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I imagine that Glenn Beck is under immense pressure. After all, he has lost over 50% of his advertising revenue since an online petition was circulated a few weeks ago. I need to update my list of advertisers that have agreed to boycott Glenn Beck's show on the Fox network. There are now 62 advertisers on that list.
Estimated advertising revenue [the total amount of advertising money being spent during a block of commercial time for a program] was collected on a week-by-week basis for a period of two months. According to the data collected, the amount of money spent by national advertisers on Beck’s program per week was at its highest at approximately $1,060,000, for the week ending August 2, 2009. ColorOfChange.org launched their campaign at the end of that week and since then, 62 advertisers have distanced themselves from Beck. Data collected for the week ending September 6, 2009 shows Beck’s estimated ad revenue at $492,000, equal to a loss of $568,000.It appears that the pressure is beginning to be felt by Glenn Beck. Don't you agree?


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A couple of weeks ago, we showed you several 2021 Dodge Durango prototypes running around the Metro Detroit area. A lot of people were disappointed to hear that the current Dodge Durango would live on for a few more model years, while its sibling the Jeep® Grand Cherokee would be getting an all-new model starting next year. But now, our sources have shared some important new details regarding its 2021 model year update.
Last week, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) released details on their new fifth-generation Uconnect infotainment systems. The new infotainment systems offer faster connectivity with even more customization than ever before. MoparInsiders has happy to say that the 2021 Dodge Durango will be along the first FCA vehicles to feature the new systems.
A new 10.1-inch Uconnect touchscreen system that has been linked to the next-generation Grand Cherokee will also make an appearance on the 2021 Dodge Durango as well. That’s right, the 2021 Dodge Durango will be getting an overhaul when it comes to not just the software of the company’s latest infotainment, but the layout options as well.
Thanks to the recent UAW-FCA negotiations, we do know that the 2021 Dodge Durango will be getting new powertrain offerings thanks to the addition of the award-winning eTorque system engines from the Ram 1500 lineup. The eTorque engines will offer additional fuel economy, as well as increased towing capability as well. Expect the Dodge Durango SRT to also return virtually untouched for the 2021 model year as well.
You may remember in March of last year, MoparInsiders broke the news that Dodge//SRT would be launching a Hellcat-powered model of the Dodge three-row SUV sometime soon. According to our sources, we will more than likely be seeing it make its appearance during the 2021 model year. The Hellcat-powered would fill in the gap left by the outgoing Grand Cherokee Trackhawk, as it looks like that model will go on hiatus before an all-new Trackhawk model makes its debut around the 2023 model year. It seems that the 2021 Dodge Durango, will be checking off all the boxes that Durango enthusiasts have been asking for.
The 2021 Dodge Durango is expected to make its official debut this summer and go into production during the third quarter of this year. The heavily-updated Durango will be hitting dealer showrooms soon after. Check back to MoparInsiders as we will continue to share the latest 2021 Dodge Durango information, as information breaks.

domain: news


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April 25 (Bloomberg) — Adidas AG is moving some production away from Yue Yuen Industrial Holdings Ltd.’s shoe factory in Dongguan, China, where a strike over benefits and pay disrupted output for a week and a half.
“In order to minimize the impact on our operations, we are currently reallocating some of the future orders originally allocated to Yue Yuen Dongguan to other suppliers,” Katja Schreiber, an Adidas spokeswoman, said by e-mail. The Herzogenaurach, Germany-based sportswear maker “has a highly flexible supply chain in place.”
Sports and casual shoe brands including Nike Inc., Asics Corp., New Balance Athletic Shoe Inc., Puma SE and Timberland Co. are made by Yue Yuen, the world’s biggest branded footwear maker and operator of the 1.4 million-square-meter (15 million square-foot) Dongguan complex in southern China. Employees at the complex, where more than 40,000 people work, are striking in a dispute over compensation since April 14.
Yue Yuen is “still committed” to maintaining production in Dongguan and declined to comment “about any particular customer,” George Liu, a spokesman for the Hong Kong-listed manufacturer, said by e-mail. The company had 423,000 employees as of 2012 and factories in China, Vietnam and Indonesia, according to its website.
Yue Yuen rose 1.4 percent to HK$24.75 at the close of trading in Hong Kong yesterday, after dropping for two consecutive days. Pou Chen Corp., a Taiwan-listed shoe and materials company, fell 3.7 percent to NT$39.50 in Taipei trading.
Adidas rose 0.2 percent to 76.73 euros at the close in Frankfurt.
Zhang Zhiru, manager at the Shenzhen Chunfeng Labor Dispute Service Center, spoke by phone yesterday to his wife, Xiao Hongxia, after China Labor Watch said he had been detained by authorities.
Zhang called and said he would return in a few days, Xiao said in an interview. He then hung up without saying where he was or whether he was being held by police, she said.
The Shenzhen Chungfeng manager was advising striking Yue Yuen employees on collective bargaining and entered the Dongguan factory after the work stoppage began April 14, China Labor Watch said. The labor group also said Zhang’s colleague Lin Dong was detained.
Zhang and Lin also offered advice via social media, telling Yue Yuen workers at the factory not to use violence or break the law, according to comments posted on their QQ instant messaging service accounts.
Nike and Adidas are the main clients for the Dongguan factory, Liu said by phone. Some of the workers have returned to work, Liu also said.
“Each factory management would take appropriate measures to encourage workers to get back to work with the aim to restore order in the factory,” Liu said.
Adidas said its supplier, Yue Yuen parent Pou Chen Group, is “in discussions with local government and the trade union federation to seek ways to address the concerns expressed by the workers.”
Greg Rossiter, a spokesman for Nike, declined to comment on whether the company had shifted production to another factory while saying the company “takes a long-term approach to our sourcing decisions and has the flexibility to manage volatility.”
Beaverton, Oregon-based Nike has also been talking to the factory’s management on how they plan to resolve the impasse, Rossiter said.
Nike has plenty of flexibility in its supply chain to make up for any production lost by the strike, said Paul Swinand, an analyst for Morningstar Inc. in Chicago. The company contracts with more than 740 factories, including almost 200 in China. Plus, one of the reasons to use a vendor like Yue Yuen is because it can shift orders to its other factories in countries like Vietnam, he said.
Some equipment at part of Yue Yuen’s Dongguan factory was being removed and put into trucks, monitoring group China Labor Watch reported on its website.
“Adidas made a decision to pull out or relocate molds at a time when doing so deeply concerned workers,” Kevin Slaten, China Labor Watch program coordinator, said by e-mail. “It is important that Adidas consider workers’ perception and interests before taking action like this, especially during a strike.”
Yue Yuen offered to add a monthly living allowance of 230 yuan ($37) at its factories in southern China starting May 1, Liu said April 21. It also agreed to bring forward to next month a social-security benefit plan originally scheduled for 2015, he said.
Monitoring group China Labour Bulletin said on its website that strikers at the Dongguan facility numbered at least 10,000, while Yue Yuen said April 16 that more than 1,000 were involved.
Police with riot gear and dogs were present outside Yue Yuen’s Dongguan complex on April 21.
Dozens of workers were taken away by police last week, the official Xinhua News Agency reported April 17, without saying why the workers were taken. No one was injured and there were no clashes, Xinhua reported.
Police have told workers not to congregate around the factory, said three workers who asked not be identified for fear of losing their jobs.
–With assistance from Penny Peng in Beijing, Liza Lin in Shanghai and Matt Townsend in New York.
Copyright 2018 Bloomberg. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.


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Over the past couple of years, though, we’ve seen an evolution here. Kim Kardashian, once the posterchild for anything eccentric in terms of performance, design or customization, is trying a more subdued look. It’s a different type of subdued, the kind she borrowed from Ye, which is meant to convey the impression of grandeur and ultimate wealth under the guise of simplicity. It’s the equivalent of paying thousands of dollars on a basic outfit in neutral colors.
As regards Kim’s cars with this particular styling, they’re not inelegant. A good example in this sense is the Cadillac Escalade ESV she got from Platinum Motorsports in March this year. A more recent one is the 2022 Rolls-Royce Ghost, also from Platinum. Platinum Motorsports boasts of being an “automotive store” that is a leading “designer and creator of high-end automotive culture and lifestyle,” and they’ve been working with Kim for over two decades.
During this time, they’ve delivered to her more Rolls-Royces than a regular human being is likely to see in person in their entire life, and that’s saying a lot. Their recent work has involved Kim in a co-designer capacity, in that she’s had an active say in how the final work came out.
She took delivery of her brand new Ghost in July and, three months later, she’s still driving it – and it’s still turning heads. She stepped out for one of those paid photo-ops (she’s wearing the unreleased Apple’s Beats Fits Pro and head-to-toe Balenciaga), driving the Ghost in Los Angeles. The tweet at the bottom of the page links to photos from this outing.
With a bright, contrasting and gorgeous interior in orange and white, the Ghost is painted a very special matte silver shade and wears several custom touches throughout. Platinum Motorsports detailed all of them in a video released when Kim took delivery of the car – after all, what sense is there to make cars for a special client if you don’t toot your own horn about it?
Kim Kardashian spotted wearing a purple pair of Apple's unannounced Beats Fit Pro https://t.co/qjTYFMhYIq— Daily Mail Celebrity (@DailyMailCeleb) October 22, 2021


