Category Life

Jun 18 2013

Expect Self Service Kiosks at Fast Food Places

la–fi–adv–carls

 

 

Carl’s Jr. CEO: Expect kiosks at fast-food joints, more part-timers

 

By Ricardo LopezJune 17, 2013, 11:04 a.m.

Expect self-serve kiosks at fast-food restaurants and more part-time workers as the Affordable Care Act continues rolling out, according to Andy Puzder, chief executive of CKE Restaurants Inc.

Also, don’t expect many more of CKE’s Carl’s Jr. restaurants to open in California, Puzder said in arecent interview with the Wall Street Journal.

The 62-year-old CEO has been a vocal critic of President Obama‘s signature healthcare law, pulling no punches about how it will affect businesses.

Quiz: How well do you know fast food?

He told The Times earlier this year that he expects more businesses — including his — to hire part-time workers so they would be exempt from the healthcare law’s coverage mandates.

He expanded on that point in an article published in the Journal over the weekend.

He said his consultants have calculated that it would be cheaper to offer his workforce more expensive health-insurance plans than to drop them into state exchanges and pay penalties, according to the Journal. Currently, about 40% of his employees are part time.

He also said restaurants will probably turn to technology to deal with the healthcare law. “You’re going to go into a fast-food restaurant and order on an iPad or tablet instead of talking to a person because we don’t have to pay benefits for any of those things,” he said.

Puzder granted the interview to the Journal while he was in New York scoping out new sites for his restaurants. He said stringent regulations in California have dampened his appetite for expanding in the Golden State.

“Like many businesses, we love California and would love to build more restaurants,” he said. “California is not interested in having businesses grow.”

CKE Restaurants is headquartered in Carpinteria.

 

http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-carls-jr-ceo-expect-kiosks-at-fast-food-joints-more-parttimers-20130617,0,2592243.story

By taliasworld • Posted in Life
0
Jun 18 2013

Eastern Shore arson case to move forward – Richmond Times Dispatch: Virginia News

 

Eastern Shore arson case to move forward – Richmond Times Dispatch: Virginia News.

Another case of stupidity and meanness from people. I’ve been on the Va. Eastern Shore and it’s beautiful over there. Peaceful and rural, it takes you back in time and is a nice break from the hustle and bustle of the city.

And the trip over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel is interesting too.

Jun 18 2013

Va. alcohol regulators make moonshine bust – Richmond Times Dispatch: Virginia News

This isn’t surprising. There’s a corner of the state, with Lynchburg as one point, Chatham the second and Rocky Mount as the third, this is moonshine central. You can’t walk through a woods around there without running across a still. Although..the VA ABC stores now sell Moonshine and I have to admit it’s pretty damn good. 🙂

 

Va. alcohol regulators make moonshine bust – Richmond Times Dispatch: Virginia News.

Jun 17 2013

Council president wants vote on stadium – Richmond Times Dispatch: Latest News

I think this move is overdue and needs to be taken care of. When the Flying Squirrels came to Richmond, the city promised them a new stadium. Here is is 4 years later and nothing’s happened.

Yes, building the Redskins training camp was a big thing that needed to be done; however, it’s time to keep our word and take care of the baseball team or they’ll go the way of the Braves.

Council president wants vote on stadium – Richmond Times Dispatch: Latest News.

Jun 17 2013

Comcast Part Two

Eruption_09_600

I have just finished being out of cable and internet for the past four hours. And there’s nothing going on either!! It came back up 1 minute after the ‘estimated time for restoration’ (which I find funny as hell. Ever known anyone to be able to get something done within the MINUTE of the time they say it will?), further fueling my feelings that this is a controlled and planned outage.

Over the past 120 hours, the internet/tv has been down 10% of that time now. That’s ridiculous when you take into account that we’re paying $200 for the service.

And as a follow up, it was up 6 minutes before going down for another 10…

Comcast sucks…

Jun 17 2013

Bad Brad’s Opinion

http://www.motorracingnetwork.com/Race-Series/NASCAR-Sprint-Cup/News/Articles/2013/06/Opinion-Keselowski-The-Mouth-That-Roared.aspx

 

While I try to stay out of the sports business, (in the interest of transparency, my first bachelor’s is in Sports Management) I have to say that Brad. K. is more then right about what he says. I’ll explain:

NASCAR, like anything else, is a business. And this is something people don’t want to know. The first thing they said in Sports Management classes was: “Get the word ‘sports’ out of your mind. It’s ‘sports entertainment.’ Learn that term.”

Like any other business, the products of controlled, marketed and operated in such a way to maximize profits. No one goes into any endeavor without wanting to make a profit, and sports teams and owners are no different.

The France family, who own NASCAR and ISC (their track ownership arm who own 2/3 of the tracks on the circuit give or take) aren’t fools. They didn’t become billionaires by being stupid.

With that said, let me explain some dirty little secrets about the business side of NASCAR. First off, let’s talk demographics. On a rough guess (since I don’t have access to their records) I’d say their fan base breaks down like this:

50-53% Chevy

20-25 Toyota

15-20  Ford

5-10 Dodge

Yes, I know they don’t add up to 100% exactly. It’s a rough guess.

Now, if you’re running their business and 50% of your fans come to see a particular make run well, or win, each week…what would you do? If you were smart, and mind you the Frances are, you’d make sure that brand wins the corresponding amount of races to match the % paying to see the win.

This is why you see teams like Hendrick win so much. It’s not that they’re so “superior” to the others, but the fact that NASCAR needs him, and Richard Childress to a lesser amount, to fly the Bowtie banner. Without allowing them to run things that give them an advantage, then the Bowtie fans couldn’t count on the number of race wins they’d get.

And before you call me a ‘conspiracy theorist’ bear in mind I know how this business works. And, if you ever get a chance to talk to people who’ve been on the NASCAR teams (and you’d be surprised how many IRL team members were in NASCAR before coming to open wheel) you’ll learn the same thing I”m telling you now.

It’s all business.

Tickets=money

Thus, Bad Brad’s opinion is spot on and accurate. Nothing more, nothing less.

I could go on for an hour explaining how all this works, but I won’t. If anyone wants to know more, then they can drop a comment and I’ll be glad to discuss it off blog.