subway

Wendy’s Game Plan: Take On Five Guys

by AP on November 10, 2011

Huffington Post…

NEW YORK — Wendy’s new CEO on Wednesday laid out his action plan for re-energizing the fast-food chain against the backdrop of a quarterly loss driven by costs related to the recent sale of Arby’s. Emil Brolick, who joined Wendy’s as CEO less than two months ago, said in a call with analysts that he was focused on beating a relatively new crop of competitors of “fast-casual” brands like Five Guys and Smashburger. He gave more details on the company’s push to offer breakfast nationwide, something that virtually all of its major fast-food rivals already do. He also outlined plans to expand into international markets like Japan and Russia. Restaurants of all price ranges are facing the double challenge of higher costs for ingredients and customers who are wary of spending on eating out in the weak U.S. economy. Most fast-food chains are playing catch-up to the much larger McDonald’s Corp., which has fared well throughout the recession and its aftermath by emphasizing low prices, remodeling restaurants and adding products like smoothies and fancy coffee drinks. For years, Wendy’s had carved out a niche as quality fast-food for adults, but sales have suffered recently because customers decided its offerings had grown stale. Adding to that, after founder Dave Thomas died in 2002, Wendy’s struggled to find a new face for its advertising. Brolick, a company veteran who became CEO in September, said Wednesday that the company had gone through “an identity crisis.” Brolick’s strategy for Wendy’s is to be on the high end of the fast-food pecking order because he thinks customers will be willing to pay more than they would at other fats-food chains if the food is better. But they’ll also get the benefit of prices that are lower than those at a fast-casual chain, he reasons. “I’m not for the moment suggesting that we want to try to pretend to become a Five Guys or a Smashburger or something like that,” Brolick said on a call with analysts. “But I do believe that there is a significant opportunity in the marketplace for higher-quality products that are fresh, made-to-order products.” Wendy’s has been reshaping its menu with new ingredients and preparation methods for its salads, hamburgers and the rest of its offerings in an effort to attract more customers. Brolick said the new Dave’s Hot `N Juicy burgers had “exceeded our expectations” and would help Wendy’s reclaim its “leadership in the premium-quality hamburger category.” Wendy’s has previously talked about taking a “barbell” approach to pricing: offering high-priced and low-priced items to appeal to customers at both the top and bottom. On Wednesday, Wendy’s said later this month it will introduce a new “W” cheeseburger line, which it describes as mid-tier. Prices for those burgers would be around $2.99 – between the 99-cent “value” cheeseburger and the premium Dave’s Hot `N Juicy burger, which can cost nearly $6 for the biggest size. Wendy’s is hoping that customers who previously bought the cheap burgers will trade up to the middle. Additionally, Brolick said Wendy’s, the only major fast-food chain that doesn’t offer breakfast nationally, would take the same approach to breakfast as to the other meals: offer higher-quality items than other fast-food chains. He also said the company would stop reporting each quarter on how many restaurants were now offering breakfast, citing competitive reasons. Wendy’s hopes its efforts will help it boost results. For the period covering roughly July through September, Wendy’s Co. lost nearly $4 million, or a penny per share. In the same period a year ago, the chain lost $909,000, which was break-even per share. This quarter’s loss was largely from costs related to selling Arby’s in July, including expenses for cutting some jobs and retaining other employees. Wendy’s was combined with Arby’s for less than three years, in a deal engineered by hedge fund magnate Nelson Peltz. Wendy’s sold Arby’s to a private-equity firm in July, saying it needed to concentrate on improving Wendy’s rather than trying to revive Arby’s. The Wendy’s/Arby’s Group lost money in seven of the 10 quarters in which it reported results as a combined company. Wendy’s is under pressure to prove it can do better on its own. Though revenue missed expectations by analysts polled by FactSet of $617 million, it still rose 2 percent to $611 million. Shares fell 4 percent Wednesday afternoon to $5.26, though Janney Capital Markets analyst Mark Kalinowski reiterated his “buy” rating on the company and said he expects it will overtake Burger King as the No. 2 seller of fast-food burgers in the U.S. Meanwhile, the company has been growing overseas. Wendy’s has only a small presence outside the U.S.: about 300 restaurants out of a total of about 6,600 are international, but Brolick said the company has agreements for growing to 1,000 international restaurants, including additions in Japan and Russia.

Go here to see the original:
Wendy’s Game Plan: Take On Five Guys

Find our Weekly Commercial Real Estate, Private Equity and Fund Newsletters at www.WeeklyBrief.net

5 Famous Ad Campaigns That Actually Hurt Sales

by on July 10, 2011

Huffington Post…

Jared has sold tons of Subway sandwiches and Ronald McDonald has become one of the most recognizable characters in the history of human civilization. They are what ad executives dream about: campaigns that become media sensations and make the company billions. But then there are the ad campaigns that only do the first part; everybody can quote them, but they didn’t actually make people buy the product.

See original here:
5 Famous Ad Campaigns That Actually Hurt Sales

Find our Weekly Commercial Real Estate, Private Equity and Fund Newsletters at www.WeeklyBrief.net

Keep Your Filthy Hands Off The Subway: Will Tomorrow’s Commuters Wear Plastic Mitts?

June 20, 2011

Step into a New York City subway and it can seem like you’re witnessing biological warfare. Riders cough and sneeze all over the place, nauseating smells waft through the closed confines of the rail cars and unidentifiable puddles frequently ooze across the floor. That’s the image of rampant disease created by officials at one company that’s marketing a plastic, disposable glove called the MetroMitt as the ultimate defense against the clouds of sickening, invisible germs in the transit system. The company started giving out the mitts for free earlier this week at busy subway stations during rush hour. “Any time you touch a subway pole or handrail in New York City you are contaminated until you wash your hands thoroughly,” said MetroMitt president and co-founder Jason Lipton. “There are thousands upon millions of people touching them every day.” “Now people can come and go on the subway without worrying about transferring that bacteria,” he said. Yet winning the war against germs might mean leaving behind a battlefield of used, germ-laden gloves — even if Lipson and his colleagues encourage customers to recycle the mitts. That concern was on the minds of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which runs New York City’s buses and trains. “These ‘mitts’ can possibly end up on the track bed clogging drains or increasing the likelihood of a track fire,” said spokesman Kevin Ortiz. Other obstacles lie ahead for Lipton and his partners if they’re going to use public hypochondria to sell advertising space on the backs of the mitts. Image-conscious New Yorkers might find it more revolting to wear a clear baggie than to put their bare hand on a germ-covered subway pole. “It looks like you’re about to serve french fries,” said New York public interest research group Straphangers Campaign lawyer Gene Russianoff, an advocate for mass transit riders. “New Yorkers are a hearty breed. I predict the same questionable market for them like surgical masks. You see people wear them, but it’s not an everyday occurrence.” There might not be much advantage to wearing the mitts only on the subway, either: Germs lurk in all public places, but they’re not necessarily harmful, said University of Colorado biologist Laura Baumgartner. “I don’t have data on the trains, but that I think this is probably another germaphobe product that might be appropriate for people with serious immune problems but is probably overkill for the rest of us,” she told AOL Weird News. Lipton fought off the criticism like a white-blood cell going after an infection, saying that his company promotes good health for people and even the planet. “As long as people recycle,” he said, “it’s eco-friendly.”

