Latest news with #Aussie
Scottish Sun
4 minutes ago
- Business
- Scottish Sun
Massive fast food chain that rivals Taco Bell & Wahaca is opening 100 restaurants in UK
The chain has gained popularity for its customisable burritos and bowls GRUBS UP Massive fast food chain that rivals Taco Bell & Wahaca is opening 100 restaurants in UK Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) A MEXICAN-inspired fast food chain is set to open 100 restaurants across the UK by 2030. Popular Aussie franchise Zambrero entered the UK market in 2021 with a London site, quickly expanding to 12 more across England. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 2 Zambrero plans to open 100 more restaurants in the UK Credit: zAMBRERO Zambrero - known for its customisable burritos and bowls - runs over 300 restaurants in Australia, New Zealand, the US, Ireland and England. While it boasts the title of the largest Mexican restaurant franchise in Ireland, Zambrero is yet to make its mark across the rest of the UK. The chain currently has 13 restaurants around London, Manchester, Birmingham, Reading and Essex. But within the next 12 months, Zambrero plans to open an undisclosed number of other sites - including its first branch in Scotland. By 2030, the chain aims to reach its target of 100 restaurants in the UK, a move expected to create 1,500 jobs. The business' renewed expansion drive includes signing its first three franchise partners. Emily Teh, CEO of Zambrero UK, told The Caterer: 'We've had a lot of interest in the brand during the last couple of years – and now is the right time for us to expand through our franchise partners and work towards opening 100 restaurants by 2030." She added the business is on the lookout for more area developers and franchise partners to support its expansion goals. Zambrero was founded in 2005 by Aussie philanthropist Dr Sam Prince, then a 21-year-old medical student with less than £12,000 in savings, according to the chain's website. The fast food chain has a "Plate 4 Plate" initiative, whereby a meal is donated to someone in need for every burrito or bowl bought. Pub chain collapses into administration as SIX sites shut their doors for good and 159 job losses Zambrero has so far donated over 93 million meals - a sum expected to reach 100 million later this year. It comes as the business secured a £141m investment from Metric Capital Partners in February 2023. In recent years, people on social media have lined up to taste-test Zambrero against Taco Bell and Wahaca. Meanwhile, Slim Chickens, a major American fast food chain, recently opened four new restaurant sites in the UK. The US franchise started in the Deep South in 2003 and expanded to the UK in 2020. The business announced plans to open 16 more UK sites over the next year in February. The first Slim Chickens site opened on June 26 on 39-40 Wind Street in Swansea. The second branch opened in Ealing, West London, on July 2, followed by a branch in Walton on July 10. The fourth opened in Birmingham's Utilita Arena on July 24.
Mercury
21 minutes ago
- Business
- Mercury
X2M Connect is wiring Asia's smart cities and it's only getting started
AI boom puts X2M Connect at heart of Asia's smart cities From solar farms to safety alarms, this Aussie tech is everywhere The company is scaling fast across the region Smart cities are no longer futuristic puzzles, they're being built in real time across Asia. From Seoul's live 3D model of the city to India's purpose-built GIFT City, the region is racing to stitch data into the fabric of daily life. And with investment surging and AI stepping in as the city's co-pilot, urban living is getting a full-blown tech makeover. Into this rapidly evolving ecosystem steps X2M Connect (ASX:X2M). If you haven't heard of it, you're not alone. But this Aussie outfit has quietly become the digital spine behind some of Asia's smartest cities. X2M owns a patented software platform that connects almost any device – old or new – to the internet, collects data and sends instructions back, often without needing a human to step in. 'Our business is data aggregation, data management and data distribution,' CEO Mohan Jesudason explained to Stockhead. 