Tag: HopCat

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Taco Bell’s new Cheetos burrito looks like ‘Donald Trump exploded’; Jack’s Chris Fletcher recalls distillery as a ‘magical place’; and why Goldman downgraded Ford shares

A news summary focused on 10 big employers; updated 1:29 p.m.

proxy
The new $1 sandwich will be tested in Cincinnati next month.

More than two weeks before Taco Bell even starts testing a new Cheetos-stuffed burrito in Cincinnati, social media is having a field day — and handing the Yum division a public relations bonanza. Attorney Marcy Wagman Rauer told Huffington Post the $1 sandwich looks like “Donald Trump exploded.” And everyone was retweeting San Diego musician Danny Ellis’ marijuana-inspired conclusion that it looks  “like a stoner’s dream date with death.” The chain had tested the “Cheetos Crunchwrap Slider” earlier this year in Canada, but this is the first time the snack’s being used on its menu in the U.S. (Huffington Post).

Cheetos and Trump
A hairy comparison?

In the Ohio test market, the Cincinnati Enquirer’s Ben Goldschmidt says to forget the November elections. “Sure,” he wrote yesterday, “we’re in a swing county in a swing state in a bonkers election year, but . . . we will decide for the nation if the cheesy powder of Cheetos successfully meshed with molten queso, or if it’s just an uninspiring, soggy lump in a burrito.” Much more news coverage.

Sadly, Taco Bell ranks only fourth of 10 places for potheads with the munchies, according to Stoner Days. The line-up:

  1. In-N-Out
  2. Del Taco
  3. Jack in the Box
  4. Taco Bell
  5. McDonald’s
  6. Burger King
  7. Arby’s
  8. Starbucks
  9. Chipotle
  10. Subway

Road warriors take note: Google says there are 10 Taco Bells in Cincinnati.

Taco Bells Cincy map

To be sure, it wasn’t all good news yesterday for the Yum division. In California, Taco Bell is investigating reports employees taunted a Bakersfield police officer Thursday night by making “oink, oink” sounds and laughing at the cop in the drive-thru. “Taco Bell does not tolerate discrimination in any way,” the company told 23 ABC. “We are deeply appreciative of the men and women who have taken the oath to serve and protect our communities” (23 ABC).

The chain is still smarting from an incident two weeks ago in Alabama, where a cashier refused to serve two sheriff’s deputies; the chain apologized and fired the employee, but not before it was slammed across the Internet.

Chris Fletcher
Fletcher

BROWN-FORMAN: Jack Daniel’s assistant master distiller Chris Fletcher remembers long weekends walking through Continue reading “Taco Bell’s new Cheetos burrito looks like ‘Donald Trump exploded’; Jack’s Chris Fletcher recalls distillery as a ‘magical place’; and why Goldman downgraded Ford shares” →

Latest Headlines

Jury sides with Kindred in N.H. man’s death; Ford Europe focuses on subcompacts for 6-8% margins, and Texas man gets life for killing Papa John’s driver

A news summary, focused on 10 big employers; updated 8:27 a.m.

KINDRED: A jury in Nashua, N.H., yesterday cleared Kindred Healthcare and Greenbriar Terrace nursing home in the death of a Nashua man more than five years ago. Byam “Bing” Whitney Jr. died in 2011 after developing pneumonia and then bedsores that led to sepsis and his death at the age of 84 (Union Leader).

FORD:  In a radical shift, Ford is repositioning itself in Europe’s small-car market by abandoning the minicar and focusing on subcompact buyers with a larger Ka and a more upscale Fiesta. The change highlights the automaker’s strategy of picking battles to win 6% to 8% profit margins for its European business (Automotive News).

Ruimin
Ruimin

GE: Haier Group CEO Zhang Ruimin was awarded the Legend In Leadership Award at the Yale University Chief Executive Leadership Institute Summit in New York City. The conference is organized by Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, the prominent senior associate dean for Leadership Studies at Yale’s School of Management; he is a much sought-after commentator on management issues (press release). Haier bought GE Appliances and 6,000-employee Appliance Park for $5.6 billion in a deal completed last week.

Delcid
Delcid

PAPA JOHN’S: A 38-year-old San Antonio man was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison yesterday for killing a Papa John’s delivery driver in 2014. William “Jimmy” O’Neill, 46, had been delivering at an apartment complex when Robert Carlos Delcid stole his car and ran over him as he tried to stop the theft. O’Neil’s 86-year-old mother Edna O’Neill told the jury: “He was a good kid” who called her nearly every day, always ending the conversation saying, “I love you” (Express News).

PIZZA HUT: In Odessa, Texas, a gunman robbed a Pizza Hut Wednesday night, demanded money and fled; no injuries were reported (American).

