Regulatory Report

Oneida, Anchor Hocking To Co-Brand Glassware
Big news from the land of tableware: Oneida Ltd. and the Anchor Hocking Co. plan to be sharing table settings from now on, thanks to a recently signed licensing agreement.

Under terms of the agreement, the two companies’ foodservice glassware lines will be consolidated and co-branded as Anchor Glass/Oneida. The newly badged items make their market debut in February. Look for the name to appear on stemware, barware, servingware, and specialty glasses.

One of the first major additions to the glassware line will come from Italian glassmaker Bormioli Rocco, thanks to another recent agreement.

"With all three brands, we can pursue a good, better, best strategy," said James Joseph, sr. v.p. and general manager of Oneida Foodservice

Anchor Hocking, of Lancaster, Ohio, makes glass products for the foodservice and retail industries. Bormioli Rocco, headquartered in Parma, Italy, makes tableware, perfumery, containers and plastics. Oneida, of Oneida, N.Y., specializes in flatware, dinnerware, crystal, glassware and metal servingware for foodservice and consumers.

Church’s Chicken To Run With The Caribou
AFC Enterprises, parent company of Popeye’s Chicken & Biscuits and Church’s Chicken, has signed a letter of intent to sell Church’s to a private equity firm for $390 million. The move is the latest step in the Atlanta-based company’s long-term strategy of focusing on Popeye’s, its largest brand.

Crescent Capital Investments, also of Atlanta, will acquire Church’s Chicken’s nearly 1,240 domestic stores and about 300 international units by yearend. Crescent, whose parent is Bahrain-based First Islamic Investment Bank, owns a majority share of Caribou Coffee Co.

In September, AFC signed a deal to sell Cinnabon to Focus Brands, the parent company of ice cream chain Carvel, for $21 million. Last year, the company sold most of its domestic Seattle’s Best Coffee units to Starbucks for $72 million.