Nando's voted best big company to work for in Sunday Times list – For more hospitality stories, see what the weekend papers say

08 March 2010 by
Nando's voted best big company to work for in Sunday Times list – For more hospitality stories, see what the weekend papers say

Nando's voted best big company to work for in Sunday Times list
Read the full article in the Sunday Times >>

M&B finance director to quit to join Rentokil Pub group Mitchells & Butlers (M&B) is to lose its finance director, Jeremy Townsend, who will leave to replace Michael Murray as chief financial officer of pest control and contract catering firm Rentokil within six months. Townsend joined M&B in 2005 as deputy finance director, taking the top slot in early 2008 when his predecessor, Karim Naffah, quit over the decision to hedge against a collapsed £4.5b property venture with tycoon Robert Tchenguiz, which cost the group £500m. It is understood that Townsend is one of the few members of the M&B board whose role has not been publicly disputed in the boardroom row led by major investor Joe Lewis, who acquired Tchenguiz's stake in the company. - 5 March, Read the full article in The Times >>

Punch launches new tenancy agreement for graduates and new entrants
Punch Taverns has launched what is believed to be the first tenancy agreement for graduates, which it will offer on 236 properties. The five-year tenancy scheme, called Capital Builder, requires an upfront fee of £5,000 (well below the £20,000 normally required) to obtain the pub and extensive training. Punch will contribute £50 to an account in the tenants names for every barrel they sell and, once a certain level is reached, the tenants will own the fixtures and fittings and receive a cash sum equivalent to the deposit paid for a normal tenancy. After the five years, they can choose to take the money or convert to a long-term lease. "Pubs are here to stay, but there will be fewer, better pubs, so we need to attract people who can achieve that," said Roger Whiteside, MD of Punch's leased business. He said the scheme was intended to draw in people who might not have otherwise considered pubs as a career. - March, Read the full article in The Times >>

Subway, KFC and McDonald's fall foul of Honest Food campaign
Subway, KFC and McDonald's are the latest targets of the Sunday Telegraph's Honest Food campaign, which wants restaurants to be honest with customers about where their meat is sourced from. The newspaper found that Subway chicken - sold under its Eat Fresh slogan - travelled in frozen form for at least a month from Thailand, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina and Chile. The company said the word fresh referred to the sandwiches being freshly made. The newspaper also found that around 41% of KFC chicken was bought from Europe, Brazil and Thailand and criticized the McDonald's website - which flags up the British origin of its beef - for not mentioning that its chicken comes from Brazil, Thailand and Europe as well as the UK. Last month, Pret a Manger admitted its chicken came from Brazil and is now seeking to switch to a British free-range supplier. The Honest Food campaign has been taken up by shadow environment secretary Nick Herbert, who said it was time for restaurants and cafes to follow the lead of supermarkets and accurately identify the origin of their food.- 7 March, Read the full article in the Sunday Telegraph >>

Starbucks caught in the crossfire of pro-gun and gun-control factions
Coffee chain giant Starbucks has found itself caught in the crossfire of the bitter dispute between the pro-gun and gun control factions in the USA. Last week, protestors from both sides converged on Starbucks shops in the company's home town of Seattle and other cities. The group became enmeshed in the heated argument after allowing gun ownership advocates with conspicuously-displayed weapons to remain in its stores in California, which has an open-carry policy, although other targeted eateries such as California Pizza Kitchen and Peet's Coffee and Tea exercised their legal right to ban the guns from their premises. "Advocacy groups from both sides of this issue have chosen to use Starbucks as a way to draw attention to their positions," Starbucks said in a statement. "As the public debate continues, we are asking all interested parties to refrain from putting Starbucks or our partners employees] into the middle of this divisive issue … The political, policy and legal debates around these issues belong in the legislatures and courts, not in our stores." - 7 March, Read the full article in the Independent on Sunday >> By Angela Frewin

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