Denny's restaurants to return to Nashville

After a seven-year hiatus, Denny's is coming back to Nashville.
Longtime Nashville restaurateurs Craig Barber and Bob Langford, who formerly worked for Denny's competitor Shoney's, have signed a deal to open four Denny's restaurants in the Nashville area at Pilot Travel Centers.

Without divulging the locations, Barber said the first should open in about six months.

"There aren't that many Denny's in Tennessee,'' Barber said. "I think there are only three or four now in the state. We think it's going to be a good opportunity for us and the brand."

The closest Denny's restaurant to Nashville has a Bowling Green, Ky., ad-
dress. The chain has some 1,500 restaurants across the country, but Shoney's dominated here for decades.

Denny's is open 24 hours and features meals as low as $2 in a family diner atmosphere.

Up to 15 locations

Barber said he and Langford believe there is room to grow. They hope to open 10 to 15 Denny's restaurants in the Nashville area over about five years, most of them independent of truck stops.

The two business partners own 33 Denny's franchise locations, mostly in Florida. They also own the Black-eyed Pea, a mostly Texas-focused brand with 30 locations. There is one Black-eyed Pea restaurant in Hendersonville.

Both Barber and Langford grew up in the Nashville area. Langford graduated from Stratford High School and Barber from McGavock. They spent some time trying to work on distressed restaurants. Their company, Dynamic Management Co., owned the Barnhill's Buffet, which filed for bankruptcy protection in 2007.

Contact business reporter Naomi Snyder at 615-259-8284 or nsnyder@tennessean.com.

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Fashion show puts country stars on different stage

With 28 celebrity fittings crammed into the last three days and the artist list finalized, event producer Shane Tarleton is in the home stretch planning the fourth annual Country Weekly Fashion Show and Concert.
The event — set this year for 11:30 a.m. Tuesday at the Wildhorse Saloon — annually attracts about 1,000 fans, all eagerly awaiting the sight of their favorite country singer strutting down the runway in the latest fashions.

"I think the thing that makes the event most special for me is that it is so different than a standard show or autograph session," Tarleton said. "You see artists who aren't accustomed to walking a runway. It's interesting for fans to get to see their favorite acts and new acts do stuff they normally wouldn't get to. A lot of guys are really nervous about it."

This year's fashion-forward lineup includes Love & Theft, Pam Tillis, Bucky Covington, Aaron Tippin, Whitney Duncan, Sarah Darling, Coldwater Jane, Clay Walker, Joe Nichols and others.

"We always pride ourselves on bringing in new acts that have just hit in the last year," Tarleton said. "It's an opportunity for fans to see acts they've never seen ... and we're also bringing in some gold acts."

Nichols' participation this year goes beyond a walk down the runway. The singer, who recently enjoyed success with multi-week No. 1 "Gimmie That Girl," will sit down with Blair Garner on stage at the Wildhorse to chat about the evolution of his career.

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Retailers' reports show tepid May for shoppers

NEW YORK — Shoppers are still showing some scars from the recession. In a May filled with wild stock market swings, consumers gave retailers only slim revenue gains over a terrible May 2009.
The second straight month of sluggishness after a surprisingly solid start to the year underscores both the fragility and choppiness of the economic recovery that will most likely persist at least through the fall.

The International Council of Shopping Centers index for revenue at stores open at least a year reflected such tentative spending, rising 2.6 percent in May. The figure was in line with a reduced growth forecast that ranged anywhere from 2 percent to 2.5 percent.

Michael P. Niemira, ICSC's chief economist, had originally expected a 3.5 percent gain. May's results follow a 0.8 percent gain in April, and a 9.0 percent increase in March.

"It's going to be a roller coaster," said Sherif Mityas, a partner in the retail practice at management consultant A.T. Kearney. "You're going to have fits and starts. ... Consumers are looking for threads of good news among the bad news, and that's dictating what they're spending on everything from groceries to $1,000 TVs."

Mityas said he doesn't believe a recovery will be in full swing until the fourth quarter.

Stock market worries

The choppy stock market hasn't made consumers who'd started to spend again any more confident.

"We've had our splurges. We don't need to waste any more money," said Stacy Phillips, 46, who lives in Brooklyn with her husband, a chief financial officer for an HMO. They spent $4,000 on a vacation to Iceland and Paris in early April, but now they're feeling frugal again as they worry about the stock market, which has tumbled on fears that a European debt crisis will hammer global economic growth.

"It doesn't seem like anything is happening that's making me feel better," she added.

A mix of stores found business challenging during the month.

Department store chain J.C. Penney and many teen merchants including Abercrombie & Fitch Co. and American Eagle Outfitters Inc. reported declines in revenue at stores open at least a year.

