Sodexo did not respond to the specific queries raised by ET. It, however, added that it had a “cordial relationship” with each of its affiliated partners. Accor Services India said: “We have not heard from any individual merchants on this issue, hence, it is difficult to comment on their position or feeling.”

Many companies that do not have a canteen facility provide employees with meal vouchers, which can be redeemed at designated restaurants or food outlets. The eateries, accepting these coupons, are reimbursed by the meal pass services companies — Sodexo and Accor in this case — after deducting their commissions. Many companies pay a small component of employees’ salaries by way of meal vouchers — up to a maximum of Rs 24,000 per annum — as these are not taxable.

According to the AHAR president Narayana M Alva, both the companies are violating the previously agreed terms. “We have received complaints from our members that Sodexo and Accor have been overcharging commissions, which are way above the agreement, from restaurants,” he said. “They have started levying listing charges, courier charges, etc, and the total charges work out to around 6%. However, as per the agreement, the maximum charge should not exceed 1.5%,” he said, adding that the two firms have not yet responded to their written complaints. Mr Alva’s contention is that such high rates are further putting pressure on the margins of restaurants, which are already witnessing a drop in customers….

GTR will set up ‘Bungee’ stores across the country that will house the two brands. Disney Baby is targeted at 0-4 years while Disney Jeans will target the 4-14-year olds. The company will bring in characters such as baby Mickey Mouse, baby Donald Duck, Pooh and Tigger among others. Speaking exclusively to ET, Hardcastle Restaurants MDAmit Jatia said: “After having dealt with the Indian consumer so closely through McDonald’s for the past 10-12 years, we feel, we have a good sense of their requirements.”

Kids apparel market in India is worth around Rs 13,000 crore, of which, branded retail is nearly Rs 3,000 crore and has been growing at 15-20% YoY. Gini & Jony, Weekender Kids, Ruff and Zapp! are some of the other brands in the kids-wear space.

Mr Jatia said GTR’s USP will be its price point proposition, ie, to offer value-formoney products. “The Indian consumer is price-sensitive and if you do not price your products right, then market penetration will be a challenge,” he said. GTR has opened its first Bungee store in Kalyan, a suburb beyond Mumbai. “Kalyan is a mid-segment market and is a representative of India in many sense. We shall be able to judge consumer reaction much better here,” Mr Jatia said. GTR plans to open 50 stores across 20 towns in 2009-10. Besides Mumbai, the company also plans to look at Hyderabad, Nagpur, Bangalore and Mysore.

Apart from standalone stores, Disney Baby and Disney Jeans will also be available in multi-brand outlets (MBOs) such as Shoppers Stop, Lifestyle and more. While stores in big towns would be owned by GTR, small town presence would be through the franchise route. “We will be looking at a mixture of both, as in outstation stores, a franchise can bring in local expertise which is handy,” Mr Jatia said. GTR will be investing over Rs 50 crore in store launches and market expansion over the next two years.

Arvind Verma, will be the CEO of GTR and will be responsible for the day-to-day running of the business. Mr Verma was head of Levi’s western India business and has over 15 years of experience in the garments industry. While Mr Jatia was very cryptic about what role the Jalan family will play, he said: “To keep our products competitively priced, we will be sourcing a lot of products locally. The Jalans have a lot of experience in the textile and manufacturing business, which will be useful.” What is not clear is whether GTR will be producing goods locally or importing them. But keeping Mr Jatia’s emphasis on price in mind, the Jalan family’s role could be more than just that of a promoter.

The Disney Baby brand internationally includes all kids-care products including food, toys and accessories, but at this stage GTR will only be looking at bringing in apparel products into the country.

While the likes of Future Group, Shoppers Stop, Westside and Reliance Retail are driving the focus on customer relationship management (CRM), restaurant chains like Speciality Restaurants (SRPL) are also gung-ho on the same. “The CRM programmes are important for any retail chain and they work, especially during a recessionary trend. They give customers some comfort and ensure that they keep coming back again and again,” SRPL chairman and MD Anjan Chatterjee told ET.

