Coffee Club names new CEO

Australia’s largest home-grown café group The Coffee Club has today announced the appointment of James Nixon-Smith as the company's CEO. The new addition follows the resignation of former CEO Rod Wakefield, who stepped down after 12 years at the helm of the Coffee Club in April to pursue personal interests.

Nixon-Smith joins The Coffee Club after spending the past six years as General Manager of national retail franchise Battery World. During that time, he reinvigorated Battery World’s franchise system and doubled its expected annual revenue to $60 million across its network of 100 stores.

Prior to that, Nixon-Smith was National Operations Manager with Australian-owned franchise Eagle Boys Pizza.

In his newly-appointed role as CEO of The Coffee Club, he will be focusing on achieving operational excellence across the business in order to spearhead its continuing expansion plans.

“With 253 cafés across Australia, New Zealand and Thailand, double digit year-on-year growth and strong interest from overseas markets, The Coffee Club is already a highly successful business,” Nixon-Smith says.

“It is perfectly positioned to be the brand of choice in franchising, the food and coffee industry, the property market, and employment,” he says.

Over the next five years, Nixon-Smith expects to double The Coffee Club’s presence so that by 2015 there will be 500 cafés in more than 15 countries around the world

“My first priorities will be to focus on service delivery to support a rapidly expanding network, from our café staff to our management team, and investing heavily into brand acquisition along with aggressive property selection of the business,” he says.

In the remainder of 2010, The Coffee Club is set to open 20 new stores, including its first café in New Caledonia and third First Avenue store in Surfers Paradise.

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‘Corn coffee’ now sold in Davao, Manila

"Our corn coffee is special because it’s caffeine-free, all-organic and all-natural, with no additives and no preservatives," said Maria Carmela Sue P. Otarra, spokesperson for the Sumilao Agri-Enterprise (SAE), Inc. comprising local farmers. The Coffee for Peace, which used to be called Peace-building Community Cafe, sells and promotes civet coffee beans from the mountain ranges of Davao and Cotabato.

A third of Sumilao Agri-Enterprise’s daily production of 200 cartons, weighing 200 grams each, is shipped to Luzon while the remaining cartons are sold in Mindanao. Presently, its organic coffee products are available through a specialty bakeshop in Metro Manila.

Since August 2010, 12 Baskets Bakeshop in Little Baguio, San Juan City, as well as the 18 Days Coffee Roaster inside Cash & Carry in Makati City, have been carrying the Sumilao Corn Coffee brand.

The health benefits of the corn coffee come "from its untouched organic corn," which means each kernel is insulated from chemicals and genetic engineering. Ms. Otarra said her group is planning to blend the taste of coffee beans like arabica and robusta with their corn coffee to further distinguish it from other products in the market.

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Revival of coffee marketing unit evokes mixed reaction

The revival of the India Coffee Marketing Co-operative (Comark) has evoked a mixed reaction from industry experts and coffee board officials. Industry experts are of the opinion that coffee market is vibrant enough to take care of the small and medium growers in this sector. But, Coffee Board officials are of the view that this will help provide the right prices to small and medium planters.

“Revival of Comark is expected to help the small and medium planters in getting right price for their produce,” a top Coffee Board official said on condition of anonymity. However, it should be well-managed and should cater to small planters across board, he added.

Comark had been founded in early 1990’s to provide marketing assistance to small and medium growers. The mandate of the organisation is to provide right price to the planters who are otherwise exploited by brokers due to less knowledge about the global market. However, the marketing federation was closed after some years of functioning due to unsustainable debt level.

Recently, Comark has been revived with the support of Karnataka government which has extended a grant of Rs10 crore to this co-operative. As a result of the state government’s assistance, Comark is expected to increase its procurement facility from the present levels.

It is also likely to increase the ware housing facility to store the produce for better prices. “Co-operative federation will help in disseminating the information that has been released by the coffee board,” the official added.

However, some of the industry experts have different opinion about this matter.

“Coffee market is proactive to take care of small and medium planters and planters have enough knowledge to sell their produce at right price. So, co-operative marketing federation will solve less purpose in this regard,” Ramesh Rajah, president of Coffee Exporters Association said.

He, also, said that co-operatives should be financially viable to operate and assist the small planters.

As part of the marketing assistance, Coffee Board is providing information regarding prices in the global and domestic market, export scenario, market analysis with possible price movement on a daily basis to all stake holders.

“Information provided by Coffee Board is more than enough to have a view of the market and get right price for the produce,” Rajah said. Referring to loan facility and other financial support, he said that there were enough financial institutions to give loans to the planters and there was no need to depend on a co-operative marketing federation for any kind of debt.

A small planter from Karnataka, however, supported the formation of Comark. “The revival of co-operative marketing federation will definitely help small planters as we will be able to get right price for our produce,” a small planter from Karnataka said.

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Coffee, tea or dance? (Video)

Manila: When was the last time you listened carefully to a flight attendant giving safety instructions before take-off? Chances are, never. But if you are flying Cebu Pacific, chances are, you've taken notice. Air hostesses on the Philippines carrier break into a dance while giving the safety instructions. "Cebu Pacific has always been known as a fun airline. We were looking for something new and different to show that flight safety doesn't have to be boring," Cebu Pacific vice-president for marketing and distribution Candice Iyog said in an interview aired on GMANews.TV.

