Tag: Churchill Downs

Latest Headlines May 23, 2016May 25, 2016

Why Ford will slam Tesla; Yum stock whips Mickey D’s, and Hut launches S’mores cookies

370621 — Pizza Hut’s new S’mores cookies are $6.99.

A news summary, focused on big employers; updated 5:57.m.

FORD: Why Ford will beat Tesla, even as electric cars gain a toehold (Barron’s).

YUM: The company’s stock has overthrown McDonald’s as the hottest fast-food stock around. Year to date, shares have surged 9% vs. 4% for McDonald’s and a skinny 0.2% for the S&P 500 index. (The Street). Also, former Chairman David Novak says workers are “starved for recognition” from their supervisors (Business First).

PIZZA HUT today introduced 8-inch Hershey’s Toasted S’mores Cookies for a limited time at $6.99 (press release).

AMAZON has started hiring up to 500 employees for a new distribution center in Florence Township outside Trenton, N.J. “They want to be up and running in time for the Christmas holiday,” Township Administrator Richard Brook said last week (Burlington County Times).

GANNETT: Tribune Publishing’s shares dove 15% today on fears that Courier-Journal owner Gannett may rescind its $15-a-share takeover offer; Gannett’s stock fell 2.4% (Talking New Media). The chances Tribune would pursue a “Pac-Man” defense takeover of Gannett had already eased when Tribune decided to share confidential information that could pave the way for Gannett’s $864 million purchase of Tribune (Reuters).

KFC: A 29-year-old man was arrested last night in Columbus, Ga., after he allegedly approached the KFC drive-thru on Manchester Expressway completely nude (Ledger-Enquirer).

BROWN-FORMAN said today it will release fourth-quarter financial results on June 8, followed by a conference call with Wall Street analysts (press release). Meanwhile, Boulevard is sad we missed the chance on Saturday to celebrate World Whisky Day, where everyone was invited to “try a dram and celebrate the water of life” (Hot Rum Cow).

TEXAS ROADHOUSE opens one of its newest restaurants today, a $1.3 million outlet in the college town of Ithaca, N.Y. (Ithaca Voice).

CHURCHILL DOWNS: Thoroughbred racing’s now increasingly international, as NBC Sports made clear during Saturday’s Preakness Stakes, when the network teased its coverage of the Royal Ascot meeting in Britain starting next year (Chicago Now). Ascot got a big publicity boost in 1964’s “My Fair Lady.” The women’s dress code for the royal enclosure is super-strict, including this admonition: “strapless, off the shoulder, halter and spaghetti straps are not permitted” (Ascot).

Photo, top: Pizza Hut.

Latest Headlines May 21, 2016May 22, 2016

China fund and KKR drop talks to buy into Yum China; ‘Pac Man’ takeover of CJ-owner’s tough to swallow, and another Taco Cantina on the way

A news summary focused on big employers; updated 3:09 p.m.

tacobell-restaurant — The first Taco Bell Cantina in Chicago; next up is in Berkeley, Calif.

YUM: A consortium led by sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corp. and private equity firm KKR has ended talks to buy a stake in Yum’s 7,205-restaurant China unit, partly over Yum’s unwillingness to give up majority control because of the negative tax implications that would pose (Reuters).

GANNETT: Tribune Publishing’s defensive “Pac-Man” takeover of Courier-Journal owner Gannett would be a mouthful (New York Times). Meanwhile, Gannett’s unsolicited bid for Tribune got more personal yesterday, with each company calling out the other’s leaders by name and questioning management’s decision-making (Chicago Tribune).

TACO BELL is planning one of its next new Cantinas for Berkeley, Calif., across from San Francisco. The new formats, which target urban millennials and include alcohol on the menu, were announced last fall for Chicago and San Francisco (San Francisco Eater). The San Francisco Cantina is still alcohol-free — “no beer, no sangria, none of the boozy Mountain Dew slushies that they serve at the flagship Cantina in downtown Chicago,” thanks to a liquor license dispute with the neighbors (SF Eater, too). Taco Bell last week announced plans for four new upscale concept restaurants in Southern California.

KFC: That chicken-flavored nail polish the Internet fell in love with was a one-off by a Hong Kong franchisee; it won’t be sold company-wide. “As a brand strategy, it’s not something we will pursue,” Yum China CEO Micky Pant said in an interview yesterday after the fast food giant’s annual shareholder meeting in Louisville (Courier-Journal). Meanwhile, a video about the polish has gone viral, racking up nearly 231,000 views:

CHURCHILL DOWNS: Two horses have died today in separate incidents after races leading up to this afternoon’s Preakness Stakes (WDRB).

UPS will invest $177 million expanding its distribution hub in Columbus, Ohio, creating 75 jobs on top of the 748 employees already there (Columbus Business First).

PIZZA HUT: New Orleans police arrested a man for doing something very naughty on a mattress behind a Pizza Hut restaurant (Times-Picayune).

