Fast food icon and head of the burger franchise mogul Jack Box has been tragically struck by a bus in the company’s current darkly comic viral video series.

The breaking news and ongoing coverage of the traumatic event is being playfully deployed through online social media outlets including YouTube, flickr, Twitter, blogs and elsewhere.

Here are the first three faux-amateur videos in the series are featured on franchise marketing blog FranchisorMarketing.com:
Jack in the Box Icon Hit by Bus: Official Statement

Jack in the Box Icon Hit by Bus: Phil Speaks Out

Jack in the Box Icon Suffers Massive Head Trauma

Feel free to leave well wishes, comments and/or criticisms for Jack in the Box and Jack Box below.

Sean Kelly is a 20 year veteran of the franchise industry, and founder of the award-winning marketing firm IdeaFarm. In 2006, he founded the FranBest franchise network, which features the top new franchises, franchise public relations and franchisee relations issues. Contact him at info[at]ideafarm.net.

Photo credit: cheetahchristina License: Creative Commons

How can McDonald’s make money selling 99-cent burgers? That’s what Eric Kuang at Seeking Alpha wondered.  Then Kuang, founder of GuruFocus Capital Management, LLC., answered his own question… reinforced with some compelling stats showing why McDonald’s is thriving while others are struggling:

Well, maybe the company doesn’t make money off the 99-Cent burgers. Instead, the 99-Cent burgers are its symbols for value to attract customers. Once the customers are in the store or in the drive-thru line, they are bound to buy things other than 99-Cent burgers. They make money off those menu items, such as big Macs, hash browns, soft drinks, and all the other more expensive items.

As a matter of fact, according to the data available in Gurufocus, the gross margin for the fast food chain was 24.3% ten years ago in 1998, then it shrank to 13.7% in 2002, but has made a major comeback in recent years. In 2007, it was back to 24.3% again, and as of September 30, 2008, McDonald’s gross margin was at 28.4%, a high for the past ten years.

Gross margin is all important in determining whether a company worth the investment money…. despite the carnage of the general market, McDonald’s was up about 2% for the year 2008 whereas S&P declined 38.5%.

Kuang attributes McDonald’s sustained success to what Warren Buffett calls an “Economic Moat.”  Of companies with an Economic Moat, Buffett writes:  “The might of their brand names, the attributes of their products, and the strength of their distribution systems give them an enormous competitive advantage, setting up a protective moat around their economic castles.”

While that’s certainly true, I think many franchise companies that are doing well, like McDonald’s and Church’s Chicken (see CHURCH’S CHICKEN: Thriving in Hard Times), share another important trait:

They were already positioned for hard times before the hard times hit.

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Not every franchise chain is suffering in the recession. In fact, those who are positioned to meet the needs of the increasingly budget-conscious consumer are thriving.

Church’s Chicken is one whose “value leader” positioning makes it well-suited for the harder times to come. The Atlanta-based restaurant chain, which has 1,625 stores, posted both overall and same-store sales increases in 2008, and is projecting continued sales growth in 2009.

According to figures released by the company Friday, total global sales at Church’s restaurants rose 5 percent to $1.15 billion, marking the the fifth straight year of system-wide sales increases. Same-store sales at existing stores rose 2.7 percent —- up 3 percent at U.S. restaurants and 2.1 percent at international outlets.

Farnaz Wallace, Church’s executive vice president and chief marketing officer, attibutes its success to Church’s strategy of catering to a low-income, multicultural customers.

Church’s maintains a “no-frills” positioning of fried chicken at a low price. Church’s recently launched out a 99-cent value menu that includes a chicken sandwich, nuggets, fries, jalapeno cheese bombers, and a piece of dark chicken and a biscuit.

Church’s anticipates same-store sales to rise 2.5 percent to 3 percent in 2009.

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TanWorld: Creating the Next-Generation Tanning Salon Franchise

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Source:  Ad Age

When it comes to fast-feeders, the quirky viral video has largely been the domain of Burger King. But square-burger marketer Wendy’s is trying to get the buzz headed its way with a new video called “Crazy Lettuce.”

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…Wendy’s worked with Kirshenbaum Bond & Partners, New York, on the video…

…The work is its first effort in the space and a stark departure for the chain…

So far, results for the film are mixed. Reviews are overwhelmingly positive on MySpace, where it has received 82,000 views, and heavily negative on YouTube, where it picked up about 16,000.

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Mr. DeBellis said it’s difficult to set a bar for success for “Crazy Lettuce,” which was done for $25,000, while the average TV commercial costs more than $300,000.

Wendy’s could use a home run. Second-quarter net income fell 32% on higher commodity costs and sluggish sales. Same-store sales were up only 0.1% at company-owned restaurants, and 1.1% at franchised locations.

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TanWorld: Creating the Next-Generation Tanning Salon Franchise

OVERVIEW Interview with Tanworld V.P. Bob McQuillan

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(FranchisePick.Com) What began as the dream of owning a thriving fast food franchise restaurant has ended in bizarre story of arson & suicide, leaving a retail area in ruins, one man badly burned and facing charges, a franchise owner dead by her own hand, a husband without his wife or business, and three children without a mother.

According to The Province:

The [Taco Del Mar] fast-food, taco-and-burrito outlet exploded Feb. 13. The blast at 686 West Broadway also destroyed an adjacent Starbucks, damaged other nearby businesses, blew debris across the six-lane roadway and sent shattered glass flying hundreds of metres.”It was miraculous no one else was injured,” said police spokesman Const. Tim Fanning. “It was an absolute war zone.”

Police believe the damage, amounting to more than $2 million, resulted from a bungled arson attempt in which a flammable liquid combined with air, causing an explosion. Four litres of gasoline, mixed with air, can explode with the force of 15 sticks of dynamite.

A witness living nearby said he saw a man running from the area after the 2:30 a.m. explosion, shedding charred clothing.

Investigators believe that man was Kamaljeet Singh Josan, 31, a friend of Taco Del Mar franchise owners Manjeet Kaur Nandha and Harjit Singh Nandha. Josan sustained burns to more than 40% of his body.

According to NP Posted:

The body Manjeet Kaur Nandha, 42, who lived in Surrey with her husband and three children, was found three days later in Howe Sound. It appeared as though she had taken her own life….

Global TV reported that Nandha left a suicide note saying she took her life because she couldn’t bear the suspicion surrounding her family.

The Nandhas’ large home in Newton is up for sale, but Kevin Hansen, chief operating officer of Taco Del Mar’s franchising division, said there was nothing suspicious about the destroyed store’s finances.

“The store performed at market average or slightly better,” Hansen said from his office in Seattle.

Kamaljeet Singh Josan, who has burn scars on his face and an elastic burn glove on his right hand, has been released on $20,000 bail and been ordered to stay away from Manjit Nandha, matches and lighters.

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