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 AUSTRALIA
FRANCHISE NEWS ARCHIVE
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: : Jul-Dec 2004
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Tsunamis negligible on business: HWT. Travel agent
Harvey World Travel says the tsunami crisis in Asia is having a negligible
impact on its business. .... [more]
30 Dec, 2004
Real estate industry braces for slump. Several real
estate industry leaders have predicted mergers and redundancies next
year after a correction in residential property prices and a 30 per
cent slump in turnover this year. .... [more]
28 Dec, 2004
Salad days take a back seat as Macca's beefs up. The
Big Mac is back. After two years of promoting salads, yoghurts and
new products that have lifted the fortunes of McDonald's, the company
is planning a big push of its core menu: burgers, fries and nuggets.
.... [more]
23 Dec, 2004
Coffee lovers have a new suitor. Just what Sydney needs:
another coffee shop. Well that's what John Lazarou, part owner of
The Coffee Club thinks. His is the latest chain to push into Sydney's
caffeine scene. .... [more]
20 Dec, 2004
Athlete's Foot strides on. Retail Cube - owners of the
Athlete's Foot franchise - yesterday said it was business as usual
in Australia after the corporate arm of The Athlete's Foot Corporate
Stores in the US filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last week.
.... [more]
14 Dec, 2004
Red Rooster spreads its wings. Australian fast-food
chain Red Rooster is winging its way into the New Zealand market,
announcing plans for a string of outlets. .... [more]
8 Dec, 2004
McDonald's open to Burnett. McDonalds's has denied its
relationship with advertising agency DDB in Australia is on the ropes
after moving to appoint rival Leo Burnett to its $40 million account.
.... [more]
4 Dec, 2004
Brazin buys Dusk homewares for $24m. Music, women's
apparel and footwear group Brazin Ltd has expanded its retail offerings
to gift wares with the $24 million acquisition of the Perth-based
Dusk group. .... [more]
3 Dec, 2004
McDonald's splits ad partnership. One of Australia's
largest and longest-running advertising partnerships is cracking apart
- McDonald's has taken a chunk of its $50 million advertising account
away from its Australian agency DDB and handed it to an arch rival.
.... [more]
3 Dec, 2004
Ikea plans a little re-education. Ikea says its catalogue
ranks after the Bible as world's second most read book. The company
would like to beat that in Sydney. .... [more]
2 Dec, 2004
Peppercorn 'needs $30m upgrade'. Childcare tsar Eddy
Groves said yesterday his ABC Learning Centres would have to pay up
to $30 million in renovation costs to bring the childcare centres
of its former rival Peppercorn Management up to standard. .... [more]
25 Nov, 2004
Cook up your dream job. Franchising is one of the growth
industries of Australia. While many small businesses go bust within
the first two years of being established, the number of franchises
continues to grow. .... [more]
24 Nov, 2004
Christmas comes early with boom for Harvey. It's going
to be a bonanza Christmas for ipods, MP3s and plasma televisions,
says Gerry Harvey, who revealed that sales for the three weeks to
November 30 at Harvey Norman stores across Australia already have
risen by 21.3 per cent. .... [more]
24 Nov, 2004
Foodland eyes Metcash ties. Trans-Tasman retailer Foodland
Associated, fresh from unveiling another soft set of sales numbers
for its Australian supermarket business, has indicated it wants to
forge closer ties with rival Metcash Trading. .... [more]
18 Nov, 2004
CBA introduces quasi-franchises. The Commonwealth Bank
of Australia has moved to protect its brand in the intensely competitive
mortgage sector by forming a network of home lenders who are paid
by commission only. .... [more]
17 Nov, 2004
Brambles says pallet shambles is over. Brambles Industries
has tried to put to rest its disaster-prone reputation by reaffirming
that its CHEP pallet operations are well on the recovery trail. ....
[more]
17 Nov, 2004
Harvey has high hopes in Britain. Just one week after
entering the UK market, Harvey World Travel said it expected its operations
there to turn a profit by June next year. .... [more]
10 Nov, 2004
Harvey's NZ Rebel hitch. Gerry Harvey has always been
a bit of a rebel and he has turned a pretty penny doing the unpredictable
in retailing. .... [more]
9 Nov, 2004
Under the pump. The entry of Coles and Woolworths into
the petrol market could force the closure of 3000 of Australia's 7500
service stations, 100 in South Australia, the industry has warned.
.... [more]
7 Nov, 2004
Bite on fast food. The prices of family meals at fast-food
restaurants in Victoria can vary by several dollars for the same food.
