In The News

The initiative for young entrepreneurs was started by Hibiscus Coast parents to teach children about business and how to sell products and services. But the sale of baked goods was stopped by environmental health late last year when a member of the public complained to the Auckland Council that some children were selling home baking. That resulted in about 20 of 32 stalls closing, causing BizKids to struggle.

BizKids father Brent Robinson and The Plaza shopping mall manager Anne Murphy took the council Regulatory and Bylaws Committee to task on Wednesday. They presented a petition signed by 800 people asking for an exemption under the Auckland Council Food Safety Bylaw 2013.

BizKids is now able to sell food as long as it has been prepared in a registered kitchen, Mr Robinson says.

The world's biggest hamburger chain said today that sales fell 1.4 per cent at established US locations. It blamed the harsh winter weather, but conceded that "challenging industry dynamics" also played a role. Globally, McDonald's said sales declined 0.3 per cent at locations open at least 13 months in February. It warned that its muted performance so far this year could hurt first-quarter profit margins.

In the region encompassing the Middle East, Africa and Asia, sales declined 2.6 per cent. The company cited weakness in Japan and Australia, as well as a shift in the timing of the Chinese New Year.

Executives at McDonald's, based in Illinois, acknowledge Americans' changing demands when it comes to fast food.

Being in the right is no protection against a programme which, as I have argued before, acts as a court but has none of the protections that would apply to an accused person in the real justice system. Fair Go reporters assume the roles of prosecutor, judge and jury within a mock trial system in which the accused has no representation and no real opportunity to present a proper defence.

For some years now Fair Go has been a programme out of control. Its reporters, with the notable exceptions of Hannah Wallace and Kevin Milne,  about whom we have never received a single complaint, are power-drunk bullies, its journalism is suspect, its honesty open to question.

Cox is evaluating two potential sites in Auckland, one in the downtown/waterfront precinct and the other in a suburban location.

The company estimates that each new restaurant will create about 80 full and part-time jobs.

However, retail analyst Tim Morris said fast food casual dining chains did not work outside Canada and the United States.

"Chain casual dining hasn't demonstrated an ability to scale globally," Morris said. Other casual dining chains like Denny's, Cobb & Co and Pizza Hut had not worked in New Zealand, he said.

Receiver Kare Johnstone, of McGrathNicol, said that in the lead up to the receivership Shivram had defaulted on royalty payments due to the master franchisor for the region - Nando's Australia - and had been issued with a breach notice under its franchise agreement.

The company owed $1.6 million to Heartland Bank at the time of the receivers' appointment and interest was continuing to accrue on that amount, she said.

Nando's stores in New Zealand, which are independently owned, are not in receivership and continuing to operate as normal.

In December Shivram's sole director, Shailen Ramjee, said he and Heartland had agreed on the receivership, which would "protect the assets so that everyone can be paid" and avoid the franchise agreement being terminated by Nando's Australia.

The New Zealand company exports frozen dough to Japan, which is baked into cookies in Tokyo. The store also sells coffee, icecream and Cookie Muncher merchandise, such as earmuffs, iPhone covers, gift boxes and clothing.

Cookie Time general manager Lincoln Booth said the Cookie Time brand - particularly the Cookie Muncher cartoon character - had struck a chord with Japanese consumers and the Harajuku outlet had traded strongly since its soft launch in December and was already outperforming the Queenstown store.

'Most playgrounds aren't really designed for under-2s,' Ms Foster said. 'So what we are doing at Jumping Beans is teaching them safety skills in an environment which is suitable, so when they do go to playgrounds, they are safe.'

Those who have already enrolled their children in the community-based courses include Olympic rowing couple Rob and Sonia Waddell and former All Black Mils Muliaina and wife Hayley.

Another woman, who did not want to be identified, also found her name was not on the Facebook roster. When she contacted the new owners, she was told she didn't have a job, and to bring in her uniform.

She had worked for the franchise for three years and was considering going to the Employment Relations Authority.

Employment lawyer Susan Hornsby-Geluk said that even if an employee signed a casual contract, it could evolve into permanent status if the pattern of work was ongoing and regular.

In such a case, the job could not be terminated without a formal notice period and explanation.

At McDonald's, sales in the US dipped by 1.6%, with a bigger fall of 2.6% in the faster-growing economies of Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

Sales in the UK and the rest of Europe proved more robust, rising by 1% in the fourth quarter.

Roberts met DeLuca at a conference early last year and the deal (Franchise Brands Ltd will buy 10 per cent of BurgerFuel with an option to buy 50 per cent in the next eight years, and provide expertise) arose from that meeting. The Americans, says Roberts, see an opportunity.

'Although the US is the home of the hamburger, we think ... the gourmet burger market is only just beginning there. The timing seems right.'

ANZ managing director of retail and business banking Fred Ohlsson said construction and agriculture were caught in the tailwind of the Canterbury rebuild and increasing commodity prices.

However, optimism was at, or near, historic highs across all major sectors, according to the survey of 250 micro and intermediate firms in New Zealand.

The rising confidence was paving the way for a broad-based uplift in business activity, employment and economic growth, he said.

The Auckland-based firm will buy half of Kiwi Pacific Foods for $2.8 million in cash and $400,000 in shares at $1.38 apiece, with potential earn-outs if certain export targets are met. The owner of the remainder of the business is Antares Restaurant Group, which holds the New Zealand Burger King franchise.

'Kiwi Pacific Foods is a business that can be supported by the procurement base of the Mad Butcher Limited business and aligns us with the iconic Burger King'brand as our cornerstone client,' Mad Butcher chief executive Michael Morton said in a statement.

'We see good growth opportunities in export markets through the Burger King connections internationally.'

'The last time we saw these sort of readings, in 1994 and 1999, an economic upswing was in full swing. Gross domestic product growth was in excess of 5 per cent.'

In both those cases the economy was rebounding from recession. This time there are some additional one-offs - the need to rebuild Christchurch and address housing shortages in Auckland, and the most favourable terms of trade for 40 years.

Jo, understood to be a real person, bought five meat products from the Mad Butcher Onehunga store and the Countdown Greenlane store on May 22.

These products cost $88.95 at the Mad Butcher, and $116.95 at Countdown, so the consumer could have saved $28 or 31.5 per cent, as advertised by the Mad Butcher.

Progressive Enterprises said the advertisements were misleading because no "basket shop" was undertaken by Jo at Countdown; consumers could not buy four of the five Countdown products at the prices listed in the campaign; one kilogram packs of meat were not available for purchase at Countdown; the products compared were not of similar quality; and the Mad Butcher prices should have been compared with the Countdown Onehunga prices.

Chief executive Josef Roberts said BurgerFuel had not been dragged into the price war between its larger competitors. Amid an ultra-competitive fast food environment, McDonald's and Burger King have been offering burgers for as little as $2.

"We've kept away from that [discounting] and we've grown sales strongly while all of that's been going on," Roberts said. "It's become apparent that we are positioned away from the multi-nationals."