Daily news for Tuesday, April 10

RESTAURANT REPORT
Wingstop Achieves 15 Consecutive Quarters of Positive Comp Store Sales
Earthtimes.org
April 9, 2007
James A. Flynn, Wingstop president and CEO, announced today that first quarter comp store sales have increased 17 percent over the first quarter of 2006. The chain has also increased comp store sales over the corresponding period a year prior for 15 consecutive quarters -- starting third quarter 2003 on June 29 and ending first quarter 2007 on April 1, 2007
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RESTAURANT REPORT
Frisch's Reports Third Quarter of Fiscal 2007 Sales and Earnings
April 10. 2007
PRNewswire-FirstCall
Frisch's Restaurants, Inc. (Amex: FRS) reported lower sales for its 12-week fiscal third quarter ended March 6, 2007. Revenues declined 2.7% to $65,451,505 from $67,259,863 for last year's third quarter. Net earnings for the quarter declined 13.2% to $1,914,997 compared to $2,205,698 last year. Diluted earnings per share decreased to $.37 per share, from $.43 per share last year. Last year's third quarter included the benefit of a $394,000 pretax gain from the disposal of property, which added $.05 per share.
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CROP REPORT
Ethanol boom strains livestock farmers
BY ANDREW WALTERS
SaukValley.com
awalters@svnmail.com
While corn growers may be in high cotton these days, all the excitement over ethanol in the last year has cast a cloud over the livestock industry. High prices have equaled headaches for beef and pork producers, who operate on margins as razor thin as anyone else who makes a living on the farm.

"In general the impacts are pretty much what you would guess," said Darrel Good, a University of Illinois agriculture economist. "It has squeezed some producers." (Editor's note: Isn't he just the absolute master of understatement?)
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CROP REPORT
It’s food vs. fuel in the battle for corn
As more of the grain goes toward ethanol, less of it may make its way to the hungry
By SCOTT CANON and JACK CHANG
The Kansas City Star
April 8, 2007
OSBORN, Mo. The world wants more corn — to make snack chips, to sweeten soda, to fatten livestock. And, increasingly, to pump into your gas tank. So Gene Millard and his son Brian are shifting more of their northwest Missouri acreage from soybeans to corn to stoke new, nearby ethanol plants and cash in on the world’s insatiable appetite for energy.

“We’re trying to go where the demand is strongest,” Gene said. “Ethanol’s a big factor.” As farming becomes more about fuel and less about feeding people, prices — for corn, for crops shoved aside to make room for corn, for fertilizer and other farm supplies needed to grow corn on an industrial scale — go up.
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THE BOARD ROOM
McDonald's CEO made $13.4 million in '06
Associated Press
April 10, 2007
CHICAGO (AP) - McDonald's Corp. CEO Jim Skinner received compensation the company valued at $13.4 million in 2006 during one of the strongest years in the fast-food company's history, according to an analysis of a regulatory filing Monday. (Editor’s note: his weekly paycheck was $257,692.30, not bad for a flipper of mediocre burgers.)
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REGULATORY REPORT
Kind announces legislation to expand meat markets
Dunn County News
April 10, 2007
HUDSON — U.S. Rep. Ron Kind (D-WI) has announced new legislation he introduced to expand the markets for meat processing businesses in western Wisconsin and across the nation.H.R. 1760, The Expanding Markets for Small Meat Processors Act would eliminate the ban on the interstate shipment of state-inspected meat, allowing small meat processors to increase their business and grow local economies. (Editor’s note: The new bill allows David to compete with Goliath, a mixed blessing.)
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PROCESSED MEAT
Kraft not worried about supplies for Oscar Mayer
Chicago Business/Reuters
April 10, 2007
Kraft Foods Inc. sees adequate supplies of raw meat for its Oscar Mayer business despite its suppliers expanding their own processed meat businesses, an executive said on Tuesday.

"We actually have long-term contract arrangements with a number of our suppliers, so we feel very comfortable that we will be able to source the raw material," Nick Meriggioli, group vice-president and president for the convenient meals sector for Kraft, said in an interview. (Editor’s note: My Bologna has a first name…come on, sing along with me!)
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