would deploy to other start-ups.

Cisco invested $7 million in Everything, a London-based company that connects products to the Internet, and a $14.5 funding round for Ayla Networks, a California based company that helps companies to monitor devices using the Internet.

Cisco also plans to increase its investments in Alchemist Accelerator, which is a San Jose, California-based incubator for start-up companies.

Watch for Next Games Next Game

Posted on by Scott Hodges
For those in the gaming world, it’s worthwhile to keep your eyes on Finland. The Finnish start-up Next Games has just raised $6 million in funding. This is the latest of many venture capital investments in the country which is booming with mobile gaming.
Next Games was founded in 2013 by former employees of Rovio and Supercell, creators of the smash games “Angry Birds” and “Clash of Clans.” They plan, now, to work on a mobile game based on the US TV series “The Walking Dead.”

The money for this series A funding round came from the US and Asia. Investors included IDG Ventures, IDG Capital and Lowercase Capital.