Carl’s Junior Parent Company Wants to Sell Stock again
The parent company of Carpinteria-based CKE Restaurants, Inc., announced May 17 it has filed its intent with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for the proposed initial public offering of its common stock again – about a year after it allowed itself to be acquired by the East Coast-based private equity firm, Apollo Management.
CK runs thousands of Carl’s Junior and Hardee’s burger shops around the world.
The estimated price range and number of share in the initial public offering, or IPO, were not immediately announced.
CKE officials said they will ask the SEC to list its common stock on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “CK” and intends to apply the net proceeds received by it from this offering to repay indebtedness and for general corporate purposes.
Canary Leads Bureau
Canary Hotel General Manager Laura McIver took the reins of the Santa Barbara Conference & Visitors Bureau and Film Commission Board at the organization’s annual tourism luncheon and general meeting May 17 at the Bacara Resort & Spa in Goleta.
McIver has stayed on at the Canary after this year’s takeover by the hotel holding company Kimpton. She succeeds Ed Galsterer as board chair.
The luncheon opened with TV and radio personality John Palmentari and Ramada Inn marketing chief Drew Wakefield introducing a host of Santa Barbara characters including an aging surfer, a paper giraffe from the zoo and the “queen” played by Summer Solstice Celebration Executive Director Claudia Bratton. The Solstice group recent joined the bureau.
Bureau President and Chief Executive Officer Kathy Janega-Dykes spoke a lot about Santa Barbara’s “mojo,” or essence,” because the keynote speaker was boutique hotelier Chip Conley. He spoke about “Peak: How Companies & Destinations Get Their Mojo from Maslow.”
Although Conley started a host of Bay area hotels in the 1990s, his enterprise was done in by a succession of events including the Dot.com bubble bursting, 9/11 and finally the 2008 recession.
Conley’s comments on how to motivate hotel staffs and develop unique theme to bring customers back were well received by the crowd.
MIT Enterprise Forum
On Wednesday, UCSB electrical engineering professor and Goleta-based Transphorum founder Umesh Mishra talked about revolutionizing power conversion by slashing waste heat ratios using a substance called gallium nitride, know as GaN.
Mishra spoke at the Central Coast MIT Enterprise Forum at the Cabrillo Arts Pavilion.
Transphorm develops and manufactures electronic power converters that can reduce waste heat in many appliances.
“Electricity is not hot. Heat is hot; waste is hot,” he said. “So, when you touch it you know it’s inefficient. Another example of inefficiency is the best switch in the world is just a mechanical switch, something on the wall. When you turn it off, it’s really off. It doesn’t dissipate any power. When you turn it on, it doesn’t consume any power.”
GaN does a better job of holding voltage and dissipating less energy, Mishra said.
“(It’s) God’s gift to mankind, at least today” because silicone has “reached its physical limits.”
“What we can do at Transphorm when it’s fully placed in action is save more energy than what is consumed in all of the Western United States,” Mishra said.
Transphorm started five years ago and now has some 100 employees. It harvests its own material and manufactures its product on the South Coast. Even though the great savings he mentioned in energy may be years away, Mishra said it would affect the data server power supply market before 2013.
Speaking of energy
At Tuesday’s monthly meeting of Green Drinks, it was announced that the Santa Barbara County Bowl soon will receive a solar energy system that provides almost half of the power needed for each of it 35 annual entertainment events.
Santa Barbara-based Planet Solar is donating the system, said Eric Shiflett, program director for the County Bowl. Ben Siebert, head of Planet Solar, said the system would provide up to 40 percent of the electricity used during an average concert.
The meeting of Green Drinks, which brings together econ-friendly businesses, nonprofits and residents, was at the Savoy Café & Deli. The next Green Drinks will be at the new Synergy Business & Technology Center, 1 N. Calle Cesar Chavez, Santa Barbara, from 6 to 8 p.m. June 19.
Winners announced
Winners of the 2012 NAWBO-SB Spirit of Entrepreneurship second annual awards were announced at the group’s May 11 gala dinner. They include:
- Professional Services: Karen Mora, Accountability Plus
- Media/Publishing/Communications: Rachel Steidl, ParentClick.com
- Real Estate/Construction: Carol Ashley, Demo2Design
- Science and Technology: Darya Bronston, Annovium Products
- Tourism/Hospitality: Merryl Brown, Merryl Brown Events
- Wholesale/Retail: Kelly Jensen, Jensen Audio Visual
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