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- Police Beat
- The Forecaster
FREEPORT — Where Martha Stewart failed, Deena Prestegard is succeeding.
The Freeport self-starter devised a way to craft Maine cranberries into a striking seasonal emblem: the holiday wreath.
Unlike the domestic doyenne, whose cranberry wreath attempts were documented as withering on the vine in her attempt to make the decorations in 2007, Prestegard has built a business around this timeless seasonal symbol.
“It’s an acquired skill. It may look pretty simple, but it’s not necessarily easy,” the 53-year-old said in her kitchen, where bins of just-harvested berries are pressed into stunning red rings.
Her love of cranberries is so strong she decided to make a business out of it. Similar to eating sustainably, Artful Cranberry is about decorating with seasonality in mind.
“You can make an evergreen wreath any day of the year. You can only make a cranberry wreath this time of year,” said Prestegard, an artist and entrepreneur who moved to Maine from Massachusetts in 2008.
Her newly launched site Artfulcranberry.com sells wreaths from 10 to 26 inches in diameter with names such as peace and goodwill. “Words that spread joy and happiness,” she said.
They range in price from $85 for a small circle to $445 for a trio of red wreaths.
Topped with a burlap bow and fastened with birch bark, it’s an updated New England approach to holiday style. Each one is shipped with a note that says “Created in Maine just for you.”
Sales have been brisk.
“It’s so special,” said Kelly Irwin, a customer from Falmouth who purchased a cranberry wreath for her mother-in-law in New Jersey this year. “It’s not like giving your average wreath. It’s a conversation piece.”
To get the conversation going takes perseverance. This is no slap-dash craft project. It can take up to four hours and a thousand cranberries to make one wreath.
“With cranberries, every one is different. I think that’s part of the mesmerizing quality of the wreath,” said Prestegard, who inspects each one for the right hue. “They look like rubies to me, they look like gems. They glisten, they shine.”
Artful Cranberry, whose employees include Prestegard and her husband, Patrick Whalen, is using only Maine-grown cranberries. To make the 100 wreaths in their collection, they drive to Turner to buy cranberries from Ricker Hill Orchards.
In the increasingly competitive cranberry industry, every sale counts. Especially this year when Wisconsin is starting to dominate the market.
“I have 50,000 pounds of cranberries and I’d like to be sold out of them by now,” said Harry Ricker, who helps run the farm and orchard. “Anything that takes cranberries off of me is welcome business.”
So far this year Prestegard and Whalen have visited the farm three times. It doesn’t make too much of a dent, but “all of our customers are good customers,” said Ricker, who has an acre of cranberry bogs.
To Ricker and Prestegard, cranberries are not just a Thanksgiving condiment.
“I hope to create a demand for Maine cranberries through wreath sales,” she said. “We’d like to use them as a poster child for sustainability.”
So goes the cranberry queen’s message: Think seasonally. What’s growing here this time of year should be reflected in your diet and decor. Not just on your plate, but on your door.
“I’m contrasting it to the ‘I want it now,’ ‘I want it as much as I want it,’’ ‘I want it every day’” attitude, she said. “That isn’t getting us to a good place, certainly not in accord with our natural environment. This is more of an awareness builder.”
Freeport artist Deena Prestegard with one of her finished cranberry wreaths.
Patrick Whalen washes and sorts cranberries by size in his kitchen in Freeport. Once they are dried, his wife, Deena Prestegard, will turn them into colorful wreaths.
Deena Prestegard’s cranberry wreaths are only made at this time of year, when the berries are fresh.


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Vinyl’s boom could be the environment’s loss.
As has been widely reported, vinyl is currently enjoying two of its best years of sales in over a quarter of a century. Not only are more vinyl records being produced than ever before, but these records also make up an ever-increasing share of the total amount of albums on the market. While for the vinyl obsessed, an exploding infatuation with vinyl is a cause for celebration, the effects of this fascination may reach beyond just the environment of the modern music industry.
In fact, the huge quantities of vinyl being produced—in addition to the staggering amount of vinyl that already exists—may have dramatic environmental and health consequences. In a recent piece of writing, Chicago acid jazz and IDM producer Benn Jordan has outlined a series of significant issues related to vinyl hoarding, ranging from the personally harmful to the broader ecological impacts. Despite previously being an avid collector (and also having numerous records heavily sought after on labels like Rephlex), Jordan points to an interesting correlation between the so-called “vinyl renaissance” and a sharp drop in crude oil prices, which in turn facilitates cheaper vinyl production costs once again.
Then, there is the composition of the vinyl itself. The “magic material”, Jordan explains, is PVC. “If you break down PVC, you get deadly chlorine gas and heavy metals. Its service life also comes into question. Without lead used as a stabilizer, you can expect your family to be absorbing toxic particles from your vinyl collection as it ages.” In other words, it increases the prevalence of asthma and allergies in households and “is nearly impossible to recycle on a consumer level, and very dangerous and inefficient to recycle on an industrial level.”
Jordan goes on to question the necessity of using such a toxic material for a format that, speaking historically, is antiquated and does not necessarily maintain the sound fidelity of many modern production demands. The take home message is that “listening to music doesn’t have to pollute the environment” and that music aficionados should decide whether their vinyl purchases are truly for sonic reasons or just “a decoration or homage to [their] love of music.” You can read Jordan’s piece in full here. Below, watch a feature on a Dutch company trying to pioneer a sustainable record production process.


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The Kanye West x adidas line is here to stay. On Wednesday morning, the brand went public with details of a long-term relationship with West that will include the creation of sneakers, apparel, gear, and retail stores for his Yeezy line. The new partnership between the two will form an entity called "adidas + KANYE WEST."
The polymath entertainer reflected on the success of what he's created so far with adidas while looking toward what's next.
"These past two years adidas and Yeezy have given a glimpse into our future," West said, via press release. "This partnership illustrates that anyone with a dream can dream without limitations."
According to adidas, the new relationship will extend the scope of West's influence beyond just lifestyle product—the adidas + KANYE WEST imprint will also contribute on performance designs. Adidas CMO Eric Liedtke commented on this new direction.
"With adidas + KANYE WEST we are exploring new territories by opening up the sports world to Kanye's creativity," he said. "This is what adidas has always been about, empowering creators to create the new."
West signed his initial adidas deal in late 2013 after a series of public denouncements of Nike, the sportswear brand he was previously aligned with. He also courted adidas in 2006, but a deal never materialized from those conversations.
The first Kanye West x adidas product to release was the adidas Yeezy 750 Boost in February 2015.
There were sportswear industry rumors circulating in 2015 that West wanted out of his adidas deal. This news from the brand rejects that notion, establishing a deeper and more permanent relationship between the two.


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YouTube Gave Equity To Record Labels On The Morning Of The Google Deal
from the oh-really? dept
Remember how hours before the Google acquisition of YouTube was officially announced, the company first announced deals with a bunch of record labels. While everyone assumed these were basic content deals, the NY Times is now reporting that it actually involved giving those companies an equity stake in YouTube, on which they made a nice profit on a few hours later when Google made the announcement that they were buying the site. That, obviously, helps explain why YouTube wasn’t included in the lawsuits Universal Music announced on Tuesday. However, something about this doesn’t seem right. The article notes that the labels and YouTube rushed to get a deal signed just hours before the Google deal was signed “in part so that it could benefit in the jump in YouTube’s value.” Of course, that sounds like something of a scam. By that point, it was clear that YouTube and Google were signing a deal, and YouTube basically gave the labels a super favorable deal so they could make quick millions hours later when Google bought YouTube at the high valuation Google gave the company. Sounds like a case where YouTube basically gave the labels Google’s cash before any official deal was completed.


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Seven quick questions—and answers—about retailing vapor products
By Timothy S. Donahue
After smoking combustible cigarettes for more than 18 years, Kris Zarate wanted nothing more than to quit. After discovering e-cigarettes, he realized that they truly did help people stop smoking. If vapor worked for him, he figured, then these new products could work for anybody looking for an alternative to cigarettes.
This is a story told time and time again in the industry. Ask vape shop owners why they opened their businesses and the most common answer will be to help people quit smoking cigarettes. In early 2016, the business ratings website Yelp listed 10,591 U.S. companies that identified as vape shops. That amounts to nearly 2.7 vape shops for every bowling alley in the nation and about four for every comic book store. That’s a lot of ex-smokers helping current smokers find a less risky way to consume nicotine.
Zarate is now the owner of Vape Monkeys, with two locations in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He says that taxation is as much a threat to his business as are the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) new regulations. In Pennsylvania, for example, a recently passed revenue package would put a 40 percent wholesale tax on e-cigarettes, liquid cartridges and vapor devices. In Chicago, vape shops must apply not only a 10.25 percent sales tax to vapor products but also an additional $0.80 per “product unit” and $0.55 per milliliter of vape-able liquid. This means a $10 10 mL bottle of e-liquid costs $17.33 after taxes.
“These tax policies are forcing shop owners to sell vapor products for more than it costs for someone to just keep smoking cigarettes,” says Zarate. “We need to incentivize quitting cigarettes; making cigarettes less expensive than e-cigarettes goes against improving overall public health, which is the stated goal of the FDA.”
It is essential that vape shop owners be realistic in a post-FDA regulatory environment, according to Zarate. “Businesses need to focus on continuing their mission and stay true to their goals,” he says. “This will help define your business as the industry moves forward.” Vapor Voice recently sat down with Zarate so he could answer seven quick questions on the possible future of Vape Monkeys and share his outlook on the future of the vapor industry overall.
Vapor Voice: What motivated you to get involved in the vapor industry?
Zarate: Vapor products were the only method that worked for me. I quit after being a cigarette smoker for over 18 years. I was working a trade show with my previous job, and I saw people walking around and coming by my booth vaping. I was very curious, so I visited a company that was selling vapor products to get more information. I instantly realized this was a great industry to be in to help smokers kick the habit.
What is the Vape Monkeys philosophy? How do you approach current smokers looking to switch or the newcomer just learning to vape?
The Vape Monkeys philosophy is simple: Help people quit smoking cigarettes and introduce them to what we see as a better option. How we teach our employees to approach newcomers to the industry is to first explain the benefits of vaping compared to traditional cigarettes by comparing what you’re actually inhaling into your body. With all of our customers we take the time to explain the proper and safe way to use the products they purchase. If they ever have any questions, we are here for them.
Have you noticed any change in business since the deeming regulations deadline, August 8?
Yes, I have. I’ve noticed a huge drop in sales and customers coming into the stores. This can be attributed to the new FDA regulations, false information by writers paid by big tobacco companies and a forced tobacco tax in our county. These changes were only put out to scare current vapers and those looking to quit smoking, and to raise the taxes on nontobacco products and e-liquids. States are losing money as more people quit smoking, and they want to make sure they don’t lose that revenue stream.
What needed to be done to get ready for the FDA’s deadline, and how do you anticipate moving forward?
There were a lot of changes that needed to be done at the stores to get ready for the FDA’s deadline. I had to remodel all of my locations to meet the regulations the FDA is enforcing for shop owners. All I can really hope for moving forward is to keep my business alive and try my very best to give newcomers and experienced vapers quality products, and help them keep vaping. We have to be proactive in helping end the deaths caused by cigarettes and get the word out that vaping saves lives.
How do you seek out products for your shop, where do you source information on the latest hardware and e-liquids?
Every shop owner has their own methods of picking products to bring into their shops. With hundreds and thousands of hardware and e-liquids on the market, it does get overwhelming sometimes. With hardware, I do a lot of research, reading reviews and asking people what they think about the product before I make any purchases. I strongly believe in giving my customers quality products first. As for e-liquids, I am very picky about what I actually sell to my customers. I might use social media to check out the latest products, and customers request some products as well. Once I get samples from e-liquid companies, I personally try them first. Then my employees and customers try them out so we can get some feedback. I also try to not stock flavors that taste similar to what we already have available. This gives everyone a wide variety. Customer input is very important because everyone has a different palate when it comes to taste.
Where do you see the future of the vapor industry?
In my opinion, the future of the vaping industry is all about growth. This year, the vape industry has hit a lot bumps in the road, from the FDA and state regulations, taxation. However, vaping is still much safer than smoking cigarettes. All that vapers, shop owners, e-liquid and hardware manufactures can hope for is improving the industry by educating consumers and continue research that produces hard evidence that vaping is a safer alternative to smoking.
Any advice for fellow vape shop owners stressing over the future of their businesses?
My only advice to fellow shop owners is to just hang in there, be positive and don’t give up too soon. If this is your first and only business, remember that every business faces challenges. The vape industry isn’t going anywhere and will continue to grow. Stay strong in your mission to save lives.


