Latest news with #GaryLewis
Yahoo
a day ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
National championship wall at Rama Jama's collapses following storms in Tuscaloosa
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) — Rama Jama's, a restaurant in Tuscaloosa that features a ton of Alabama football history and tradition, lost an iconic wall following storms over the weekend. The national championship wall was destroyed, according to the restaurant's Instagram page. The post read 'Today's storm took down a piece of Tuscaloosa history. We lost our National Championship wall today.' Mark Ingram on College Football Hall of Fame ballot Rama Jama's was founded in September of 1996 by Gary Lewis on the morning of a home football game against Vanderbilt. It's a restaurant known for its burgers, breakfast, and its convenient spot right outside of Saban Field at Bryant-Denny Stadium. The championship wall commemorated the Crimson Tide's 18 national titles. It featured championship dates, historic Alabama football names, memorabilia, and more. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
TTG
03-06-2025
- Business
- TTG
The Travel Network Group's Managed Service proposition and new chapter In The Spotlight
Video transcript With Gary Lewis, chief executive at The Travel Network Group and TTG Media's Charlotte Cullinan. Charlotte: Welcome to our In The Spotlight video with The Travel Network Group. Gary, you are making an announcement about your managed services proposition. Talk us through that and what you offer members. Gary: Hi, Charlotte. Yeah, very simply, we have two managed service propositions, the Global Travel Group and Worldchoice+. And what we find is we need simplicity and clarity when people are looking to join The Travel Network Group organisation, and by calling it The Travel Network Group Managed Services, allows us to say, this is enabling you as a business to have the benefits of a managed service – which is the finance function – all controlled, ran by us, to allow you to focus on sales and marketing. And we just happen to have two options. And there's some subtleties why you would choose one or the other, but we don't want to get into that at the first part. So clarity and simplification is why we're doing the rebrand. Charlotte: Perfect, thank you. And what do you think sets your managed services apart from other options in the market? And tell us how you're fostering a sense of community among your members as well. Gary: It's the largest – Global and Worldchoice+ put together – making the largest managed service, so therefore we've got the best back office technology to enable us to do that. But the key that sets us apart, is by being a member of our managed service proposition, means that you're a member automatically of The Travel Network Group, and by being a member of The Travel Network group, you get access to everything. That's the commercials, that's all the free marketing that goes on with that. That's the technology, that's the support. And specifically, it's the people. Access to the people focusing on your needs as an individual member. Regarding community, we have a vision. And that vision simply states it. Our vision is to create a community of inspirational leaders that open the world up to life changing experiences, and to create a community and understanding. It comes into our vision of customer service. It is about building emotional relationships and being there and being able to support them on every step of that journey that our individual members are on. So the behaviours required across our organisation to support that community, build that emotional intelligence and emotional relationship, is the focus we have completely as our number one objective. Charlotte: Thank you. And I know customer service is very important to The Travel Network Group. Could you explain your approach there? Gary: It is the number one focus we have as an organisation. We recruit, we train every single person in our business to understand what customer service actually is, and customer service is actually building an emotional relationship in those moments of truth. Whether you're talking to them through email, how you are meeting, greeting is obvious, but speed of response, professionalisation, easy to do business with – the key measures that we train, recruit, and, of course measure our people against. Charlotte: Brilliant. Thank you. And how are you helping your members stay competitive in an ever-growing market? Gary: Understanding that members grow one customer at a time and decline one customer at a time, and getting that message across to our membership is the priority. But obviously being able to give them stuff to enable that growth, whether that's a business development action plan, whether that's a focus on a strategy, whether that's a decision on a part of the market, whether it is training or developing an individual around sales, around custom service or around product. It is really understanding what that member needs for their specific next step of their growth journey. Charlotte: Wonderful. Thank you. And finally, what kind of support do agents receive? Gary: I think I've listed some already, commercials, marketing, training academy – all the plumbing of your business whether that's your merchant inquiry, your banking, your insurance products, your disruption covers. But the key is the expertise and support from us as people and individuals. It's the people that make a difference. It's saying and doing what we say we're going to do, to deliver against that for that individual member.
