A news summary focused on 10 big employers; updated 9:01 p.m.
TACO BELL fired an unidentified cashier at a restaurant in Phenix City, Ala., who refused to serve two uniformed deputies Saturday after another customer complained about the officers being there. A company spokesperson said the fast food chain had also apologized to the Lee County Sheriff’s Department. The firing came after a woman whose husband worked with the two men complained on Facebook about how the two officers were treated. Since Tammy Bush Mayo first wrote about the incident, her Facebook post has been shared more than 1,200 times (KTVI).
KFC: Dozens of people gathered in front of a KFC in northern China over the weekend, turning the restaurant into the latest victim of a wave of nationalism after an international tribunal ruling on the South China Sea. They carried long red banners with slogans that read: “Boycott US, Japan, South Korea and the Philippines, love the Chinese nation,” and, “You are eating KFC from the US, and losing the face of our ancestors” (South China Morning Post).
BROWN-FORMAN: Jack Daniel’s supplanted scotch as the U.K.’s favorite whiskey because of a post-recession shift in drinking habits.“There has been an upsurge in the number of people drinking at home, and Jack Daniel’s is a party drink,” says Alwynne Gwilt, who runs the Miss Whisky Blog. scotch, a traditional favorite, “just doesn’t have the same excitement.” The excitement associated with Jack Daniel’s also comes down to its relentless advertising campaigns (Guardian).
AMAZON has received a patent for dr0ne docking stations on street light posts, cellphone towers and buildings so the flying delivery robots can recharge and download information about an impending thunderstorm or other weather activity. The retailer imagines some stations providing perches for two or more drones, and the stations may be equipped with solar panels, according to the patent granted earlier this month (Silicon Beat).
PAPA JOHN’S has settled a lawsuit seeking class-action status over claims it wrongly charged sales tax on delivery fees in Madison County, Ill. The settlement calls for $165,000 in attorney fees; a $2,000 “case contribution award” to the lead plaintiff, and purchase discounts of between $1 and $3 for qualified customers. According to the agreement, Papa John’s stopped charging sales tax on delivery fees on Oct. 1 (Madison-St. Clair Record).
Separately, the Louisville-based pizza giant opened a store in Amsterdam today, its first in Holland, continuing its expansion in Europe. Papa John’s has more than 320 restaurants in the U.K., four in Spain, and recently opened its first in Northern France. The company is currently looking for potential franchisees in other areas of France, as well as Poland, Czech Republic and Belgium (press release).
The Amsterdam location may well become one of Papa John’s most profitable in the world, given the liberal laws around marijuana use in the city. There are more than 250 “coffee shops” selling marijuana there, leading to millions of annual visitors getting the munchies.
In other news, a Fresh Thyme Farmers Market — the city’s second — will be an anchor tenant in the planned Bardstown Pavilion commercial center in Fern Creek, a $35 million-$40 million project under review by metro planners (
Boulevard 