Read the full article →

New Trend: Not Paying The Bill, And ‘Free Swiping’

January 12, 2011

Hard times for New Yorkers means inventive ways of cutting back — like stealing meals and subway rides! At least that is the trend we are reading about today, as two reports of civil disobedience (or one, if you don’t count flat-out stealing as something Thoreau would have condoned) are becoming trends in the city. The New York Post says that in 2010, there was a huge increase in reports of those who bailed on a check at a restaurant. Eating in a restaurant and leaving without paying the tab — known in police parlance as “theft of service” — rose almost 20 percent in the city last year, up from 315 arrests in 2009 to 376 in 2010, according to the NYPD. Of course, those numbers don’t include the many scofflaws who successfully “lick and split.” The Post tells the story of a well-dressed man who bought five martinis at Union Square’s posh Coffee Shop. He told his waitress he left his wallet in his car, and never came back. Or the drunk 20-something who racked up a $300 bill at BB Kings, but “it wasn’t until they saw a pedicab passing by that they decided the night’s bill would be on the house.” Explaining, “Sometimes you’re drunk or, I don’t know . . . ” Why the sudden spike in service theft? Russia Today seems to have the answer. With falling wages, cuts in benefits, and alarming public transportation fare hikes, New Yorkers are fighting back with their own brand of economic disobedience. The video below is about the People’s Transportation Program, an organization that is purchasing unlimited Metrocards and giving people free rides as a protest to the recent MTA fare increase ($104 for a monthly unlimited!). Though perhaps a more common loophole in the Unlimited are those who ride the subway in tandem and share a Metrocard, waiting fifteen minutes before swiping the same Metrocard again. [ VIA ] WATCH:

Read the full article →

Jeffrey Wasserstrom: Covering China for Marketplace: A Quick Q & A With Rob Schmitz

November 16, 2010

Over the summer, there was a changing of the guard in the Shanghai office of Marketplace , a radio program that has consistently carried smart reports about China. Scott Tong moved from the PRC back to the US (where he continues to work for the show) and former Peace Corps volunteer Rob Schmitz took his place. I had the pleasure of meeting them both in Shanghai in July and ran a post with the former in early August, in which he reflected on his time covering the China beat. Now, as a sequel to that post, comes a quick q and a with Schmitz, who recently did a great feature on Inner Mongolia (listen to it here, and check out the striking photos that he took to accompany the report here ), which among other things is a fascinating addition to the growing number of intriguing pieces, in varied media, on how life in the PRC is being transformed by the increasing importance of cars as forms of transportation and status symbols: JW: What story has been the most fun to cover for Marketplace since you arrived in Shanghai? RS: I just finished a series of stories on the rapid economic transformation of the Ordos basin in Inner Mongolia. All the big dreams, hope, and optimism that make life in today’s urban China so full of electricity seemed to shine even brighter in this tiny region. The area is making a mint off its status as one of the most prominent coal and natural gas producers of China. Nearly everyone I met there was either looking for investors or looking to invest. Both groups were overcome with a type of gold fever that made them fun to be around. One guy intercepted me on the airplane to Ordos and talked me into scheduling an interview with the CEO of his logistics company. When I showed up the next morning, I was ushered to the corner office. The CEO shook my hand without letting go. At the point where it started to become uncomfortable, a photographer appeared out of nowhere and began to snap photos. The CEO then released my hand and announced that he was too busy for an interview. They had gotten what they needed: a photograph of their leader with a foreigner for promotional material to attract more investors. But I fought for a consolation prize. After the paparazzi shoot, I asked my new acquaintance for a tour of the automobile industrial park his company was constructing. He was happy to do so, and the result ended up in the first piece of the series. Two days later, I met my Mongolian fixer. I found him through a mutual acquaintance, and we had spent the week prior emailing each other about the details of my upcoming trip and some of the rural areas where we could find ethnic Mongolian herders to talk to. I expected him to be middle-aged, possibly a former herder. Not even close. Baigaal was 24 years old, had a shaved head, and upon meeting me, had one question: “Do you like Eminem?” Baigaal was an aspiring rapper. He brought two of his college friends along on our day-trip through the grasslands. There we were: three ethnic Mongolians, my Chinese assistant, and me, crammed into a tiny Suzuki Swift, listening to a mix CD Baigaal had put together of Mongolian hip-hop music. All of the sudden the car goes silent. Two electronic gongs pound through the speakers. It’s ‘Beat It’ by Michael Jackson. Within a minute, we’re all humming along–Mongolians, a Chinese, and an American–as the grasslands of Inner Mongolia flash by outside our Japanese car… there’s nothing like Michael Jackson to make the world a little smaller. JW: What do you consider the biggest challenge to reporting from China just now? RS: On the surface, China is a journalist’s playground: It’s changing at an historic pace, it’s home to the largest human migration the world has ever known, and its fate has become intertwined with the world’s fate. The trick is to make sense of all this. China forces you to become a better reporter–you’re constantly having to check your facts, because what you thought were facts oftentimes weren’t facts to start with. It’s difficult to find the reality behind economic numbers from Beijing, and it requires persistent follow-up with a variety of economists, academics, social scientists, and, most importantly, laobaixing. Once you’ve got what you think is a reasonable amount of material to tell a story, then the challenge becomes trying to fit the nuance and complexities of China into a four-minute feature. The amount of material left on the cutting room floor could fill books. JW: What has surprised you most about how China has–or hasn’t–changed since you were there last? RS: After living in Sichuan as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the mid-90s, I’ve returned to China every two years or so as a journalist, and, like many who live here, I’ve learned to reset my expectations each day when I wake up. Anything can and will happen here, and the rapid pace of change makes surprises an everyday part of life. I just came back from a weekend trip in Hangzhou. My wife, son, and my mother, who’s visiting from the states, walked a few blocks from our home to the subway, where it took 20 minutes to arrive to Shanghai’s new Hongqiao train station. From there, we boarded a sleek, comfortable bullet train that whisked us to Hangzhou in 38 minutes. A trip that used to take 3-4 hours was now reduced to under an hour. As the countryside went by at around 220 mph, my two year-old sat in my lap with his forehead planted on the window, screaming in excitement at how fast we were going. I felt the same way. JW: During your first stay in China you were based in Sichuan and now you are living in Shanghai. Any thoughts you want to share, besides the obvious ones of infrastructure and access to international goods and the like, about how the two living experiences are similar and different? RS: My China experience has changed alongside my evolving career path and in tandem with the economic transformation of the country. In the 1990s, I was a volunteer teacher in the city of Zigong. My Peace Corps site mates and I were the first foreigners to live in the city since 1949. I lived on a hundred US dollars a month and it was my job to help people. Today, I’m a journalist in China’s largest city, I’m one of at least 150,000 foreigners in Shanghai, and it’s my job to pester people with questions. I make more money than I did during my Peace Corps days, but I miss the relationships I shared with my Chinese students and colleagues when I was a teacher. As a journalist, it’s more difficult to cultivate these types of meaningful relationships because you’re always rushing to meet the next deadline. But it’s not impossible. I’m working hard to establish a handful of sources from all walks of life who I can check-in with from time to time. It’s not a daily routine like I had when I was a teacher, but it’s regular enough to serve as a suitable substitute. On the flip side, being a journalist gives me the freedom to explore and analyze parts of Chinese society I was always curious about but didn’t have access to as a teacher. It gives me the opportunity to tell the stories of the Chinese people to an audience thirsty for more knowledge about this fascinating land. It’s a fantastic job. China inspired me to become a journalist in the first place, and I’m thrilled to have this opportunity. JW: Now that the Expo is over, any predictions on how it will be viewed in China a year from now, whether it will be thought of as a success, a failure, a bit of both? RS: I think it depends on whom you talk to. For the Chinese, I think Expo was a rousing success. Tens of millions of people attended the event. Many of them were from smaller cities throughout China and were making their first trip outside their province to ‘see the world’ in Shanghai. It’s easy to criticize the flaws of the event, and many foreign journalists did. But I think dwelling too much on the negative aspects misses the point that this World’s Fair really wasn’t designed for the international community. It was made for China, and the Chinese clearly benefitted from it, no matter how long the lines became and how tacky some of the pavilions were. For the more sophisticated worldly visitor, yes, parts of the Expo were a huge disappointment. To many, the mix of corporate and Chinese propaganda throughout much of the fair was an accurate reflection of a disturbing new world order. But for me, a former teacher in rural Sichuan whose Chinese friends were constantly dreaming of seeing the world and learning about different cultures and ideas, Expo gave them a chance to do that, and I think that’s great. * This piece also appeared today, under a different title, at “The China Beat” blog/electronic magazine.