James Ramsey
Ramsey

In other news, University of Louisville Foundation vice chair Joyce Hagen paid virtually all the cost of a full-page Courier-Journal ad in April that lauded embattled school President James Ramsey, and blasted his critics on the board of trustees (Insider Louisville). Enormous craft beer restaurant HopCat expects to open in five weeks, assuming construction is done at its Grinstead and Bardstown roads location; it’s now hiring some 200 employees to handle the 132 varieties of beer (WDRB). And the news drought continues about Louisville native and Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence :(.

Latest Headlines

Ford recalls 271,000 F-150s from 2013-14; UPS boosts size of planned expansion; Missouri regulators to Humana: show me changes

A news summary, focused on big employers; updated 9:16 p.m.

2014 Ford F-150
A model year 2014 F-150 of the kind being recalled.
William Clay Ford, Jr.
Ford

FORD is recalling about 271,000 2013-14 F-150 pickups with 3.5-liter V-6 engines because the brakes may malfunction, the automaker said today. The company said it was aware of nine accidents but no injuries (New York Times). Also, Executive Chairman Bill Ford Jr. defended the automaker against blistering criticism by White House candidate Donald Trump, saying it should be held up as an example of a company doing things right. Trump has called Ford’s decision to build a $1.6 billion assembly plant in Mexico an “absolute disgrace” that would not happen if he becomes president (Detroit News).

In December, Ford said it would invest $1.3 billion in its Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville, creating 2,000 jobs. The expansion is for the launch of the new 2017 Ford F-Series Super Duty truck (press release). More about Ford’s Louisville factories. Also, Ford said today it will release its May U.S. sales figures around 9:15 a.m. June 1, followed by a conference call to discuss the results (press release).

UPS is doubling the size of an expansion announced last fall that was already going to add another 300 jobs to the so-called Centennial Hub; it’s unclear whether the bigger project will require even more hiring  (Courier-Journal). UPS originally announced the project last October, saying it would cost $300 million and would be substantially complete by 2018 (press release).

HUMANA: Missouri’s insurance regulators are asking Humana and Aenta to make changes before the state approves their pending $34 billion merger announced July 3 (Business First).

KINDRED‘s shareholders approved the executive compensation plan during a non-binding advisory vote today at their annual meeting. They also re-elected the full slate of 11 directors to the governing board; the company didn’t provide a vote breakdown, which will likely come in a future regulatory filing (press release).

CHURCHILL DOWNS broke ground yesterday on a previously announced $25 million expansion of its Oxford Casino in Maine. The project includes a 106-room hotel, new dining, and an expanded gaming area. Churchill bought the casino in 2013 (WLBZ).

AMAZON said today it would open a second distribution center in Joliet, Ill., 46 miles southwest of Chicago. The company will create more than 2,000 full-time jobs at the facility in addition to the 1,500 full-time employees currently working at its existing Joliet center (press release). The city has 148,000 residents; more census facts. Also, the company plans to expand its Fresh grocery delivery service this year to new markets including Boston (Recode). More about Amazon’s Louisville area operations.

The Eagle logoIn other news, Bardstown Road is getting another craft beer restaurant: The Eagle, which has locations in Cincinnati and Indianapolis. It’s taking the space now occupied by El Camino, which is moving to another, undisclosed location two miles away and with half the current 300 seats (Insider Louisville). The Eagle will join the soon-to-open HopCat at Grinstead and Bardstown, which will have 130 craft beers and seating for 600. Also in the works: Sterling Brewing has announced plans for a restaurant at 1300 Bardstown Road (Courier-Journal). And there are already so many more.

Elsewhere in hospitality land, the average Louisville hotel room rate will jump 13.9 percent to $119.35 by 2020, according to a new report (Insider Louisville).

Finally, U.S. stocks soared for the second consecutive day after positive economic data, rising oil prices, and a new debt deal for Greece. The Dow Jones Industrial average and other major indices all closed up nearly 1% after similar gains yesterday (Google Finance). Nearly all 11 big-employer shares in the Boulevard Stock Portfolio rose, too.

Latest Headlines

Hopping mad over scarce parking along the Highlands fun zone

News about Louisville’s major employers; updated frequently.

The parking space squeeze along Baxter and Bardstown roads has reached a tipping point as megasized microbrewer HopCat joins a surge of new restaurants and bars over the past decade; there are now 66 of them vs. 51 in 2005. (C-J.) Four more companies want to bring super high-speed Internet to the city. (WFPL.) In Whitesburg, Ky., a boutique moonshiner is battling the powerful University of Kentucky over commercial rights to a familiar name: Kentucky. (NYT) 

In other news, William Hamilton, a cartoonist known for skewering the rich and powerful in his New Yorker cartoons, died Friday in a car crash near his horse farm in Lexington; he was 76. (NYT.)