In The News

The international vehicle glass repair and replacement group, which is part of Belgium-listed D'Leteren, said it had made the acquisition through its subsidiaries O'Brien in Australia and Smith&Smith in New Zealand. The deal is subject to finalisation of a due diligence book checking exercise.

Laser Group, through its members, provides plumbing and electrical services to both business-to-customer and business-to-business customers throughout Australia and New Zealand.

Veritas hired Bancorp Corporate Finance to manage a sale process for the meat franchisor business and attracted three bids. Morton declared his interest in October and was excluded from board discussions on the sale.

'The independent directors fully support the proposed Mad Butcher sale transaction and recommend that shareholders vote in favour of the resolution to be put to them for the proposed Mad Butcher sale transaction at the special shareholders meeting,' chair Tim Cook said.

Read the Veritas statement

While some franchise awards internationally seem to be based upon reputation rather than systems and results (even today, some countries call for entries a scant two weeks before the winners are announced rather than three months as is normal here), the movers behind the initial New Zealand Franchise Awards were keen to ensure that the New Zealand Awards had real relevance to franchisors and franchise buyers.

After establishing the concept, in 1997 the judging process was further developed using a new system based upon the Malcolm Baldrige international quality criteria and with the assistance of one of the few New Zealanders to have won such an award. The criteria measure entrants across six key areas: Leadership & Planning; Customers & Market Focus; Information & Analysis; People; Processes; Results. The Awards were further developed ten years later with the appointment of the Business Excellence Foundation to manage the Awards process - a link that continues to this day.

‘The media can be your friend or your foe,’ says Pete Burdon. ‘If you are prepared, they can be your friend, even during a time where reputations are threatened. And let’s face it, that threat could be just around the corner.’

Pete is a former journalist and government press secretary, which puts him in the unique position of having worked on both sides of the news media fence. His sessions at the National Franchise Conference in 2017 were highly rated by delegates and opened the eyes of many to the value of media training. This seminar will go into the topic in far more detail - read more.

There are some 12 Gloria Jean's cafes in New Zealand, which had operated under the umbrella of Auckland-based Boost Group. In September, Boost was put into receivership by GJ New Zealand Holdings, which had provided vendor finance to Boost when it sold it the NZ master franchise. Boost was subsequently put into liquidation by shareholder Eric Chase, Companies Office records show.

Retail Food Group (RFG) "owns the global rights to Gloria Jean's so we still own and operate the brand even if Boost is in liquidation," a company spokeswoman said. "All our partnerships are working as usual" and RFG is currently seeking a new master franchise owner. The Gold Coast-based company has hired someone to run day-to-day operations in New Zealand, she said.

NZX said Veritas has accepted its view that it breached disclosure rules by failing to immediately disclose material information to the market. The regulator said it took into account that Veritas had taken legal advice and considered its obligations under the continuous disclosure rules before electing to withhold the undertakings.

"The tribunal notes that while obtaining and relying on legal advice may be a factor in mitigating the penalty, ultimately it is a matter for boards to exercise their own commercial judgement based on their knowledge of the issuer and its business to determine whether information is material information and whether disclosure is required," it said in a statement.

Veritas is still under pressure from the bank to restore its finances.

McDonald’s is now offering a “McVegan” burger for a limited time. Although this is a step in the right direction, the burger is only available at the Tampere, Finland store until November 21. 

But this is likely a test by the fast food chain and if the menu item performs well, we may see the vegan-friendly option available at several McDonald’s stores across the world.

The “McVegan” is similar to the McDonald’s staple the Quarter Pounder. The cheese-less burger comes with lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, ketchup, and mustard. 

But the burger isn’t the only vegan offering being served. This McDonald’s location is serving a vegan version of its beloved fries. The vegan fries will continue to be served after the “McVegan” LTO.

According to the “Top Trends in Prepared Foods in 2017” report by GlobalData, veganism is one of the six key trends outlined. Going meat-free was identified as the No. 1 trend.

Following a successful testing period, the Fort St location was specifically chosen to house KFC's first table serviced restaurant.

'The area that the [new] store is in has a lot of residential and commercial activity so people would like to be able to come in, sit down and have a quick meal.

'Having customers stand around, waiting for an order to then be able to take it and sit down is not ideal, and so table service became an important part of the solution to improve the experience.'

[Restaurant Brands CEO] Creedy says customers no longer just want food fast - they want an experience.

'Some people would prefer to have a discussion or a lunch meeting maybe and we have tried to offer them a variety of options; fast or linger a bit longer.'

Veritas Investments, the NZX-listed owner of the Mad Butcher and Better Bar Company franchises, said ANZ would withdraw its banking facilities when they fell due in October and November.

This created "material uncertainty" for the company, which earlier this year sold the troubled gourmet supermarket brand Nosh, and its ability to continue.

The directors of the company were confident a solution could be found.

"The directors acknowledge that if the group is unable to obtain alternative sources of funding, within the required timeframe to enable the repayment of the bank debt, or receive an extension of timing of debt repayments to the bank to enable the group to execute any of the above options, then the going concern assumption would not be appropriate."

"Whilst material uncertainties exist, the directors consider that there is a reasonable expectation that the above options can be executed and that the ANZ will support the group through this process."

Read more from the Stuff report.

There's also some interesting analysis and comments from the NBR and its readers.

KFC wanted to create a fun and engaging way to highlight the heritage behind its chicken recipe, using gamification and immersive participation to make it more memorable than say, a presentation or video. The experience -- dubbed  “The Hard Way” -- will be shown at regional general manager training classes, quarterly franchise meetings and during corporate onboardings. Felix says that the experience is KFC’s “first foray” into VR.

The VR experience goes beyond linking a legacy company with modern tech. Through fresh characterization and storytelling, the training can better connect staff with the company's founder and mascot, capabilities and decades-long history, according to Jonathan Minori, design director with Wieden + Kennedy Lodge, the agency behind the project.