SRPL’s loyalty programme currently has 70,000-odd customers within its folds, who account for 30-35% of their sales. “We are now planning a marketing blitz to penetrate into 70% of our target audience by July-August,” said Mr Chatterjee.

Within six months, Future Group is planning to roll out a single loyalty programme that spans across formats. The group is currently investing heavily on the IT backbone. Currently, the group’s Green Card loyalty programme at Pantaloons accounts for 55% of sales.

“As the first step towards a uniform loyalty scheme, we have rolled out a prepaidcum-loyalty card in Pune and Kolkata. We’ve clocked nearly Rs 15 crore business out of this. Eventually, we expect 70% of our sales from lifestyle formats to be generated from loyalty scheme customers,” said Future Group president-customer strategies Sandip Tarkas.

Interestingly, Reliance Retail already operates its ‘RelianceOne’ loyalty programme across formats with four million customers. “We see a significant percentage of our sales coming from our loyalty card holders,” said a Reliance Retail spokesperson.

Shoppers Stop has just launched a new loyalty scheme for its hypermarket ‘Hypercity’. “The loyalty programme is a long-term strategic initiative, which drives repeated purchases. We add nearly three lakh customers under loyalty every year,” said Shoppers Stop MD BS Nagesh. As of end-2008, the retailer had more than 11.8 lakh loyalty members.

Westside has relaxed the entry norms for its loyalty programme ‘Clubwest’ to cash in on the large footfalls the store is witnessing due to Nano bookings. Earlier, to become a silver member, one had to shop for Rs 2,000 on one occasion and register. “Now, a customer can enrol for the programme even by shopping for Rs 500 and subsequently get upgraded, if he completes Rs 2,000 billing within three months,” said Westside marketing-head Smeeta Neogi. The chain currently has over eight lakh members, who generate over 50% of sales.

As food chains nationwide boost brew sales, the O’Hara grocery chain is asking the state Liquor Control Board to transfer a restaurant liquor license to a Giant Eagle Market District store expected to open this fall at the new Settlers Ridge development in Robinson. Giant Eagle is pursuing other licenses, including one for a store in Pine.

Wegmans and other grocers in the state have opened cafe-style areas in some stores that sell six-packs of beer along with other beverages. The small, in-store restaurants allow them to take advantage of recent legal interpretations of Pennsylvania’s restrictive liquor code, which bars most sales from grocery stores.

Now it’s Giant Eagle’s turn.

Spokesman Dick Roberts said Giant Eagle has yet to work out some details, such as what brands of beer it might sell, but one thing’s certain: Pennsylvania’s licensed beer distributors will fight before the Robinson store or others ring up their first sales.

The Malt Beverage Distributors Association is challenging each license transfer to go before the LCB. A board hearing examiner will schedule a public hearing in the Pittsburgh area before a final vote on Giant Eagle’s license for the Robinson supermarket, said LCB spokeswoman Francesca Chapman.

Mary Lou Hogan, executive secretary and counsel for the Philadelphia-based distributors association, said grocery chains are stripping away beer sales from neighborhood businesses that only can sell it by the case or keg, without having to follow the same rules such as limits on hours.

Peggy Alston worries sales will fall at her family’s Pike Beverage Outlet, a distributorship about two miles from Giant Eagle’s Settlers Ridge site.

“I’m not allowed to sell flowers or groceries or baked goods for extra income, but Sheetz and then Wegmans and now Giant Eagle can get licenses to sell beer,” she said. “It’s another slap in the face for small businesses, and for the customers it will mean limited choice and service.”

Another nearby Giant Eagle supermarket sends customers from other states who are used to buying beer in grocery stores to her business, Alston said.

Nationwide beer sales last year weakened in bars, restaurants and other businesses where customers typically drink on-site, while they increased 1.2 percent in grocery and convenience stores, the Beer Institute said.