'We can collect data from any device – analogue, digital, smart, dumb. We see ourselves as a software platform that is a key enabler of artificial intelligence." He adds that smart devices can be connected quickly, while older ones can be retrofitted with a chip to send and receive data, making nearly any machine controllable through X2M's platform. And that's exactly what it's doing today across half a million devices and counting in South Korea, Japan, Taiwan and the UAE. From utilities to AI X2M's platform started in water and gas, replacing manual meter reading with real-time digital data. In cities like Gochang, South Korea, it helped detect leaks, improve billing and even uncovered more than 200 welfare cases where residents had stopped using water. In Japan, it's used to predict when bottled gas will run out, cutting truck trips and slashing supplier costs by nearly 20%. But while the early focus was utilities, the ambition was always bigger. Today, that same platform powers solar forecasting, smart city systems and emergency response. In June, for example, X2M signed a $3 million deal to roll out 100,000 'Help Me' safety devices across Seoul, linking directly to police and CCTV in real time. 'It gives the police your exact location, and directs all the public CCTV cameras to you, so that they can track you to help,' said Jesudason. The project could scale to 1 million units, he said, showing X2M's platform was now critical infrastructure. Jesudason breaks the AI value chain into three layers: engines, data aggregation and management. 'In that data collection space, there are lots of hidden gems. That's an undiscovered, in my view, valuable layer.' And that is exactly where X2M is staking its ground. Solar, smarter One of X2M's biggest growth areas is renewable energy. Through its platform, built in partnership with UAE-based Sirius Digitech, X2M provides data that helps solar operators forecast demand, detect faults and boost efficiency. In Taiwan, delivers forecasts in 15-minute intervals for up to 30 days with better than 90% accuracy (according to the company's data). And when you're managing a solar farm with 100,000 panels, that level of insight is crucial. 'You might have a few thousand panels that are not working or that are about to stop working. And our AI engines can tell you that these panels are not working,' said Jesudason. The platform helps lift earnings by up to 10%, cut costs and improve decision-making. 'We are the provider of data for artificial intelligence applications in the renewable energy space,' Jesudason said. Fast to deploy, easy to scale According to Jesudason, X2M can also deploy its solution in a new market in a matter of days, thanks to its microengine and network-agnostic design. 'For instance, we've integrated into a large Indian company in under seven days, and we don't need any capex to scale up," he said. India's massive 250-million-meter digitisation program is indeed a clear target for the company. 'We will move into the Indian market in the foreseeable future.' So is the UAE, where X2M's partner Dicode has already secured two commercial contracts. The company also expects Australia and the US to open up within 12-18 months. And once X2M's platform is in, it tends to stick. Switching away is expensive and in many regions, the platform is already listed on official government websites. What the market doesn't see, yet… X2M is now entering what it calls 'Horizon Three", a transformation phase focused on scaling and hitting profitability. Horizon One was about building and validating the platform. Horizon Two was expansion, getting enterprise and government customers onto the system and locking them in. 'Horizon Three is, how do you scale this business up? How do you take it to profitability? How do you end up with a share price that's many times what it is today?' Jesudason said. He says X2M will become profitable when revenue hits $15–16 million, and from there, it's highly scalable. 'Once you get past that 15, 16 million dollar hump, then you tend to grow your earnings exponentially. And it's a business that spits out a lot of cash.' 'But I think right now, investors haven't got their heads around the value that's going to accrue to companies that can capture and manage and distribute data quickly, efficiently and cheaply." The proverbial penny, he believes, will eventually drop that there is a lot of value to be had in this space. At Stockhead we tell it like it is. While X2M Connect is a Stockhead advertiser, it did not sponsor this article. This story does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decision. Originally published as X2M Connect is wiring Asia's smart cities and it's only getting started
Courier-Mail
38 minutes ago
- Entertainment
- Courier-Mail
I took a rock 'n' roll tour of West Hollywood, Los Angeles