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Manulife Hong Kong has released its financial results for the first quarter of 2022, with core earnings up 1% to HK$1.71 billion (SG$301.7 million), marking its 19th consecutive quarter of core earnings growth.
The insurer’s annual premium equivalent (APE) sales decreased by 23% to HK$1.31 billion. The decrease was driven by tighter containment measures due to the COVID-19 outbreak early this year.
New business value (NBV) was HK$910 million for the first quarter of 2022, a decrease of 20% from HK$1.12 billion in the prior year quarter. According to Manulife, this was due to lower sales volumes, partially offset by favourable new business product mix and higher sales of medical plans. NBV margin was 69.1% in the first quarter of 2022, an increase of three percentage points from the same period last year.
“Manulife Hong Kong has once again demonstrated its resilience, despite the fifth wave of COVID-19 which impacted the Hong Kong economy, the insurance industry and hence, our APE sales,” said Damien Green, CEO of Manulife Hong Kong and Macau. “We succeeded in expanding our agency force whilst growing core earnings and investing strongly in our operations and people. Notwithstanding the challenges created by COVID, our core earnings, NBV and APE sales all exceeded pre-pandemic levels in 2019.”
The prolonged pandemic has influenced a change in customer behaviour, with a 16% year-on-year growth in the number of medical policies sold. The number of new Voluntary Health Insurance
Scheme plans sold also grew 30% year on year.
As of March 31, Manulife Hong Kong had 11,457 agents, up 7% from the same time last year. The company’s agency force reached record-high numbers alongside increased adoption of its digital platform.
The insurer obtained approval from the Insurance Authority’s Insurtech Sandbox to extend its virtual face-to-face selling platform to all insurance products. This allowed agents to safely complete their sales process with customers despite an ongoing COVID-19 wave. At the end of the quarter, Manulife’s electronic point-of-sale platform achieved an 80% adoption rate among its agents.


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Vietnam’s imports of oil products from China and Russia rose sharply in 2009, the Ministry of Industry and Trade said Tuesday in a statement.
Oil product imports from China rose 341 percent to 2.43 million metric tonnes, while imports from Russia rose 266 percent to 612,881 tonnes in 2009, the ministry said.
Singapore, however, was still the largest oil product supplier to Vietnam last year, though imports from this market fell 19.5 percent to 4.93 million tonnes, the ministry said.
Vietnam imported 12.71 million tonnes of oil products in 2009, down 2 percent, the ministry said last month.
Table of Vietnam’s key oil product suppliers in 2009
SUPPLIERS 2009 (Tons) YOY
Singapore 4.93 million -19.5
China 2.43 million +341.1
Taiwan 2.02 million -22.7
South Korea 1.30 million -8.6
Thailand 0.68 million -22.2
Malaysia 0.66 million +28.9
Russia 0.61 million +266.0


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Netflix and The Walt Disney Co. Dec. 4 announced a significant multi-year licensing agreement that will make Netflix the exclusive domestic pay-TV service (following the retail window) for first-run, live-action and animated feature films, beginning in 2016.
At that time, new Disney, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar Animation Studios, Marvel Studios and Disneynature titles will be available for Netflix’s domestic subscribers to stream on connected televisions, tablets, computers and mobile phones. The agreement also includes Disney’s direct-to-video new releases, which will be available starting in 2013.
Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Interestingly, the timing suggests Disney might not renew its pay-TV distribution agreement with Starz LLC, which expires in 2015.
Starz unwittingly helped Netflix’s nascent SVOD service blossom after signing a $30 million-a-year digital distribution agreement in 2008. That deal, which rival media competitors characterized as highway robbery, was not renewed when it expired in February — with both parties feigning indifference.
Separately, Disney and Netflix reached agreement on a multi-year catalog deal that enables subscribers to stream titles such as Dumbo, Pocahontas and Alice in Wonderland today.
“Disney and Netflix have shared a long and mutually beneficial relationship and this deal will bring to our subscribers, in the first pay-TV window, some of the highest-quality, most imaginative family films being made today,” Ted Sarandos, chief content officer at Netflix, said in a statement. “It's a bold leap forward for Internet television and we are incredibly pleased and proud this iconic family brand is teaming with Netflix to make it happen.”
Janice Marinelli, president of Disney-ABC Domestic Television, said the SVOD pioneer has legitimized the over-the-top video distribution business model.
“Netflix continues to meet the demands of its subscribers in today's rapidly evolving digital landscape, and we are delighted that they will have much earlier access to our top-quality and entertaining slate,” Marinelli said.
CFO Jay Rasulo Dec.5 told investors at the UBS event in New York the deal was concluded after careful analysis of the inventory and windowing of Disney's movies and catalog titles.
"We clearly took that strategy into consideration as did Netflix as we sat down to talk about this deal," Rasulo said.
While Disney may be thrilled with the deal, analysts are puzzled by an agreement that undoubtedly raises the bar in SVOD license fees. In fact, CBS CEO Les Moonves was giddy talking about it at the UBS event. Why? As go Disney's SVOD license fees, CBS won't be far behind.
Eric Wold, analyst with B. Riley & Co. in Los Angeles, wonders if increased competition from Amazon Prime Instant Video, Hulu Plus and Comcast's Xfinity Streampix may be making Netflix management do some irrational things, including overpaying for content. Wold said that even at $300 million in incremental content costs, it would take more than 3 million net subscribers to offset that spending.
"Netflix may be struggling to understand all the dynamics going on in the domestic SVOD market – especially given the significant misjudging of their subscriber growth guidance this year -- and this may just be another sign of that," Wold said.
Indeed, Wall Street scuttlebutt suggests Netflix may have to raise addtional funds to pay for it all.
Regardless, Wedbush Securities' Michael Pachter can only wonder at the excessive spending on content previously dismissed.
"They hated the [Starz] content in January, said nobody watched it ('less than 2% of viewing hours'); now it’s essential at any price," Pachter said. "I think this shows that content owners have a lot of leverage over Netflix, and are squeezing them. I won’t be surprised if they never make as much as $100 million [in profit] again, which is pretty shocking for a company with an enterprise value of $5 billion."


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Luxury watch retailers in tourism hot spots will be delighted with updated forecasts from Visit Britain, which predicts the number of visitors coming to the UK in 2018 will rise by 6.2% to 39.9 million.
The organisation also expects spending by visitors to increase by 6.8% to £26.9 billion.
Brexit has created uncertainty, Visit Britain says, but most potential European visitors do not say Brexit influences their decision to travel to Britain for leisure.
Most Europeans still see Britain as a welcoming destination, and believe that the exchange rate means that now is a good time to visit.
Visit Britain says that the performance of the pound against major work currencies this year is hard to predict, but expects it to remain weak in the medium term, making Britain a good value for money destination.
The main source markets for visitors to Britain generally have stable and growing economies. Short term forecasts for the Eurozone were upgraded several times during 2017 and the outlook is moderate and stable.
The US economy is growing, employment is rising and consumer spending is healthy, although there is a divergence between spending growth and weaker income growth as well as a lot of uncertainty over tax and investment policies.
Emerging markets such as China, India and of South East Asia continue to grow at a rapid pace. Even Russia and Brazil have emerged from a recession.
The Middle East is hampered by much lower oil prices than those seen a few years ago but growth forecasts for 2018 are generally more positive than in 2017.


