It was least two years ago that we wrote that the Carl’s Jr. hamburger chain was about to come into Canada and that 100 stores were planned for the first phase of their development. I believe it was the owner of Rickie’s All Day All Night dinners. That company picked up the Fat Burger franchise for Canada in the meantime. The Carl’s Jr. people are showing at the franchise show in Vancouver this month. Not sure exactly what that means to the future of the brand in Canada.
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Vancouver based 20/20 Properties Ltd. who formally developed the LakeStone site in Lake Country and then after repeated tries of marketing the project, sold out to a couple of entrepreneurs.
The $1.5 billion resort community was to have everything including an 18-hole championship golf course, hotel resort, spa, marina and in the plans, a winery. The company had spent a fortune on the infrastructure for the development.
We have learned that both Bob Macdonald and Derek Tretheway are involved and that $16 million changed hands as they took control of the property. The MacDonald group have been very busy in the Okanagan these past few years with good properties in The Lakes in Lake Country, Outback Resort in Vernon, and The Cove in West Kelowna. The group handled millions of dollars worth of real estate very successfully.
Well that same company, 20/20 Properties, had bought former Ski Smithers facilities in 2008 and announced plans they would proceed with a $75 million expansion. At the time John Murphy the CEO of 20/20 said the money was in place. As in everything in those days the key was always the real estate and 243 single-family lots were for sale. So far fifteen building lots have been purchased. My sources in the business say they believe the project will proceed.
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Be careful out there is you’re attending events for jewelry being presented for auction in hotel meeting rooms. The operators place an ad in the newspaper and make it look as governed and official as they possibly can. They seem to be around more these days.
I also think you should think twice about selling your gold in the same manner from these gold buyers that show up in hotel meetings rooms and they want to buy your gold. Anything you have in gold they’ll take but you are not going to get the best or most honest deal. Seek out someone in the business and find out what your gold is worth. For sure, don’t be sending your gold in the mail to some company you've never heard of. There are a lot of scammers working the circuit right now.
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The beer industry in Canada has long been in control of the big guys in the business. Carlings, O’Keefe, Labatt, Molson, Dow, and those favorite local brewers across who competed in their provinces. Then came the craft brewers and one Anthony Von Mandl who used his vision for the industry to contract for what some brewers have always called one of the best brews in world, Mexico’s Corona. Mandl brought Corona to Canada in 1986 and it was one of the most successful imported beers ever in this country. This lasted until 2007 when the Mexican brewer canceled his contract and Molson was given the distribution contract for Canada.
Von Mandl is going back into the beer business in a big way as he launches $20 million Stanley Park brewing. This is the man who has created within his Mark Anthony Group Inc. a very successful winery in Mission Hill Family Estate Winery and the popular money maker, Mike’s Hard Lemonade, distributed in Canada and the United States.
This is unheard of in this country for that much money to be invested in a craft brewery when $1 million would have built a fine craft brewery. The Annacis Island based brewery has all new equipment, new tanks and the best in beer making technology.
Craft beers grew by 23.63% in the past year in B.C. The man knows what he is doing and we will watch with interest.
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We all know of the success of Tim Hortons in Canada with their 3200 restaurants across the country and one of the most successful brands in this
Country. We know this because every time we want something at Tim Hortons we’re in a lineup.
The average store in Canada brings in about $2 million in sales a year. The company’s biggest problems still seems to be the U.S. market, where they announced just the other day they were closing some stores because they just were not profitable. In New England there are thirty six in total. Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut have also seen some closings. Another twenty as well this year. The president of the company assured everyone that they would continue to expand in the U.S. with 600 locations on the books for the future focusing on the Midwest and Northeast.
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What’s happening at The Conservatory site these days? They tell me some work on the roof because of some leaks. Hard to confirm because no one speaks for this property anymore with full management under the control of Conexus the investing group of the Credit Unions in Saskatchewan.
My readers can’t figure out why they don’t give up on the mess in Kelowna and make a deal with a developer that could take the property to conclusion
and get some people living there.
This wasn’t going to work from the day it started and something has to be done. Does the City have the power to make a contractor finish a project or does it just sit there forever?
I know it’s a hefty loss but don’t investors sometimes have to step back, take a look at what they have and realize it's time to get out from behind the eight ball and move on?
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With the dollar hitting parity, slipping a bit below and the experts saying it will probably hit and stay for sometime, we immediately get the e-mails about why the U.S. products imported into Canada aren’t less expensive right away.
It doesn’t work that way folks no matter what you believe and if the dollar were to stay even with the U.S. dollar we wouldn’t see changes in prices for many weeks because the goods are already in the system and have been paid for.
The views expressed are strictly those of the author and not necessarily those of Castanet. Castanet does not warrant the contents.
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