Good afternoon.
Guzman y Gomez is closing its US business after failing to establish itself in a market already rich with Mexican food, confirming the American country’s reputation as a “graveyard” for Australian fast food companies.
The Mexican-themed chain told shareholders on Friday that the performance of its US stores had not been acceptable, despite its well-publicised plans to “become the best and biggest restaurant company in the world”.
The closures are expected to cost GyG up to US$40m (A$56m) in one-off costs.
The GyG founder and co-chief executive, Steven Marks, said the performance of the US business could no longer justify the required investment.
“I have always been confident in the differentiation of our food and guest experience, however this was not translating to an improvement in sales momentum,” Marks said on Friday.
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In pictures
A ramshackle 10-storey Studio Ghibli-esque home that had become an offbeat tourist attraction in south-western China has been torn down, ending a years-long battle between the structure’s owner and local authorities.
Chen Tianming said local authorities took just hours to return the stone bungalow – which had been transformed into a pyramid-shaped structure of plywood rooms stacked upon one another – back down to its original single storey.
“I don’t feel regret, because regret is useless,” Chen told the AFP news agency. “I also don’t blame myself for failing to protect it – it’s just that the force driving its destruction was simply too powerful.”
What they said …
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“That is abhorrent treatment of people by a senior figure in the Israeli government. People are being degraded … It is effectively a form of torture” – Nick McKim.
The Greens senator condemned Itamar Ben-Gvir, after the Israeli national security minister posted a video of himself abusing captured members of a Gaza aid flotilla.
Podcast
Tim Wilson on the Liberals’ economic vision – Australian Politics podcast
The shadow treasurer, Tim Wilson, described the federal budget as an “economic earthquake” at the National Press Club this week.
He speaks with political editor Tom McIlroy about Paul Keating’s criticism of the Coalition’s response to Labor’s tax reforms, and defends Angus Taylor’s controversial migration policy – which links to housing completion and restricts access to welfare support.
Before bed read
One August evening in 2000, Danny Stewart was hurrying to a dinner reservation with his partner, Pete, when he noticed a bundle of clothes in a corner. He saw it move and stopped in his tracks: “I walked over, peeled back a dark sweatshirt, and saw him: a newborn baby, with the umbilical cord still attached.”
Daily word game
Today’s starter word is: SIM. You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply.
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