For the last few weeks 7-Eleven has been giving coffee-drinking customers a taste of the November general election by offering them a choice between two coffee cups: blue for Obama or red for McCain.

Okay, we get it. We’ve got ourselves a real problem with the economy.

EXXON-Mobil intends to divest itself of gas station properties, claiming that they no longer meet the investment standards they require. That in itself is a bold face misrepresentation.

7-Eleven wants a network of only franchised stores. That's why it has announced plans to convert its 475 company-stores in Central Florida to franchised units.

Writer's Note: As part of a letter sent to franchisees today, president Chris Dull attached a statement from NexCen's legal department regarding the company's recent announcements.

Despite The Athlete's Foot being Atlanta-based, the signed Franchise Agreement is in Italian, not English. The clauses in Italian is where CEO Giuseppi Musso of Winsport S.A. says that the terms of the franchise agreement were not met by The Athlete's Foot or its subsidiary Athlete's Foot Marketing Europe, located in France. We make no claims to the accuracy of the English translation, which is done by the Italian Master Franchise.

Art. D pag 18. “L'affiliante (TAF) costituirà un comitato di selezione al quale parteciperanno rappresentanti dell'affiliante, dell'affiliato principale e degli affiliati principali degli altri territori. Tale comitato di selezione avrà per obiettivo quello di selezionare, per i negozi della rete di franchising The Athlete's Foot i prodotti piu' idonei alla stagione interessata, oltre a organizzare gli acquisti all'ingrosso."

Musso: The Franchisor must create a Committee together with the Franchisee (Winsport) that will select the products for every season for The Athlete's Foot Stores in Italy. The Committee will organize the wholesale purchasing of the products mentioned (by the way wholesale purchasing never made by TAF). 

Humans and pets go back probably to the beginning of the human race. In many families, the most popular member is their dog. Everyone may be upset at each other, but not at the family dog. Depressed senior citizens snap out of their doldrums when a dog, wagging its tail, comes to visit their nursing home. And it's not just dogs. A restaurant in the heart of Waikiki does a booming business because of its huge, two-story marine aquarium (and their good food).

According to a recent Business Week cover story, Americans now spend $41 billion annually on their pets. To put that into perspective, that’s in excess of what Americans spend on the movies ($10.8 billion), playing video games ($11.6 billion) and listening to recorded music ($10.6 billion) combined!

The Business Week story goes on to say that The American Pet Products Manufacturers Assn. reports that 42% of dogs now sleep in the same bed as their owners, up from 34% in 1998. Their menu has now gone far beyond the dog food of years ago, reflecting the variety of the diets of the humans they live with. Half of all dog owners say they consider their pet's comfort when buying a car, and almost a third buy gifts for their dogs' birthdays.

Hollywood's Movielink Services Acquired for Yet Undisclosed Amount

Blockbuster on Wednesday announced it has bought Movielink, a movie download service owned by Hollywood studios. A source at the Wall Street Journal says that it was for an amount significantly under the $50 million that had been expected back in March.

Hollywood wants to go a different route than the rampant illegal downloads of the music industry. But their 2002 start-up company, MovieLink, failed to get enough traffic. Blockbuster now wants to use the service to compete directly with Netflix's push into movie downloads.Says the WSJ:

But Continues to Sell Franchises 

Reporter's Note: Blue MauMau made arrangements for an interview via email with iSold It's CEO, Ken Sully. After receiving our questions, Mr. Sully declined the interview.

SOLANA BEACH, Calif. (Blue MauMau) - Earlier this year iSold It's CEO Ken Sully wrote an open letter to franchisees in which he stated that "the company has not been profitable since 2004" and that reorganization and liquidation were being considered. Since then a new, “redlined” version of iSold It’s California Uniform Franchise Offering Circular (UFOC) has appeared. Among its first amended words are:

"The iSold It franchise system is still new and unproven. We are concerned about financial losses incurred by many early franchisees. The system is subject to ongoing change as we work to lower overhead, increase revenue and generally improve the profitability of our stores. We cannot and do not guarantee that your store will be profitable, either under the present system or under the system as it evolves." - (page 2 of iSold It's redline UFOC, May 25, 2007)

Franchisees Expected to Spend Some $60,00