Archive for May, 2011
New legislation in restaurant franchising
In the future, when you eat out at a restaurant franchise in the United States, you may find some unpalatable figures printed next to the mouth-watering descriptions – the fat, sodium, cholesterol and calorie content of every choice on the menu. Will you still fancy that burger and fries if you know that it is going to “cost” you 850 calories as well as over half of your daily fat or sodium allowance?
With obesity a major health concern in the United States, maybe Americans need the truth about what they eat at restaurant franchises. After all, shouldn’t restaurant food have the same labelling standards as the food we cook in our own homes? Nutritional information on packaged foods is required under law by the Nutrition Labeling Education Act (NLEA) and much in the same way, the new Labeling Education and Nutrition Act (LEAN) will create a national standard for the restaurant industry. Up until now, various states have enforced their own standards, which has created an inconsistent, patchy and confusing set of local laws. The LEAN Act will provide a national standard through the United States and will compel restaurant franchises and other eaterie chains with at least twenty locations to display the calorie count of its food items. Chains would also be required to give customers additional nutritional information, including fat, sodium and cholesterol content. It is, however, expected that there will be some exceptions. For example, many restaurant franchises have self-serve buffets and, in such cases, the nutritional information disclosed is likely to be based upon an “average” serving. The nutritional content of multi-serve items (such as pizzas intended for two or more persons) would be on a per-serving basis.
Tags: calorie content, calorie count, cholesterol content, franchise association, national franchise, new legislation, nlea, nutritional content, restaurant franchise, restaurant franchisesRelated posts
Are loans for small business dead?
During the economic meltdown many companies and organizations had suffered huge losses. But badly affected were the small businesses. They were denied loans by the banks in the fear of going bankrupt during the crisis period. The government of many countries imposed new laws and regulations which prevented these banks from giving loans at low interest rates to small enterprises.
Governments do not mean to prevent them from giving loans but the rules improvised by them to restore normalcy are producing the obstruction. So does that mean small business funding should be stopped completely? Loans for small businesses are dead? Fortunately the answer is no. No need to lose hope if you are thinking of a loan to start your small business.
Tags: costly mistake, crisis period, economic scenario, getting a loan, loans for small businesses, low interest rates, normalcy, retirement plans, small business administration, small business fundingRelated posts