“Beer and wine sales are critically important to supermarket sales,” said retail analyst Burt P. Flickinger III. While the profit margin on most groceries might be 1 or 2 cents on the dollar, he said, it averages 3 to 4 cents on beer sales.

Pennsylvania’s liquor laws hurt consumers, regional brewers such as Lawrenceville’s Iron City Brewing Co. and grocers, he said.

“When you have one of the most inefficient distribution systems in America, it adds tremendous costs for consumers and it penalizes the sales and operating profits of food retailers who, were they able to sell beer, could compete more effectively with the Wal-Marts and Sam’s and other big players,” he said.

Consumers, too, have differing opinions.

“Buying beer and wine (at the supermarket) is like getting milk and bread,” said Rob Hornison of Hempfield.

Colleen Friedline, 55, of Export opposes loosening liquor restrictions.

“There’s enough temptation for people to go out and get drunk, to ruin their lives and the lives of their families … and kill other people,” she said.

Pennsylvania’s restrictions on beer sales are thought to be the second-tightest in the nation, behind Utah, said Cris Hoel, a Pittsburgh attorney who has represented alcohol trade associations and grocery chains, but isn’t involved in the cases here.

The state’s tough stance on liquor, including its controlled beer-distribution system, dates to the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, when states were told to set their own laws.

Then-Gov. Gifford Pinchot, an ardent alcohol foe, reluctantly accepted its legalization.

“He did his best to make sure the laws were as harshly worded as they could be,” Hoel said. “We’re still living with the remnants of that today.”

Subsequent attempts to loosen controls went nowhere. Gov. Dick Thornburgh ran into opposition from religious and other groups in 1981, when he tried to sell off state liquor stores. Later privatization attempts by Gov. Tom Ridge in 1997 and, most recently, state Sen. Rob Wonderling, R-Montgomery County, failed.

Hoel noted one reason for maintaining the status quo: Pennsylvania’s wine and liquor sales generated $1.76 billion last year, putting $433 million into the state Treasury.

With the licenses it’s seeking, Giant Eagle couldn’t sell alcoholic beverages on shelves, as it does in Ohio. The Pennsylvania stores would partition off areas with at least 400 square feet that seat 30 or more people, serve food prepared on site and ring up their own sales.

Customers could buy the equivalent of up to two six-packs to carry out or order a beer or glass of wine to drink at the restaurant.

Wegmans was the first supermarket chain to open restaurants and sell beer in Eastern Pennsylvania, and Commonwealth Court in February upheld the licenses. The beer distributors association is waiting for the state Supreme Court to decide whether it will consider a further appeal.

Wegmans has obtained or is applying for licenses for 14 stores, according to the Liquor Control Board’s Web site. In addition to Giant Eagle’s applications, Weis Markets and Whole Foods Markets are moving toward beer sales in Pennsylvania.

The license for Giant Eagle’s Robinson store is the first to go before the LCB for approval. Supervisors in Pine, where a large, new-concept Giant Eagle opened in February, have scheduled a May 4 public hearing on a license transfer.

Nandos, Hey Potato, KFC and Nineteen Ten Mexican Kitchen have signed up to be part of the new development, which will comprise 16 food outlets and three restaurants with open plan kitchens and grills.

Neil Huntington, development director for Westfield, said: “We are delighted to announce the project and these signings. Interest in the scheme has been solid and we expect to announce more names very soon.

“The success of the dining offers at Westfield Derby and Westfield London show the potential to evolve the traditional ‘food court’ model. At Merry Hill we plan to attract a fascinating mix of contemporary and traditional operators, combining tastes from around the world to make sure there is something for everyone.”

The restaurants will face a new centre entrance and car park – which will be themed with street-side dining and landscaping.

Nandos, Hey Potato, KFC and Nineteen Ten Mexican Kitchen have signed up to be part of the new development, which will comprise 16 food outlets and three restaurants with open plan kitchens and grills.

