Peter's Poppers

by Peter Langlois

Director, Hospitality Career Connections

including the School Hot-Links Program

www.pexc.com

Peter Langlois is on assignment, and will return with more "Peter's Poppers" next week.

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Inside View

by Charles Bernstein, Editor-at-Large, Chain Leader

Who Will Acquire BK?

As many as 10 companies reportedly have been vying to acquire Burger King, which is likely to separate from Diageo some time in the next several months. With a price tag of $2 billion and up, one wonders why so many companies might be anxious to purchase BK.

Perhaps the answer is that companies see hope in BK's finally moving toward its true potential after years of mediocre results. That upward feeling is based very much on the leadership of CEO John Dasburg, who has worked comparative wonders for BK over the past year. In addition, the very fact that conglomerate Diageo would no longer be involved is a plus for BK. This entire scenario assumes that Dasburg would remain CEO and possibly be part of an investment group.

The insider and the favorite to acquire BK is the San Francisco-based Texas Pacific Group, a private equity company that already has links with Dasburg and with other major investors. Most importantly, BK's franchisees seem to be in favor of TPG.

But this is not yet a done deal, and TPG conceivably could be outbid by a company offering in the $2.5 billion or more range. Among those that have indicated some interest are Triarc Companies Inc., the parent of the Triarc Restaurant Group, which owns Arby's; Madison Dearborn Partners, parent of the owner of BK's biggest franchisee, Carrols; and Bain Capital. In addition, another six companies might make bids.

For once, Burger King indeed may be sitting in the driver's seat, no matter who wins the bidding.

Blue Fin Launches E-wine List

With such an abundance of wines offered at many restaurants these days, customers are often confused as to what selection or selections they really want to order. But Greg Harrington, a Master Sommelier and corporate beverage director for Steve Hanson's nine-unit New York City B.R. Guest restaurants, has devised an electronic wine list that makes things a lot easier.

Harrington launched this effort at the company's recently opened 400-seat Blue Fin restaurant in the luxurious W Hotel near Times Square. He explains that a small E-winebook is brought to each table where customers request this speedier method.

Overcoming the problems and hesitations of customers ordering wine from a traditional wine list, Harrington emphasizes that "they can select a wine according to the type of food they are ordering." Yet they can also see quick background information and taste descriptions of all wines on the list and can "visit" the web sites of some 30 wineries from their table via the electronic system. Diners also can choose "Quick Search," "Wine Geek Search," Sommelier Selections," And Food and Flavor Match" options with a stylus.

Harrington and Hanson strongly believe in lightening up the restaurant business and literally have built a sense of humor into the E-system. Thus when one asks to find an ideal wine for a given meal, the system sometimes responds: "Gimme a break." But after that it usually quickly recommends the ideal wine to go with the meal. Meanwhile, Harrington is eying further enhancements for the electronic wine list, including computerized records of customers' past choices.

Tibbitts Divulges Awards in NYC and Singapore

Wine guru Fred Tibbitts, who sometimes seems to be in the same place at the same time even while traveling around the world, presented his annual awards for food and beverage excellence April 4 at his annual spring dinner in New York City's Union League Club. The award winners were Gerard Van Grinsven, the Ritz-Carlton's "pre-opening" operations vice president; Ken Ruff, Future Brands LLC national accounts vice president; and J. Roger Friedman, president of Lebhar-Friedman, Inc. publications. These awards will be officially presented Nov. 12 at the Union League Club, the site of Tibbitts' annual fall dinner too. In honor of the awards, three scholarships will be donated to Johnson and Wales University hospitality students.

Just a couple of days later, the peripatetic Tibbitts was in Singapore for the first annual Fred Tibbitts & Associates "spring evening in Singapore with special friends," featuring a four-course dinner and a series of "loyalty toasts" to eminent leaders who attended. He disclosed that the FTA Hospitality Award for Excellence as a humanitarian would be officially presented this fall to Ambrose Cheung, executive vice president of Sino Land Company Ltd. A scholarship in Cheung's name will go to the university of his choice.

Questions or Comments?

Contact <peter@wt.net> (Peter's Poppers)

or <charles_bernstein@weeklyrestaurantconnections.com> (Inside View)

Please Note: Past issues of Weekly Restaurant Connections are archived on our web site www.pexc.com for our readers' convenience and can be accessed using a private user name and password, which is free with your subscription. Please contact co-editor Peter Langlois peter@wt.net or call 888-571-5897 to utilize this service. Biographical information about the editors is available on our web site.