Read the full article →

Joel Epstein: How the Unions Can Help LA Pay for the Wilshire Subway Extension

November 12, 2010

With the Democrats licking their wounds and the Republicans and Tea Partiers licking their chops, it is time to trot out some old ideas for funding the construction of public transportation in LA. There are no new ideas, just recycled old ones. Inspired by the mid century unions which built housing for their members, my latest epiphany concerns the feasibility of using union and public pension fund money to fund LA’s overdue public transportation projects. For starters I passed the idea by LAANE’s executive director, and the chief deputy to María Elena Durazo , Executive Secretary — Treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor. Both seemed to think I’m a crackpot. Maybe so, but good ideas come from all over, and several other local civic leaders have encouraged me to keep at it. If you care about LA and mobility around the region you have probably heard something about the 30/10 Initiative and the 12 transit projects the Mayor, Metro , and others have been working to realize for a year or more through some combination of federal transportation grants and loans. Let’s face it, after the midterm election we’re in a new world. Even though the new Congress is sure to include public transportation enthusiasts from both sides of the aisle, advancing 30/10 has just gotten that much harder. In all likelihood, support for the plan will now come at best in piecemeal fashion, leaving many Angelenos gasping for the hoped for mobility solutions that 30/10 promised. What is more, the public remains divided over anything that is going to cost them more at tax time. It is true that County voters passed the half cent transportation sales tax known as Measure R in 2008, but who is to say they will support another tax or surcharge or whatever name we slap on it to accelerate the 30/10 projects. This reality presents no small obstacle to 30/10 and frankly always did. But what if the big unions in LA and elsewhere stepped up and said they are going to invest some of their pension money in Metro’s building project? Every investment needs a quid pro quo and with unemployment in LA still at near record highs, jobs are the quid — or is it quo? — in this deal. Sure, some will say Big Labor is just creating higher priced union jobs for their members with this idea. Yes, that’s one of the outcomes and perhaps the key reason the LA Labor Federation’s Durazo and national labor leaders like AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka should care about and look into it. But that is not the only thing the plan does. With more public transportation projects funded sooner, the plan benefits all of us who long for the day we can ride the Wilshire Subway from downtown to the VA, light rail from the South Bay to Figueroa or some form of fast public transportation from the San Fernando Valley to the Westside. Union and public pension fund investment in public transportation may be the economic shot in the arm LA needs, but President Obama and a divided Washington just can’t, or won’t, deliver. To understand the feasibility of all of this I spoke with an investment management advisor from the Union Labor Life Insurance Company (Ullico) . Founded in 1927, Ullico offers insurance, commercial lines of credit and other investment products and services. As of 2008, Ullico’s J for Jobs Fund, a product of the company’s Real Estate Investment Group had invested $2.3 billion in a variety of union labor real estate construction projects. According to REIG News these investments include LA Live-Phase II, the Red Building in West Hollywood and Horizon at Playa Vista; as well as hotels, casinos and office buildings in New York, Las Vegas and elsewhere. Though I am still struggling to find out what sort of returns investors actually realized on this pooled real estate investment fund, given the slump in the market I’d be surprised if the unions saw the promised and hoped for mid-teen percentage returns. Ullico told me they are just now starting to raise money for a new $750 million to $1 billion infrastructure fund and that in principle this fund might include public transportation infrastructure investment. Ullico says “might” because frankly other sorts of infrastructure investments like power plants may produce better investment returns than public transportation, which tends require a subsidy to operate once built. And this is to say nothing of investors’ well founded concern that large infrastructure projects tend to run over budget as in the case of NY/NJ’s ARC transit tunnel, New York’s Second Avenue Subway and Boston’s Big Dig. One seasoned Wall Street municipal finance expert told me that while he likes my idea, Wall Street or the unions or whoever is investing needs details and a set of real cost projections. In other words, the deal has to pencil out or there is none. Well no one ever said doing 30/10 or a union funded investment in public transportation infrastructure construction would be easy but isn’t it worth a try? On a recent conference call with the Mayor and the Deputy Mayor for Transportation both said my idea wouldn’t work. But when I persisted, asking whether they had actually approached Labor’s Durazo with the idea of using union pension money to help finance part of 30/10 the Mayor responded, “no.” While I can appreciate the unions wanting the largest possible return on investment, if you don’t have a job generating income to invest in your pension then the issue of higher returns is moot. In this idea I see an opportunity to put thousands of union workers back to work building stuff that LA needs, as opposed to another casino on the Las Vegas strip. Even if those Las Vegas construction jobs are union work, no LA union member needs to be investing in them. Industry practice says lower interest paying infrastructure projects like the Wilshire subway can be bundled together with other projects paying better returns, for a decent average return. Who knows? Maybe if done right, the projected returns of my Union Public Transportation Investment Fund (UPTIF) will appeal to non-union investors as well. Durazo and Trumka, I hope you are reading. UPTIF is an idea worth considering.