Neil Huntington, development director for Westfield, said: “We are delighted to announce the project and these signings. Interest in the scheme has been solid and we expect to announce more names very soon.

“The success of the dining offers at Westfield Derby and Westfield London show the potential to evolve the traditional ‘food court’ model. At Merry Hill we plan to attract a fascinating mix of contemporary and traditional operators, combining tastes from around the world to make sure there is something for everyone.”

The restaurants will face a new centre entrance and car park – which will be themed with street-side dining and landscaping.

Until January last year, Wharton graduate Kunal Bahl and his IIT batchmate Rohit Bansal could be spotted across restaurants and retail outlets in Delhi suburbs trying to sell discount coupons to both owners and their potential customers. 

Nine months later, Blockbuster had gone belly up, and Redbox was second only to Netflix as a source of inexpensive movie rentals, solidifying its place as a dominant player in the U.S. home-entertainment market.

At the end of 2010, Redbox operated 30,200 self-service machines dispensing movie DVDs for a dollar a day at supermarkets, drugstores, fast-food restaurants and other places shoppers regularly visit. Redbox took in nearly $1.2 billion last year, accounting for 80 percent of Coinstar’s total revenue.

Bellevue-based Coinstar began buying into Redbox in 2005, when it was a fledgling McDonald’s venture, and took full ownership in 2009.

Although Coinstar has since sold businesses unrelated to Redbox and its namesake coin-counting machines, it continues to look for the next big thing in automated retail.

Redbox, for example, will add video-game rentals costing $2 a day to more than 21,000 locations nationwide by July 1.

Also, Coinstar has injected an undisclosed amount of money into ecoATM, a new venture that seeks to provide a convenient way for people to get cash for their old electronic devices, such as cellphones and iPods.

Still, whether 2011 has a happy ending for Coinstar could depend on what Redbox does next.

Some on Wall Street have grown impatient with Redbox’s indeterminate plans to introduce a video-streaming service on top of physical disc rentals.

In February, Redbox President Mitch Lowe told analysts the company was getting closer to finding an online partner for an unlimited streaming offer to take on Netflix. But the company has said only that full details will be released this year.

Boston Pizza International’s new smaller-scale store design, at about 4,100 square feet, is expected to make it “more affordable than ever to own a Boston Pizza franchise,” the company said in a statement Thursday.

The new store template is an opportunity “perfect for markets that were previously challenging due to market size or real estate availability,” said Ken Otto, the Toronto-based chain’s chief operating officer.

“One of our core pillars is a focus on franchisee profitability. This new prototype delivers against this by offering a reduced size model that is perfect for smaller communities.”

In terms of occupancy, the new space would allow for 140 seats with a 50-seat patio and would include both the “welcoming family restaurant and… lively sports bar” now seen in the chain’s larger outlets.

By comparison, the typical Boston Pizza building currently takes up 6,000-6,500 square feet, with capacity for 180-225 seats plus patio seating for 50-75.

“We believe a multi-channel approach to real estate and development is the best way to expand the Boston Pizza brand and extend our dominance in the casual dining category,” Otto said Thursday.

The company in recent months also made moves to expand its presence beyond the suburban landscape where it’s most often now seen, by developing stores in “prime urban locations” across the country and in “non-traditional” sites such as hotels, sports venues and strip malls.

“We are looking at building on the success of our urban prototype in Toronto in other major markets as well as growing through the opening of new stores in smaller, more rural communities that we haven’t entered yet,” Otto said.

Born out of an Edmonton restaurant, Boston Pizza and Spaghetti House, in 1964, the company — which then included 44 stores — was bought in 1983 by then-franchisee Jim Treliving and partner George Melville, who oversaw its expansions into Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada.

The chain, which booked gross sales of $853 million in 2010, also began southward expansion in 2000 under the name Boston’s The Gourmet Pizza, now including about 50 U.S. outlets and three in Mexico.