Tasty Tidbits

• The Inventure Group, a licensee of our client Burger King, is doing well: net earnings for the 2nd quarter ending June 27th rose 44% to $1.038MM, equal to 6¢ per share on the common stock, up from $722,540, or 4¢ per share a year ago. Industry-wide, salty snacks are growing with sales for the first half 2009 up 3.5% in the c-store sector, and potato chips up 10%. Only packaged ready-to-eat popcorn did better (13%) while alternative snacks were up 2%.

• A team of researchers from the University of Minnesota’s BioTechnology Institute (BTI) have uncovered an enzyme that will make detecting melamine in milk, ice-cream and chocolate drinks easier and less-expensive. The group plans to adapt the test to find melamine in seafood and meat. Melamine contamination in milk products and baby formula proved fatal in China, and was blamed for pet fatalities in foods imported into the U.S.

• It’s a sue-happy world, and Denny’s isn’t alone in court dates: (see above): Applebee’s and Weight Watchers have been hauled into a Cincinnati court over the fat and diet “points” on the Cajun Lime Tilapia by an Ohio woman who claims fraud, negligence, and a conspiracy to conceal the accurate nutritional information from consumers. Applebee’s Weight Watchers’ menus list calories, fat and the number of “points” for each meal to assist those on the Weight Watchers diet system. Other current legal claims against restaurants are one alleging McDonald’s allowed workers infected with Hepatitis A to infect a patron, one that says a patron bit into a condom in the cheese topping of a bowl of French onion soup at a Claim Jumper restaurant in Mission Viejo, CA, and a suit (also filed in New Jersey— is this a trend?) by a nonprofit vegan advocacy group, The Cancer Project, that demands hot dog makers warn consumers with new labels about its claim that the American Institute for Cancer Research links eating 50 g. of processed meat (the amount of a single hot dog) a day to a 21% increased colorectal cancer risk. The American Meat Institute has asked the court to dismiss the suit as frivolous.

• And in a final, sad note (though one tinged with lawyerly elements in keeping with the item above), another beloved celebrity has passed on: Gidget, the Chihuahua who played Nacho in the famous series of Taco Bell commercials has died at 15. Having made famous the phrase "¡Yo quiero Taco Bell!" she eventually became the focus of a multi-million dollar lawsuit between Taco Bell, their ad agency, and the owners of the Psycho Chihuahua character. The latter successfully established in court that the chain and its agency had stolen their IP by creating a series of ads uncannily like their edgy, talking dog. BSLG president Carole Francesca testified as an expert witness for the plaintiffs, and was later credited by their legal team with destroying Taco Bell’s case. The suit is still under appeal.

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