Finance

Financial Humor at Its Best

By Peter Langlois

One of my favorite reads each year is the Restaurant Finance Monitor’s year-end wrap-up by the witty “Answer Man” aka RFM President John Hamburger. I FOMCL (fell off my chair laughing) when I read John’s answer to how the fast casual segment is doing in the Dec. 21st issue: “Fast casual is the bastard son of home meal replacement. The segment doesn’t exist except in some consultant’s or food magazine’s dream.”

In this feature the “Answer Man” fielded questions from such renowned restaurateurs and investors as S. Bob Squarepants, J. Kerry, G.W.B., and M. Stewart about their interests in Burger King, franchise opportunities, operating outside normal trade areas, and the quality of prison food respectively. I’m checking to see if John is in my family gene pool because this caustic irreverence seems to find its way into my column on occasion. Meanwhile, does anyone have a great surgeon who removes very deep tongues from cheeks? Please contact John immediately.

On the serious financial side, there are, as usual, some great articles about Finance including: A review of Tilman Fertitta; “Salvaging a Company Before It’s Too Late;” “Maximize the Value of Your Business Using a Bifurcated Sales Approach;“ implications of the 2004 Tax Act, and more. For information on subscribing to RFM, visit their web site, www.restfinance.com. It’s a monthly must read for me.