News

NetWorld Alliance acquires food industry media properties QSRweb.com and FastCasual.com

July 18, 2005

LOUISVILLE, Ky., - NetWorld Alliance announced in a news release that it acquired Oklahoma City-based QSRweb.com and FastCasual.com June 1 from a private trust managed by BMG Consulting, which launched and managed these Web media properties over the past eight years.

Paul Barron, of BMG, founded QSRweb.com and FastCasual.com in 1997 to provide restaurant operators with tools and resources to harness the power of online commerce. In 2001, Barron, a restaurant innovation expert and founder, focused on publishing industry news and trends, a move that made QSRweb.com and FastCasual.com key destination points for thousands of restaurant executives and operators each month. With more than 9,000 members and thousands of visits each month, QSRweb.com and FastCasual.com continue to grow in popularity in the food service community.

Barron has dedicated more than 20 years to restaurant technology, marketing and operations improvement, both as a consultant and a leading executive for technology companies within the restaurant industry. He has led many innovations in drive-thru, automated order entry, credit card automation and POS technology improvements. Barron will continue to guide the Web sites as chief operating officer and co-publisher of NetWorld's foodservice division and executive vice president of NetWorld Alliance.

Publisher NetWorld Alliance, which in July 2004 also acquired Kiosk magazine, kiosk.com and The Kiosk Show (now renamed The Self-Service & Kiosk Show) from Minneapolis-based Voyagi Inc., became interested in QSRweb.com and FastCasual.com as a way to round out its foodservice media properties. NetWorld Alliance also owns PizzaMarketplace.com, an online news, trends and resource site for pizzeria operators.

NetWorld Alliance plans to develop QSRweb.com and FastCasual.com into robust venues, leading the editorial coverage in these high growth areas. The relationship between NetWorld Alliance, QSRweb.com and FastCasual.com will be mutually beneficial. According to NetWorld's CEO Dick Good, the sites and Paul Barron have as much to offer NetWorld as NetWorld has to offer them.

"We are very enthusiastic about this plan. The quick serve and fast casual restaurant areas both show tremendous activity and growth, and Paul Barron possesses a great deal of expertise in dealing with and contributing to the food service industry," Good said.

"Blending those factors with NetWorld's publishing capabilities in general, and our experience with PizzaMarketplace.com in particular, should produce an excellent opportunity for us to serve the food service industry extremely well as we grow," he said.

According to Barron, the collective efforts of this new venture will improve the availability of news and information to the fast services restaurant industry.

"This new partnership will result in the largest publisher of unique vertical news and information for the restaurant industry," Barron said. "In today's restaurant business environment, operators seek vertical publications that focus on their specific business, not just an overview of the entire restaurant industry that has almost $500 billion in sales and almost 1 million total locations."