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RETAILING

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Times Staff and Wire Reports

Kmart, Daka Agree on Restaurant Deal: The Troy, Mich.-based retailer and Daka International Inc. agreed to form a joint venture to operate eateries in 1,850 Kmart stores. The agreement will allow Kmart Corp. to follow its strategy of having outside vendors operate labor-intensive specialty services, and Daka to increase its nontraditional restaurant business. Daka, a Danvers, Mass.-based food service firm with more than 700 restaurants worldwide, will own 51% of the venture under terms of the 15-year agreement. The discount retail chain will own the rest. The two companies plan to invest a total of $100 million in the joint venture in the next three years to upgrade the food service facilities. The investments will be commensurate with the percentage of the joint venture that each party owns. Kmart’s restaurant operations generated about $350 million in sales in 1995. About 12,000 Kmart restaurant employees will become employees of the new company.

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