Big Easy bound: The owner of franchise rights for Dunkin’ Donuts in Baton Rouge is making a push into the New Orleans market. A news release from the national coffee and donut chain says it has inked a development agreement with Vik Patel of Panama City Donuts LLC to open five new locations in New Orleans. The first of the locations is expected to open in 2017. As previously reported, Patel signed a similar deal to open two new locations in the Baton Rouge market last year, and he also acquired all three existing Dunkin’ Donuts here. Patel has been a Dunkin’ Donuts franchisee for 10 years and he also operates 31 locations in Florida and two in Alabama.
Now open: Four business partners, three of whom run a successful sushi restaurant in Denham Springs, have opened Geisha Sushi with a Flair in Prairieville. Vinh Tran, one of the partners, says six years after opening the Denham Springs restaurant, the group decided to expand into Prairieville based on demographics showing young families moving into the area. With an experienced group of cooks and sushi chefs preparing a traditional Japanese menu with specialty sushi rolls and a focus on fresh produce and fish, Tran says he believes they offer an experience at their location on 17097 Airline Highway that other sushi restaurants in the area cannot match. “Our focus is quality,” Tran says. “I don’t serve what I’m not willing to eat.
Permit granted: Albemarle announced today the Environmental Assessment Commission of the Antofagasta Region has granted it approval to increase its currently authorized lithium brine extraction rate at its facility in the Salar de Atacama, Chile. The Baton Rouge-based firm says in a news release it has also entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Chilean government defining the terms of a partnership for an increased lithium quota. The company says the increase will allow it to meet the increasing demand for lithium, especially for high-purity lithium compounds required for the production of lithium batteries. The MOU provides Albemarle, over a 27-year period, with sufficient lithium to support the production of 70,000 metric tonnes of technical and battery-grade lithium carbonate annually, as well as 6,000 metric tonnes of lithium chloride annually.
