Going national
We have a couple nationwide stories out of Glendale today.
-- First on the list is that Glendale-based IHOP is eliminating trans fats from its fryer by the end of the year. What does that mean for anyone wanting to order a big stack of pancakes? Absolutely nothing, because they don't fry pancakes (unfortunately). But IHOP wants you to know that they're not just about pancakes anymore. They fry food with the best of them, and serve three solid meals a day, plus a pretty solid nighttime snack. The problem is that the hydrogenated vegetable oil they use for frying is just a little too solid, and it clogs up the heart. So they're switching to trans fat free vegetable oils to fry up shrimp, french fries and chicken tenders and whatever else they serve that's hot and crispy. Here's my story from the Daily News. IHOP is not the first restaurant to make the switch, and it comes after the city of New York banned trans fats in restaurants there.
-- The other story with national implications, although mainly to the Armenian-American business community, is that the Glendale-based Armenian American Chamber of Commerce is considering the formation of new chapters for Greater Los Angeles, Little Armenia (Hollywood), Las Vegas and Washington D.C. The organization's Central Committee will govern all the current and future chapters of the AACC. Check out the AACC's Web site here.