BUSINESS

• Lucy Buffett builds own brand
With a Gulf Shores restaurant that has gross sales in excess of $10 million annually and a cookbook that sold 35,000 copies in 2008, 55-year-old Lucy Buffett has built her own brand from a home base in Baldwin County.

• BUSINESS BRIEFING
A Carnival Cruise Lines spokesman said Tuesday that the Miami-based company has not scrapped plans to sell the Holiday to its Spanish subsidiary, Iberocruceros, as reported by online industry publication Maritime Matters.

• Feds seek input on natural gas pipeline from Grand Bay, Ala., to Pascagoula, Miss.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has asked for public comments on a proposed natural gas pipeline from Grand Bay to Pascagoula, including a proposed alternate route along U.S. 90.

• Slump thins local Realtors' ranks
Sluggish sales have slashed the real estate ranks in Baldwin County, where a red-hot resort market has long cooled and agents are trading their commission-driven vocation for a steady paycheck.

• Will south Alabama become Dunkin' country?
Whether Dunkin' Donuts stores will be a hit in a thus-far untapped south Alabama market remains to be seen, but a group of Jackson, Miss.-based franchisees believes they will.

• Delchamps to leadMobile Realtors
Randy Delchamps located store sites when working in the family grocery business, so it was only natural that real estate became his second career.

• Track record, solid business plan enhance chances of bank financing
Creditworthy customers with established track records and solid business plans should have no trouble getting bank loans, said Terry Harbin, president of Mobile's BankTrust.

• Reehl takes reins of Baldwin association
Rance Reehl started his real estate career in a declining market 25 years ago and in 2009 will lead the Baldwin County Association of Realtors during what he calls "one of the most challenging times for the industry."

• Mobile Realtors association names officers, directors
Randy Delchamps of Randy Delchamps Realty & Development, was named president of the Mobile Area Association of Realtors for 2009.

• Real Moves
TIM MILLS has joined Oracle Real Estate as a sales associate.

• Mobile Container Terminal lands new shipping service
The new, $300 million Mobile Container Terminal is getting a third service starting Jan. 29, Denmark-based shipper A.P. Moller-Maersk Group announced on Tuesday. The line's weekly vessel calls promise to bring up to 18,000 containers through the terminal each year, bringing the total to more than 120,000 units including the two shipping lines already committed.

• Business Briefing
Chevron awards steel contract