January 19, 2009
Industry Headlines
Uno Chicago Grill will cater the Illinois Inaugural Celebration Ball with its classic Uno deep-dish pizza as part of an invitation-only event featuring more than 30 themed dining rooms. Uno will be the featured pizza in the pizzeria room, appropriately decorated with checkered table cloths and Chianti bottles with candles.
In addition, Uno will cater several private events whose organizers have insisted on anonymity. The chain will also host "Inauguration Celebrations" at many of its 200-plus locations nationwide so every American can take part in this historic occasion. Select locations will also host invitation-only events scheduled to coincide with the actual Inauguration on January 20th. These events will draw local community members and consist of a special Snack Hours(R) party held in the lounge area between 4 and 7 p.m.
In addition, Uno will feature the Obama Pizzanality Pizza in all its restaurants. The company, fulfilling its civic duty as an American original, asked its team of chefs to decide the "pizzanality" of President-elect Obama.
"When asked to determine the Pizzanality of our new President, our team of chefs determined that with his career roots in Illinois, his legacy would suggest an original Chicago deep-dish pizza," commented Rick Hendrie, senior vice president, marketing for Uno. "A liberal layering of pepperoni adds a bold bite to round out a fabulous Chicago original."
Hendrie noted that if you're not a fan of pepperoni, you need not be afraid to change your topping ... after all, the Obama Pizzanality celebrates change.
Uno is currently celebrating its 65th Anniversary as a Chicago original. In 1943, at the corner of Ohio Street and Wabash Avenue, Ike Sewell created the deep dish as a way to make sure hungry families could get a "real meal" when it came to pizza. Up to that point, pizza was hardly more than a snack. This iconic American dish has proven so popular it gave rise to a restaurant chain that today includes more than 200 restaurants in 29 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, South Korea, Honduras, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
Based in Boston, Uno Restaurant Holdings Corporation also operates a quick casual concept called UNO DUE GO, a quick serve concept called Uno Express and a consumer foods division which supplies airlines, movie theaters, hotel restaurants and supermarkets with both frozen and refrigerated private-label foods and branded Uno products.
Stanislaus Food Products – Since 1942, our family-owned cannery has specialized in premium tomato products "packed from fresh tomatoes, not from concentrate" for quality-oriented Italian restaurants and pizzerias throughout the United States and Canada. For more information, we invite you to call us at (800) 327-7201! www.stanislaus.com
Papa John's International, Inc. has earned another industry honor, this time being named the number 10 global franchise for 2009 by Entrepreneur magazine in its annual Franchise 500 rankings.
"This ranking is a testament to the strength of the Papa John's system and our growing presence not only in the U.S., but throughout the world," said John Schnatter, Papa John's founder and interim chief executive officer. "We're honored that the hard work of our franchisees and all of our team members has resulted in this ranking by Entrepreneur magazine."
Entrepreneur magazine's Franchise 500 rankings are among the most comprehensive franchise rankings. According to its Web site, the magazine looks at many factors in determining its rankings including financial strength and stability, growth rate, system size and start-up costs.
Papa John's strength and stability enable the company to offer industry-leading franchise incentives such as its domestic Enterprise Zone Program. The program allows franchisees who qualify to pay no up-front franchise fee (normally $25,000) for development of restaurants in certain markets, including: Boston, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Upstate New York, California, Connecticut, Michigan and New Jersey.
Additionally, franchisees agreeing to build five or more units in these areas pay a reduced royalty through 2011, and those building less than five restaurants will pay no royalty during Papa John's 2009 fiscal year. The program is available through Sept. 30, 2009.
Headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, and celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2009, Papa John's is the world's third largest pizza company.
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Texas-based CiCi's Pizza has announced a new partnership with Houston-based Revention Inc., to provide state-of-the-art point-of-sale systems in all of its corporate locations and many of its franchises, beginning early this year.
"After an extensive search for a provider, we chose Revention as our POS partner," said Kyle Smith, CiCi's vice president of operations. "During the process, it quickly became very clear that the Revention team matched up well with CiCi's. They are talented and innovative and bring a willingness to do whatever it takes to deliver a great product."
CiCi's began the search for a new POS systems provider with several goals in mind, including: gaining efficiencies to improve operations and profitability; improving information gathering to fuel system sales and unit growth; improving security and loss prevention and improving the work environment and quality of life for operatorsand managers
Founded in 1985, CiCi's Pizza is a family-oriented buffet concept. Since opening its first restaurant in Plano, Texas, CiCi's has grown to 650 restaurants in 30 states. Revention is a leading developer of complete, customizable restaurant management solutions designed to streamline the way restaurants do business.
barro, Inc., has announced the appointment of Dan Montgomery as CFO, effective immediately. Mr. Montgomery brings more than 17 years of finance, strategic planning and management experience to Sbarro.
Anthony Puglisi, Sbarro's former CFO, will be leaving the company to pursue other interests. Pete Beaudrault, chief executive officer of Sbarro, Inc. said, "We appreciate Tony's work and contributions over the past five years and wish him great success in his future endeavors."
Montgomery began his career in corporate banking at NationsBank and became a managing director in the syndicated debt capital markets group at its successor Bank of America Securities. Following the events of 9/11, Montgomery was appointed as the Executive Director of the Air Transportation Stabilization Board, a congressionally authorized program to provide funding to the airline industry. Mr. Montgomery subsequently joined the financial consulting firm of Kroll Zolfo Cooper where he worked on a variety of assignments including Krispy Kreme Doughnuts. In 2006, Montgomery joined the corporate finance group of Oliver Wyman.
"We are delighted to welcome Dan to Sbarro" said Pete Beaudrault. "Dan brings a wealth of financial and operating experience from a broad array of industries. In addition, given his more recent experience, we believe Dan is exceptionally well suited to help Sbarro manage through the current market challenges."
"Dan's broad and diverse experience particularly managing leveraged companies will be beneficial to Sbarro as it manages its domestic business and expands its international footprint" said Rob Sharp, a Managing Director of MidOcean Partners, a leading private equity firm that acquired the Company in January of 2007.
Based in Melville, New York, Sbarro is a leading Italian quick service restaurant concept and the largest shopping-mall focused restaurant concept in the world. with more than 1,000 restaurants in 43 countries.