Read the full article →

Chris Matthews: Infrastructure as Monument

November 4, 2010

I want to talk about the industrial center of this country — from Eastern Pennsylvania through Ohio and Indiana and Illinois and Wisconsin — from Scranton to Oshkosh. It’s the part of the country where guys root for Da Bears and the Packers, the Eagles, the Steelers, and the Browns… All that American heart voted against the Democrats this week — in all the Senate and governors races — all those heartbreakers that cost Democrats their seats in Congress — a lot of good guys like Iraq vet Patrick Murphy and Chris Carney, another warrior for his country, and gutsy Joe Sestak — who was an admiral in the navy, and young Alexi Giannoulias. Why? Because the American manufacturing heart has been cut out. We used to build trains and subways and airplanes for the world. Now we read about trains running three hundred miles an hour in France and China and we piddle along on Amtrak like we’re on a buckboard. Why can’t we build railroads — rapid railroads to unite this country instead of making the vast continent between New York and LA “fly-over country” for the bi-coastal elite to look down on? Why don’t we build “anything” anymore? Would we build the subway systems of our country today? Would we build the Empire State building or the Golden Gate Bridge? Would be build this beautiful capital of Washington today? You know the answer. We don’t build because we have neither the money nor the courage to do it. Republicans don’t believe in public investment, not even real capital investment that builds the economy. They think tax cuts are the one and only way to promote economic progress. Democrats are afraid to challenge them. And while we worry about today, China never stops thinking about tomorrow… investing and spending and creating the jobs we should have right here. Yes, Lincoln spoke well, Mr. President, but he also built the intercontinental railways. Ike couldn’t speak as well as you, but he did build the intercontinental highway system. Kennedy spoke well but he also got us to the moon! What are you going to leave as your monument? Health care is great. But we need jobs to pay for health care. There’s still time to get started, Mr. President. You have to explain to the country why creating things matters. We need to build.

Read the full article →

Vivian Norris de Montaigu: Green Energy Boys Not So Different Than the Good Ole Oil Boys

October 8, 2010

I just saw the film, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps last night, sitting next to one of the heads of technology for a major bank, and we both had the same feeling at the end of the film. Basically all of the good ole banking boys (there was one woman in those Fed meetings… that is the real problem in the financial world, not enough women!) in cahoots with the black gold kingpins were focusing on oil shale and African oil field investments. But the young “hero” of the film was just as greedy in wanting to focus on green energy. Someone explain to me how, if they were going to altruistically donate their $100 million investment in fusion, they were going to afford that Manhattan penthouse apartment, no matter how bohemian it was!? Or perhaps they were living off the Soros/Papa gone to London hedge fund money Gordon Gekko had made for them. Either way, Greed is Still Good was still the message twenty years later and that is the problem! Perhaps the best part of the film was the founder of the financial firm based on Lehman’s Fuld mixed in with a little bit of old school Wall Street throwing himself in front of the subway train. I had just said to my French banker friend that somehow the French still actually felt real remorse, and “moral hazard” still had real meaning. I mean the head of the will-not-be-mentioned French bank which just helped send a trader to jail had a nervous breakdown and left his post. And the Connecticut-based French financial advisor who lost his clients huge amounts of money with Madoff offed himself. I’m not saying suicide is the answer, I’m just saying these guys actually took a hit and “admitted” they screwed up royally. There is some kind of honor in actually paying personally, emotionally for hurting people and having not done one’s due diligence. Most of the financial greed seekers just hit the ground running greedily again after losing money on their empty bubble-based swaps, flips and derivatives. There is no moral hazard of any kind! Of course they think they can get away with it because they can. And once they have gutted our country they will just move on to London if they have not already or Paris (where I see and hear more and more New Yorkers and bankers every day!) or Asia or bunker down in their 100,000 acre estancia in Paraguay. What worries me about the new Green Good Ole Boys is the Self-Righteous holier than Thou trope that they are doing so much good for the planet that it does not matter if they are indeed moral humans (or not). Those who made millions and billions in the dirty Wall Street old energy way are just green-wahsing themselves and, in some cases just making more money creating what could be the green energy bubble. I will not name names but there are quite a few now living in multimillion dollar West Coast homes pretending to be so wonderful and evolved and green when in reality it’s just a bunch of male egos, including former politicos who are running things in the new green world. And as a woman from Texas who grew up with a close look at how the Oil Good Ole Boys operated all my life, I am frankly even more scared of the Green Tech Good Ole Boys. At least with the oilmen, I knew what I was dealing with and they did not even try to hide that they were focused on power, control, profits and sexist, macho gun-toting racist everything. The Green Boys actually pretend to be about Equality and Sustainability and Democracy, but they are just as obsessed as the oil and Wall Street guys with accumulating more, having more power and “buying” arm candy, all with a do-gooder smile on their faces. This hypocrisy is going to ruin us sooner or later. The Green Boys could make some real changes, firstly by being more inclusive of women executives leading the way, whether in finance or running the green energy companies. They could also start building green energy companies in places where the good ole boy system needs to be challenged and though there are some green biotech companies in places like Houston, I would invite the green boys to help rebuild the poverty stricken Gulf Coast area with electric car factories and green energy plants. But will old fashioned attitudes still limit the presence of women in the new energy sector? When there are too many official real working women around on the private (green?) jets, that kind of ruins the deal. I mean the wedding rings have to stay on and all that. In Houston, there used to be (still is?) a private men’s club called the Normandy Club, which I believe was in the basement of the Texas Commerce Tower or some old bank or oil company building downtown, where the deals would be signed over lunches with scotch and mistresses and sexy waitresses and lawyers coming down with papers from the offices above all to be signed in the atmosphere of a boys’ club. Be it the golf playing or the hunting or the boys’ weekends in Cabo, nothing has really changed as the new Green boys have their own hierarchy of politicos and start-up dudes to fawn over. And that money racing to finance them also comes from the male-dominated banking sphere. Not a lot of women present however. And this is a real problem, because we need real women in positions of power with the real ability to change things. Not the Meg Whitman types, but those who did not have to play the man’s game to succeed, but who actually are just plain smart, and not scared of confronting the status quo. We don’t need Tea Party reactionaries and Sarah Palinites but serious, thoughtful women we can all respect. If a woman had bought the Chicago Tribune and the LA Times instead of Sam Zell, I hope and imagine she would not have placed a bunch of macho sexist idiots in control, who aided women who literally kissed and slept their way up the ladder, to run what should be considered a respectable business which has a huge responsibility to actually keep Americans informed! Who raised these people? And what kind of corporate culture keeps this kind of insanity going? This is going to be the ruin of our country, putting egos like these and unevolved, sexist men in charge of the backbone of our financial, energy and media sectors!?! Then they go and fire the security folks who reported the misdoings instead of the abusive executives! What is the world coming to?! If these guys keep getting away with it they will keep doing it. It has to be stopped Countries in Scandinavia demonstrate that you can have an extremely successful and sustainable business and energy sector and still promote women to positions of real authority and even grow when the rest of the world is falling apart. Interestingly enough there is more private-public cooperation. In our purely private capitalistic system, part of the problem is that men tend to run things. I studied this when writing a dissertation on Globalization and Media. I want to see successful brilliant women alongside our President helping make serious decisions about the future of our country, and I want to see them in the boardrooms and running this new green energy sector! Get some modern humans in there, and some real women. Or we are headed for more of the same old same old and the United States will be going nowhere fast.

