By Steve Rhodes
1. “Groupon Malaysia, a subsidiary of Chicago-based Groupon, aims to double its local business e-commerce to 80 per cent by year-end,” Bernama reports.
Not if its ad team has anything to do with it.
*
Breaking: “Groupon Yanks TV Ads.”
2. Poll Finds That 92% Of Chicagoans Lack Enlightened Political Views.
3. “Emanuel, comfortably ahead in the polls, never responded to any of the criticism and after the debate, left the site, Kennedy-King College, without stopping to take questions from reporters as all the other candidates did.”
Maybe he was in a hurry to get to another speech he was giving on transparency.
4. “A landmark, homegrown Central Florida beer distributorship with 500 employees across the region and a half-century presence in Brevard County will be purchased by the 25th largest privately held company in America, the companies announced on Thursday,” Florida Today reports.
“Chicago-based Reyes Holdings, LLC., a $12 billion a year food and beer distribution conglomerate, said its subsidiary, Florida Distributing Company, LLC., will acquire Schenck Company.”
*
Reyes is actually based in Rosemont – and it’s actually moved up to the 20th largest private company in America, according to Forbes, which says:
“Through its operating subsidiaries, Reyes Holdings is a wholesale food and beverage distributor in North and South America. The company’s beer operations in California, Illinois, Virginia, and Washington D.C. make up the largest beer distribution system in the United States.
“Its Martin-Brower subsidiary is the exclusive distributor to approximately half of the McDonald’s in the U.S., and all the chain’s restaurants in Canada, Brazil and Central America.
“Subsidiary Reinhart FoodService serves fast-food chains like Burger King and Subway.
“Reyes Holdings also provides logistics services and manages a portfolio of real estate properties.”
*
Forbes lists the Reyes family as the 205th most wealthy in America.
*
J. Christopher Reyes is a relatively modest campaign contributor, though described by the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform as a “career patron” of former lieutenant governor Corinne Wood.
*
Last October, Reyes reportedly bought the West Buttermilk estate in Aspen for $31.5 million.
*
Reyes is also on the new Chicago Convention & Tourism Bureau board.
4. “Ryan Dempster Cuts Price On Home Near Wrigley.”
He’s not leaving Chicago; he’s merely upgraded to a different house a few blocks away.
Anyway, here are the details:
“Built in 2005, the three-story, 5,300-square-foot brick and limestone home that Dempster is trying to sell has 4 1/2 baths, four fireplaces, a master suite with a spa bath, Brazilian cherry hardwood floors, a large gourmet kitchen with a butler’s pantry and breakfast nook, a party room on the top floor, a sauna, lower-level media room and a wine cellar. Outside on the 3,000-square-foot property are two cedar decks, a hot tub and a 2 1/2-car garage.”
5. “He might not be Superman, Batman or Iron Man, but Tim Davis plays an equally heroic role for his customers: Comic Book Man,” the SouthtownStar reports.
“Davis, 51, of Tinley Park, is the owner of Alternate Reality, a comic book store on Chicago’s Southwest Side.”
6. “Chicagoans don’t put mayonnaise on their hot dogs, but Brownsvillians do, so it was inevitable that cultures would clash over condiments at Mike’s Taste of Chicago, a new eatery at 1244 International Blvd.,” the Brownsville (Texas) Herald reports.
“McCreary opened Taste of Chicago with his wife, Letty, a Brownsville native, just a few weeks ago. But he comes by the business honestly, since his family owned Ralph’s, a hot dog mainstay at Polk and Western in Chicago for 25 years.”
*
“McCreary’s menu features other Chicago-style fare such as Italian beef and Italian sausage sandwiches, as well as the ‘Maxwell Street Polish,’ a Polish sausage sandwich prepared with sweet grilled onions that’s been a Chicago specialty since the late 1930s. Less traditional menu items include the ‘Sears Tower,’ a third-pound hamburger topped with cheese and a quarter pound of pastrami, served on a kaiser bun.”
7. “Chicago Pneumatic, one of world’s leading providers of various types of tools for the construction industry, has announced its increased activity and expansion plans for the Indian market in 2011, which include launch of several new products and comprehensively covering the Indian market through more and bigger distributors over the period of next few months,” India InfoLine reports.
*
It’s not clear to me whether this company has anything to do with Chicago.
8. “This has been a rough week in Indonesia, especially for religious minorities,” our very own Brett McNeil writes in Indonesian Journal: Obama’s Beacon Of Hope Is Sorely Tested.
“While the rest of the world watches to see whether widespread grassroots protest can or will yield real political change in Egypt, Indonesians find themselves wondering how to address a recidivist and religiously motivated backslide that threatens the future of pluralism in this undeniably multicultural and putatively tolerant nation-state.
9. Bill & Giuliana, Nivea Romance Couple.
10. The Real Rahm.
11. Robbie Fulks vs. Christina Aguilera.
12. Studs Terkel Book Made Into Musical With Songs By James Taylor.
13. The Week in Chicago Rock.
–
The Beachwood Tip Line: Accept no substitutes.
Posted on February 11, 2011