TTG
30-05-2025
- Business
- TTG
The Travel Network Group's rebrand and new chapter In The Spotlight
Video transcript With Gary Lewis, chief executive at The Travel Network Group and TTG Media's Charlotte Cullinan. Charlotte: Welcome to our In The Spotlight video with The Travel Network Group. Gary, you are making an announcement about your managed services proposition. Talk us through that and what you offer members. Gary: Hi, Charlotte. Yeah, very simply, we have two managed service propositions, the Global Travel Group and Worldchoice+. And what we find is we need simplicity and clarity when people are looking to join The Travel Network Group organisation, and by calling it The Travel Network Group Managed Services, allows us to say, this is enabling you as a business to have the benefits of a managed service – which is the finance function – all controlled, ran by us, to allow you to focus on sales and marketing. And we just happen to have two options. And there's some subtleties why you would choose one or the other, but we don't want to get into that at the first part. So clarity and simplification is why we're doing the rebrand. Charlotte: Perfect, thank you. And what do you think sets your managed services apart from other options in the market? And tell us how you're fostering a sense of community among your members as well. Gary: It's the largest – Global and Worldchoice+ put together – making the largest managed service, so therefore we've got the best back office technology to enable us to do that. But the key that sets us apart, is by being a member of our managed service proposition, means that you're a member automatically of The Travel Network Group, and by being a member of The Travel Network group, you get access to everything. That's the commercials, that's all the free marketing that goes on with that. That's the technology, that's the support. And specifically, it's the people. Access to the people focusing on your needs as an individual member. Regarding community, we have a vision. And that vision simply states it. Our vision is to create a community of inspirational leaders that open the world up to life changing experiences, and to create a community and understanding. It comes into our vision of customer service. It is about building emotional relationships and being there and being able to support them on every step of that journey that our individual members are on. So the behaviours required across our organisation to support that community, build that emotional intelligence and emotional relationship, is the focus we have completely as our number one objective. Charlotte: Thank you. And I know customer service is very important to The Travel Network Group. Could you explain your approach there? Gary: It is the number one focus we have as an organisation. We recruit, we train every single person in our business to understand what customer service actually is, and customer service is actually building an emotional relationship in those moments of truth. Whether you're talking to them through email, how you are meeting, greeting is obvious, but speed of response, professionalisation, easy to do business with – the key measures that we train, recruit, and, of course measure our people against. Charlotte: Brilliant. Thank you. And how are you helping your members stay competitive in an ever-growing market? Gary: Understanding that members grow one customer at a time and decline one customer at a time, and getting that message across to our membership is the priority. But obviously being able to give them stuff to enable that growth, whether that's a business development action plan, whether that's a focus on a strategy, whether that's a decision on a part of the market, whether it is training or developing an individual around sales, around custom service or around product. It is really understanding what that member needs for their specific next step of their growth journey. Charlotte: Wonderful. Thank you. And finally, what kind of support do agents receive? Gary: I think I've listed some already, commercials, marketing, training academy – all the plumbing of your business whether that's your merchant inquiry, your banking, your insurance products, your disruption covers. But the key is the expertise and support from us as people and individuals. It's the people that make a difference. It's saying and doing what we say we're going to do, to deliver against that for that individual member.
