Round Table Pizza isn’t the only U.S. brand to have discovered Mongolia, a country of 2.8 million people, best known for its 13th century bloodthirsty ruler Genghis Khan. Beef ‘O’ Brady, the Tampa, Florida-based sports bar concept, has signed a master franchise agreement with the Cedars Group, out of Lebanon. The first unit is slated for the capital city of Ulaanbaatar. Beef ‘O’ Brady also has deals in several Middle Eastern countries.
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Focus Brands’ Cinnabon has signed a master franchise deal to develop multiple cinnamon roll shops in the Republic of Georgia, a former Soviet Union territory. Under the agreement, Sam Samuelyan and Stepan Panosyan of Brand City LLC will open seven stores in Georgia within the next six years. The first location will open next year in Georgia’s capital, Tbilisi. BrandCity also operates Cinnabons in Armenia, where its headquarters is located. Other brands operated by the company are KIA Motors, Paul Bakeries, Segafredo Zanetti coffee shops and Southern Fried Chicken. Cinnabon, based in Atlanta, has more than 1,000 locations in 55 countries.
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A DoubleTree by Hilton has opened in Chinchwad-Primpri, twin cities in the Pune district in the state of Maharashtra, India. The area is a major industrial hub for the country. DoubleTree has also signed a deal for its fourth property in Spain, and third one in Barcelona.
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FastSigns has added six new centers in Canada, bringing the total number of centers there to 22. Franchisee Philip Zakem and three partners signed an agreement for four locations, three of which will be new and the fourth, a conversion of their existing independent sign business. The other two agreements were by separate owners. The Carrollton, Texas-based franchisor has 540 sign, graphic and visual communications centers in eight countries. In Australia, it operates under the name Signwave.
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Kinderdance’s rookie of the year award went to its area developer for India, Kirthana Ramarapu, who is also a franchisee. One of Ramarapu’s duties, along with mentoring her nine sub franchisees, is selling Indian parents on the value of teaching young children dance and movement.
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U.S. Department of Commerce is looking for U.S. franchise companies interested in Iraq’s market to serve as panelists for a training program and business study tour Sept. 21 to 26, to Erbil, Iraq and participate in the Erbil International Fair, according to the IFA Smart Brief. In 2012, the fair had 850 exhibitor booths from 22 countries and more than 40,000 attendees. For more information, contact Pauline Shams, Iraq Investment and Reconstruction Task Force at (202) 482-4974.
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Louisville, Kentucky-based KFC was named the most powerful brand in China by a two-year study by brand-equity firm Millward Brown, that surveyed 60,000 people, according to Fox News. That’s no small feat, seeing that it had to beat out not only McDonald’s but also Coca-Cola for the honor.
