BASKIN ROBBINS SACKINGS RESULT IN WEBSITE GOING DARK?

As previously reported, Allied Brands Ltd. (ABQ) and senior managers at Baskin Robbins Australia sacked several middle managers late on New Year's Eve for unexplained reasons.

Since the lightning-like sackings, the Baskin Robbins Australia website has mysteriously gone walkabout. The site is filled only with a webserver placeholder, and the actual web address is no longer pointing at the right location.

Frantic calls were being made by senior Allied Brands management today in an attempt to locate the ex-marketing manager Sheridan Burke.

Seems Sheridan Burke is the password holder and listed contact for the domain name.

PAYBACK IS A BITCH.

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!

ALLIED BRANDS ACQUISITION TARGET BIG DAD'S PIES RUNS TO SIGN WITH RETAIL FOOD GROUP

Shock and anger swept the holiday offices of Allied Brands on Christmas Eve.

Despite insiders being told these last two weeks that a "big acquisition" of Big Dad's Pies would be announced by Allied Brands (ABQ) before year-end, CEO Shane Radbone and Tony Cavanaugh were both huddled in their offices eating shit sandwiches after Big Dad's announced their sale to Retail Food Group (RFG)!

Allied Brands has been desperately looking for another purchase target in part to justify more money raising and share marketing. Big Dad's was to provide them with that opportunity.

Big Dad's however, shocked by the flood of bad operational reports from ABQ franchisees (many of whom were visited by investigators working for the principals) preferred to protect their franchisees with a reputable company, Retail Food Group.

Big Dad's management, including Stephen Donnelly, were also said to be worried about Allied's proposal which included mostly shares in this tanking company - especially after they heard how the Awesome Water boys had been screwed. The RFG buyout is funded with cash and no tricky new share issues, unlike the ABQ "growth strategy" that has diluted shareholders by 50% in the last year as profits disappeared.

Read all the purchase details here:

BIG DADS SELLS TO RFG

It will be another bleak Christmas for Allied Brands management as they try to find a way to stem the cash burn now that their reputation has taken another massive hit.

GOLD COAST BUSINESS MATES WORK FURIOUSLY ON SHARE PRICE RUNUP WHILE MANAGING DIRECTOR SELLS DOWN!

The Gold Coast Old Arseholes club are attempting to strongarm the price of ABQ shares with inflated press releases this week (including one claiming "exclusive coffee sales" for a world Expo in a country that drinks tea).

So working the phones furiously, the mates have managed to push the share price up a couple cents.

And who's shares are these?

INSIDERS.

MANAGING DIRECTOR, PETER GRAHAM, IS SELLING

AS THIS ASX DOCUMENT CONFIRMS

WHY WOULD A HEDGES AVENUE LAYABOUT LIKE PETER GRAHAM BE SELLING DOWN SHARES HE PAID THREE TIMES THE PRICE FOR?

IT'S CALLED "LETTING THE NEW PUNTERS GET BURNED"

Buying shares from a company where management is selling

is a sucker's play.

ALLIED BRANDS TARGETED IN ASIC CRACKDOWN ON INSIDER TRADING

Allied Brands Ltd. (ABQ) routinely has "suspicious" trading patterns prior to their so-called major announcements being made to the market.

THIS IS ONE EXAMPLE

This has included a sharp sell-off prior to their profit collapse - a collapse the company was denying in public and in press releases just prior to the announcement.

The ASIC today has announced a crackdown on such rogue trading practices.

READ THE NEWS

ALLIED BRANDS & DUNKIN DONUTS HIRE SPIN DOCTORS INSTEAD OF ADDRESSING FRANCHISEE DISASTER

Leading franchise news website BlueMauMau has this weekend reported that Allied Brands (ABQ) and parent Dunkin Brands, reeling from several Australian government investigations, have hired spin-doctors in an attempt to salvage their arses from this mess.

RF BINDER HIRED TO SPIN

KOREANS CONTINUE TO EXPOSE DUNKIN BRANDS AS WILLING ACCOMPLICE IN DUD AUSTRALIAN BASKIN ROBBINS FRANCHISE SOLD WITH RESIDENT VISAS

KOREANS DUDDED BY ALLIED BRANDS CONTINUE TO TELL THEIR STORIES IN KOREAN MEDIA