Month: August 2016

Latest Headlines

Brown-Forman’s BenRiach launches new whiskeys; KFC’s PR stunt smells like success; and Papa John’s pitchman Manning is fumbling in the kitchen

A news summary focused on 10 big employers.

BROWN-FORMAN‘s BenRiach Distillery Co. has launched 15 new whiskies, including a dozen single cask releases, its first since Brown-Forman bought the Scottish distillery in June for $405 million (Scotch Whiskey).

KFC sunscreen 75KFC‘s newest limited-time marketing gimmick is (was!) a natural followup to its current fake Colonel Harland Sanders pitchman: sun screen that smells like fried chicken. And the Yum division wasn’t kidding about availability; introduced today, the chain’s inventory was already exhausted by day’s end. Col. Sanders Extra Crispy Sunscreen followed the late-June introduction of the extra-crispy colonel played by perpetually suntanned actor George Hamilton. And it recalled the chain’s brief experiment last spring with nail polish that tasted like chicken.

PAPA JOHN’S today launched its latest TV commercial starring retired Denver Broncos quarterback — and franchise owner — Peyton Manning, casting him in an exceptionally unlikely new career:

Money in Politics

State Democrats raise only $45K in July, badly lagging Republicans

The total was less than one third what the Republican party pulled in during the month, and even less — by $3,000 — what it raised in June, according to its just-filed Federal Election Commission report.

The figures continue a trend that’s put the Democrats at a big disadvantage as they fight to keep control of the state House of Representatives in November.

The Democrats ended the month with $120,000 in its treasury vs. $73,000 at the start of July, the report showed. That also put it way behind the Republicans, which finished July with $1.6 million, according to their July report, filed last week.

A big part of the Democrats woes is a lack of big, wealthy donors. Led by Papa John’s founder and CEO John Schnatter and his wife, the Republicans attracted 10 donations of $10,000 each in July — the maximum.

But the biggest donation to the Democrats was $5,000 from Andrew Martin Jr. of Louisville, a consultant with McCarthy Strategic Solutions. Most of the rest were in the mid three-digits.

Updated at 11:45 a.m. The Courier-Journal’s Tom Loftus has just explained a big infusion to the Democrats during July from a Hillary Clinton‘s political committee, the Hillary Victory Fund, totaling $793,000.

Latest Headlines

Yum wants a leaner workforce; KFC’s got more competition as chicken menus swell; and Pizza Hut India celebrates Olympians

A news summary focused on 10 big employers.

YUM wants to trim its workforce in advance of spinning off its China division, and has offered an unspecified number of employees early retirement deals at its Louisville corporate office and its three main divisions: KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell. Yum employs about 1,000 at its corporate office and KFC domestic division. The fast-food giant would not disclose terms of the offers or a timetable. Overall, the company employs 505,000 workers. Yum agreed to separate its China division in October 2015, and has said it wants to complete the separation by Oct. 31 (WDRB).

KFC: The restaurant industry is awash in chicken, with the top 250 chains adding some 325 new chicken items during the 12 months ended June 30, according to research from Technomic. By comparison, only 73 new beef items were added in the same period as consumers turn to healthier, less fatty meat (CNBC).

P.V. Sindhu
Sindhu

PIZZA HUT is offering free pizzas today to anyone who shares the last name of the country’s Olympic-award winning badminton player P.V. Sindhu, who won a silver on Thursday. The chain had earlier made the same offer to customers with the same last name as Sakshi Malik, who won a bronze in wrestling. The players are the nation’s only medal winners in the Rio games, which end tomorrow (Business Standard).

Money in Politics

Pizza king Schnatter leads 10 Kentuckians kicking $100K into state Republican party’s coffers

The Papa John’s founder and CEO John Schnatter and his wife Annette headlined a group of well-heeled donors to the state Republican Party last month, boosting its treasury by $151,000 and possibly pushing it even further ahead of the Democratics, according to its monthly Federal Election Commission report filed yesterday.

The party had $1.6 million on hand at the end of the month, after spending $188,000, the report said.

The Democrats have not filed their July report yet. But in June, they raised just $48,000 to the Republicans’ $155,000. That left the Democrats with only $48,000 in the bank.

The Schnatters and just eight other $10,000 donors accounted for 66% of all the party’s receipts during in July, underscoring the role of a handful of wealthy residents in this year’s elections. Among them, Schnatter especially can afford do be generous: His stake in the pizza chain he founded in 1984 soared above $800 million less than two weeks ago after a run-up in the stock’s price.

The others $10,000 Republican donors were:

  • John W. Landrum of Harrodsburg, retired.
  • Henry R. Saufley III, owner, Builders Supply.
  • Pam Stephens of Russell Springs, bookkeeper and accountant at Stephens Pipe and Steele.
  • James Stuckert of Prospect, partner at investment firm Hilliard Lyons, Diane Stuckert, retired.
  • E. Duncan Taylor of Lexington, horse breeder, Taylor Made Farms.
  • William Wilburn of Eubank, president, Cumberland Security Bank, and Sherry Wilburn, a homemaker.
Latest Headlines

KFC calamity? Chicago newspaper claims to have seen culinary world’s Loch Ness Monster

It’s the original recipe Colonel Harland Sanders developed in 1939 for his roadside restaurant in Corbin, Ky., the one with 11 herbs and spices that launched today’s 20,000-location KFC. The Chicago Tribune has published what it says is the top-secret recipe, which a freelance writer got during a visit with Sanders’ nephew, Joe Ledington, a 67-year-old retired school teacher outside Corbin.

Harland Sanders
Sanders

Ledington told writer Jay Jones he’d found the recipe, handwritten in blue ink, tucked inside a photo album he inherited from his aunt, Sanders’ second wife. The newspaper included a photo of it with a story today about the Harland Sanders Cafe and Museum in Corbin.

But as even the daily points out, many others have claimed to have seen what KFC calls one of America’s most valuable trade secrets. “But no one’s ever been right,” the company told the Tribune.

KFC keeps the original recipe, on a yellowing piece of paper, in a Continue reading “KFC calamity? Chicago newspaper claims to have seen culinary world’s Loch Ness Monster” →