MEMO

Schnucks Markets Inc., headquartered at St. Louis, recently received the Better Business Bureau's (BBB) World-Wide Customer Satisfaction Award.

Schnucks is the first supermarket selected for the consumer advocacy award by the BBB serving Eastern Missouri and Southern Illinois.

Companies that receive the BBB award go through an extensive review, including interviews of company representatives and a check of consumer calls.

Schnucks operates 64 stores in Kansas, Illinois, Indiana and Missouri, including Cape Girardeau.

"Total customer satisfaction is an attitude that is cultivated throughout our company and is the daily goal of every Schnucks associate," said Craig D. Schnuck, chairman and chief executive officer. "We could not earn an award of this stature without our 14,000 associates' genuine friendliness and enthusiasm for our customers."

Glen Birk Farms near Jackson is one of the "Top 100" winners in the 1994 Best Managed Farms Contest, sponsored by Farm Futures magazines.

The contest measures profitability and financial performance.

Sam Markert of Camp Point, Ill., was grand prize winner for 1994. The Western Nebraska Farm Co., of Venango, Neb., was first runner-up and Lorenzen Farms of Chrisman, Ill., was second runner-up.

More than 800 farmers were included in the contest.

Wendy's International Inc., headquartered at Dublin, Ohio, is halting hot chocolate sales at its fast-food restaurants because the drinks may be too hot for children.

The chain said it was notifying its 4,000 U.S. restaurants to temporarily stop sales.

The local restaurant, Wendy's Old-Fashioned Hamburgers, 35 S. Kingshighway, was notified last week to stop sales until further notice.

Denny Lynch, a national Wendy's spokesman, said the company hopes to resume sales in 30 days or so, after it finds a way to brew and serve the chocolate drink at a lower temperature.

Wendy's, which sells only about two cups per day per store, serves hot chocolate at 180 degrees -- the same temperature it serves coffee and tea.

"We don't know that it's too hot," Lynch said. "But at 180 degrees brewing temperature, it would be too hot if it was spilled."

The move follows a ruling against a McDonald's restaurant accused of serving its coffee too hot. A woman who was scalded was awarded $48,000.

Spartech Corp., a plastics manufacturing company headquartered in St. Louis, is one of five corporations to be featured in a television series, "U.S.A. Corporate Profiles," produced by Criterion Productions Inc., of Dallas for cable's Discovery Network.

The program, sponsored by the American Rubber & Plastic Industry, will air Jan. 9 at 6 a.m. Central Standard Time, and will focus on operations of the rubber and plastics industries.

The documentary will profile five corporations: Transource Plymers Inc. of Roslyn Heights, N.Y., Deerfield Urethan of South Deerfield, Mass., Diversified Plastics of Elk Grove Village, Ill., Federal Packaging Corp. of St. Paris, Ohio, and Spartech Corp.

Spartech has two large operations in Cape Girardeau -- Spartech Plastics at 2500 Spartech Drive and Spartech Compounding on Nash Road.

The National Association of Independent Fee Appraisers (NAIFA) will sponsor a one-day course on the HUD appraisal requirements for FHA appraising next month.

The daylong workshop will be held Dec. 6 at the Ramada Inn in Sikeston, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The course is designed to ensure proper training to individuals who want to be on the HUD Lender Select List for performing FHA appraisals.

Tuition is $125. Additional information is available by contacting the national NAIFA office, 314-781-6688.

A sporting goods manufacturer has announced it will open a plant in Salem, Ill., and create 100 new jobs.

Schutt Sports Group officials said they would relocate an athletic helmet plant from Knoxville, Tenn., to Salem.

John Mansfield, vice president at Athletic Helmet Inc., said the move would be completed in phases. He expected the Salem plant to be in operation by January 1996.

The plant will be at the former Brown Shoe Co. plant.

Budweiser, the king of beers, is now available in Thailand.

Anheuser-Busch announced Friday that the world's best-selling beer was being distributed in Thailand by Thai International Products Co. Ltd. of Bangkok.

"Thailand is an important beer market that is fast growing at a rate of 8 percent annually," said Stephen Burrows, president of the brewery's international division.

Anheuser-Busch has been actively seeking overseas markets in recent years to help make up for stagnant sales in the United States. With sales in more than 65 countries, the company is the leading exporter of beer from the United States, accounting for 43 percent of all beer exports.