Baskin-Robbins opened its 450th store in the Middle East region at the Palm Jumeirah in line with its plan to reach close to 500 stores by end of the year.

Nigel Travis, CEO of Dunkin’ Brands ( the parent company of Dunkin’ Donuts and Baskin-Robbins brands), Srinivas Kumar, chief brand officer, Baskin-Robbins Worldwide, and, John Varghese, managing director for Europe, Middle East, and Southeast Asia led the celebrations.

Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group, the US-based parent company of the Thrifty and Dollar Rent A Car brands, is expanding operations in the Middle East and North Africa.

The car rental major plans to enter the Saudi market shortly. DTG will launch a pre-paid product for travellers enabling them to use it globally.

Franchising 2009 will take place in Kyiv, Ukraine, from November 3 to 5, 2009.
Franchising trade show – is the key-event of the Ukrainian franchising market and the most effective marketing tool to find new business partners. Trade show is the mirror of the market, which presents all real business-opportunities at one platform and gives a chance to promote yourself as stable financially and skillfully guided company.

The biggest Brazilian fast food franchise, Habib’s, plans to enter the Chinese market and over the next five years open 500 outlets, said the brand’s Operations director, João Augusto Ribeiro Penna.Habib’s specialises in Lebanese food and other Arab food products, but also produces cakes.

WSI, a USA-based franchise that provides website advice to businesses, is expecting to award 225 franchises this year. If the company meets this target it will be a 30 per cent increase over both 2007 and 2008 when it awarded 174 and 175 franchises respectively. Fueling this growth is the rapid shift in focus from traditional advertising media outlets such as television, radio and print to online marketing.