| Village Coffee brews up growth
Village Coffee is branching out. Village Coffee founder Tommy Lowery currently owns three stores -- the original in Troy and two in east Montgomery -- and he's sold licenses in Millbrook, Prattville and Enterprise as well as one in California. He says he's negotiating a dozen other license deals. The Alabama-based company is growing through licensing, which allows the buyer a more affordable and more flexible opportunity than franchising, Lowery said. Under a franchise agreement, the store operator follows instructions from corporate on almost every aspect of running the business. In a license agreement, the store owner has permission to use a company's name and sell its products, according to Daniel Slocki, a counselor at the Auburn University Small Business Development Center.
Over 40 arrests in Nev. immigration raid
Federal agents raided 11 McDonald's restaurants in northern Nevada and made dozens of arrests Thursday as part of an investigation into illegal immigration. Agents for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement made at least 56 arrests in Reno, Sparks and Fernley after raids at the restaurants and a franchise corporate headquarters in Reno, agency spokesman Richard Rocha said. "They are people suspected of being in the country illegally. As far as I know, they were all McDonald's employees," he told The Associated Press. The investigation began five months ago and was sparked by an identity theft complaint, Rocha said. A local law enforcement agency then gave ICE information that illegal immigrants were working at specific McDonald's restaurants, he said.
Camp Bow Wow Launches the Bow Wow Buddies Foundation Inc.
The Bow Wow Buddies Foundation Inc., the non-profit arm of Colorado dog day care franchise Camp Bow Wow, launched today with its first board of directors meeting. The foundation aims to help improve the lives of dogs throughout the world. "Now that Camp Bow Wow has grown into a franchisor of the nation's premiere doggy daycare and overnight camps, the Bow Wow Buddies Foundation is taking its philanthropy worldwide," said Bow Wow Buddies Foundation President and Camp Bow Wow founder and CEO Heidi Flammang. "To date, our Camp Bow Wow dog boarding franchises have found homes for more than 1,000 dogs. With the formation of the Bow Wow Buddies foundation, we expect to ramp up our efforts of finding forever homes for all of the adoptable dogs in need." .
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