In other news, the Westport Village shopping center has been sold to Atlanta-based Hendon Properties for $23.8 million (Courier-Journal). The center at night, below:

Westport Village Shopping Center

Latest Headlines May 20, 2016June 11, 2016

Aetna chief doesn’t rule out HQ move; CJ owner Gannett now looks like a takeover target, too

A news summary focused on big employers; updated 3:53 p.m.

aetna-headquarters — Aetna’s headquarters in Hartford, where it was founded in 1853.

HUMANA: Aetna’s CEO did little today to allay concerns the insurance giant might leave its historic Hartford home after its workforce doubles to 110,000 with the pending Humana merger. Mark Bertolini told the annual stockholders meeting that Aetna was required to establish a Kentucky presence when it sought to buy Humana. “Having said that,” he told shareholders, “the rest of all of our real estate is under review.” He expects the $37 billion deal to close in the second half of the year. (Hartford Courant). Humana’s stock closed at $169.60 a share, up less than 1%, but enough to make it the best-performing stock this week among Boulevard’s portfolio of big local employers.

GANNETT: Tribune Publishing is reportedly turning the tables on Gannett by planning a hostile offer to buy the owner of The Courier-Journal, USA Today and more than 100 other dailies. “I am going to bid on Gannett,” CEO Michael Ferro told five dozen Los Angeles Times staffers, according to a confidential source. “I have lawyers working on it.” That would counter Gannett’s sweetened all-cash offer this week, to $15 a share, or about $475 million, excluding $385 million of outstanding debt (Politico Media).

UPS CEO David Abney doubts package delivery by drone will be as ubiquitous as some forecast. Speaking to a Boston business conference, he said: “I don’t believe there are going to be 10,000 to 20,000 of these flying over metro Boston delivering dog food and toothbrushes. I just don’t believe the economics of those work out” (Boston Business First).

AMAZON, which is developing Prime Air to transport packages to customers within 30 minutes via drone, could learn something from DHL’s drone delivery program (Business Insider).

PAPA JOHN’S: Baseball-related pizza promotions are now so pervasive, they extend to the local level, thanks to Papa John’s status as the “official pizza” of 22 big league clubs (538).

BROWN-FORMAN is now offering pregnant employees 12 weeks’ paid leave, about twice as much as the most generous maternity leave plans of the area’s 10 biggest employers (Insider Louisville).

CHURCHILL DOWNS: Which horses stand the best chances at tomorrow’s 141st Preakness Stakes (New York Times).

In other news, presumptive GOP White House nominee Donald Trump addresses the 70,000-member NRA annual meeting today at the Kentucky Exposition Center (NBC).

This just in:

I am on my way! See you all soon! https://t.co/Arw19Antpj

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 20, 2016

Latest Headlines May 19, 2016June 29, 2016

Uber using Fusions in new self-driving cars test; KFC hit over antibiotics use, and Bezos strikes back at Trump

1-hhfb8idsilgy38ctfmr7kg — Activist group created “Auntie Biotic” mascot in campaign targeting KFC.

A news summary focused on big employers; updated 6:06 p.m.

FORD: Uber said today it’s using hybrid Fusions as it starts testing self-driving cars in Pittsburgh (Fortune). Also, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and former Ford CEO Alan Mulally will receive awards at an innovation conference in Lexington starting Sunday (Daily Journal).

KFC: Activists are pressing KFC to stop buying chicken from industrial farms that use antibiotics meant for humans. The Natural Resources Defense Council created a mascot, Auntie Biotic, to draw attention to its cause (blog post). Australian restaurant operator Collins Foods is paying $19 million for 13 KFC outlets around the New South Wales and Victorian border (Business Insider). And teenage inmates who were involved in a tense standoff with police in Melbourne were promised KFC in exchange for their surrender (Daily Mirror). Yum shares closed at $80.07, little changed.

AMAZON CEO Jeff Bezos defended the company against criticism by White House hopeful Donald Trump, who said earlier that the retail giant was “getting away with murder, tax-wise (Seattle Times). Also, how Google Home could be Amazon Echo’s worst nightmare in the digital home assistant space (Verge). Shares closed at $698.52, up $1.07.

TACO BELL: How the company turns fried chicken into taco shells (Consumerist). Meanwhile, the Internet can’t get enough stories about Florida’s Jack Booth, who woke up from a 42-day coma and almost immediately demanded 8½ crunch tacos. “I didn’t expect him to eat as many as he did, but he sure crushed it,” said friend and co-worker Andrew Haldeman (Naples News).

CHURCHILL DOWNS: Otabek Umarov, the owner and trainer of Looks to Spare, the longshot third-place finisher in last year’s Grade 1 Clark Handicap, has been ejected from the track’s facilities and suspended by state stewards (Racing Form).

TEXAS ROADHOUSE has weighed in on new overtime regulations mandated by the Obama Administration (Insider Louisville).

