MORE STAFF SACKINGS AT BASKIN ROBBINS A SOUR NEW YEAR'S EVE PRESENT TO FRANCHISEES

Allied Brands (ABQ) management handed out the greatest of New Year's presents to two Baskin Robbins staff on New Year's Eve - they were sacked!

The first was ANOTHER franchisee support manager, Tony Easthaughffe, who has joined the revolving door of hired-and-sacked low level managers. He's been at Allied Brands barely six months according to reports, and has been widely ridiculed by franchisees. This comes on top of previous reports of other support managers leaving due to their job duty that requires them to lie to franchisees at direction of senior management. The only franchisee support manager of any tenure is Trent Graham, originally a director of ABQ and son of the disgraced Graham family, continuing family tradition. Another perk of senior management, it's been said.

The second casualty is Sheridan Burke, the marketing manager of a one-person department that has a stunning string of failures including a TV campaign that featured embarrassingly bad Batman and Robin characters - a campaign that never actually shows the product, the kiss of death for a food company. The marketing position also has been a revolving door of comings and goings - while Burke lasted 18 months, her successor who was said to be grossly incompetent was at Baskin Robbins Australia a longer time only due to a rurmoured illicit relationship with other married management. Typically, the woman in an office relationship was sacrificed as she was, and the manager continued to collect his share bonuses and office perks. Burke replaced this sacked marketing manager, who replaced a previously sacked marketing manager, who replaced a previously sacked manager. . . the pattern of marketing failures is all too clear.

And after the so-called "big announcement" that Allied Brands is going to participate at the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai, they go into this event with NO COMPETENT MARKETING.

Franchisees also report the required audit of the advertising fund is being investigated by the ACCC for compliance with the code.

All of this comes on the last day of the year in order to end-run the new workplace laws introduced by the Rudd government. One of our reports however indicates that at least one of these sacked employees will be filing unfair dismissal actions in any case.

Franchisees are stunned coming off their worst year in history that Allied Brands continues to fail at their most basic business task, attracting and retention of support staff that directly affect shop operation and marketing!