May 18, 2013
Industry News
Rita’s Serves Up New Sundaes, Cookie Dough Cream Ice

Rita’s Italian Ice, the nation’s largest Italian Ice concept with over 625 outlets in 20 states, announces their newest Cool Treat, Sundaes with Unlimited Toppings. Also making its debut is the Cookie Dough Cream Ice, a flavor with chocolate chips and cookie dough pieces. Cookie Dough Cream Ice is available for a limited time...

Read Full Story // read more about: Rita's Italian Ice, Desserts, Food & Beverage, Menu Innovations
Industry News
Panda Express Rolls Out Samurai Surf & Turf

Panda Express introduces its newest premium entrée, Samurai Surf & Turf. Samurai Surf & Turf features premium marinated shrimp combined with Angus Top Sirloin, wok-seared, with sweet red bell peppers, string beans, and diced potatoes in a new zesty Samurai sauce. 

Read Full Story // read more about: Panda Express, Menu Development, Food & Beverage, Menu Innovations
Industry News
Hopeful Restaurateurs Take a Bite Out of Iowa

Six months of free rent, thousands of dollars in food inventory, television and other marketing materials, and $40,000 each in operating capital and kitchen equipment—all at no cost. Sounds like a dream, right? Well, for one concept, it’s going to become a reality. Iowa’s Best Bite Restaurant Challenge is kicking...

Read Full Story // read more about: Finance, Operations, Promotions
Industry News
DQ Debuts Choco Covered Pretzel Blizzard

Sweet and salty is one of the trending flavor profiles that the Dairy Queen system has turned into a new Blizzard Treat flavor.

Read Full Story // read more about: Dairy Queen, Desserts, Food & Beverage, Menu Innovations
Industry News
Orange Leaf Celebrates 3rd Birthday with New Cake Flavors

This month, Orange Leaf Frozen Yogurt celebrates three years of growth by sharing two new cake flavors with customers: Chocolate Cake, the official birthday cake of Orange Leaf, and Carrot Cake, one of America’s favorite cake flavors.

Read Full Story // read more about: Orange Leaf Frozen Yogurt, Menu Development, Food & Beverage, Menu Innovations, Promotions
Industry News
Cinnabon Eases Tax Stress with Tax Day Bites Promotion

Tax Day is known far and wide as one of the most stressful days of the year. To ease that pressure, participating Cinnabon Bakeries across the country are offering up free bite-sized treats on April 15 as part of its fifth annual Tax Day Bites promotion.

Read Full Story // read more about: Cinnabon, Marketing, Promotions
Industry News
Stamp of Approval

Hospitals and national quick-serve chains may seem odd bedfellows, but a new program in Orlando is pairing the two in an effort to promote healthy meals.

Read Full Story // read more about: Chick-fil-A, Panera Bread, Healthy Menus, Menu Innovations, Health
Industry News
Baskin-Robbins Rings in Spring with Two New Ice Cream Cakes

Baskin-Robbins, the world’s largest chain of ice cream specialty shops, is abuzz with excitement as it announced a special lineup of ice cream cakes to celebrate the spring season. The new Ladybug Cake and Bumblebee Cake are festive additions to Baskin-Robbins’ lineup of whimsical and inventive ice cream cakes.

Read Full Story // read more about: Baskin-Robbins, Desserts, Menu Development
Industry News
Whataburger Condiments Hit H-E-B Shelves for Memorial Day

Following buzz about Whataburger’s condiments coming to H-E-B stores, the two Texas companies announced that Fancy Ketchup, Spicy Ketchup, and Original Mustard should arrive in stores just prior to the Memorial Day weekend by Saturday, May 25.

The Whatatfries product—a potato...

Read Full Story // read more about: Whataburger, Burgers, Menu Development
Industry News
LevelUp, Merchant Warehouse Create $1M Development Fund

Merchant Warehouse and LevelUp announced a $1 million co-sponsored development fund, which will support the creation of custom-branded mobile payment apps running on the LevelUp White-Label platform for merchants around the country.

Qualifying merchants will be able to tap into the...

Read Full Story // read more about: Loyalty, Technology
Industry News
Cleanliness, Menu Selection Most Important to Customers

As restaurants across the nation gear up for a busy Mother’s Day weekend that promises to make those procrastinators sorry they didn’t make reservations, it’s worthwhile to consider what attracts customers to a particular establishment, as many will be offering specials in...

Read Full Story // read more about: Consumer Trends, Outside Insights
Industry News
Industry Vets Come Together to Grow Wild Wing Café

Wild Wing Café, the brand that lives by the motto “Where Great Food Rocks,” announced an aggressive franchising strategy. Details on the planned growth come after 18 months of strategic preparation for this moment.