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BLACKPINK has announced that tickets to their new movie are now available for purchase. To commemorate the group's fifth anniversary with a bang, "BLACKPINK: The Movie" will be hitting theaters worldwide on August 4th and August 8th. Fans in select countries can book tickets in advance.
"BLACKPINK: The Movie" will showcase special interviews of the members (Lisa, Jisoo, Rosé, and Jennie), as well as never-before-seen videos of them accumulated over time. In addition, performances from "THE SHOW" (their 2021 concert) and "IN YOUR AREA" (their 2018 world tour) will also be played.
This will be BLACKPINK's second movie, their first being "BLACKPINK: Light Up The Sky," released on Netflix in 2020. The film went into depth about their rise to fame and the group's ambition to highlight the individual charms of each member.
BLACKPINK debuted in 2016 under their current label YG Entertainment and shot to fame almost immediately. However, before their debut, an enormous amount of hype had been generated.
YG Entertainment has a reputation in the K-pop industry for producing successful groups such as BIGBANG and 2NE1. As a result, pre-debut videos of BLACKPINK spread throughout the community like wildfire. Both fans and critics of YG groups were anticipating their debut.
As of 2021, BLACKPINK holds the record for "the most-viewed music video within the first 4 hours of release." In addition, they are the first music group to accumulate one billion views on four separate music videos and have won several music awards nationally and internationally.
The popular K-pop group collaborated with several notable American artists, such as Lady Gaga for her single "Sour Candy" and Selena Gomez for "Ice Cream."
Also read: Rosé impresses Lee Dong-wook, Lee Ji-ah, and Kim Go-eun
Where to buy tickets for BLACKPINK: The Movie
Tickets can be purchased here. However, certain restrictions have been imposed depending on the country of viewership. Since there seems to be some confusion among online fans, a Twitter user has created an informative thread on infographics. Fans should read the thread before ordering their tickets.
Also read: British influencer Oli London labeled “racist” after undergoing surgery to identify as Korean
The movie is available in 2D and Screen X. The cost of both tickets is $22 internationally. However, the availability of tickets may differ based on the region, and in-person screening might be hampered due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Also read: "Give us Red Velvet," say fans after SM announces NCT lineup


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Canadian Satellite Radio Holdings Inc., the parent of Sirius XM Canada Inc., says it recorded net income of $6.1 million in the fourth quarter. That’s up from the $3.5 million in net income in the same quarter of 2011. The company’s quarterly revenue was $68.1 million, up 11.5 per cent from the same period in 2011. For the 2012 fiscal year, the Toronto-based company logged a net loss of $4.1 million after losing more than $17 million in fiscal 2011. Annual revenue was up 8.9 per cent to $259.6 million thanks to growth in the company’s subscriber base. Sirius XM Canada says it had 2.2 million total subscribers for a year-over-year net additions of 223,100.
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The Nintendo Switch OLED was on the receiving end of plenty of backlash when Nintendo first announced it (mainly because of all the expectations surrounding the Switch Pro si), but obviously, that hasn’t affected device sales. Like GamesIndustry reports, the OLED Switch saw a successful UK launch last week, selling “significantly” more than the Switch Lite did when it launched back in 2019.
In fact, last week was the 14th biggest week for the Switch in UK sales since its launch in 2017. Each of the 13 more weeks is either Black Friday or Christmas periods, with a week (fourth) in the week of the Switch’s own original launch. Last week, the OLED Switch accounted for 70% of all Switch sales in the UK.
Interestingly, the OLED Switch already accounts for 7% of all Switch consoles sold in the UK to date. By comparison, the Switch Lite currently has a 20% stake, two years later from launch.
Dread Metroid also launched last week, and sales in the UK got off to a flying start. Read more about that throughout here.


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UpMeals, the healthy, fresh and sustainable vending machine solution, has announced that it has partnered with Simon Fraser University (SFU) to install a SmartVending machine at the Burnaby campus this fall. The machine will provide 24/7 access to healthy, sustainable meal options for students and an alternative to costly meal delivery services and restaurants in the area.
SFU will install their first UpMeals SmartVending machine at one of the busiest and most accessible locations on the Burnaby campus, with plans for more machines in the future. The installation will coincide with the move back to in-person classes and services on campus.
The UpMeals SmartVending install addresses a critical need to provide safe, accessible, healthy food options for students available around the clock. Accessible 24/7, UpMeals provides a nutritious choice when other options are unavailable or closed. And, with meal delivery services making many trips to SFU campuses daily, sometimes delivering as little as a single item carrying a hefty carbon footprint, the UpMeals SmartVending machines will alleviate some of the environmental impacts.
SFU will be donating their surplus of unsold food through UpMeals’ partnership with the Vancouver Food Runners program to help eliminate food waste.
The menu offerings provided in the SmartVending machines will be curated based on a focused survey provided to groups of students identifying the types of cuisine they would like to see, and the goals and benefits they want to achieve with the food available to them. Details of the survey will include dietary and cuisine preferences and eating habits. SFU will then be able to monitor the popularity of certain items and identify buying trends to optimize its menu offering.
To support this expansion, UpMeals has acquired Grubgrab, a digital meal subscription service geared toward post-secondary students. Grubgrab had previously engaged UpMeals to support centralizing their food sourcing under the Grubgrab brand. The COVID-19 pandemic forced them to pivot their business model to make access points safe, facilitating the acquisition by UpMeals. Grubgrab co-founders Rohan Siyal and Jovan Choongh, are recent post-secondary graduates and will support integrating UpMeals with student initiative programs, hosting various events and integrating UpMeals solutions into the culture of the university.
“We‘re so excited to see that our streamlined UpMeals solution can disrupt an older food accessibility model and provide affordable, 24/7 healthy food options designed specifically based on student preferences. The machines will be stocked fresh daily in a single trip, so we’ll also be helping to reduce the carbon footprint of the institutions and students, providing a much more sustainable solution.” – Drew Munro, Co-Founder and CEO of UpMeals
“The students, faculty and staff at Simon Fraser University are always searching for healthy food choices. Ensuring our campuses are equipped with nourishing options at any hour of the day will support a healthy student body and mind. It’s a sustainable option and it helps our campus to eliminate food waste through UpMeals’ partnership with the Vancouver Food Runners food donation program. We’re thrilled to see this innovative concept take off.” – Dan Traviss, Director, SFU Food and Ancillary Services, Simon Fraser University
“We‘re excited to be joining UpMeals as they grow their UpMeals on Campus initiative. We’re eager to see this program flourish as schools welcome students back to school in a normal capacity – and look forward to contributing to UpMeals’ healthy food accessibility mission, helping students be healthier and more productive. We wish this existed when we were students!”– Jovan Choongh, Growth Team at UpMeals


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Social Media Reacts After Nike Denies Involvement With Lil Nas X ‘Satan Shoes’
Written by 1.02010 on March 29, 2021
Nike is setting the record straight! Lil Nas X previewed a controversial pair of “Satan Shoes” featuring a bronze pentagram, an inverted cross, and apparently a drop of real human blood. The “Old Town Road” artist is collaborating with the streetwear company MSCHF on the shoes, only 666 pairs of which will be on sale Monday. The controversial kicks which appear to be modified Nike Air Max 97s are expected to be sold for $1,018. It was also noted that the blood was drawn from members of the MSCHF team, the company told NBC News on Sunday. Of course, news of the shoes drew massive outrage over the Palm Sunday weekend, with many people slamming both Lil Nas X and Nike. However, the big company released a statement to explain that they had absolutely no parts in this collaboration: “We do not have a relationship with Little Nas X or MSCHF,” Nike said in a statement. “Nike did not design or release these shoes and we do not endorse them.” The little release of the Satan Shoes coincides with Lil Nas X’s latest single, “Montero (Call Me By Your Name),” and it’s featured in the music video. The video alone also drew big criticism online.


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Dairy Crest said this morning (11 February) product launches and promotions have helped improve the performance of its struggling spreads brands, Clover and Country Life.
In its interim management statement, Dairy Crest said since the launch of Clover Simple – made with no artificial ingredients – in September the brand has grown volumes year-on-year. Meanwhile, Country Life volumes were up “markedly” in the third quarter thanks to increased promotional activity built around new “best of British” packaging.
As a result, Dairy Crest was able to report all of its four key brands – also including Cathedral City and Frylight – increased or maintained value share in the third quarter. “Combined sales of Cathedral City, Country Life, Clover and Frylight over the nine-month period have remained broadly in line with the same period last year and volumes have increased by 2%,” the company reported.
Dairy Crest also revealed the proceeds from the sale of its liquid milk division to German dairy group Muller are expected to come in at the lower-end of expectations after a challenging trading period. Proceeds of the transaction are subject to “certain adjustments” and are expected to come in at the lower end of the GBP40-50m (US$47.7-51.2m) guidance before working capital adjustments. After working capital, Dairy Crest said it anticipates proceeds before costs to total around GBP30m.
Updating on the progress of its investment in Davidstow, Dairy Crest said production of demineralised whey powder and galacto-oligosaccharide (“GOS”) has started. “These are both ingredients for the growing, global infant formula market which will give Dairy Crest access to new growth markets and customers,” the UK dairy group stressed. The company took 100% control of Promovita Ingredients, its GOS joint venture, indicating the importance the group places on the ingredients side of its business.