Costco Wholesale Corp. reported a gain slightly below Wall Street expectations. Gap Inc. posted a small gain overall, but its namesake chain in the U.S. saw revenue decline.

Among the bright spots were Victoria's Secret parent Limited Brands Inc. and T.J. Maxx parent TJX Cos., both of which reported bigger-than-expected gains.

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Alan Jackson's home sells for $28M

The three-story white colonial home with gilt ceilings and a 20-car garage that Alan Jackson and his wife, Denise, built on an old horse farm they bought in 1993 has sold for a record $28 million.
Even at $10 million less than the original asking price, the purchase of the Franklin spread is the single biggest residential sale in the greater Nashville area since at least 1997, when area Realtors started keeping comprehensive property records.

The $28 million total dwarfs the $11.4 million sales price of singer Tanya Tucker's 500-acre Williamson County home, which was the previous high for a residential sale in 2007, according to Lucy Smith, president of the Greater Nashville Association of Realtors.

The buyer of record is the Willis J. and Reba J. Johnson Revocable Trust.

RelatedAlan Jackson's home

Willis Johnson is founder and chairman of publicly traded Copart, Inc., a Fairfield, Calif., auto salvage firm that specializes in online car sales.

Johnson resigned as CEO of the company in February, but continues to serve as its chairman.

Jackson's Franklin home, which was on the market for 11 months, includes more than 17,000 square feet of living space in the property's main six-bedroom home, a 20-car garage, a log cabin and barn with a two-bedroom apartment, a boathouse and a stocked and aerated lake.

It originally was listed for $38 million. The Realtor of record is Nashville-based French Christian Patterson.

The property sits on 135 acres on scenic Moran Road, which is lined by large, high-end residences with acreage and livestock.

Neighbors Robert and Charlene Ring, who live across the street from Jackson's home, said he has been a good neighbor but also a very private person. Still, that hasn't stopped tour buses from making regular passes through the neighborhood.

"Generally speaking, they pull over," Charlene Ring said. "We do see people stopping to look in. For that matter, they sometimes come onto our property."

Robert Ring, whose family has owned land on Moran Road for eight generations, said the $28 million sale could raise the value of neighboring properties.

Forbes.com ranked Alan Jackson ninth among the nation's top earning country music stars, estimating his 2009-2010 income at $12 million. Neither a representative for Jackson nor the Johnsons could be reached for comment.

Contact music business writer Anita Wadhwani at 615-259-8092 or awadhwani@tennessean.com.
Staff writers Mitch Kline and Bonnie Burch contributed to this story.

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AT&T adds smartphone price options

NEW YORK — AT&T, wireless provider for Apple's iPhone, on Monday will become the first major mobile phone company to stop offering new smartphone customers a single monthly price for unlimited Internet access — likely presaging an industry shift to charges based on how much people use their phones to access videos, music and data.
AT&T expects the new pricing to boost sales. "Some customers, up until now, have been hesitant to sign up for a $30 monthly data plan" for unlimited access, said Ralph de la Vega, CEO of AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets. Existing customers can switch to the new pricing or keep their current all-you-can-eat service.

Newcomers will have two options: Under the DataPlus plan, subscribers can pay $15 a month for 200 megabytes of data; that would handle about 400 photos or 100 minutes of streaming video. The DataPro plan offers
10 times that capacity, 2 gigabytes, for $25.

AT&T will send text alerts to customers near their limits. DataPlus customers who go over will be charged $15 for an additional 200 megabytes. DataPro users will pay $10 for an extra 1 GB.

AT&T says 65 percent of its smartphone customers use less than 200 MB a month, and 98 percent use less than 2 GB.

But, largely because of the success of the iPhone, AT&T "has the most loaded and most used data network in the U.S.," said Roger Entner, head of telecom research at Nielsen.

And just 3 percent of AT&T's smartphone customers account for as much as 40 percent of its data traffic, contributing to slow transmissions and dropped calls. AT&T must control heavy users, or at least get them to pay more, Entner said.

Similar plans may arise

With the limited airwave spectrum available for wireless broadband, he said, it's just a matter of time before other providers — including Verizon, Sprint and
T-Mobile — switch to usage-based pricing.

Verizon Wireless CEO Lowell McAdam said last week that it would "make sense" to have such pricing later this year when his company introduces a speedy 4G service.

Apple's new iPad tablet also uses AT&T's wireless service. The new pricing will offer those customers
2 GB for $25 a month; current customers can keep their unlimited service offer for $29.99 a month.