UPS is preparing to add on-demand 3-D printer services (3 D Print)

In other news, Louisville ranked No. 18 on employment site Glassdoor’s list of the 25 best U.S. cities to find work, well down from No. 8 a year ago (Business First). Glass door says its picks stand out for ease in finding work, affordability, and job satisfaction. This year’s No. 8 is Raleigh-Durham, N.C.; full list.

Latest Headlines May 11, 2016May 29, 2016

Hut delivers real pie-in-the sky; Churchill: no ‘Panama Papers’ tie, and Taco kindness rules

A news summary, with a special focus on big Louisville employers; updated 11:34 a.m.

PIZZA HUT set a new Guinness World Record for highest-altitude pizza delivery when it successfully carried a pie to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro on Sunday, a stunt marking the company’s expansion today into its 100th country: Tanazania. Over four days, the Yum division used an airplane, a motor vehicle, professional hikers and a backpack to deliver the pepperoni with extra cheese to the summit of Africa’s highest mountain (CNN).

CHURCHILL DOWNS says there’s no connection between the company and an entity with a similar-sounding name among more than 320,000 offshore accounts and trusts unveiled in a “Panama Papers” database Monday (WFPL). What happens when you bet $24 at the Derby without checking the odds again (The Billfold).

TACO BELL: Police in Santa Ana, Calif., bought a 31-year-old employee with cerebral palsy a new $500 adult-size tricycle to get to work after thieves stole his previous one last week; watch the video (KABC). In Ohio, video of a Taco Bell employee’s act of kindness — using sign language to help a customer — is rolling across the Web (WEWS).

KFC remains optimistic about India, despite slower sales (Business Standard). Chick-fil-A’s average sales per restaurant in 2014 were $3.1 million. Rival KFC sold $960,000 per restaurant that year (Business Insider); full rankings (QSR Magazine).

FORD thinks the driverless cars of tomorrow could come with their own drones (Detroit News).

In other news, Staples and Office Depot have called off their merger over anti-trust concerns; Staples has five stores in Louisville, and Office Depot has two (MarketWatch). An atheists group wants to spend $10,000 on billboards protesting a northern Kentucky Noah’s Ark theme park set to open in July, but can’t find anyone to take its business (Courier-Journal).

Vietnamese street food restaurant Pho Ba Luu is headed for Market Street in NuLu (Broken Sidewalk). Food Network star Guy Fieri is planning a new restaurant chain, Guy Fieri’s Smokehouse, with the first to open Sept. 9 at Fourth Street Live (Courier-Journal). Kroger needs to fill 14,000 open jobs nationwide (WDRB).

Latest Headlines May 9, 2016August 1, 2016

UPS in deal to deliver blood by drone; Ford exec: ending two-tier pay turned out OK, and Derby brings few arrests

A news summary, with a special focus on big Louisville employers; updated 4:54 p.m.

UPS just announced that its corporate foundation will explore using drones to deliver life-saving medicines such as blood and vaccines are delivered across the world. The foundation has awarded an $800,000 grant to support the initial launch in Rwanda (press release). Here’s the foundation’s GuideStar page, including annual IRS tax returns.

FORD: A top executive now says that while dropping the two-tier wage system increased labor costs, it eliminated a major source of anxiety in the automaker’s plants (Automotive News).

AMAZON: 1,500 Amazon shareholders want the company to stop selling Trump-branded products (Fast Company). CEO Jeff Bezos has sold 1% of his stake — just over one million shares — worth $671 million. The stock was sold last Thursday according to a predetermined schedule called an SEC Rule 10b5-1 plan, and takes his stake down to 17% of the company from 17.5% (New York Post). Regulatory filing. Amazon shares closed this afternoon at $679.75, up less than 1%.

CHURCHILL DOWNS: Only 17 people were arrested in and around the namesake track on Derby Day (Courier-Journal).

KINDRED: Why the healthcare giant isn’t content being the No. 1 home health provider, according to CEO Benjamin Breier (Home Healthcare News).

In other news, Metro Council President David Yates is expected to introduce an amendment today exempting Airbnb and other short-term rentals from some regulations during major events, such as the Kentucky Derby (WFPL). Former state agriculture commissioner and University of Kentucky basketball star Richie Farmer has filed for bankruptcy (Courier-Journal).

Newspaper publisher Tribune Publishing Co. said its board had adopted a shareholder rights plan — popularly known as a “poison pill” — in a bid to thwart Courier-Journal owner Gannett Co.’s unsolicited $815 million takeover offer (Reuters).

The Wild Dog Rose tea shop will open later this month in the Highlands at 1570 Bardstown Road (Insider Louisville). Also, the owners of Magnolia Photo Booth Co. in NuLu have opened a second store right next door, selling custom t-shirts for kids and adults. The new shop, called OSO Goods, is also at 709 E. Market St. (Insider Louisville, too).

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