Read the full article →

Video: Moody Says Subway `Weathered Financial Storm,’ Sales Up: Video

October 6, 2010

Oct. 6 (Bloomberg) — Jeffrey Moody, chief executive officer of Subway’s Franchisee Advertising Fund Trust, talks about the fast-food chain’s performance. Moody also discusses Subway’s $5 footlong sandwich promotion and food costs. He talks with Pimm Fox on Bloomberg Television’s “Taking Stock.” (Source: Bloomberg)

Read the full article →

Dan Solin: Goldman’s Highly Selective Magic Touch

June 8, 2010

There’s no denying the trading superiority of Goldman Sachs. For the first quarter of this year, in turbulent markets, the firm generated trading profits for its partners every single day! While the acumen of Goldman’s traders was stuffing the pockets of its partners, investors who followed the recommendations of its analysts were still taking the subway to work in the Big Apple. According to an article in Businessweek , seven of Goldman’s nine “top trades for 2010″ were losers. Here’s one example: On April 1, Goldman predicted the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index would rise 19% to 15,000. At the time it was at 12,545. On June 4, 2010, it closed at 11,375. You can’t blame investors for following this recommendation with enthusiasm and confidence. It was supported by Dominic Wilson, a senior economist at Goldman. Wilson thought valuations of Chinese stocks were inexpensive and he predicted “robust’ growth. Investors also lost money buying the Polish zloty versus the Japanese yen and buying the British pound versus the New Zealand dollar. In his classic book, Where are the Customers’ Yachts? , written over fifty years ago (and republished in 2006), Fred Schwed, Jr. told the story of a visitor to New York who was struck by the beauty of the yachts owned by brokers. He famously asked: Where are the customer’s yachts? Many are still asking that question. Sometimes they get it right. Investors fared much better in 2009 when most of Goldman’s recommendations turned out to be accurate. Here’s the secret no one wants to tell you: When they are right it reflects luck and not skill. If skill existed, it would persist and not be random. In a recent study of the performance of 1,034 large cap value funds, Bradford Cornell of the California Institute of Technology sought to determine the impact of skill versus luck on portfolio performance. Here’s his conclusion: “When the model is applied to a sample of large cap value managers, the results indicate the (sic) most of the annual variation in performance is due to luck, not skill.” This is not surprising. The author notes his findings are “consistent with that reported in other papers on mutual fund performance”, although the model used in this study is different. In order to fundamentally change the way you invest, you need to understand Wall Street’s favorite scam, which is pretending it has skill which it confuses with luck. There is no investment guru who can guide you through these turbulent times and maximize your returns. If the brilliant minds at Goldman can’t do it with any consistency, accept the fact that relying on “financial consultants” and financial pundits is the first step on the long road to financial perdition. There’s a silver lining in this cloud of misleading information and outright deception. Investors are starting to get the message. Money is pouring into low cost index funds and Exchange Traded Funds at record rates. Investors understand there is an alternative to a system designed to buy their brokers yachts and leave them struggling to make their mortgage payments. Investment professionals who actually add (rather than subtract) value are those who agree in writing to act as fiduciaries; who focus on asset allocation and who recommend only a globally diversified portfolio of low cost stock and high quality bond index funds or passively managed funds. There are alternatives to the hype and predictions of false prophets. The system isn’t going to change. It’s working too well for the securities industry. Only you have the power to reject business as usual and take control of your financial future. The views set forth in this blog are the opinions of the author alone and may not represent the views of any firm or entity with whom he is affiliated. The data, information, and content on this blog are for information, education, and non-commercial purposes only. Returns from index funds do not represent the performance of any investment advisory firm. The information on this blog does not involve the rendering of personalized investment advice and is limited to the dissemination of opinions on investing. No reader should construe these opinions as an offer of advisory services. Readers who require investment advice should retain the services of a competent investment professional. The information on this blog is not an offer to buy or sell, or a solicitation of any offer to buy or sell any securities or class of securities mentioned herein. Furthermore, the information on this blog should not be construed as an offer of advisory services. Please note that the author does not recommend specific securities nor is he responsible for comments made by persons posting on this blog.

Read the full article →

Subway Trying To Trademark ‘Footlong,’ Sending Cease-And-Desist Letters

May 12, 2010

Subway is making a play to trademark the term “footlong,” prompting some embarrassment and a swift retraction after the chain threatened a mom-and-pop restaurant that’s been the “Home of the Footlong” for decades. Subway attorney Valerie Pochron sent a cease-and-desist letter to the Coney Island Drive Inn, a local Florida institution whose “footlong” hot dog dates to 1963. After Coney Island proprietor Blair Hensley took his case to the St. Petersburg Times , Subway quickly clarified that the letter was sent in error — the company only intended to threaten restaurants selling “footlong” sub sandwiches. Hot dogs are fine. Subway spokesman Kevin Kane declined to tell NPR how many cease-and-desist letters the company has sent out while in pursuit of the mark. The Subway chain has applied to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for an exclusive claim to the footlong sandwich for 12 years, likely to be renewed in perpetuity if approved. The applications were filed by the chain’s parent company, Doctor’s Associates, Inc. Hensley’s initial response: “Are you kidding me?”