IPhone customers who pay an extra $20 a month soon will be able to use the phones to provide Internet connections for laptops or other devices. That process, called tethering, will be available on 3G iPhones this summer when Apple releases a new operating system, AT&T said.

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Fords' floor mats reviewed for safety

LOS ANGELES — Federal auto safety regulators have launched an investigation into whether floor mats in 2010 Ford Motor Co.'s Fusion and Mercury Milan sedans can entrap the gas pedal, causing unintended acceleration.
The investigation follows complaints of a similar nature that sparked the recall of millions of Toyota Motor Corp. vehicles in recent months.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has warned drivers of the Fusion and its Milan sibling not to place any unsecured floor mats, whether made by Ford or an after-market retailer, on top of the standard, carpeted floor mat in the driver's side foot well.

Drivers should also make sure that their floor mats are secured to the floor and not stacked, the safety agency said.

Ford Motor Co. has built about 249,000 Fusion and Milan sedans. The Fusion is rival to the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord and is one of the nation's best selling mid-size sedans.

NHTSA verifies 3 complaints

NHTSA said it has "verified three consumer complaints" about the problem. These incidents resulted when drivers laid Ford's optional rubber all-weather floor mat on top of the carpeted floor mat in the driver's side foot well. If the rubber mat slips forward, it can trap the gas pedal in a down position.

"This is most likely to occur after the driver presses the accelerator pedal substantially such as when merging or passing in traffic," the agency said in a statement.

NHTSA said it has received no complaints involving crashes, injuries or fatalities.

Ford said it was cooperating with the federal safety agency. A company spokes-man said the automaker was not aware of any complaints from drivers who installed their floor mats according to Ford's instructions. "We do not recommend stacking floor mats in any vehicle," said the spokesman, Said Deep.

Ford places a warning on top of its rubber all-weather floor mats that says, "Do not place on top of existing floor mats," he said.

Additionally, driver's side floor mats manufactured by the company have an attachment to secure them in place to prevent them from sliding.

All drivers should check

NHTSA said drivers should pay more attention to the position of their floor mats, including how they are secured or whether they are stacked, regardless of the make or model of their vehicle.

About 249,300 cars from the 2010 model year may be affected, NHTSA said Tuesday on its website.

Toyota Motor Corp., the world's largest carmaker, has recalled about 5.4 million vehicles in the past year for floor mats that the company said may entrap gas pedals and cause unintended acceleration.

"It isn't just the company that's facing the investigation or recall," John Wolkonowicz, an auto analyst with IHS Global Insight in Lexington, Mass., said in an interview. "It's a black eye for the entire industry."

The Fusion is Ford's best-selling car, accounting for 38 percent of sales for Ford-brand passenger cars this year through April, and the Milan represents more than a third of Mercury vehicle sales.

Bloomberg News contributed to this story.

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Nashville entrepreneurs get ally in Michael Burcham

Michael Burcham launched his career as an entrepreneur in Nashville when an investor in New York invited the then-30-something to make a pitch. Four startup companies later, Burcham hopes to lead the next generation of entrepreneurs eager for their moment.
Burcham was recently named president of the new Nashville Entrepreneur Center; he'll start July 5 and get going on plans to raise as much as $3 million to help fund its operations over the next 12 months. The center's goal is to be both a launching pad and classroom of ideas for startup companies.

He sold his last company — Paradigm Health, which handled catastrophic disease management — in 2007. Burcham most recently has been a faculty member at Vanderbilt's Owen Graduate School of Management and is finishing up work there.

The Brentwood resident moved to Nashville in 1982 after getting a degree in physical therapy at the University of Mississippi. He worked for National HealthCare Corp. in Murfreesboro and later for HCA, at one time being assigned to the very office space once used by company co-founder Jack Massey.

That's when Burcham, the son of a minister and a nurse, said he discovered his own entrepreneurial spirit and decided to launch health-care businesses of his own. Burcham discussed the Nashville Entrepreneur Center and its future role in creating wealth and jobs with Tennessean business reporter Bonna Johnson.

What are the goals for the Nashville Entrepreneur Center?

We want to help new businesses launch in a positive way so that they can sustain themselves, and we want to help entrepreneurs connect with some of the great resources in the city. There is a wealth of resources within Nashville — not-for-profits, the universities, the small support groups and even large support infrastructures — but unless you've been here awhile, you don't even know where they are. Having a quick way to reference what's here is one of my first, most important objectives.

The second is matchmaking new entrepreneurs to people who have proven themselves in that space and could be a great mentor for them. We want to help them think through a business plan model so they can get funding for that idea. We'll help with the introductions they need for potential customers and potential capital.

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For Want of a NailNashville Entrepreneur Center names Michael Burcham as president