Business News Online

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Fast-food chain Jack in the Box has pulled toys from its kids’ meals, a spokesman told Reuters on Tuesday.

The move, which managers at Los Angeles outlets said took effect on Thursday, comes as fast-food companies are under pressure to stop using toys to market children’s meals that are high in calories, sugar, fat and salt.

Lawmakers in San Francisco and nearby Santa Clara County have passed laws that will require kids’ meals to meet certain nutritional standards before they can be sold with toys.

“While we’ve been aware of efforts to ban the inclusion of toys in kids’ meals, that did not drive our decision,” Jack in the Box spokesman Brian Luscomb said.

“Our advertising and promotions have focused exclusively on the frequent fast-food customer, not children,” added Randy Carmical, also a Jack in the Box spokesman.

Carmical said the San Diego-based company has been more focused on the food in its meals for children, such as grilled cheese sandwiches or grilled chicken strips. Read more…

At least R2-billion was being lost to the fiscus each year because of the abuse of Section 45 of the Income Tax Act, South African Revenue Service and treasury officials said this week.

The provision in the Act allows companies to make tax-neutral intra-group transfers, but Sars and the treasury believe it was being used to garner tax deductions that companies would not normally qualify for.

The concerns prompted the unexpected suspension of Section 45 — part of a suite of proposed amendments to tax laws currently before Parliament. According to the explanatory memorandum on the amendments, Section 45 has been used by companies to facilitate leveraged buy-outs involving significant debt that eliminates the profits of the target businesses for years.

A Sars official who did not want to be named said the cost to the fiscus was conservatively estimated at R2-billion. Read more…

One of the most common pieces of advice to people thinking of starting a small business is to do what they love.

I’ve even given this advice myself. (Have a look at Top 10 Tips for Starting a Small Business That Will Succeed, for instance.)

But years of advising people who want to start their own businesses and watching them go through the start up process has taught me that I was wrong.

Here’s why doing what you love is a bad idea if you’re starting a small business – and what you should do instead.

New Hanover Police Chief Kevin McKeon, New Hanover Fire Rescue Chief Phil Agliano with Screwball and Wawa’s Wally Goose. Photo courtesy Paula Bickelman

Sarah and Ethan Bender of Boyertown and Kyle Furey of New Hanover Fire Rescue explore a ladder truck. Photo courtesy Paula Bickelman

GILBERTSVILLE — Kids and parents alike — as well as the Reading Phillies mascot Screwball and the Wawa mascot Wally Goose — attended Safety Day June 18 at the Wawa on the corner of Swamp Pike and Charlotte Street/Route 663.

The free event included appearances by personnel and vehicles from New Hanover Fire Rescue, New Hanover Police and Gilbertsville Ambulance. Attendees enjoyed free health screenings, car seat checks, ladder rides, games, and a child ID event offered by Liberty Mutual Group.

DETROIT (AP) — Cars that are redesigned or completely new for the 2011 model year had more quality problems, partly because of glitches in navigation systems and other dashboard technology.

J.D. Power released its annual survey of new vehicle quality Thursday. Lexus, Honda and Acura were the top performers. Dodge was the worst-performing brand.

The survey questioned 78,000 people about the problems they had with 2011 model-year vehicles in the first three months of ownership.

Owners reported an average of 107 problems per 100 vehicles. That jumped to 122 problems for cars that were all-new or redesigned.

Ford dropped from fifth place to 23rd. The company says it has since improved its My Ford Touch voice-activated system.

The Toyota brand jumped 14 spots to seventh place, but Toyota introduced few new products in 2011.

Africa’s second-largest food retailer, Pick n Pay, announced on Thursday that it was opening its first store in Mozambique, located in Maputo.

The Maputo store is about 3 500 square metres and will include a clothing and liquor offering.

Pick n Pay’s head of group enterprises, Dallas Langman, said: “The Mozambique market offers good opportunities to present a high-quality offering from Pick n Pay.

“Our stores will present an appealing array of products to Maputo residents which they may not have encountered before, offering substantial competition to other retailers in the Mozambican market,” continued Langman.

Pick n Pay signed a franchise territorial agreement with retail franchising group Retail Masters in Mozambique, providing it with the essential benefit of expert insights into the local market.

The new store has already employed 250 Mozambican citizens and Langman said the group aimed to support local suppliers as much as possible.

Pick n Pay’s expansion into Mozambique follows the opening of its second outlet in Zambia, in March.

The group’s strategy of expanding into Africa has mainly been through partnering with locals or selling franchises to locals. Read more…