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Park-Ohio Holdings Corp. (PKOH) Releases Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.02 EPS
Park-Ohio Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ:PKOH) announced its earnings results on Monday. The industrial products company reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by $0.02, Bloomberg Earnings reports. Park-Ohio Holdings Corp. had a net margin of 3.00% and a return on equity of 16.89%.
Shares of Park-Ohio Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ PKOH) traded down 0.51% during trading on Monday, reaching $39.25. 32,144 shares of the company’s stock traded hands. Park-Ohio Holdings Corp. has a 1-year low of $29.61 and a 1-year high of $47.00. The company has a market capitalization of $478.97 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.47 and a beta of 3.47. The company has a 50 day moving average of $38.83 and a 200-day moving average of $39.19.
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 11th will be paid a $0.125 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 9th. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.27%. Park-Ohio Holdings Corp.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.87%.
COPYRIGHT VIOLATION WARNING: “Park-Ohio Holdings Corp. (PKOH) Releases Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.02 EPS” was originally reported by American Banking News and is the sole property of of American Banking News. If you are accessing this piece on another publication, it was copied illegally and republished in violation of U.S. & international trademark & copyright legislation. The original version of this piece can be read at https://www.americanbankingnews.com/2017/08/07/park-ohio-holdings-corp-pkoh-releases-earnings-results-beats-estimates-by-0-02-eps.html.
Several brokerages have issued reports on PKOH. TheStreet raised shares of Park-Ohio Holdings Corp. from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Monday, May 8th. BidaskClub cut shares of Park-Ohio Holdings Corp. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, Zacks Investment Research raised shares of Park-Ohio Holdings Corp. from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Park-Ohio Holdings Corp. has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $45.75.
In other Park-Ohio Holdings Corp. news, Director Patrick V. Auletta sold 2,010 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.55, for a total value of $77,485.50. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 18,645 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $718,764.75. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 31.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
Park-Ohio Holdings Corp. Company Profile
Park-Ohio Holdings Corp. is a diversified international company providing supply chain management outsourcing services, capital equipment used on their production lines and manufactured components used to assemble its products. The Company operates in three segments: Supply Technologies, Assembly Components and Engineered Products.
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'Sopranos' Actress Finds Receptive Audience for Wines
By RITA PAPAZIAN
It just may be that actress Lorraine Bracco is wild about Harry's.
Bracco, who is nominated for an Emmy award (the winners will be announced on Sunday) for her role as Dr. Jennifer Melfi in the HBO series "The Sopranos," visited Fairfield's wine and liquor mainstay at 2094 Post Road on Saturday to tout her signature line of wine.
In the 66 years since the store's founding, this is the first time Harry's has had a celebrity of Bracco's stature," said Saul Pollock, the son of the shop's founder. He said he was very excited about the actress' visit.
Bracco conducted a three-hour "bottle signing" for Bracco Wines, a line of eight distinct tastes, one white, a Pinot Grigio and seven reds: Montepulciano, Primitivo, Chianti Classico, Chianti Classico Riserva, Amarone Classico, Barolo and Brunello di Montalcino.
Harry's has been carrying Bracco Wines since the line's founding in 2005, said William Miller, director of fine wines for Harry's. He said the wines, especially Pinot Grigio, have been selling on their own merit. There is no photo of the actress on the label and her name is in small print on the back label where she offers a brief description of the wine.
Miller credits the popularity of the wines to taste and price point. He cited the popularity of the Pinot Grigio, which sells for $9.99. On her label, Bracco describes Pinot Grigio as "a full body and a firm structure that allows the wine to be enjoyed with all fish and poultry dishes yet can be also enjoyed as an aperitif."
"People really like it," Pollack said. "It's really hot now."
The red wines range in price from $9.99 for the Montepulciano to $59.99 for the Brunello di Montalcino. Bracco told one customer that Primitivo was her favorite of the line.
Harry's relationship with Bracco evolved from a 2006 invitation to the final episode of "The Sopranos." Geno Pisani, a wine consultant with Opici Wine Co. of Connecticut, the wholesale distributor for Bracco wines, invited Miller to the TV showing where he met Bracco's brother, Sal, who handles the business responsibilities for the wine line.
Bracco Wines had been selling so well at Harry's that talks began about the actress doing a "bottle signing" at the store. While Bracco has done a few bottle signings, Saturday's visit to Harry's was her first in Connecticut to promote her wines. Last year, Bracco conducted a whirlwind book tour to promote her memoir, "On the Couch," in which she chronicles her life as a model, wife, mother and actress, and her victory over depression. She has even survived personal bankruptcy.
Pisani explained that Bracco does not own a vineyard, but sources the wine through vineyards in Italy. He said the actress is expected to introduce her own olive oil in about six months. Pisani said the popularity of Bracco's wines is not because of her popularity as Dr. Melfi or her Academy Award-nominated performance as the mobster's wife in "Goodfellas." Instead, he said, "The quality still has to be in the bottle." The cachet of her name "just adds to it," he said.
Sal Bracco emphasized the wines' quality and his sister's expertise in selecting them. He explained that agents set up meetings for his sister with vineyard owners and wine makers and "she selects the wines according to taste, not price." She selects the wines she likes.
Sal Bracco said the public may not be aware that his sister lived in Europe for 10 years. at that time, Lorraine, straight out of high school, was a model living in Paris. He said his sister acquired a sophisticated palate when it came to food and good wines. He said she has been approached many times to lend her name to other items, such as perfume or hair products, but that's not what she's about. She's a Brooklyn native who grew up on Long Island and is a big sports fan. "She's a big Yankee fan," said Sal, who has another sister, Elizabeth, who played the role of Maria, Vito Spatafore's wife, on "The Sopranos."
The actress greeted her fans and wine buyers with the down-to-earth enthusiasm that often surprises people. She graciously posed for pictures and even held her youngest fan, 6-month-old Ava Costantino of Norwalk. Ava's parents, Nicole and Steve, had dropped by the store to buy wine, not knowing that Bracco would be there.
"We buy wine here all the time," said Steve, who had lived in Fairfield before moving to Norwalk.
Fairfielder Dennis Brown bought 13 bottles of wine to give to his wife for their 13th wedding anniversary.
"Thirteen years of bliss?" asked Dennis Monteleone, the store manager.
"Every day," Brown said.
"This has to cost less than 13 diamonds," added Bracco, as she signed all the bottles.
Andrea Coppola and Gennaro Fannaccone, owners of Café Goodfellas in New Haven, introduced themselves to Bracco. They said Bracco's daughter, Stella, had eaten at the café and was talking to them about the Bracco wine she had ordered. Coppola thought the young woman was a wine representative.
Not knowing who she was, Coppola said to Stella, '"How do you know so much about it?" Then, Stella, 22, told the café owners who her mother was. Stella's father is the actress' longtime partner, actor Harvey Keitel. Lorraine Bracco has another daughter, Margaux, by her first husband, Frenchman Daniel Guerand. She is divorced from actor Edward James Olmos.
After having her bottles of wine signed, resident Susan Rudolph, an auditor with Reader's Digest, said she first heard about Bracco when she saw her on the popular "Top Chef" TV show. Rudolph has never watched "The Sopranos."
"I'm a foodie I grew up in New York. I grew up with people like that," Rudolph said.
Sheryl Buzgo, an employee at Budding Gourmet, Harry's retail neighbor, had six bottles of wine signed, along with a "Sopranos" video she had brought with her.
"She's really sweet," said Buzgo of her impression of the actress. "Very personable. Much younger in person."
"I'm star struck," said Ann Marie Gilbert, who attended the event with her mother, Barbara. "I've watched 'The Sopranos' since day one."
Many of the people who met Bracco likely will be watching on Sunday to see if she finally wins the Emmy for "Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series." When asked how she feels about her chances of winning, Bracco said, "I don't."
Bracco describes her garnering a nomination as an "invitation to the prom." She previously was nominated three times for an Emmy and three times for a Golden Globe for her role as the psychiatrist, but has never won.
As for future projects, Bracco said there are lots of talks going on right now. This holiday season she will be seen in the ABC movie "Snow Globe."
Meanwhile, Harry's will continue to sponsor its weekly wine-tasting events and wine seminars and support local fund raisers.


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What age group are most entrepreneurs?
In 2018, about 25 percent of entrepreneurs in the United States were aged between 20 and 34 years. This is a decrease from 1996, when 34.3 percent of entrepreneurs were between the ages of 20 and 34.
What is the average age of entrepreneurship?
While the launch age bracket ranged from 19 to 48, the median age for launching a business is 27. 80% of the founders launched their startup before hitting 30. Except Pranay Chulet (Quikr) who started up at 34, all the unicorns in India were launched by young entrepreneurs.
Are older entrepreneurs more successful?
People who start businesses in their 40s, 50s and even into their 60s typically succeed as well if not better than younger entrepreneurs, extensive research reveals. A new study finds entrepreneurs who begin while in their 50s succeed at roughly the same rate as people starting up in their 20s.
Is JK Rowling an entrepreneur?
J.K. Rowling is recognized as an entrepreneur because of the global success and sustained popularity of her original book series, “Harry Potter”. The author’s entrepreneurial status arises not only from the expansive sales of her books, but from the film adaptations and merchandising rights she owns over the series.
Can a 16 year old be an entrepreneur?
The fact to lay focus is that there is no right age, but just the right vision that helps one become a successful entrepreneur. … Being a 16-year-old entrepreneur with two startups, I can vouch that all one needs is agility, passion, and a vision to make a successful and thriving business.
Can you start a business at age 14?
Yes, kids can have businesses. … A business is a business, whatever the age of the person in charge. All businesses must adhere to certain legal requirements, and parents must understand these requirements to make sure their kids’ businesses are legal.


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Norwest Venture Partners has made a growth equity investment in Vuori, a leading performance apparel brand based in Encinitas, California. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The deal comes after Vuori’s impressive growth (179 percent in 2018) caught the attention of Norwest Venture Partners’ team. Vuori, at the helm of CEO and founder Joe Kudla, will leverage the investment to hire additional staff members, purchase more inventory, and open doors to more physical stores around the U.S.
Jon Kossow, managing partner at Norwest, will join Vuori’s board of directors as part of this minority investment. Vuori joins other consumer companies in Norwest’s portfolio including Birdies, Casper Sleep, Grove Collaborative, Jolyn, Kendra Scott, Madison Reed, and Topo Athletic, and aligns with the firm’s strategy of investing in direct-to-consumer and omnichannel brands. Norwest will secure a minority stake in Vuori as part of the deal.
Kudla first saw the opportunity to launch the company while living in San Diego. A lifelong athlete, Kudla was engaging in outdoor fitness activities such as hiking, yoga, running, and mountain biking. At the time, he was continually searching for the appropriate clothing to suit his own athletic endeavors but found himself dissatisfied with the limited options available in the market.
Through his own experience, Kudla became aware of the massive vacancy for a brand that genuinely catered to the men’s athletic market. In 2015, Kudla launched Vuori’s first collection of men’s athletic apparel that was designed to move and sweat in but styled for everyday life. Thanks to Vuori’s innovative fabrics and sleek, eye-catching designs, Kudla and his team were soon in business with reputable retail partners including REI, Nordstrom, Equinox, and Core Power Yoga. Today, Vuori offers products for men and women alike, each item meticulously designed with a new perspective on performance apparel that seamlessly transitions from physical activity to leisure and beyond.
“As devoted customers, it was apparent to us that Vuori had built versatile products with tremendous energy and soul,” said Kossow. “This is exactly the type of positive brand experience we search for in our consumer investments, and we look forward to supporting Joe and the team as they continue to bring new products to market and delight their customers.”
“Since launching Vuori, we’ve added so many incredible team members to our community, all of them completely aligned with our mission to deliver the best activewear in the market,” added Kudla. “From our employees to our retail partners, to the folks who drop by our stores just to say hello, starting this business has been a team effort since day one. We are thrilled that our team is further expanding to include Norwest, and look forward to what our partnership will bring.”


