The Founder director John Lee Hancock: “There are things about Ray Kroc I really admire” February 14, 2017 Released in UK cinemas this week, The Founder tells the story of the world’s best-known brand, McDonald’s – and how entrepreneur Ray Kroc wrestled the company away from its founders. We sat down with the movie’s director, John Lee Hancock, to talk burgers, unscrupulous business tactics and what he learned about leadership from Kroc. Your [...]
The bastard’s guide to business: How to grow a company the Ray Kroc way February 8, 2017 Ray Kroc may be the man who created arguably the western hemisphere's most recognisable symbol – but he wasn't always nice about it. In new movie The Founder, Michael Keaton stars as McDonald's founder Kroc, telling the story of his unlikely rise from small-time milkshake mixer salesman to big bucks entrepreneur after he was dazzled by Mac and Dick [...]
McDonald’s, JD Wetherspoon and Domino’s urged to crackdown on use of antibiotics in global meat and poultry supply chains April 11, 2016 A coalition of 54 institutional investors, which manages funds totalling $1 trillion, has called on 10 UK and US restaurant chains including McDonald’s, JD Wetherspoon, Wendy’s and Domino’s Pizza Group to curb antibiotic use in their global meat and poultry supply chains. The investors, which include Aviva Investors and Coller Capital, have written to ten [...]
China’s Bright Food loses its taste for Weetabix and sells it to the American Post Holdings: Where did it all go wrong? April 19, 2017 It was announced yesterday that Chinese company Bright Food is to sell Weetabix to the American Post Holdings. Bright Food acquired the British stalwart in 2012 with a view to introducing breakfast cereal to the lucrative Asian market, but recently put the brand up for sale when it became clear it had struggled to crack [...]
McDonald’s target private equity firms in Asia as it seeks super size sell-off of 2,800 restaurants April 14, 2016 Global fast food giant McDonald's has begun targeting private equity firms in its bid to sell 2,800 restaurants located in northern Asia. Bain Capital, MBK Partners, TPG Capital Management and the Chinese state-backed conglomerate China Resources (Holdings) are among the firms that have been approached about the buyouts, Reuters reported. The Big Mac maker is serving [...]
Trian takes $3.5bn stake in P&G February 14, 2017 Trian Fund Management has disclosed that it bought a $3.5bn stake in Procter & Gamble, maker of Gillette razors and Crest toothpaste. The move makes Trian the second activist shareholder to become involved in the consumer products giant in the last five years, and it is now the largest stakeholder in P&G by some margin. Read [...]
Asleep at the wheel: MPs and campaigners blast transport top dogs over botched HS2 contract April 20, 2017 A whistleblower exposed a conflict of interest at the heart of a £170m High Speed 2 contract, it emerged yesterday, triggering fresh criticism of the government’s handling of procurement on its flagship £56bn rail project. American firm CH2M was awarded the development partner contract on HS2 in February, beating Bechtel and a joint venture between [...]
President Donald Trump says Germany “owes vast sums” to Nato after saying he had a “great meeting” with Angela Merkel March 18, 2017 President Donald Trump has said Germany "owes vast sums of money" to Nato and should also pay the US more for defending it. He made the remarks on Twitter, saying he had a "great meeting" with German Chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday. A video of the meeting showed him appearing to deny Merkel a handshake during a [...]
Ko Samui has long had a reputation for being a backpackers’ paradise – but it’s got a rather unexpected stylish and grown up side June 30, 2017 The taxi taking me on the ten-minute journey from Ko Samui’s tiny, open-air airport terminal to my hotel on Chaweng beach, one of the island’s most popular resorts, slows to a crawl when it hits Chaweng Road. The main artery into this area, the route comes to life after sunset when a host of raucous [...]
Taking a tour of Tokyo’s fish markets, karaoke bars and robot restaurants June 19, 2017 The best day I spent in Tokyo was when I woke up, with a start, asleep on my sofa still at 10am after staying out until five doing karaoke, drunk still but with a hangover headache. On the surface level I would not recommend this to anyone – the housekeeping woman was incredibly scared by [...]