Don't miss out on the headlines from Lifestyle. Followed categories will be added to My News. Jonny is striding up Sunset Strip like a bat out of hell. Neatly tattooed, dressed in head-to-toe black and sporting a handsome lick of cropped grey hair, this former rocker's reputation precedes him. We've only been in WeHo less than 72 hours, but Jonny D'Amico's name keeps popping up. They tell us he's a legend around here; crown him 'the King of West Hollywood'. X Learn More SUBSCRIBER ONLY When he's out and about, they say he looks like a man on a mission. 'By the way, I walk fast and I talk fast,' says Jonny, as we scuttle to keep up, like young groupies on the scent of fresh fame. The former bassist for LA '80s punk band Stalag 13 has been a fixture on the rock scene in West Hollywood for 30 years, in the latter stages working as the stage manager for bands such as Guns N' Roses, Alice in Chains, Stone Temple Pilots and Mötley Crüe. Jonny may have hung up his bass, but he still lives in West Hollywood with his wife and their rescue Aussie blue heeler, Bindi. He's been hosting group and private Rock 'n Walk tours, of the Sunset Strip since 2017, recounting the history of West Hollywood and sharing all the gory details of this rock-and-roll playground, with stops at famous venues such as the Viper Room and the Roxy. Rich with musical kudos, cinematic history and luxury hotels, the city of West Hollywood is a thriving 4.9sq km pocket of LA, packed with 350 restaurants and bars, many of them frequented by A-listers ($90). 'I don't know if you guys saw Morrissey sitting there?,' says Jonny of the former Smiths frontman as we exit Sunset Marquis hotel after meeting up. 'That's the type of place this is.' Jonny D'Amico has been hosting group and private Rock 'n Walk tours of the Sunset Strip since 2017. LA has no shortage of celebrity-themed tours, many of them cheesy, but this is fun and authentic. Jonny gets access to places that no one else does, and he tells it like it is. He's the type of guy you randomly meet on a night out and stay up with until sunrise listening to stories. He knows the exact details of how River Phoenix died outside the Viper Room and what John Lennon and friends got up to in the dingy bunker of the cavernous Rainbow Room one night. 'I even do midnight tours once in a while, and that gets out of hand,' says Jonny. We're on our way to Barney's Beanery on Holloway Drive, a rustic bar where Quentin Tarantino apparently wrote Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs. Once inside, Jonny shows us where Janis Joplin etched her name on a table before her untimely demise. I sit back and imagine what it would have been like during its heyday. Later we'll visit Mystery Pier Books, which sells first editions to famous bookworms, and then shoot back tequila at the Rainbow Room. Having visited West Hollywood on two previous occasions, this is the first time I feel I've actually understood it. Jonny is a credible advocate. 'West Hollywood has absolutely nothing to do with Hollywood. Never has, never will. West Hollywood is where you want to be in LA,' he says. We stop at famous venues such as the Viper Room. He's right, but there's one place better. I'm sitting shotgun in a luxury seven-seater helicopter as Maverick Helicopters pilot Chris steers over the Santa Monica Pier towards the Pacific Ocean and banks left. We're tracing Santa Monica Boulevard back towards West Hollywood and the Hollywood Hills beyond. On this aerial tour of the Hollywood sign, I see LA in a new light; a city that often feels so big and overwhelming is warm, cosy and compact from this perspective. As the sunset gilds the landscape in rose gold, I can make out LA's most celebrated landmarks and boulevards. We're flying over the hills now. Chris dips the chopper and points out Beyoncé and Jay Z's mega-mansion below before we make our way towards the Hollywood sign for a bucket-list fly-by viewing (from $578). Now soaring over the Hollywood Bowl and Dodger Stadium, we bank again to glide past the shimmering skyscrapers in Downtown LA. Chris has crafted the ultimate playlist for our heli tour and John Farnham's The Voice is now playing through the headphones, a nod to the pilot's year-long stint in Australia as a backpacker. We turn again and head in the direction of West Hollywood, where I can make out the landmark vertical billboard of The Mondrian hotel, where we've been staying the last few nights. This is one of most rock and rolls ways to see LA and West Hollywood. And considering the former company, it couldn't be more fitting. I'm sitting shotgun in a luxury seven-seater helicopter as Maverick Helicopters pilot Chris steers over the Santa Monica Pier towards the Pacific Ocean. Best way to get to Los Angeles from Australia Qantas flies direct to Los Angeles from Sydney, starting from $1271 return. Best place to stay in West Hollywood The Mondrian offers spacious One Bedroom Suites from $816 a night. The writer travelled as a guest of Visit West Hollywood. Originally published as I took a rock 'n' roll tour of West Hollywood, Los Angeles