Read the full article →

Russian Stocks Defy Terrorist Bombs as RTS Leads World With 5.1% Advance

April 1, 2010

By Michael Patterson, Jason Corcoran and Denis Maternovsky April 1 (Bloomberg) — The deadliest terrorist attacks on Moscow since 2004 can’t stop Russian stocks from climbing more than every major market this week. The RTS Index jumped 5.1 percent since March 26, the steepest gain among benchmark equity indexes in the 50 biggest markets, as an economic recovery in the world’s largest energy exporter leads East Capital and F&C Asset Management to say shares are attractive. The ruble has strengthened 0.8 percent against the dollar this week. Government bonds and the cost to protect them from default were little changed. The RTS rose 1.5 percent to 1,596.56 at 12:20 p.m. in Moscow. Suicide bomber attacks on the Moscow subway three days ago and two blasts in Russia’s southern Dagestan region yesterday killed at least 51 people and injured more than 100. The attacks won’t curb Russia’s economic expansion as oil, the country’s main export, trades 74 percent higher than a year ago, according to East Capital and F&C. The RTS index is valued at 8.5 times analysts’ 2010 profit estimates, the lowest among 22 emerging- market countries, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. “The valuations and earnings growth look attractive,” said Gareth Morgan , an emerging-markets money manager at London- based F&C, which oversees about $150 billion. On the bombings, “the markets tend to shrug them off, however regrettable,” he said. ‘Not a Trend’ Authorities linked the two female suicide bombers in Moscow on March 29 to groups in Russia’s North Caucasus region, which is plagued by an Islamist insurgency and the country’s highest unemployment rates. Chechen rebel leader Doku Umarov claimed responsibility for the subway attacks, calling them retaliations for “massacres” by Russian security services in a video posted late yesterday on the Kavkazcenter.com Web site. “It’s two events and not the start of a trend,” said Jacob Grapengiesser , a money manager at East Capital, which oversees more than $6 billion in Russia, central and eastern Europe. “We haven’t seen any effect yet on investor sentiment.” Russia’s economy will expand as much as 5.5 percent this year, the World Bank said on March 24, revising up a January forecast of 3.2 percent growth. Earnings at companies in the RTS are projected to rise 65 percent, compared with 30 percent growth in the 22-country MSCI Emerging Markets Index, according to analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Oil Jumps The yield on Russia’s benchmark dollar bonds due in 2030 rose one basis point, or 0.01 percentage point, to 5 percent this week while five-year credit default swaps linked to the nation’s debt climbed three basis points to 143.5 basis points, according to data compiled by Bloomberg and CMA DataVision. The swaps contracts pay the buyer face value if a borrower defaults in exchange for underlying securities or the cash equivalent. Oil futures jumped 5.6 percent this week to $84.45 a barrel as a decline in the dollar bolstered demand for commodities. The bombings, which Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said may have been carried out by the same criminal gang, won’t halt a government plan to sell international bonds for the first time since its 1998 domestic debt default roiled global markets, said Aviva Investors Ltd.’s Jeremy Brewin . Bond Meetings Russian officials will meet bond investors in Asia, Europe and the U.S. in April as they seek to sell this year as much as $17.8 billion of foreign debt in several installments. Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin told reporters near Moscow yesterday that he expects borrowing terms to be “very advantageous.” “I have full confidence that this new issuance is going to be well received,” said Brewin, who helps manage about $2.2 billion as head of emerging-market debt at Aviva in London. His biggest holding is Russian government dollar bonds. Russian debt has returned 3.9 percent this year, almost double the 2.2 percent gain in Brazilian bonds and topping the 3.5 percent advance in emerging-market debt overall, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s EMBI+ Index. The RTS has rallied 11 percent, the best gain among benchmark equity indexes in the so- called BRIC markets which also include India and China. Russian markets rallied after previous terrorist attacks. The RTS index climbed 0.8 percent in the three days through Sept. 3, 2004, amid the Beslan school hostage-taking in North Ossetia by Chechen militants that left 350 people dead. The gauge rose 9.2 percent in the month following Feb. 6, 2004, when 42 people died and 250 were wounded in a bomb blast on the Moscow Metro underground railway. “It’s not the first time something like this has happened,” said F&C’s Morgan. “It won’t have any real impact on our investment policy.” To contact the reporters on this story: Michael Patterson in London at mpatterson10@bloomberg.net ; Jason Corcoran at Jcorcoran13@bloomberg.net ; Denis Maternovsky in Moscow at dmaternovsky@bloomberg.net

Read the full article →

Breakfast At Subway: NEW Breakfast Menu Debuts April 5

March 26, 2010

CHICAGO — Subway is joining the increasingly crowded breakfast scramble in a move that the sandwich chain hopes will help add customers and sales. After years of testing, almost all of Subway’s 23,000 U.S. restaurants will begin selling the meal April 5. When they do, the nation’s largest restaurant chain by number of outlets will be a big player in the breakfast game, which can be handsomely profitable if done right. “There are a number of other competitors of ours that are trying to suss out the breakfast opportunity, and I’d rather be in the market before they get there,” said Tony Pace, chief marketing officer at the Subway Franchisee Advertising Fund Trust, the chain’s consumer marketing division. “Is there going to be competition now? Of course. And it’s going to be fierce.” The new menu, already being served in some U.S. cities and throughout Canada, sticks with Subway’s sandwich specialty. Featuring customizable “omelet sandwiches,” the options include a combination of eggs or egg whites, cheese, ham, bacon, steak, sausage, peppers and onions in addition Subway’s other toppings. Sandwiches will be served on an English muffins, flatbread or the restaurant company’s traditional sub rolls. While franchise owners – who operate all of the company’s 25,000 North American locations – determine the prices of the breakfast items, suggested prices will range from $1.75 to $6. A combo meal featuring an English muffin sandwich and coffee would be $2.50. Advertising for the new menu will begin next week. Breakfast has become a popular addition to fast-food chains in recent years as companies clamor for diners. Since coffee, eggs and other breakfast ingredients often come cheap, the meals typically can rake in big profits for restaurants. While heavyweight McDonald’s promotes its new dollar breakfast menu, other competitors are getting into the mix. Among them: Taco Bell and Wendy’s, which are both testing out breakfast menus. It’s not a sure thing. As the economy soured, so did breakfast sales as customers cut back on spending and unemployed workers stopped visiting restaurants on their way to work. According to research firm NPD Group, the number of customers buying breakfast at fast-food restaurants slipped 2 percent in 2009. Even so, that’s better than the 5 percent decline recorded at dinner. But that’s not keeping restaurant chains from trying. Restaurants added more than 460 new breakfast items to menus in 2009, according to market researcher Mintel. That’s more than in 2008 and 2007. “It is a very competitive landscape,” said Morningstar analyst R.J. Hottovy. “They’re going in at a time when everyone’s done a renovation on their breakfast menu in the past year or so. But I think if they do it right, they’re probably positioned to profit from it.” Some franchisees began serving the meal years ago and by last year, nearly 40 percent of the company’s locations had some sort of breakfast item on the menu, Pace said. As the popularity of the meal grew, the company inked a deal with Starbucks Corp. in November to sell its Seattle’s Best Coffee in stores and began completing its nationwide breakfast push. The chain recommends locations begin serving the meal at 7 a.m., although some will offer the menu earlier. Pace said breakfast items will remain available to order after the traditional morning meal period. Subway is owned by privately held Doctor’s Associates Inc., based in Milford, Conn.