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BIELLA, Italy — Marketing and communication are key tools to attract customers to wool.
Experts speaking at the “From Farm to Fashion — The Wool Supply Chain and the Consumer” conference on Friday here during the 82nd International Wool Textile Organization Congress, including Loro Piana Group president and chief executive officer Pier Luigi Loro Piana and Pitti Immagine ceo Raffaello Napoleone, discussed the wool industry’s future and ways to identify new customers for the sector.
“What is missed in the wool industry, which is strongly attached to the tradition, is the link with the contemporary urban culture,” said Lanificio F.lli Cerruti president Nino Cerruti. “Wool needs to return to be considered young to be appreciated by a larger audience.” RELATED STORY: Woolmark Launches Turkish Initiatives >>
Cerruti said the wool industry tends to talk about its products by highlighting the technical elements without mentioning wool’s positive qualities, which must be communicated to customers.
“In our postindustrial society there are two kinds of customers — the analogic and the digital one,” said sociologist Domenico De Masi, who highlighted the importance of using different communication strategies to talk to these two targets.
De Masi also noted that society is rediscovering certain traditional values typical of the preindustrial society, including a renewed interest in the quality of life and the quality of products people buy.
According to research conducted by Centro Studi Diomedea and based on 122 interviews with Italian fashion retailers, 65 percent of them think their customers pay a lot of attention to materials when they make their purchases. The study found that 52 percent also said that customers tend to read the label with fabric components. In addition, according to the research, 76 percent of the retailers think that customers consider that the quality of wool is higher than that of other materials.
“The main goal of the retail is to transmit [to] costumers the value of the quality,” said La Rinascente ceo Alberto Baldan, who revealed that in September the Milanese department store will team up with Woolmark to launch Woolmark’s first “Campaign for Wool” in Italy.
For the occasion, La Rinascente’s windows will be dedicated to the campaign aimed to promote wool.
“We always create campaigns targeted to the different markets,” said Woolmark ceo Stuart McCullough. “Usually brands have a specific type of marketing, but we recognized we had a lot of people we wanted to communicate with.” RELATED STORY: Zegna to Celebrate Australian Wool >>
The launch of this initiative in Italy is in line with the company’s strategy, which, according to Woolmark global chief strategy and marketing officer Rob Langtry, is to reposition wool as a luxury fabric and educate consumers. Woolmark is also working in collaboration with international brands to help the wool industry.
Along with these kinds of communication strategies with a focus on emotional appeal, Ermenegildo Zegna Group president Paolo Zegna said wool companies could open their doors to the public to make customers discover the qualities of wool.
“I’m feeling the necessity of opening our factories to our customers,” Zegna said. “This will create solid relationships between the public and those companies promoting the quality of Made in Italy.”
@juicebeauty, where @gwynethpaltrow holds the title of creative director of makeup, has become one of the foremost labels in the organic beauty category –– with sales on track to hit $100 million this year. What’s behind the rapid growth the brand is experiencing right now? It all started in 2005 when the wellness movement was just getting started. Read more on WWD.com. #wwdbeauty
Stay up to do date with breaking news and trending stories with WWD’s “The Essentialist.” Our newsletter delivers the top news in fashion right to your inbox. Want more info? Link in bio. #wwdfashion (📷: @kukukuba)
"I want to tell a story that inspires people to feel good about themselves, but also I'm making a commentary about the lack of female stories and female directors and saying this should change," said @imheathergraham on her latest project "Half Magic." The comedy feature, which the actress wrote and directed, is based on her own struggles as a woman in show business. Read @andrewnodell's full interview with Graham on WWD.com. #wwdeye (📷: @jgreenery)
@meltcosmetics cofounders @lora_arellano and @danabomar built their brand on a single idea: a true matte lipstick. To set the brand apart, they said they always put their customers first –– including a personalized note in each package. #wwdsummits #wwdbeauty
@moncler unveiled its latest project, #MonclerGenius, yesterday at Milan Fashion Week. The Italian outwear maker gave show-goers a preview of the monthly collections – which were created by eight designers and creative talents including Pierpaolo Piccioli, Simone Rocha, Craig Green and more – that will start rolling out in the summer.


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I'm still skeptical about HP being able to create a runaway success with tablets based on Palm's webOS, but if the photos leaked to Engadget from "a trusted tipster" are accurate, it's definitely designed a sexy slate -- or, apparently, pair of slates.That's because HP has a 9-inch tablet (code-named Topaz) and a 7-inch model (Opal) in the works, according to the roll-out details also passed along.
Laptops & Desktops
John Morris and Sean Portnoy deliver straight talk about notebook and desktop computers.
John Morris is a former executive editor at CNET Networks and senior editor at PC Magazine.
Sean Portnoy is a former executive editor at Computer Shopper magazine and editor at CNET Networks.
How do you sustain the lust factor for the iPad as more and more tablets enter the market? The anticipated iPad 2 will probably deal with some of the first version's shortcomings, such as built-in cameras (one for snapping photos, the other for video chatting), but that will meet expectations, not inspire desire.
It's pretty much a given that HP will leap into the tablet wars full force with an announcement on February 9, all but certain to involve the WebOS platform it purchased Palm for last year. But can a WebOS tablet compete effectively against Apple's iPad juggernaut and the rash of Android tablets coming from every direction?
Most of the desktops that have been announced that feature Intel's new Sandy Bridge processors have been gaming computers, but Dell has just launched the Vostro 460, the first business-class desktop using the new chips.Clearly designed for biz users who need more power than from the typical corporate desktop, the Vostro 460 packs the Core i5-2400 quad-core processor by default, but you can also upgrade to the Core i7-2600 for some hyperthreading action.
AMD is staking quite a bit on its new Fusion architecture -- which combines CPU and GPU in an Accelerated Processing Unit, or APU -- and the first independent benchmarks for a Toshiba NB550D netbook using the C-50 "Ontario" APU should encourage the chipmaker.Dutch site Hardware.
With Intel's Sandy Bridge rollout including a few Core i7 quad-core mobile processors, it was inevitable that a heavy dose of gaming laptops would be among the first portables announced using Intel's latest CPUs. Here are some heavy hitters from some heavy hitters in the notebook world.
Old-school gamers might appreciate a very traditional product more than any 3D HDTV at this year's CES 2011. Borrowing an idea from a ThinkGeek.
While Nvidia and AMD have released newer and faster single-GPU graphics cards over the last few months, the biggest beast is still the AMD Radeon HD 5970, which packed a pair of Radeon HD 5870 GPUs onto a single piece of hardware. AMD is long rumored to be preparing the Radeon HD 6990 (code-named Antilles) as a sequel to the 5970, but Nvidia may have beaten it to the punch again.
Computer companies aren't quite sure what to make of Windows on tablets at this stage. One of the clearest signs of this confusion is the sheer variety of concepts on display at CES this week.
Alienware's M11x has been viewed as a gaming netbook, but Razer has something a little different in mind with its Switchblade concept. The company says it's been working on the device for the past two years after secretly acquiring an engineering team from an undisclosed mobile handset company.


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CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) – Charleston Police are investigating after a porch pirate was caught on camera striking not once, but twice within a few minutes in one downtown Charleston neighborhood.
“What we have on camera is the thief pulled up to the house, had a list in his hand, walked up, gathered everything up on the porch. Took him two trips, but it was broad daylight, two o’clock in the afternoon,” said Robert Dozier, whose packages were taken off his front porch.
Five packages were taken off Dozier’s front porch five minutes after Amazon dropped them off. He and his wife were inside the whole time.
“To have them stolen in broad daylight was a real shock to us,” said Dozier.
The couple has lived in the area for eight years, but it’s not the first time a thief has stolen packages from him.
“We had one incident earlier this year where actually some packages were on the couch behind me under pillows and somebody came and searched through those and took things,” said Dozier.
The online shoppers ordered cleaning supplies, household items, and part of an outfit for Oktoberfest.
As for their future orders… “A little nervous about ordering stuff, right? We’ve got a security camera, we’ve got the system if somebody tries to break-in, you know, there’s stuff we can do about that, but how do you protect just being able to order a package and have it on your porch for a couple of hours,” said Dozier.
The couple is now hoping their situation can serve as a tale of caution for others as they wait for the porch pirates to be caught and charged.
“It counts as petty theft, but it’s a real problem for people who live here,” said Dozier.
Police say it’s important to immediately file a report if your package gets stolen.