.... [more]
7 Nov, 2004
Chubb franchises face axe over rort. Chubb is trying
to buy back businesses from franchise operators it partly blames for
a rort that has exposed it to hefty penalties for signing up customers
for security services it could not provide. .... [more]
2 Nov, 2004
Women to nail down Mitre 10 growth. Hardware retailer
Mitre 10 will compete head-to-head with Bunnings owner Wesfarmers
for the booming Do-It-Yourself home improvement market. .... [more]
1 Nov, 2004
HWT to take off in UK. Harvey World Travel (HWT) today
announced it is set to make an assault on the competitive $23 billion
UK travel and leisure market. .... [more]
29 Oct, 2004
Harvey Norman franchisees fined. Doubt was
cast over more than 100 charges of illegal Sunday trading levelled
against West Australian Harvey Norman franchisees after only four
convictions were recorded in a test case involving 19 charges. ....
[more]
30 Oct, 2004
Perth court hears franchise test case. The
Perth Magistrates Court is hearing a test case to determine if the
owners of Harvey Norman franchises can be prosecuted for breaching
Western Australia's retail trading laws. .... [more]
25 Oct, 2004
Top businesswoman named. The founder of Boost Juice
Bars Janine Allis was tonight named Telstra businesswoman of the year.
.... [more]
23 Oct, 2004
Franchising dream needs to be checked out. At some stage,
many people dream of owning their own business. The drudgery of being
employed and reporting to a boss becomes overwhelming at times. ....
[more]
23 Oct, 2004
KFC safety appeal. A KFC franchise yesterday won an
appeal against its conviction for a WorkSafe breach three years after
a teenage employee fell into a fryer of hot oil. .... [more]
21 Oct, 2004
High flyer's clouds are clearing. Barry Mayo, boss of
the ASX-listed Harvey World Travel, has been in the travel business
long enough to appreciate that what goes down will eventually go up
again. .... [more]
18 Oct, 2004
McDonald's sells papers, bread and milk. Global hamburger
giant McDonald's is trialling the old corner store strategy of selling
newspapers, milk and bread to drag more customers through their doors.
.... [more]
15 Oct, 2004
INTEREST - Harvey bets retail spree will go on and on. Retailer
Gerry Harvey wants to make a bet with economist Chris Richardson of
Access Economics. A big bet of, say, $10,000. .... [more]
13 Oct, 2004
MyGrocer surfaces on Central Coast under new name. A
company closely linked to Queensland online grocery venture MySupercentre.com
Pty Ltd, which was placed into liquidation in controversial circumstances
last month, has resurfaced on the NSW Central Coast under a new name.
.... [more]
11 Oct, 2004
Pubboy expands through grammar of franchising. The Pubboy
Group and its founding director, Mark Alexander-Erber, are about to
franchise some of the group's branded hotels in the Hunter Valley,
Bathurst and Sydney's CBD. .... [more]
9 Oct, 2004
Childcare centres on the money. Listed childcare company
ABC Learning Centres is taking advantage of favourable market sentiment
by raising an extra $100 million from the market to fund the purchase
of 200 more childcare centres in the coming year. .... [more]
8 Oct, 2004
Terry White Chemists expands to survive. A Queensland-controlled
retail pharmacy chain plans to roll out a mega-store format to remain
ahead in the increasingly competitive sector. .... [more]
5 Oct, 2004
Healthy hunger for success brings bites. A couple of
young blokes with a passion for healthy food are riding a new wave
of good eating driven by time-poor, hard-working Australians bombarded
by an anti-fast food community sentiment. .... [more]
5 Oct, 2004
Branching out. Australian franchises are finding new
success overseas, but there are traps for the unwary. .... [more]
23 Sep, 2004
Business idea is piece of cake. Selling cupcakes may
not sound like a lucrative money-maker, but young businessman Chris
Gibbs hopes the idea will be the beginning of a highly successful
franchise operation. .... [more]
19 Sep, 2004
Big trouble with little snacks deal. Notorious conman
Ron Frederick is luring Victorian consumers with bogus offers of franchises
to sell snack foods. .... [more]
13 Sep, 2004
ABC is biggest kid on block. ABC Learning Centres' managing
director, Eddy Groves, yesterday secured his position as the biggest
kid on Australia's childcare block, although Peppercorn Management
Group's Michael Gordon will get to play with $130 million. .... [more]
10 Sep, 2004
ANZ U-turn with 80 new branches. ANZ Bank will open
up to 80 new branches in the industry's biggest "we got it wrong"
admission yet. .... [more]
9 Sep, 2004
Name Change for Flag Hotels, An Australian Institution for 40
Years. Flag Choice Hotels today became Choice Hotels Australasia,
marking the close of a two-year program to revitalise one of Australia's
largest hotel groupings. .... [more]
8 Sep, 2004
Child-care rivals seal merger. ABC Learning Centres
will merge with its main rival, Peppercorn Management Group, in a
deal creating a child-care company worth more than $700 million. ....