Read the full article →

San Jose Update

March 1, 2010

The Redevelopment Agency has issued its monthly report and while activity at downtown San Jose condos seems to be improving, sales continue to be extremely slow: 360 Residences – 0/213 Units Closed Escrow (but they are getting a Subway on the ground floor!) Axis – 86/329U Closed Escrow City Heights – 95/124 Units Closed Escrow Tower 88 – 57/197

Read the full article →

Andrew Reinbach: Claude M. Ballard, Jr. — Rest in Peace

February 15, 2010

Claude M. Ballard Jr. died on Friday, Feb. 11th . Why isn’t important; he had to go, and we are here. Those who knew him, and valued his friendship, will miss him. I will. Every journalist with an established beat has what they call in New York a rabbi — somebody who vouches for them, steers them in the right direction, and warns them when they’re heading for the rocks. When I was covering the big-time real estate business in the 1980s, Claude was mine. He opened doors for me, all over the world, that I might not have even have known of. I owe him. To people outside real estate, Claude’s name doesn’t mean much. But in that world, Claude was a great man — one of the handful of people who make things move. Attached to some project or idea, his name was all that was necessary to attract respectful attention. He earned that position by being a walking real estate computer, data base, and Rolodex. But what really earned him his place was…being Claude. A big six-foot-three, Claude was overwhelming. Nothing, and no one, could buffalo him. And in a business filled with over-sized personalities, that is a valuable commodity. Even sitting at a table, saying nothing, everyone knew he was there. That wasn’t his best quality, though; his best quality was that he knew that every one — and no one — is important. So he treated everybody the same — straight on, one to one. Claude never gave himself airs or acted like he was important — though he certainly was. He had the gift of meeting everyone straight-on. Maybe that was because he was a self-made man, son of a Memphis railroad traffic controller. Considering he’d survived at the pinnacle of the national and international commercial real estate industry for 50 years, I’m sure he’d had his share of knock-down meetings — probably more than his share. And I know that if he’d wanted to, he could have had me for breakfast, and not even known I was on the spoon. But in the 30 years I knew him, I never saw him push anybody around. The heights Claude reached, and lived in, never went to his head. It could have. He was a general partner of Goldman Sachs, back when it was a private partnership; chairman of Rockefeller Center Properties; in retirement, he owned interests in, among other things, 88 malls, plus other properties; served on many boards; and lectured at the nation’s top schools. But he had no appetite for luxury, excess, or display. In his days at Goldman he kept no limo. Taking the subway to work was good enough for him. If he said a deal was good, people didn’t question it. Sometimes, a project he sponsored was subscribed in an afternoon. And he was so good at what he did that the same people who’d sat across the table from him in a deal would hire his services after it closed — they knew nobody could possibly do a better job. Until he left Goldman, Claude had only worked for two companies — Prudential Insurance, and Goldman Sachs. After he retired, he served on the board of CBL& Associates, a major mall owner. He started at Prudential as an analyst in 1948, and when he left in 1981 he was senior vice president in charge of commercial real estate. Along the way he and a friend, Meyer Melnikoff, laid the foundation of pension fund investing in real estate. Before this, pension funds only invested in stocks, bonds, and U.S. Treasuries: Today, they’re the backbone of large-scale real estate investing and ownership. And it was Claude and his friendships that made Goldman Sachs the dominant real estate investment banking house in the 1980s. Those were the sort of things that made him, in his time, one of the acknowledged leaders of his industry. But that’s all to one side. Real estate will go on, and so will the world. What will take a pause, however, is the world Claude informed — the world of his wife, Mary, his daughters Karen, Melinda, and Robyn, his grandchildren, and his many friends. As I said, he had to go, and we are here. Those of us who knew Claude will know he is no longer among us.

Read the full article →

Bob Dowling: Rethinking Toyota

February 9, 2010

Toyota’s pummeling is long overdue. With some 8 million cars on recall, repair costs exceeding $2 billion and the Prius suffering brake problems, the easy days for its legendary arrogant American dealers are at least temporarily over. How arrogant? “Do you wish to order one” was the response I got when I asked to test a Prius at the Westport Ct. dealer in 2007. “I’d like to drive one first.” “That would be a month from now at 9.30 am. If you’re late you’ll miss the opportunity.” I bought a Subaru. This December. I went to Gettel Toyota in Sarasota, Fl about buying a Prius. Chris Crews, the young salesman got out a model after a 80 minute wait, then was sharply elbowed aside by his boss Sean as soon as I asked about an on the road price. “I’m going to put you in a Prius today,” said Sean. “You won’t be able to say no.” To get a price, you have to agree to buy. I walked out. Two sales managers followed me to my car. “Ninety percent of customers don’t return,” said Tom. “We have to pressure you.” Or thought they did. On Thursday I drove a Prius I bought privately to the John Pierson Toyota dealership in Stuart, Fl the day after the Prius brake problem was announced. The place was jammed with seniors eating free Subway sandwiches and wondering about their Priuses, Corollas and Camrys. The south lot was jammed with new Toyota’s waiting for the accelerator repair part to arrive. With little to sell, salesmen had hours to banter. Then suddenly out of the blue came a fresh idea. Remember the customer! “I’d like to see the company take a big chunk of the marketing, budget and give the money to our loyal customers,” said Kevin Peterson, a service manager. “Offer them say 10% of the value of their car. That would probably cover any resale loss and be offset by millions of dollars in goodwill and free PR. We don’t have to be at the Superbowl to sell cars. We have a massive marketing budget. This is time to show our customers we’re on their side.” According to valuations announced today Feb 8 by Edmonds.com a number of Toyota models have in fact lost 10% of their value since the recall. Ideas like this seldom make it up the ranks in larger corporations but the simplicity of the thing makes it revolutionary. How many businesses want to really take care of loyal customers? You can count them on one hand — Apple, Best Buy, Mercedes, BMW, Lexus, Honda, people who chose to or need to run the business on reputation and service. Most of the rest of sales is aimed at transaction marketing pioneered by Wall Street banks in the 1970s. Hook ‘em in — cram the teaser deposit rate, the cheap car, the iffy cable service, the unreliable flat screen or the hidden fee mutual fund down their throat. Then screw ‘em when they complain. And make sure they can’t complain to you. If you’ve wound up in a call center in India or the Philippines where the robotic help, through no fault of their own, has no way to make a decision, you know the drill. Bad offshore service was a key reason for the downfall of Dell, Circuit City and dozens of other companies who blew off once loyal customers. Toyota floated above the pack because the reputation of its vehicles for value and reliability and — with the Prius — hybrid innovation made buyers put up with its arrogant American dealers. Now that those days are over, Toyota needs a big rethink. Its Japanese dealers could never bash customers like they do in America because Toyota Japan lives off repeat buyers, same as the every 2 year trade in U.S car makers enjoyed in the 1950s? That kind of loyalty won’t come back and doesn’t need to for any carmaker, Detroit or foreign. But for Toyota, the choice it’s facing is to come up rebuilding plan that sticks or slide into the pack with everyone else. In the Stuart dealer’s showroom hangs a huge red banner that says 80% of Toyotas that are 20 years old are still on the road. Maybe those owners are a good place to start…