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Beats by Dre just became the official headphone partner of the NBA. The announcement was made today by Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine.
The new deal covers a wide range of marketing and merchandising opportunities for both sides. But this is even broader than the NBA. The deal makes the Apple-owned company the official audio partner of the NBA as well as the WNBA and USA Basketball.
The newly inked partnership won’t go into effect until October. But this is the first time Beats has pursued a direct partnership with a major sports league.
Several NBA stars have sported the headphones for years during warm-ups at games. That includes LeBron James (pictured), James Harden, Draymond Green, Jayson Tatum, Ben Simmons, and Karl-Anthony Towns.
Another aspect of the new partnership is the potential to establish separate deals with specific teams to launch branded products for those teams.
Beats by Dr. Dre president Luke Wood said the new partnership cements a lasting relationship with influencers who are already fans of Beats products. So in some senses, this is a formality with a lot more direct payments involved.
“The NBA and its players have long been significant drivers of global culture,” Woods shared. “Basketball, music, and style speak as one voice: Julius Erving became a style icon, Allen Iverson cemented hip hop’s place on and off the court, and LeBron James is regularly breaking new music… the list goes on and on.
“This partnership with the NBA is the perfect alignment for Beats. It feels like coming home.”
A new 30-second commercial features LeBron James, James Harden, and Draymond Green sporting Beats gear to announce the partnership.
NBA star James Harden commented on the deal, expressing his love for Beats products.
“Whether I’m traveling, working out or decompressing after a game, I can’t imagine listening to anything without them. Beats loves basketball and always works to tell the stories of their favorite players. I’m excited to see what they do with the NBA.”


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Travellers flock to dollar-weak US
26 January 2009 11:29
Holidaymakers are increasingly heading across the pond to take advantage of the weakness of the US dollar, it has been revealed.
Exchange service Currency UK said that travellers are jetting in to the States for holidays – often splashing out on shopping on arrival.
Despite the US always being cheaper than the UK it seems holidaymakers are "psychologically" believing it has become even more so in recent years.
Adrian Jacob, trading director for Currency UK, said: "Realistically, the States is a much cheaper place than the UK anyway… the reality is that [the exchange rate has] been at 1.90 for the last year, so a move of ten per cent on the amount that people are going to the States for five days with, isn't actually a hugely massive difference – but obviously it's a psychological thing."
Many people who visit New York City do so to take advantage of the shopping on offer but this can often mean filling their luggage up with expensive goods.
Travel experts warn holidaymakers to ensure have adequate travel insurance to cover their luggage in case it is lost or stolen.


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Will Our Plates Ever Be Too Full?
While retail brick and mortars have taken a hit nationwide, the restaurant scene in Southeast Louisiana continues to thrive. The question is, how much can we sustain?
In the years post-Katrina, the popularity and rise of restaurants as retail anchors has become big business for New Orleans.
While the city has long been known for eating, drinking and good times, New Orleans has experienced a flood of positive press on this front recently, not least of which was The New York Times naming New Orleans its top travel destination of 2018, particularly calling out the city’s full roster of restaurants and eateries as a big part of why visitors should make the trip.
And why wouldn’t people come for the food? New Orleans consistently ranks at the top in this category. Last year alone, the city topped lists by Travel and Leisure (No. 1), U.S. News & World Report (No. 2), and The Washington Post (No. 4) — among many others — as a top city for foodies.
This past April, an episode of “The Simpsons” even showcased the city via a love letter montage of recognizable restaurants and New Orleans cuisine that have made the city a food destination and that has translated into big dollars. Tourism and hospitality is the city’s largest industry, with numbers consistently breaking records, reaching nearly 11 million visitors in 2017.
Old School vs. New School
Restaurant owner Mark Latter straddles the line between old and new. Latter owns Tujague's Restaurant, an old-school institution that opened in the French Quarter in 1856 (the city’s second-oldest), and Bar Frances, a new wine bar and eatery that took its place on the revived Freret Street in 2016.
Being at the helm of two very different restaurants can be a challenge, but it’s one that has its rewards on both sides.
“It’s very different having a brand new restaurant and a very old-school restaurant,” he said. “At Tujague’s, you can’t really play with the menu, which I call ‘Creole Old School.’ It’s not what people want when they come to Tujague's. At Bar Frances, it’s the complete opposite. The chef can play with the menu; anything is possible. If our chef sees some great fresh lamb, for example, we can just add it to the menu. We print the menu at least once a week. It’s always changing.”
The surrounding neighborhoods and the people that live and work in each play a big part in the tradition of and feel of both restaurants, and it’s the regulars that make each one unique.
While many New Orleanians have faced the problem of the influx of Airbnb, and the possibility of short-term rentals changing the face and nature of the city’s beloved old neighborhoods, Latter has not seen an impact on his restaurants.
“Airbnb has not been a problem for Tujague's because they aren’t allowed in the French Quarter,” he said. “For Bar Frances, Airbnb has actually helped, and I have seen that at many Uptown restaurants. Before, people would only have been staying downtown. They might have never been to restaurants Uptown, so having some in the neighborhood has actually been good for us. We’ve seen a big uptick in out-of-town customers.”
When asked about other challenges, Latter notes that for every challenge, the city’s restaurant scene maintains a resilient response.
“The biggest concern has been competition, but there’s always a lot of competition in New Orleans,” he said. “We may have already hit the bubble, so to speak. There were a lot of restaurants that closed last year. But for every two restaurants that close, four more open up in their place. New Orleans is the No. 1 destination. New Orleans is the place to be these days.”
In the midst of a changing economic landscape in which retail nationwide is struggling thanks to buyer preferences moving more and more to online shopping, what makes the restaurant business a bulletproof industry for the city, according to commercial real estate agent Jack Eglé of Beau Box Real Estate, is the perfect recipe of the intangible experience that dining provides mixed with a higher profit margin for landlords, topped off by synergistic relationships with other retail businesses in the area.
“Both locals and visitors enjoy our restaurant industry and come here to enjoy it,” said Eglé. “Restaurants are Amazon-proof businesses. You can order a pair of shoes online, but you can’t have a dining experience that way.”
Beau Box is currently working with developers on several developments under construction or in the planning stages all along the Magazine Street corridor that are ideal for restaurants, an area that Eglé said is drawing investors and restaurateurs from larger metropolitan areas.
“We are seeing investors who are looking at New Orleans and seeking out local restaurant partners,” he said. “They are seeing opportunity here. The potential for growth and profit is on par with a city such as, say, Boston, but the rents are much less, so why wouldn’t they look to invest here?”
Egle noted that having a restaurant tenant as part of a larger build-out is crucial for other retail.
“Restaurants drive retail and serve as an anchor,” he said. “Something that we work on for all of our developments is good synergy. That means a space may have a retail space, a restaurant and office spaces that feed off of one another. Tenant spaces will interact at different times throughout the day.”
While, for example, one development may include four or more different retail spaces, he said, it might also include a café, a yoga studio, a wine bar, a restaurant and office space on the second floor in order to provide consistent traffic in the early morning, throughout the day and into the evening. The result is the maximum use of space for both tenants and the landlord.
UNIQUE CITY, UNIQUE CHALLENGES
In a historic city celebrating its 300th birthday, the unique list of challenges for developers and restaurateurs can be long and range from fragile infrastructure to renovations to older buildings to finding reliable staff to navigate City Hall and work within the constraints of the HDLC (Historic District Landmarks Commission).
“It is so important to find a good architect, a good kitchen planner, a good landlord. Eglé said. “If you do your due diligence, then all these factors will come together to make a space that is well planned and will work,” he said. “The small details are what make a space work for a restaurant. Planning on where the trash pick up and storage will be. Planning for plumbing, exhaust and vents. From a landlord’s perspective, you don’t want a lot of turnover, so it’s better to be well planned.”
Stan Harris, president and CEO of the Louisiana Restaurant Association (LRA), agrees that planning and time are part of the best preparation for both local restaurateurs and outside investors who may not be familiar with the particular rules and regulations of New Orleans.
“Someone seeking to develop a restaurant in New Orleans needs to spend a little time understanding the somewhat unique challenges and the timelines to develop a restaurant here,” he said. “The Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance (CZO) addresses many questions. However, if one seeks to serve alcohol there may be neighborhood meetings required or if it is a quick-service operation, an overlay district may prohibit drive-through windows. There are also rules specific to performance of live music. In the Vieux Carré area, the Vieux Carré Commission may be another approval step to navigate."
Harris noted that other cities with historic areas can have similar challenges and New Orleans processes are far from insurmountable, but they do require understanding the steps and patience during the approval process.
In addition to building, renovation and development challenges, Harris also sees the challenge of staffing as an even bigger and more complicated issue that restaurateurs consistently face.
“Finding qualified people at all levels [is the biggest challenge],” he said. While wages, he said, have “grown significantly,” the city still struggles with having a workforce that is “work-ready.” As a result, the LRA is working with statewide officials and the New Orleans Culinary and Hospitality Institute (NOCHI), currently in development, to help with staffing and the issues restaurateurs face each day. NOCHI will provide training to restaurant and hospitality workers on all levels and is set to open in early 2019.
“We are hopeful that NOCHI will help to fill some of the workforce development challenges with the support of the governor’s office, the New Orleans Convention Center and the Louisiana Workforce Commission,” said Harris. “While competition and access to capital have always challenged industry growth, today’s need for quality staff at all levels, including management, is limiting financial opportunity.”
Restaurant growth has ballooned in the years post-Katrina, despite a population that is still building back. The number of restaurants has grown from nearly 800 in 2006 to the current 1,550, according to online food and restaurant editor Tom Fitzmorris’ New Orleans Menu statistics. This increase is in contrast with a population that still has not recovered to its pre-Katrina numbers – 484,674 before the storm, versus 407,940 in 2017.
Fast Casual On the Rise
City Greens has created its own New Orleans niche, providing healthy, locally sourced ingredients with an emphasis on convenience and flavor since 2012. Three locations later, co-founder Abhi Bhansali credits good business practices with the company’s success.
“We came back to New Orleans a couple of years after Katrina because we wanted to be part of the renaissance,” he said.
“Much of what we have built comes from taking a look at best practices from our experiences living in New Orleans, New York and Washington D.C.”
Fast casual provides prepared to order food, with fresh ingredients and counter service for convenience and speed. New Orleans, with its growing group of young professionals and tech businesses, was a good fit, according to Bhansali.
“We noticed that there was a void of healthy foods. If people wanted healthy food, they would have to wait; if they wanted convenient food, they often had to sacrifice health. We wanted to bridge that gap,” he said.
Success for City Greens was a combination of good business and timing, with a menu of fresh ingredients grown at their own farm in Florida specifically for its restaurants.
“We provide well-sourced, natural food with a focus on transparency, using best practices,” Bhansali said. “There was a wave of post-Katrina people coming that brought their tastes and trends with them. The demand was for healthy food, but that must be convenient.”
As the flagship location became successful, Bhansali and his business partner looked at expansion. With growth, the next challenge for City Greens was one that was unexpected, yet vital – creating a consistent business practice that would translate from one location to the next.
“When we built our first restaurant, the process was organic. Our team came together, our food was consistent, we made everything in-house,” Bhansali said. “As you scale up, you begin working with different teams in different locations, and growing can become a challenge. You want the overall experience to be consistent from location to location. We had to learn how to take that organic experience and make it procedure, without overthinking it and losing all the fun. Our dining experience should be consistent from one place to the next for our customers.”
In the end, City Greens’ success hinges on providing healthy food that tastes great and is convenient.
“Health and convenience go hand-in-hand these days,” Bhansali said. “Time is the resource we’re trying to put back in people’s pockets.”
WILL THE BUBBLE BURST?
A common question among developers, restaurateurs and investors remains: How much growth can the New Orleans dining and hospitality industry sustain?
For Harris, the answer is not easy.
“When you consider the number of visitors to New Orleans, this helps to support many of our better-known restaurants including those in the traditional tourist areas,” he said.
But what about the smaller, neighborhood-centric establishments?
“As neighborhoods have grown, opportunities to create restaurants closer to where the community lives have developed,” Harris said. “And while there may be zoning or other considerations, customers appear to be increasingly frequenting dining areas where they find the location most convenient.”
Neighborhood restaurants that provide that intangible experience have long been standard to the character of the various locations in New Orleans. From the French Quarter, Garden District and Uptown, Mid-City to Lakeview, locals love the little restaurant, whether fine-dining or café, that they can call their own.
While the CBD and Warehouse Districts both have traditionally had restaurants that have catered to New Orleanians working in the area, a new wave of residential renovations have drawn young professionals looking for their own neighborhood joint in the area.
“Nationally, I think we are seeing a trend of people moving toward the center of cities,” Eglé said. “A new influx of professionals and tech jobs have people moving into the downtown area. People want to be able to walk or bike to work and play. Rents are higher Uptown, and lower downtown. I am seeing the Warehouse District take off as people are moving downtown. There is so much potential and growth and opportunity.”
Beau Box Real Estate is currently marketing retail space on a stretch of Magazine Street that has been overlooked for some time commercially. The Kalorama development will soon anchor the corner of Girod and Magazine streets with retail and restaurants, providing new neighborhood experiences and shopping opportunities for people living nearby.
Harris said a bubble appears to have formed in the past five years, and, yet, the city continues to support growth, noting the seasonal financial struggle that restaurants face as a decisive factor of whether or not that business succeeds.
“It appears that our current level has stayed somewhat consistent for the past few years,” he said. “It is doubtful we will ever see the growth that occurred post-Katrina, however it isn’t impossible.”
LeBlanc + Smith’s roster of restaurants and bars — which includes Meauxbar, Barrel Proof, Sylvain and Cavan — continues to grow. The newest offering, Longway Tavern, opened on Toulouse Street in mid-May.
“In my opinion the restaurant business is doing OK,” said owner Robért LeBlanc. “We’ve been talking about and reading about how the bubble is about to burst. But I still hear about more restaurants opening rather than closing.”
LeBlanc does note that the business of opening a restaurant has changed in the past decade, with the point of return coming later than in the days just after Katrina, adding a note of caution for new restaurateurs to stay the course with patience. There has been a paradigm shift with so many restaurants opening,” he said. “There is more competition. We need to pay restaurant workers more, and we should. We need to be more patient [when opening a new restaurant.] It used to be with Sylvain and restaurants after Katrina, from say 2005 to 2010, you could recoup your investment in a year and a half. Now it just may take a little longer.”
On a positive note, LeBlanc looks ahead at the long game. New Orleanians and visitors alike love to dine out, and if you take your time, create a neighborhood place for people to celebrate, the investment can pay off.
“The good thing is that New Orleans is a long-term prospect,” he said. “People get to know your restaurant better, you gain patronage. Not to sound cliché, but you have to let it age like a fine wine. It only will get better with time.”
Setting the Scene
Restaurant design can be as important as cuisine in creating an experience worth coming back for.
Robért LeBlanc, owner of LeBlanc + Smith restaurant group, has helped to design some of New Orleans favorite neighborhood taverns, including Cavan, Sylvain, Barrel Proof and Meauxbar. For LeBlanc, creating a mood and selecting the right environment go hand-in-hand in forming a restaurant experience that will bring diners back night after night.
“We design a setting that makes people feel excited, something that they might not see at home, and yet, at the same time we want people to feel like they are at home,” he said. “We find great old buildings and we don’t get in the way of it being magical. We want an environment that feels a little bit lived in. We want people to be comfortable, not be afraid to laugh too loudly, to drink their whiskey, whatever it is.”
LeBlanc says the tradition of restaurant building in the city is long and storied, with an emphasis on good times.
“The old-guard restaurant approach in New Orleans — places like Galatoire’s, Commander’s, Clancy’s — is that dining should be fun,” he said.
Approaching dining as an experience is the key to bringing customers back, not only to the restaurant itself, but also to the city, creating a food destination that visitors refer to again and again.
“Not all cities approach dining in that way,” he noted. “In many places, people go out to have fun somewhere else, say a comedy show or the theater, and then dine. In New Orleans, we expect our dining to be the main event. It’s an experience that maybe we all take for granted because that’s the way it is here.”
LeBlanc + Smith has built a unique resume of restaurants, all of which the team approached somewhat backward.
“Everything for us starts with the building,” LeBlanc said. “We never start out with a plan, we just keep getting presented with these great spaces. We never decide, ‘We’re going to have an Italian restaurant.’ We find a space and decide what fits with the building.”
While the historic nature of renovating a restaurant in New Orleans is appealing, the endeavor itself, said LeBlanc, is complicated.
“You have to keep in mind what you’re getting with an older building. The more beautiful the building, the more maintenance there usually is,” he said. “The history of the building is the starting point and the most important part in the beginning. We start with the history of the building — what stories were told there. We don’t see it as an effort. We want to honor the building, but in a 21st-century way that New Orleanians can enjoy.”
DID YOU KNOW?
Restaurants/Hospitality By the Numbers
10.45 million visitors
In 2016, New Orleans “was host to a record 10.45 million visitors, who spent an additional 12 percent on the city’s famous restaurant scene than the previous year.”
Source: March 2018 Eater.com article
3,350 new positions
Leisure and Hospitality gained 3,350 new positions over the last year — the highest of any industry in the New Orleans metro area.


