Larry Blumberg doesn't want to leave anyone out in the cold. Larry Blumberg and Associates (LBA) develops and manages hotels (brands include Best Western, Fairfield Inn by Marriott, Hampton Inn & Suites, Red Roof Inn, and Holiday Inn) in the southeastern US. Its portfolio includes about 50 properties in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. LBA also offers operations and asset management, accounting, and sales and marketing services to third party hotels. CEO Larry Blumberg developed his first hotel -- it is still managed by LBA -- in 1972.

Smoothie King is a privately held New Orleans, Louisiana- area based franchise company and is the premier Smoothie Bar and Nutritional Lifestyle Center in the industry. Smoothie King centers offer their guests the industry’s first and original nutritional fruit and function-based, fresh blended smoothies. Each “Lifestyle Center” also offers healthy retail product solutions in sport beverages, energy bars, healthy snacks, vitamin supplements, herbs, minerals, and sports nutrition products. Smoothie King has been named #1 franchise in their category 16 times. Smoothie King has over 600 locations operating in the continental US and Seoul, Korea and is currently developing additional stores across the United States.

China Lodging Group has a group of, you guessed it, hotels. The company operates about 235 economy-priced hotels in 40 cities, mostly in China's east coast region. It has another 140 in development, which would put the ratio of leased-and-operated to managed-under-franchise about even, though the company makes most of its revenue from the former category. China Lodging's banners include HanTing Express and HanTing Seasons, both business hotels, and HanTing Hi Inn, a budget hotel. The company locates its hotels in the country's more industrial and tourist-oriented cities. China Lodging began operations in 2005 and filed to go public in 2010. Pre-IPO, CEO Qi Ji owns about 62%.

Langham Hotels International runs more than a dozen four- and five-star hotels in Europe, Asia/Pacific, and North America under the The Langham, Langham Place, and Eaton brands. Langham Hotels International guests have access to spas, fitness centers, heated pools, ballrooms, conference centers, banquet spaces, and award-winning restaurants. The oldest property in its portfolio, The Langham Hotel, London, opened in 1865 and still serves as the company's flagship property. Langham Hotels International is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hong Kong-based Great Eagle Holdings Limited, a global real estate firm.

Sandals Resorts International was founded in 1981. Sandals Resorts International owns and operates resorts in Jamaica, St. Lucia, Antigua, and the Bahamas. Its resorts offer various amenities, including rooms and suites, restaurants and bars, and a spa, as well as provides personal butter services, offshore island adventure, adventure tours, scuba diving, water sports, golf, land sports, airport transfers, gourmet dining, and nightly entertainment services. Sandals Resorts company’s resorts also provide various packages for weddings, honeymoons, vow renewals, and wedding groups. In addition, it offers beaches backpacks, bucket hats, women’s sandals, and wedding items online.

The Houston Astros Baseball Club joined Major League Baseball in 1962 as the Colt .45s of the National League (it was renamed in 1965) but have yet to win a World Series championship. The team has been a perennial playoff contender, however, and earned its first pennant in 2005. (Houston lost the World Series that year to the Chicago White Sox, however.) The Astros play host at Minute Maid Park. The team is owned by local businessman Drayton McLane, who's family built a fortune through wholesale food supplier McLane Company.

The organization oversees America's most popular spectator sport, acting as a trade association for 32 franchise owners. Among the league's functions, the NFL governs and promotes the game of football, sets and enforces rules, and regulates team ownership. It generates revenue mostly through marketing sponsorships, licensing merchandise, and by selling national broadcasting rights to the games. The teams operate as separate businesses but share a percentage of the league's overall revenue. Founded in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, the league has been known as the NFL since 1922.

England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is the governing body of cricket in the UK and works to promote the sport throughout the world. The ECB was established in 1997, taking over the duties previously performed by the Cricket Council, the National Cricket Association, and the Test and County Cricket Board. Heavily involved with the development of the sport, the ECB operates various charities like the "Cricket Foundation" and programs like "Building Partnerships." The ECB has headquarters at Lord's Cricket Ground (aka "The Home of Cricket") in London.

Fox Restaurant Concepts is a collection of original, thriving boutique restaurants in Arizona, Colorado, Texas and Kansas.Founder Sam Fox began with a single restaurant, Wildflower in 1998, and today heads a dynamic, growing restaurant group encompassing 12 unique concepts across 29 restaurants with more than 1,300 employees. Dining in one of our restaurants is an experience. We create gorgeous, contemporary settings, highly flavorful, fresh, innovative cuisine, and offer attentive, gracious service.We’re passionate about the restaurant industry, we’re dedicated to the craftsmanship of food and wine, and we strive to create memorable dining experiences. We are proud of our restaurants and we cordially invite you to be our guest.

Islands Restaurants was founded in 1982 with a basic philosophy – serve great, fresh food with friendly service in a fun atmosphere. Entrepreneur Tony DeGrazier had a vision of a restaurant that would offer a simple, original menu featuring gourmet hamburgers, specialty drinks and a fun, tropical theme. In fact, he wanted to recreate the dining experiences he had in the 1960s while stationed in Oahu with his Navy buddies. Islands was an instant hit -- we ran out of food the first night at our West Los Angeles location, and we’ve been building a loyal following ever since. Since that first night, we’ve been slowly expanding and building upon our success. You can now find more than 50 Islands Restaurants throughout Southern California and Arizona, and more recently in places like Summerlin, NV and Sacramento. Over the years, we’ve added a few more burgers, served too many baskets of our fresh-cut fries to count, and perfected our salads and soft tacos, but our commitment to you – our guest – hasn’t changed.

Inviting Real Estate Agents, Job Placements Agents, Educational Institutes, Software Service Providers, Real Estate Builders, Marriage Bureaus, Travel Agents, Restaurant Owners, Health & Fitness Centers and other Local Businesses to Post a FREE Classified Advertisement on Cootera.com Classifieds Website.