Read the full article →

CoStar’s Retail News Roundup: Feb. 7-13, 2010

February 7, 2010

This week in the Retail Roundup, CoStar reports on expansions or new concepts at Casual Male, Coach, Subway and Chick-fil-A; closings, cutbacks, bankruptcy, default, receivership or foreclosure news at Disney Store, Movie Gallery, Car Dealerships, Walking…

Read the full article →

Vegas Shimmers With $299 Strip Suites, $10,000 Cocktails: Jason H. Harper

January 7, 2010

Review by Jason H. Harper Jan. 7 (Bloomberg) — “Viva Las Vegas,” “Showgirls,” “Very Bad Things,” “The Hangover,” “Leaving Las Vegas.” All classic movies about Sin City and a fair representation of the Boys Weekend three friends and I had before the Christmas holidays. It’s a ritual we have every year in a different place and it was a fait accompli, both unoriginal and inevitable, that it would eventually come to Vegas. Besides, with the incredible volume of hotel rooms — more than 145,000 — and friendly prices to fill them, 2009 was especially enticing. Discounts are even better in the so-called shoulder seasons including January and February, when fewer tourists hit Vegas, according to data from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority . Last year, hotel occupancy fell in every month from the prior year through October, the latest month for which statistics have been published, including a 13 percent decline in January from the same month in 2008. A new enticement is last month’s opening of the much- ballyhooed 18 million-square-foot CityCenter , which includes a Mandarin Oriental hotel, shopping enclave and the 4,004-room hotel/casino Aria, where rates in January and February are as low as $149 a night. Located on the Strip, Aria was not yet open when we arrived, so we took a perch across the street at the 3-year-old Planet Hollywood , a 52-story hotel and casino. The property’s new PH Tower by Westgate, with a mixture of 1,200 timeshares and rooms, opened late last month. For January, Internet rates on basic Planet Hollywood rooms start at $79 a night, with “Strip Suites” from $229. Sleek Decor Initial concerns that the hotel would be a Hollywood- inspired pastiche fueled by a Bruce Willis “Die Hard” aesthetic were unfounded. The overall ambience is surprisingly posh, with lots of sleek materials and an even sleeker, young clientele. As friends who’ve known one another since our first year in college (three of us are named Jason), we opted for a two- bedroom suite on the 33rd floor, which offered a prime view of the Bellagio’s famous fountains. Our man cave had a massive, if dim, living room, replete with an air-hockey table and a phalanx of flat-screen TVs which glistened like mirrors. We also had a wet bar and a banquette designed for in-suite poker games. Black was the room’s primary color and pseudo-art photos of red-carpet Hollywood events decorated the walls. The rooms were large, with comfy beds, big bathrooms and oversize terry robes. Boxing Match Any good Las Vegas trip is all about nighttime play. I had assumed the poor economy would leave the town quiet, but in part because it was a weekend featuring a primetime boxing match and partly just because it was Vegas, the town was swarming. Restaurants from N9NE Steakhouse to Joel Robuchon were packed. (“Do you have a reservation, gentlemen? No? May we suggest Subway?”) Fortunately we’d taken more care with nightclub reservations than we had for dining, and on Friday night we made our way to Steve Wynn’s Encore and its XS nightclub . At some 40,000 square feet, XS is split between an al fresco flirt-and-sip scene surrounding the swimming pool and the grind-and-shimmy setting inside. Interior design relies heavily on gold finishes, shimmering chandeliers and nearly naked, showgirl-worthy dancers. If you’re really looking to impress a special member of the writhing clientele, the club’s signature $10,000 Ono cocktail is a combination of 30-plus-year-old Champagne and rare cognac, plus gold cuff links and a diamond-and-pearl necklace. (What, your drinks don’t come with jewelry?) Scrub Down The next night we choose a more intimate option, LAVO at the Palazzo Resort. There’s an Italian restaurant downstairs, which we ignored. As we made our way up the stairs, the bathhouse theme became evident, with two female employees scrubbing each other down in a tub near the entrance. Vegas, you subtle creature you. Inside, we found a large marble bar, lots of nooks and crannies with good seating for people watching, and a sexy crowd dancing to a mix of ‘80s classics and modern hip hop. A security guy stopped by our table and introduced himself (“If you gentlemen have any trouble, just let me know.”). I first assumed he had identified us as the potential trouble, but I soon found that LAVO has the most courteous nightclub staff I’ve ever encountered. Everyone from the servers to the bathroom attendants were genuinely warm, making for a welcoming vibe. Late into the night, after making it back to the Planet Hollywood, it was time for my own very bad thing. I was fuzzy enough to feel the craps tables calling to me. I was soon reminded why the city can still have 145,000 rooms even in dire times. The odds still aren’t in your favor. I returned to my room at 7 a.m., pockets outturned, and relieved that, in a few hours, I would be leaving Las Vegas. ( Jason H. Harper writes about autos and travel for Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are his own.) To contact the writer of this column: Jason H. Harper at Jason@JasonHharper.com .

Read the full article →

Nicole Williams: 5 Things You Should Never Order at a Work Lunch

July 21, 2009

Busi-ness lunch [biz-nis luhnch] n. The perfect opportunity to pig out on the most expensive item on the menu of a restaurant you’d never be able to afford on your own. Okay, so that’s not the exact definition.

Read the full article →