060107: Not Business as Usual: Big plans for China

Big plans for China

Lucio Tan may not have any short-term plans to put up another hotel in the country but he certainly has big plans for China. Tan’s 48-story Eton Hotel in Shanghai is now operational and has “borrowed” Century Park Hotel general manager Paul Gill to run the business. (As a result, Century Park’s officer-in-charge is comptroller Daniel Sy). Another hotel, this time in Xiamen (read: hometown of most Chinese-Filipinos), is in the works.   *****  Several big Philippine-based consumer goods advertisers are in discussions with the sales team of Sparrowhawk Media, which operates the Hallmark channel in Asia, for placements in The Oprah Winfrey Show starting this Monday. Unlike other cable channels that also feature Winfrey’s hugely successful program, Hallmark will be airing the current season (read: only two weeks behind the United States, which is already in the middle of the show’s 20th season).  *****  The Presidential Commission on Good Government will be quietly rebidding the MetroWalk property in Pasig within the next two weeks. You see, the current four-year lease ended yesterday. There’s talk the current lessee, which includes former Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis “Chavit” Singson among its stockholders, will negotiate for a new 10-year lease. There’s also talk that a new multistory building will be put up to accommodate more “gimmick places.”   *****  Did you know 1: There’s a sign near Metro Manila’s international airport that a Marriott Hotel is on the rise. This will be the country’s second Marriott Hotel, which basically caters to businessmen. The first Mariott Hotel is a joint venture with Ayala Land Inc. in Cebu City.  Did you know 2: Banana leaves used in the restaurant business as plates (read: the best kind is called butuan because the fruit has lots of seeds) go for about P4 each in the wet market. These are sold in bundles of 25 leaves. At the farm level, the price of each leaf is only 50 centavos.   *****  Here’s an interesting franchising concept. A variant of the rent-to-own concept, it is  being pushed by Association of Filipino Franchisers Inc. member Carson Tan for his Magic Waffle brand. Basically aimed at would-be-franchisers who are not quite sure that this is the business for them, Tan’s  model calls for minimum three-month commitment, broken down into cash upfront for the lease of P15,000 and a security bond of P35,000. After the third month, the franchisee could opt to close (in which case, the security bond is returned) or could decide to go on (in which case, he has two choices): The franchisee can choose to either pay for the three-year franchise at P5,000 a month over a two-year period  or pay a lump sum of P50,000.

 

http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/0601&022007/companies05.html