News.com.au
42 minutes ago
- Automotive
- News.com.au
2025 LDV Terron 9 review
This isn't anything like the LDV utes that have come before it. This is one you might actually love. It's the all-new Terron 9 diesel dual-cab, and if you're thinking it looks a bit weird, that's because it has a unibody design, with no gap between the tub and the cabin. That helps allow more tray space – it's one of the biggest in the segment, at 1600mm long with a 1230mm gap between the arches, making it Aussie-pallet-friendly. The big downside? There is no cab-chassis model, and there won't be. So it could be ruled out for a lot of tradies and fleet businesses. Despite that, it still has a ladder-frame chassis, and serious off-road chops – not to mention the expected 3.5-tonne braked towing capacity that utes apparently need to be considered 'real'. And in a plus for buyers, it includes a towbar assembly, hitch, and wiring as standard. A rear diff lock and spray-in tub-liner are standard too, as well as a locking tailgate with assisted lift mechanism. There are two grades on offer, both with ABN discounted prices for tradies – the entry-level model is known as Origin, starting with promotional pricing of $49,990 drive-away, and it comes with 18-inch wheels, auto LED lights and auto wipers, cloth trim, power adjustable front seats, and a pair of 12.3-inch screens – one for driver info, one for media, including Apple CarPlay and Android Auto wirelessly available. Spend $5000 more and you score heaps of extra kit, like 20-inch wheels, a locking front diff, cargo area lighting and adjustable rails, trailer back-up assistance, and inside it steps it up with massaging front seats with heating and ventilation, heated rear outboard seats, an eight-speaker JBL stereo and ambient lighting. Some of those items aren't available in other utes, let alone at this kind of money. And while it is cheaper than most, it doesn't drive like a cheap ute. The Terron 9 feels sophisticated in ways that many other body-on-frame utes don't, with a well-sorted ride that is comfortable and impressively damped over rough road surfaces and big bumps. It isn't the most enthusiastic thing to steer, but it is predictable enough, and the new diesel engine teams up well with the ZF eight-speed auto, offering strong and – again – predictable response, meaning this one feels more complete than some of the other LDV utes of years gone by. I also put it through its paces of road, and aside from some clearance concerns due to its enormous 3300mm wheelbase (and huge 13.3m turning circle that also results from that!), it was up to the task with good mechanical ability and technological help, thanks to smart traction management and a very impressive off-road data screen that includes an off-road camera mode – because it has surround-view as standard. The interior is close to complete, too, with a design and execution that belies the price tag. It feels more SUV-like than any other vehicle at this price, and the amenities are all taken care of, including decent storage in the doors and between the front seats. The back seats have a flip-down backrest with proper top-tether attachment points for the window seats to complement the ISOFIX points in those positions. There's no centre top-tether. It is loaded with the expected safety kit, including speed sign detection and lane keeping, and a driver monitoring camera – the latter of which is a bit incessant. Thankfully, the screen offers you a quick drop-down menu to turn those things off if they get on your nerves – it just takes a couple of seconds. LDV is offering a seven-year, 200,000km warranty for the Terron 9, and the brand has five years of roadside assistance included at no cost, too. There is no capped-price servicing plan (yet…!), but the first visit is due at 12 months or 10,000km, then it's every year or 15,000km. This is a peculiar option that, if suitable for your needs, is well worth a look. It's impressively refined, powerful and appointed, and the pricing embarrasses some of the other pick-ups in the segment. 4.0 stars LDV Terron 9 OUTPUTS: 163kW/520Nm FUEL USE: 7.9L/100km PAYLOAD: 1005-1100kg
Scotsman
an hour ago
- Sport
- Scotsman
Hibs transfer news as Triantis and Sunderland deal addressed