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Sansa Stark has been through a lot in her life, but she's finally letting her hair down at the Nick and Priyanka wedding, and desis are loving it.
Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas tied the knot last night with friends and family, however their recent Vogue videos have garnered backlash!!!
Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas just threw the biggest and most extra sangeet party at their wedding and the photos are just JAW DROPPING
Nick Jonas and Priyanka Chopra just released photos of their mehndi ceremony and it's honestly getting us excited to see the rest!
Priyanka Chopra just had her bridal shower, which makes the whole shaadi thing pretty much confirmed. Ugh, we're beyond excited!
Strategic partnership between Visa and Zindigi-Powered by JS Bank aims to promote financial inclusion and digital transformation, and will facilitate ...
Costa Coffee is elated to announce the opening of its third store in Pakistan, debuting in the vibrant capital city of Islamabad.
hair loss and hair regrowth journey of a 23 year old student. The silent battles ofevery person who faces hair loss at a young age.
The Pak China Friendship Center recently witnessed the grand finale of the Zindigi Prize, Pakistan's premier entrepreneurship program.
JS Bank participated in Global Pinktober Month, dedicated to raising awareness about breast cancer and the importance of early detection.
evoltt smart watch by ZERO lifestyle has caught the attention of the glitterati turning heads wherever they make an appearance.
© 2023 MangoBaaz. All Rights Reserved


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The security of online payment has been put under the spotlight with the news that the Lush.co.uk e-commerce website has been taken down following attacks by hackers. Experts say it seems the site was "riddled with vulnerabilities."
Four months after Texas officials told Amazon.com Inc. that it owes $269 million in uncollected sales taxes, the online retail giant has filed a lawsuit demanding that the comptroller's office release the audit information it used in arriving at that amount.
After more than 30 years as a specialty retailer of casual apparel and accessories for the teenage and young adult markets, Anchor Blue is closing all 117 stores. Store-closing sales began on Jan. 7 and will continue until all merchandise and store fixtures are sold.
J.Crew received no rival bid during a solicitation period and will stick with its nearly $3 billion buyout offer made by two private equity firms in November, according to Reuters. J.Crew agreed to be taken private by the two firms.
Apparel retailer Anchor Blue has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for the second time in less than two years. Although the filing is a repeat for the retailer, it's a first for the industry: it's the first bankruptcy filing of 2011.
According to an article published this week by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, organized retail crime, which includes merchandise theft, credit card fraud, gift card fraud and price tag switching, costs the U.S. about $30 billion a year.
While Barnes & Noble touts stellar holiday sales, rival Borders continues to teeter on the verge of a bankruptcy filing. Widespread reports indicate Borders CEO Mike Edwards is meeting with publishers in New York this week to get their sign off on a plan to refinance debt and suspend payments. In response, one major distributor, the National Book Network, said it will suspend book shipments to the retailer.
Several sellers filed an antitrust lawsuit against eBay last week over its Detailed Seller Ratings (DSR) feedback policy instituted in 2008. The lawsuit alleges that eBay's DSR policy restrains competition between sellers within the online auctions market to the financial benefit of eBay, and it says the policy "undermines the ability of small auction sellers to compete with larger sellers."