BUSINESS BRIEFS
T.G.I. Friday's offers franchises
Advertiser Staff and News Services
Maui and Kaua'i are among the target markets for new franchises of T.G.I. Friday's, a restaurant chain hoping to open more than 60 new restaurants per year over the next three years by recruiting new franchisees.
Besides looking for people to open restaurants in Hawai'i, the company wants franchisees for Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas and Wyoming. The restaurant chain's parent company is owned by Carlson Restaurants Worldwide Inc.
KAWAMOTO TO AID MORE NEEDY
The Japanese billionaire allowing needy Native Hawaiian families to move into his upscale O'ahu homes rent-free said he hopes to have five more mansions ready by the end of next month.
Genshiro Kawamoto moved three families — either homeless or on the verge of homelessness — into three of his homes in Honolulu's ritzy Kahala neighborhood in March.
Kawamoto is currently having concrete gates, walls and swimming pools, "which can be hazardous to small children," removed from the five homes, he said in a statement faxed to media.
HAWAI'I TOP PICK IN TRAVEL POLL
Hawai'i locations earned top rankings as domestic destinations American travelers are most interested in visiting this year, according to a survey by Yesawich, Pepperdine, Brown and Russell.
Preliminary results from the 2007 National Leisure Travel Monitor indicate that 68 percent of those responding were "extremely" or "very interested" in visiting the Neighbor Islands in the next two years. Honolulu garnered 63 percent. National parks were the second most-desired destination at 67 percent. The Florida Keys were fourth at 51 percent. San Diego, San Francisco, and Orlando tied at 43 percent for fifth.
The nationally representative sample of more than 1,800 U.S. adults was polled online in January and February.
