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Harbin Brown's Hollywood Food Palaces On Its Way |
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| Harbin Brown's Hollywood Food Palaces On Its Way | ||||||
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The
administrative table is set for Harbin Brown's Hollywood
Food Palace (BHFP). During the August adventure, Team
Harbin, Jill Horist, David Yan and Xie YingYi moved the
Chinese corporate paperwork one document at a time to the
"completed" folder. Meetings on-site took place with the
Public Safety Department, the Fire Marshall, and the Chinese
architect. Public Safety officials reviewed and approved
layouts. The Chief Fire Inspector indicated that the
building design is so well constructed it surpasses the
municipal safety codes in every aspect. Administrative
certificates and registrations were obtained for the company
name, provincial and municipal tax numbers, and receipt of
the official, "letter of invitation" to do business by the
government. Among the more exciting meetings that took place was during the trip to Shanghai to Warner Brothers, Inc. International Cinemas with Mr. T.J. Green, Vice President of Operational Development and Special Projects. The Hollywood Food Palace is heavily designed with the American Hollywood theme as it adjoins the Warner eight screen cineplex at the Wanda Mall. Jill and T.J., along with staff at Warner, reviewed the vision and plans for BHFP. T.J. verified for Jill that the Harbin Cineplex is consistently among the top 10 box office admissions for all cinemas in all of China. Warner is quite enthusiastic with the Hollywood Food Palace. They have given preliminary permissions for cross marketing and character/image usage in decorative features of the restaurant. T.J. also indicated that Warner would welcome further cooperation with Brown's in future expansion arrangements. The Warner cineplex in Shenyang is the number 1 cinema in China and the space next to it there would be applicable to the Brown's concept. In addition to the Wanda cooperative effort, Warner is working with another major real estate developer in China and would encourage Brown's to advance its sales sites there also. |
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| Qing An Food Conference | ||||||
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Over 1,000
people from 5 provinces and numerous foreign countries
attended "The 5th Annual Green Technology Food Conference"
held in Qing An. The three day event is comparable to the
U.S. Restaurant Association's massive conclave every
spring. This Conference offered tastings, machinery for
conveniences, wholesale opportunities, and manufacturing
partnerships, primarily all with a "natural" twist.
Seminars were held with key leaders from each industry
segment advancing the latest techniques and practices in
producing, manufacturing, farming, and profiting from mass
Green Technology practices. The Central Government offers
great tax incentives, discounted JV opportunities and an
array of dramatic incentives to keep the Chinese ag/food
service/restaurant industry growing in an intelligent manner
both with consumer and economic health in mind. Unlike the
U.S. where Green Tech is still considered a bit "avant
garde", it is "dujour" among the Chinese business
culture. The countryside of Qing An (town about the size of Decatur) is lush agriculture territory. It is just over 100 miles and 3 hours by train, outside of Harbin. The train ride was a delight. The massive Harbin station is an organized sea of people. As a mode of general transportation, the trains were clean, albeit crowded (an impressive 22+ cars), but very modern and complete with food service cart vendors coming down the aisle every 30 minutes or so, offering inexpensive, freshly made soups and dumplings. Jill was among the honored quests being introduced on the main stage at the opening ceremonies. She met with the Party Secretary of the Region Mr. Hu Shiying. Her host, Mr. Li Jian, Chairman of the Board of Harbin Sigma Industry and Commerce Co., made sure the arrangements were superior for her and HBE President Mr. Xie Ying Yi. If you are interested in any segment of this industry, please contact HBE for details. |
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| Team Harbin Sets Up A Bank Account | ||||||
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The Harbin Team of Jill Horist,
David Yan and Xie YingYi diligently worked to establish the
corporate enterprise of TJI International as a wholly owned
foreign enterprise in China. Jill met with various
professional people who graciously spent time answering
either the most mundane or complex questions she could
generate. They provided personal thoughts of help and
assistance also. She specifically would like to thank Mr.
Steven Sun of the Songhuajiang Purchase Industry Group, and
Mr. Liu Yong of China Construction Bank for their valuable
insight and time. (For
more information about setting up a bank account in China,
click
here.) The Bank of China is comparable to the US Treasury --- with the difference in that the Bank of China has ultimate authority over the entire system. While there is no FDIC equivalent in China, it is common and a solid belief that funds are secure to the point where Bank of China will not let its Top Four (as they are known) get into financial difficulty barring complete catastrophe. The Top Four are the China Construction Bank, the Industry and Commerce Bank, the Agriculture Bank, and the Bank of China. They essentially operate on a free market system now trying to attract customers from all walks of life regardless of the names. TJI International chose the China Construction Bank to open its Foreign Currency Account. This bank has 220 Billion US Dollars in assets. It is going public on the Hong Kong Exchange in spring of 2006 with the Bank of America as its partner. Your Chinese corporate physical headquarters will be located in a specific District (common to USA city wards). Officials of the District will assist in every way possible to complete the process. However, it is still necessary for personal attention to the various steps in the procedure. As a rule, the government "counter" people were mostly helpful and pleasant. The entire process was less than $800 in various fees and supplies directly related to obtaining the certificates and opening the bank accounts. Just a little note -- A Foreign Currency Account ONLY accepts and releases Foreign Currency. It is necessary to open a local RMB account to conduct everyday business. Signatures don't count for much here -- or nothing, financially at least. The official government issued "chops" as they are called, are good as gold. The "chops" are the stamps you get while filing and filling out the documents. Certain combinations of the stamps are what provide the release of funds of the accounts. The banks are quite up to modern technology with electronic information in all forms available to foreign companies. Transactions overseas can take about 72 hours though. With the push on to get foreign investment, you can be assured of all kinds of personal banking assistance from the highest ranking bank officials. The Department of Foreign Affairs will keep an eye on the activity of the account just to confirm that the company maintain cash flow/debts and assets within an acceptable balance. This monitoring is how the government assures its system stays healthy. However, protections of privacy are in place regarding the activity of the account. Jill was told innumerable times, "Your money is your business and you can do with it what you please." (Of course within common legal restraints.) Assets will not be seized arbitrarily or any such thing. *More information about setting up a bank account in China can be found here. |
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