Read Full Story // read more about: Wild Wing Cafe, Design, Finance, Franchising, Growth
Industry News
Panasonic's Drive-Thru System Gets Certified by CKE

Panasonic announces that the Attune drive-thru communications system is now certified by CKE Restaurants Inc. for use in Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s across the nation. Panasonic’s Attune has met the rigorous certification standards set forth by CKE and is now available for...

Read Full Story // read more about: Drive Thru, Equipment, Ordering, Technology
Industry News
Pie Five Exec to Give Franchise Advice at NRA Show

Pie Five Pizza Co will be featured at the 2013 National Restaurant Association (NRA) Show on Sunday, May 19, at McCormick Place in Chicago.

Pizza Inn Holdings senior vice president and chief development officer Madison Jobe will address successful restaurant franchising during the...

Read Full Story // read more about: Pie Five, Pizza, Franchising, Growth, Fast Casual
Industry News
Escape Enterprises Welcomes Two New Leaders to its Team

Escape Enterprises is pleased to announce the addition of Anthony Ticconi and Dirk Ahlgrim to their corporate team. Ticconi was hired as VP of domestic franchise development, and Dirk Ahlgrim will be working as the director of training.

Read Full Story // read more about: Back Office, Operations
Industry News
Burger 21 Expands Outside of Florida with 1st NJ Location

Burger 21, a new better burger franchise founded by the owners of The Melting Pot Restaurants Inc., announces it has expanded the brand to the northeast with the opening of its first New Jersey location in Voorhees. Currently, Burger 21 has seven restaurants open and 17 franchised locations in...

Read Full Story // read more about: Burger 21, Burgers, Food & Beverage, Growth, Expansion
Operators must protect their quick serve business from credit card fraud.
Back of House
How to Prevent Credit Card Fraud

Every merchant that accepts credit and debit cards is required to be compliant with the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standards (DSS), whose next set of standards will be released in October 2013. Yet despite these compliance requirements, the food and beverage industry had the...

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Corner Bakery's new menu items use fresh ingredients to offer premium quality.
Breakfast
The Corner of Innovation

In a push to distinguish itself from growing competition in the fast-casual bakery-café space, Corner Bakery Café is doubling down on menu innovation.

The 22-year-old, Dallas-based chain recently leveraged its high-quality kitchen equipment and capabilities, as well as more than 40 fresh...

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Tin Drum Asia Cafe used equity firm investment to stay debt free in growth.
Finance
Striking Gold

Steven Chan’s business was at a crossroads last year. His Atlanta-based fast casual Tin Drum AsiaCafé launched in 2000, sold its first franchise in 2001, and was growing slowly due to Chan’s determination to keep it debt-free. At the beginning of 2012, Tin Drum had 10 franchises in...

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Burger King's new coffee beverages position the brand to compete with McDonalds.
Beverage
Coffee is King

Forget quick-serve mainstays like burgers and fries. These days, limited-service brands are looking to coffee to beef up business, and Burger King is the latest chain to get in on the action.

Burger King’s customers can now enjoy 10 new specialty drinks, including iced coffees in a...

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The Boston Fire Department was treated to free meals at Firehouse Subs.
Charitable Giving
Nurturing Boston

As soon as he learned about the April 15th Boston bombings, Dave Tucci, the New England area representative for Firehouse Subs’ DMA, called the Firehouse franchisee closest to the bombings.

Tucci was relieved to find out that all employees at Firehouse’s Copley Square location...

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McAlisters Deli franchisee says casual dining experience helps in quick service.
Sandwiches
What You Can Learn from Casual Dining

David Blackburn has been in the foodservice business his entire adult life. Since 1979, the McAlister’s Deli franchisee has cataloged more than 25 years of experience in the casual-dining sector, spending 16 of those as regional vice president of operations at O’Charley’s....

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Twitter cofounder Jack Dorsey is innovativing the POS space with Square.
Point Of Sale
Can Square Change POS Forever?

Jack Dorsey, who cofounded Twitter and Square, was raised by parents in the quick-service industry. His father owned a pizza restaurant, and his mother ran a coffee shop.

It’s little surprise, then, that Dorsey’s latest initiative with Square is to broaden its use within quick...

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Superfoods like whole grains and oatmeal offer healthy menu alternative.
Healthy Menus
The Other Side of Super

Superfoods have swept the culinary world into a frenzy, enticing consumers with a taste of the exotic and courting them with nutrition and functionality, to the point where restaurants across the country are trying to stake a claim in this fledgling movement.

Quick-service restaurants are...

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