Month: January 2018

Starbucks partnered with Joyride Coffee Distributors to bring draft cold brew coffee to its foodservice accounts at hospitals, bookstores, college and university campuses and offices. Cold brew is one of the fastest growing products on Starbucks’ menu, and can cost as much as 20 percent more than Starbucks’ regular iced coffee. (CNBC)

The use of digital marketing, electronic payments and delivery have helped McDonald’s develop a unique growth strategy in China that could serve as a role model for its home market in the United States, said the head of Citic Capital Holdings, the financial services arm of the group that co-owns 52 per cent of the fast-food chain’s China and Hong Kong business. Zhang Yichen, the Citic Capital chief executive and chairman, told the Asian Financial Forum in Hong Kong on Monday that the use of digital marketing, combined with delivery services, had been an important growth driver for the Chinese market. (South China Morning Post)

Generating and improving local tourism is critically important to all communities, residents, and businesses in the state of Washington. Recently, however, our members have expressed challenges with the local lodging tax process and the transparency in the use of these dollars. (Washington State Association of Counties)