"Sam Holloway" wrote in message
...

Does that mean, then, that the other Eastern franchises making up
'One' have been merged? I didn't think that was the case. I'm well
aware of how the same parent company operating many franchises has to
have some degree of separation between them, but I thought that was
still the case *within* One?

I would imagine that from day 1, as the parts of the new franchise are
coming from different operators, it would make sense to take them over and
operate them as separate entities, with a view to merging duplicating roles
and responsibilities as the franchise progresses. Certainly that is the way
in which takeovers have always been handled IME. Trying to take over two
other businesses and merge operations from day 1 would be an operational
nightmare and a guaranteed recipe for disaster.