Wales Online
25-04-2025
- Business
- Wales Online
Travel company announces 'all future holidays cancelled' with immediate effect
Travel company announces 'all future holidays cancelled' with immediate effect The British travel company has ceased all trading All future holidays planned and booked by the company have been cancelled (Image: GETTY ) Travel firm Balkan Holidays has announced it will be closing with immediate effect. Customers who had holidays planned through the travel company will be notified and refunded in due course. However, people currently on a holiday planned through the company do not need to cut their trip short. A spokesperson for the company confirmed: 'We regret to inform you that Balkan Holidays Ltd has as of 24th of April 2025, closed for business in the UK. 'Clients currently on holiday will be unaffected. The company remains solvent, but has ceased trading, however all forward holiday bookings have been cancelled. Article continues below 'All clients will be notified and refunded in full. May we kindly ask for patience as we process the refunds and appreciate your understanding. Thank you for your past business and please accept our most sincere apologies for the disappointment and inconvenience." Bookings due to take place before June 1 will be handed over to Trafalgar Travel according to the Sun. Manager Charlie Coyle told the outlet: "As you can imagine this has been very difficult for staff at this time, however we all remain 100% committed to ensuring a very smooth transfer of bookings to another agency.' Customers that booked directly with the company are encouraged to email the operator for their refund using refunds@ People who booked through a travel agent will need to contact this third party to get their money back. Holidays with the earliest departure dates will be prioritised in this process so holidaymakers still have a chance of salvaging their getaway plans. Disgruntled customers took to social media to share their frustrations and sympathies. Some shared their past memories of excellent service with the companies and others admitted they were 'gutted' by the news. One upset client added: 'Absolutely devastated - we WERE going in 36 days time! How are we meant to book anywhere now at this notice.' Article continues below The industry has reacted to the sudden news as well, with Gary Lewis, chief executive of The Travel Network Group telling Travel Weekly it was a "heartbreaking" announcement. He added: "It's sad for the industry to see the loss of a strong specialist operator. The fact that they have taken responsible action to close their doors while still solvent to ensure partners do not lose money is really commendable.' The company specialised in trips to the Balkan region of Europe including Bulgaria, Croatia, Montenegro, Slovenia, Malta and Northern Cyprus. The award-winning establishment had won awards for its performance in the past, and served around 130,000 holidaymakers in just one year in its prime. Balkan Holidays also offered departures from 17 UK airports, more than any other tour operator in the UK. Its closure follows Jetline Holidays' shut down last month which affected 5,000 holidaymakers.
Telegraph
21-02-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Middle-class relief as olive oil prices finally fall
Olive oil prices have started to fall from record highs in a boost for middle-class kitchens. The average price of best-selling supermarket olive oils has declined steeply over the past six months, data show, in the wake of a bumper harvest of Spanish olives. The cost of a 500ml bottle of own-label oil in Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's and Morrisons dropped by an average of 7.8pc to £5.30 over the six months to Feb 17, according to data firm Assosia. The cost of the same size bottle of Napolina oil, meanwhile, dropped 12.3pc to £6.98 over the same period, while a bottle of Filippo Berio dropped 7.5pc to £9.21. Olive oil prices soared to an all-time high last year, rising 150pc between 2021 and 2024, amid a collapse in production caused by extreme weather and droughts across much of southern Europe. Spain produces two fifths of the world's olive oil and is an international benchmark for prices. Both Napolina and Filippo Berio, though Italian brands, use a blend of oils from all over Europe, meaning a drop in the price of Spanish oil can have a significant impact on the costs associated with making them. Gary Lewis, president of the National Edible Oil Distributors Association, said: 'Two years ago, we had a crop of about 650,000 [tons] in Spain. Last year was about 830,000 and this year looks to be 1.4m to 1.5m – it could be 1.6m tons.' He added: 'I've never seen Andalusia so green. It's had lots of rain. The trees look in good condition and the olives look in good condition.' Falling prices will come as a relief. Mr Lewis said some customers had stopped buying olive oil altogether because of price increases, opting for alternatives such as sunflower oil. The price of a 500ml bottle of Napolina or Filippo Berio in the UK is still higher than it was a year ago, while supermarket own-label bottles are now as expensive as they were 12 months previously. However, Walter Zanre, the chief executive of Filippo Berio, said he expected to see further price falls in the supermarkets over the coming months. Jeremy Gibson, at Napolina, added: 'We knew olive oil harvests were projected to be higher than last year, helped by rain and milder temperatures in Spring, which created better growing conditions. 'This ideal climate improved the state of the olive trees, previously decimated by the dry weather and heatwaves experienced across southern Europe last year. 'This was welcomed by growers, and as a result, they were able to shift their focus away from navigating another poor harvest, to preparing the groves for a solid season and a return to normal volumes. 'With improved harvests in key regions driving down wholesale prices, we may see further adjustments in retail pricing, benefiting consumers nationwide.'