Cebu Pacific's dancing flight attendant campaign started last Thursday and going by the reviews on YouTube, it's here to stay.



In the YouTube video, the flight attendants deliver instructions while dancing to Lady Gaga's Just Dance and Katy Perry's California Gurls. Less than two days after the video was posted, the nearly two-and-a-half-minute clip had been viewed more than 700,000 times, reports said. Air travel is generally boring and uneventful, but Iyog said the dancing flight attendants are something to look forward to in every flight. Professional choreographers composed the dance routine.

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COFFEE Morning Boost From Inverclyde

AROUND 50 coffee mornings were held in Inverclyde as part of the World’s Biggest Coffee Morning in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support. Macmillan charity bosses are hopeful they have raised around £10,000.

They are urging local people who haven’t yet supported them to give their fundraising figures a further boost by spending £3 to buy a virtual coffee by texting COFFEE to 70123. Macmillan’s fundraising manager in Inverclyde Elsie Riley thanked everyone who took part in the event and said “The World’s Biggest Coffee Morning was a real success.

“It was a great event, and once again the people of Inverclyde got behind us whole-heartedly, helping us raise thousands of pounds to fund our services.

“We also urge those who couldn’t take part in the event itself, to support our work by sending a text to donate around £3 to Macmillan.

“That’s around the price of a coffee and depending on the network we’ll get between the full £3 and £2.67. Those donations will really add up so we’re very hopeful loads of people will buy virtual coffees over the next few days.”

Macmillan Cancer Support say it’s too early to tell how much money has been raised from the World’s Biggest Coffee Mornings that took place as much of the money won’t reach them for a few weeks. Elsie added: “Every year we raise more and more from the World’s Biggest Coffee Morning.

“It’s an event that really seems to capture the interest of all kinds of groups, from large UK-wide businesses, to individuals and small community organisations.”Texts will cost £3 plus the standard network rate.

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Coffee hope for IVF complication

Researchers suggested a life-threatening complication of fertility treatment could be prevented by a cup of coffee, after a study identified a possible cause. In vitro fertilisation has resulted in the birth of many babies since the first "test tube" baby in 1978. But around 5% to 10% of women undergoing IVF experience a condition known as ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS).

Although the majority of cases are mild, with symptoms including abdominal bloating, nausea and weight gain, in its most serious form it can cause blood clotting disorders, kidney damage and chest pain. Scientists from Middlesex University and Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry who analysed fluid around the human egg reported finding surprisingly high levels of the chemical adenosine. They believe OHSS is caused when IVF drug stimulation creates high levels of adenosine, causing the blood vessels to dilate and blood fluid to leak into tissue.

The authors of the study, published in Metabolism Journal, wrote: "Although adenosine has been detected in follicular fluid before, we were surprised at the extremely high levels detected in this study."They described the chemical as a "significant contender as the molecular cause of OHSS". To detect adenosine in blood samples, the scientists used a technique called metabolomics, which involves the study of chemical evidence of cellular processes. The researchers said a solution could lie in caffeine, which acts as a block to adenosine.

Ray Iles, professor of biomedical science at Middlesex University, said: "It may be that a cup of strong coffee with every IVF cycle could reduce the chances of OHSS. Caffeine competes with adenosine for the same receptors, effectively blocking adenosine's action, and it could therefore potentially treat the cause of this condition."Further research is under way at Barts and The London Centre for Reproductive Medicine with IVF patients who have suffered OHSS to find out if caffeine could help avoid the complication.

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National Coffee Day

To start a day with a hot cup of coffee. Isn't it perfect? Not only is it the best way to welcome morning, it is also a friend in distress, medicine of tiredness and a excuse for conversation with the potential partner. To this multi-tasking beverage, United States dedicate a Day, National Coffee Day.

The National Coffee Day was celebrated across US on the 29th of September and the people who are in love with coffee were treated at Dunkin Donuts. Dukin donuts is the one of the prominent company which took part in the promotion of the National Coffee Day. Dunkin Donut's offered free coffee to all the coffee fans all through out the day. People with special passes were also treated with donuts.

Facebook also contributed to the National Coffee Day. They stared a campaign called, "Ultimate Dunkin Donut Coffee fan Contest. According to a social media blog, people who enter this contest, might get eligible for a trip to Costa Rica and 60 months free coffee. So, for people who are both coffee and Facebook addicts, it's time to make best use of it.

According to legends, coffee was first discovered by Arabian Shepherd, who saw a goat high in spirit after eating some red beans, which was later discovered a coffee. Going through all the refining process since the 800 AD, coffee has now come to the form which we drink today.

Coffee benefits

1.Decreases depression
2.Antioxidant Rich
3.Anti-Bacterial qualities
4.Energy provider
5.Promotes Digestion
6.Prevent Parkinson Disease
7.Prevents Diabetes
8.Prevents damaging effects of smoking
9.Treats Asthma and headache
10.Possibly prevents Cancer

With these list of coffee benefits, you know what you are sipping in, is not only a 'wake up' beverage but also a complete package of health benefits. On the occasion of National Coffee Day, the tip would be to drink two cups of coffee everyday but not more than that.

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