Thanks Portfolio Plus. A few things: I neglected to ask the CFO...

Thanks Portfolio Plus. A few things:

I neglected to ask the CFO about European Garages - it'd help if RFG worked more closely with these folks.

Gloria Jeans has 200 stores in Turkey and half a dozen in Pakistan. No offence intended but if GJ is doing OK in these basket-case economies, RFG needs to to get a move on and carefully roll out sustainable stores elsewhere. Competent partners need to be recruited and I am hoping head office in Qld is up to the task. Obviously, there's no point rolling out stores that get shuttered-up after a couple of years.

We need experienced, dynamic people at Board level, even if they don't come cheaply. Peter Ritchie was McDonald's first Australian employee and he helped roll out 500 stores before moving on. He's too old for day-to-day stuff, but we need people of his calibre on board to give RFG guidance. I am hoping instos will use their influence in pushing for the same. Are the folks in head office up to it? I sure hope so.

McDonalds franchisees around the world have Owners Associations, through which they can vent, exchange ideas and basically work with the company (rather than against it). Something like this needs to be set up so we don't have the scandalous situation we previously had, with disgruntled franchisees sullying RFG's name and destroying 99% of the company's value.

Back to GJ. I notice Starbucks Japan and its local partner has large stores in places where land is affordable. We can learn from this. It's the very same model McDonalds used long, long ago. And if its good enough for Starbucks and McDonalds, perhaps this idea can get some traction in countries where land prices are not extortionate.