Restaurant Industry News - Asia Pacific Regional News

The Dairy Queen® system, part of Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A and BRK.B), today opened its 500th location in China and has plans to open more than 100 new restaurants there by the end of 2012.

The worldwide wine business is a good case study in free trade, given that there are many producers and few restrictions on commerce. In recent years, the cost of wine has reflected this generally free global market in two ways — one good and the other bad, as George M. Taber argues in this op-ed piece. Taber is the author of four books on wine. His latest is titled, A Toast to Bargain Wines: How innovators, iconoclasts, and winemaking revolutionaries are changing the way the world drinks.

As part of its ongoing efforts to help elevate the coffee industry in China’s Yunnan Province, Starbucks Coffee Company (NASDAQ: SBUX) announced that it has signed an agreement to form a joint-venture company with Ai Ni Group, one of the province’s most established coffee operators and agricultural companies in Yunnan.

Check around you - the look, feel, smells and sounds that customers notice when they spend time at your bar, café or restaurant.

On the one hand, 'the customer is always right'. On the other hand, you've got a business to run, and they sure can get in the way...(we've all had that feeling). But there are times when we need customers to 'make a better choice' - one that works for the business too. Smart operators learn how to say No without actually using the 'N' word...

The 50/50 joint venture, named TATA Starbucks Limited, will own and operate Starbucks cafés which will be branded as Starbucks Coffee 'A Tata Alliance.'

UFood Restaurant Group, Inc. (OTCBB: UFFC) announced that the company has signed an agreement for global military base development of 26 UFood Grill units with MBUF, LLC, a private investment group of military veterans and a subsidiary of Dark Horse Capital Partners.

Joe Dunbar's thoughts on the restaurant industry's outlook for 2012

Country Style Cooking Restaurant Chain Co., Ltd. (NYSE: CCSC), a fast-growing quick service restaurant chain in China, today announced the appointment of Mr. Adam J. Zhao as Chief Financial Officer, effective on February 1, 2012.

As economic malaise bleeds into another New Year, employers are making hard-nosed decisions about benefits and compensation. That means for many in the nation's workforce, compensation remains flat, health care premiums are up, the 401(k) match has disappeared and bonuses are smaller or nonexistent. The result is not hard to guess.