[more]
8 Sep, 2004
Kahala Corp. Announces Development Agreement for Australia.
Kahala Corp., an operator of seven quick service restaurant concepts,
announced today it has entered into a development agreement with Chris
Liberiou, an Australian restaurateur and financier, to open 250 locations
throughout Australia over the next 10 years. .... [more]
7 Sep, 2004
Labor turns up heat on franchisors. Federal Labor is
set to exploit the Howard Government's perceived link to the bigger
end of town by promising to reform the franchising industry. ....
[more]
7 Sep, 2004
Harvey in $300m hand-back. Harvey Norman chairman Gerry
Harvey yesterday flagged a dividend boost to use the retailer's $300
million pool of excess franking credits – accompanied by a rights
issue to raise a similar amount. .... [more]
6 Sep, 2004
Nando's to phase out plastic bags. National fast food
chain Nando's announced it would phase out the distribution of plastic
bags to customers at its 76 restaurants. .... [more]
3 Sep, 2004
Brambles gets US monkey off its back. Brambles Industries
has finally broken its curse of profit disappointments by reporting
a strong turnaround in its US pallet operations and declaring an end
to its costly restructure of CHEP Europe. .... [more]
1 Sep, 2004
Harvey feels techno pinch. Shares in Harvey Norman Holdings
took a step backwards today as signs of increasing competition in
the retailer's core technology business tainted an otherwise robust
annual profit result. .... [more]
31 Aug, 2004
Child carers book $21 million profit. ABC Learning Centres
said yesterday that growth opportunities in the child-care industry
were abundant and that it had doubled revenue and booked a 77 per
cent surge in net profit. .... [more]
31 Aug, 2004
Brambles' pallet woes may be over. Expectations are
high that Brambles Industries will finally provide some solid evidence
the costly and drawn-out restructure of its CHEP pallet divisions
is starting to bear fruit. .... [more]
31 Aug, 2004
Jetset Travelworld profit turnaround. Jetset Travelworld
Group has declared an after tax profit of $4 million for 2003/04 financial
year, a major turn-around on last year's loss of $572,000. .... [more]
30 Aug, 2004
INTEREST - Digital Mapping Helps Sell Franchise Territories
in Australia. Digital mapping technology is helping unlock
the complexities and mysteries of accurately allocating geographic
territories for anyone planning to franchise a business. .... [more]
25 Aug, 2004
Daniel Besen buys 20% of Boost Juice. Melbourne businessman
Daniel Besen has bought a 20 per cent stake in Australia's leading
juice franchise, Boost Juice. .... [more]
24 Aug, 2004
Brazin lifts performance but market ignores tune. Music
and DVD retailer Brazin failed to stir investors yesterday despite
announcing a sixfold increase in annual profits and a positive outlook.
.... [more]
24 Aug, 2004
Toys 'R' Us may pack up game. The future of the Australian
arm of Toys "R" Us - the retailer that revolutionised toy
selling here - is in doubt after its US parent launched a restructuring
of its global businesses and warned it might quit the industry. ....
[more]
17 Aug, 2004
Harvey World expects travel boom. Harvey World Travel
said it expects to see a boom in Australians travelling overseas over
the next 12 months which will help it achieve double digit net profit
growth. .... [more]
17 Aug, 2004
Indian Curry House ruffles McDonalds feathers. An Indian
curry house on the central coast of the New South Wales State is giving
the Big Mac a heartburn. What has stirred spice is the red and yellow
colours. .... [more]
16 Aug, 2004
Warning issued on online grocer. Rarely used powers
have been invoked by Queensland's consumer watchdog to name a Brisbane
Internet grocery employee who has been unable to pay his franchisees.
.... [more]
16 Aug, 2004
Retailer agrees ad deceptive. A Harvey Norman retail
promotion that promised free software worth $900 to customers who
bought a $199 GST-ready software package was misleading and deceptive,
the company has admitted. .... [more]
11 Aug, 2004
Aussie Company Launches Chocolate Techno-Revolution. Australian
businessman, John Taylor, will carry a business card like no other
when he visits the USA this August, his is made of chocolate. ....