Manager preparing his team for vital Europa League qualifier against Midtjylland at Easter Road Sign up to our Hibs football newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Edinburgh News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Hibs boss David Gray has provided supporters with an update on the club's pursuit of fan favourite Nectar Triantis. And the gaffer has broached the subject of 'replacing' the Aussie, should he not return to Easter Road for a third stint. Triantis was a stand-out in his second loan spell with Hibs last season, picking up Young Player of the Year honours and finding himself alongside Celtic superstar Daizen Maeda on the Scottish Football Writers' Association Player of the Year short list. He returned to parent club Sunderland at the end of the campaign knowing that Hibs were very keen to secure his services – either via another loan deal or in a permanent transfer for a player with two years left on his contract. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Fee of £1 million not an issue for Hibs Hibs are willing to meet Premier League-bound Sunderland's asking price of over £1 million to land the 22-year-old, who earned his first Socceroos call-up on the back of his performances in the Scottish Premiership. But they cannot match rival salary packages on offer for an in-demand player with ambitions to be part of Australia's World Cup squad at next summer's tournament in Canada, Mexico and the USA. Gray, speaking to Sky Sports on the eve of his team's crucial Europa League qualifier against Midtjylland at Easter Road, admitted that attempts to do a deal had not been straightforward, saying: "He's gone back to his parent club after a very successful loan spell with us. We know how well he's done for us and he's one that takes a bit of replacing. "We are looking in that area, because it is something that he was a big part of what we'd done. You always need to be proactive, because you never know what can happen. "You need to have three or four targets, just in case, and that's the challenge to the recruitment department and ourselves, to make sure by the end of the window we've got what we need. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Never straightforward - and not waiting for one player "It's never just as straightforward as, we like to go and sign a player, let's go and sign a player. There's always, what does the player want, what's his other options, what's the parent club doing with him. "We've had him for two loan spells now. I think the benefit of it is he's definitely improved both times he's been here, but that's entirely up to what Nectar sees as his next steps, what Sunderland see for him. "At the same time, we're not just sitting waiting on one player. We are obviously looking to make sure that, as a football club, we're always trying to improve. "We're always looking at potential targets for certain positions. If we think we can improve us, we'll try and do it, if it can be done, and the big thing I always talk about is the right type of people. It's not just about numbers; it's about making sure you get the right ones." Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Gray has already been backed in the summer transfer market, reinvesting the £1 million fee received for Dylan Vente as the club broke their own transfer record to land Thibault Klidje. The manager insists he won't be short of support, should he look to make more signings. "I think the level of ambition since the Gordon family came in has been there from day one,' he said, thanking the club owners. 'I think they're really passionate, always wanting to move the club forward. "Not just as you've just touched on there with one signing, but the good work that was done at the back end of last season. Retaining a lot of the squad that we had last season, a lot of business done, which was hugely important. "I made a big point on the quality within the group, the type of people within the group, and then the togetherness that's growing all the time, so that was very important. We're delighted with the business we've done. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad "Sometimes you can always look to the new players that come in, rather than actually what's in the building and developing that, so I'm really pleased with that. There'll still be work to be done as the window's open, you always want to keep looking to see what you can do. "The challenge, as I always say, is to try and finish the window stronger than when you started it. I'm really happy with where we are right now." Hibs and Midtjylland meet in the second leg of their second qualifying round tie tomorrow, with the contest tied at 1-1 after a pulsating first leg in Denmark. Victory would see Gray's men face Norwegian side Fredrikstad next week, while defeat would pitch them into a Conference League qualifier – most likely against Partizan Belgrade, who are 2-0 up on Ukrainian side Oleksandriya heading into the second leg of their tie tomorrow night.