[more]
9 Aug, 2004
Sam's Seafood earnings steady. Shares in Sam's Seafood
Holdings jumped 7 per cent yesterday after the Brisbane-based fishmonger
said 2004 earnings before goodwill amortisation and tax would be similar
to 2003. .... [more]
6 Aug, 2004
Australian Franchisee Duo Inducted into Domino's Pizza Chairman's
Circle Hall of Fame. Domino's Pizza recently presented Master
Franchisees, Don Meij and Grant Bourke, with the most coveted honor
given by Domino's Pizza - the Chairman's Circle Award. .... [more]
3 Aug, 2004
Beaumont hits $100m target. Tile retailer Beaumont Tiles
has reached a major milestone, recording annual revenue of $100 million
for 2003-04. .... [more]
2 Aug, 2004
Caltex files deed to appease franchisees. Caltex has
been forced into an embarrassing backdown in the wake of legal action
from hundreds of its own franchisees, yesterday agreeing to a series
of concessions to settle a month-long dispute sparked by its discount
petrol link-up with Woolworths. .... [more]
31 Jul, 2004
Jesters in Shakespeares' court. Neil Whittaker and Richard
Anderson have been on the road this week, shaking a lot of hands,
dealing with the media, and now are close to exhaustion. Pie tours
are like that. .... [more]
31 Jul, 2004
Brazin to call tune in Myer stores. Music retailer Brazin,
which has struggled to differentiate its Virgin, Sanity and IN2 Music
stores, may have resolved the problem with a deal to open Virgin music
outlets inside 62 Myer department stores. .... [more]
28 Jul, 2004
Corner stores on endangered list. Supermarkets and chain-owned
convenience stores are killing small shops, with nearly 3000 - including
500 corner stores - disappearing in the past three years. .... [more]
27 Jul, 2004
Shakespeares bites in pie market. Gourmet piemaker Shakespeares
Pies has taken a bigger slice of the Australian market, announcing
it will purchase West Australian-based Jesters Jaffle Pies Co Pty
Ltd. .... [more]
23 Jul, 2004
Harvey still cleaning up around the house. Gerry Harvey
has defied any talk of a housing downturn with his company, Harvey
Norman Holdings, reporting a 15.9 per cent rise in sales to $3.67
billion for the year to June 30. .... [more]
21 Jul, 2004
Midas facing a franchise rebellion. International muffler
business and franchisor Midas has a mutiny on its hands, as about
30 franchisees are expected to take class action against the local
master franchisor. .... [more]
20 Jul, 2004
S8 means a state of prosperity. In Asian countries the
figure eight is a symbol of prosperity, and for S8 managing director
Chris Scott a dash of superstition mixed with irony has translated
into exactly that. .... [more]
19 Jul, 2004
Harvey's wheels deals. He's probably sold something
to you, now Gerry Harvey wants to sell something for you: your car.
.... [more]
18 Jul, 2004
Rebel on a run as revenue rises 10%. Shares in
Rebel Sport leapt almost 4 per cent yesterday after the sport and
leisure retailer said its sales revenue for the past 12 months increased
by 10 per cent. .... [more]
13 Jul, 2004
Video stores aiming to outfox Foxtel. Australia's
dominant pay television provider, Foxtel, has opened a new front in
its battle with video rental operators, suing the industry association
for what it has described as misleading advertising. .... [more]
10 Jul, 2004
Flying start for Retail Cube. New retail stocks have
proved to be a boon for investors this week, with Athlete's Foot owner
Retail Cube making a strong debut on the stock exchange yesterday.
.... [more]
8 Jul, 2004
Minister outs snack food conman. Queensland Fair Trading
Minister Margaret Keech today warned Australians to beware of a conman
who she said had set up a scam involving snack food distribution.
.... [more]
5 Jul, 2004
Too many feeding on the mortgage pie. The prospectus
for the float of one of the country's biggest mortgage brokers, Mortgage
Choice, provides something quite unusual, a snapshot of a bubble business
at the height of a bubble. .... [more]
3 Jul, 2004
Hotels pleased with a quiet year. The hotel sector had
one of its quietest financial 12 months for many years but operators
are happy as it meant there were no major disasters such as SARS,
wars or airline strikes. .... [more]
3 Jul, 2004
Mortgage Choice float defies gloom. Given all the grim
headlines about the housing market, it might appear on the surface
that those behind the planned $123.5 million float of franchise-based
mortgage broker Mortgage Choice are very brave individuals indeed.
.... [more]
1 Jul, 2004
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