May 20, 2013
Emerging Concepts
One to Watch: Muscle Maker Grill

Rod Silva, founder of Muscle Maker Grill, says making America healthier requires diners increasing the number of healthy choices they make each day. And Muscle Maker Grill is helping them do just that. In fact, it’s difficult to make an unhealthy choice at a Muscle Maker Grill restaurant. There are no fryers on the premises; the...

Read Full Story // read more about: Muscle Maker Grill, Healthy Menus, Franchising, Growth, Health
Industry News
Guests Can Now "Dew" Lunch at Honey Dew Donuts

Honey Dew Donuts is no longer just a morning go-to for coffee and breakfast sandwiches. Now it’s also a lunch spot. The New England–based company is excited to announce its very first official lunch sandwich, Willow Tree Chicken Salad on a multi-grain croissant. Made to order, this hearty sandwich is full of fresh, all...

Read Full Story // read more about: Honey Dew Donuts, Breakfast, Menu Development, Sandwiches
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
CIA President Increases Student Scholarships by $3.6M

Dr. Tim Ryan celebrated the college's accomplishments of the past year before more than 700 employees of the college's four campuses during The Culinary Institute of America's (CIA) annual State of the Institute address. Accomplishments included the graduation of 1,051 associate...

Read Full Story // read more about: Back of House, Finance, Kitchen
Employee social networks give quick serves powerful human resources tool.
Human Resources
The Perfect Match

Finding a great employee—much like finding a significant other—isn’t always easy. That’s why some operators are turning to online tools like Shiftgig for help seeking out the most compatible workers on the market.

While many hiring platforms, such as PeopleMatter...

Read Full Story // read more about: Q-BBQ, Back of House, Back Office, In the Store, Social Media
Industry News
Rational Grows 11% in 2012, Wins Technology Awards

This year, the first-class industry publications, GVmanager and 24 Stunden Gastlichkeit, once again awarded the best in the industry with the BEST of Market 2013 at the Internorga fair in Hamburg on behalf of their readers.

More than 2,200 decision makers from the hotel...

Read Full Story // read more about: Back of House, Equipment, Finance, Kitchen
Industry News
Cintas Identifies 5 Overlooked Sustainability Areas

Identified by the National Restaurant Association (NRA) as a top trend for 2013, sustainability continues to rank high on the list of what consumers expect most from restaurants. From locally-sourced food to recyclable and compostable products, many quick-service restaurants (QSRs) are looking...

Read Full Story // read more about: Operations, Sustainability
Industry News
Freshens Gets Sweet and Savory With New Crepe Options

Freshens relies heavily on customer research to keep its product offerings relevant and on trend with its customers.  

The Atlanta-based company conducted a series of focus groups to gain insight into flavor profiles that its loyal customer base was seeking for new crepe menu...

Read Full Story // read more about: Freshens, Desserts, Healthy Menus, Menu Development
Industry News
Hispanics' Restaurant Visits Fall by 86M in 2012

While total restaurant visits increased by 1 percent in 2012 compared to prior year, visits by U.S. Hispanics declined by 1 percent, a loss of 86 million visits, reports The NPD Group, a leading global information company.

Declines were steepest among less bicultural U.S. Hispanics, who...

Read Full Story // read more about: Consumer Trends, Outside Insights
Industry News
Bruster's Gives Fans a Taste of What's to Come

Bruster’s Real Ice Cream, ranked No. 10 out of 100 limited-service restaurants nationwide by premier consulting firm WD Partners, has introduced the first of three new spring flavors.

Freshly made Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake, with ribbons of raspberry sauce and creamy chocolate...

Read Full Story // read more about: Bruster's, Desserts, Menu Development
Twitter cofounder Jack Dorsey is innovativing the POS space with Square.
Industry News
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...

Read Full Story // read more about: Little Muenster, Kiosk, Online & Remote Ordering, Point Of Sale, In the Store, Consumer Trends, Ordering
Operators must protect their quick serve business from credit card fraud.
Point Of Sale
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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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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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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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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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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Fast casual brands attract customers with alcoholic beverage programs
Beverage
Buying into Booze

Fast-casual restaurants were once able to claim premium food, modern décor, and all-around upscale service as hallmarks of their category. But with more quick-service chains retooling in those areas to compete for post-recession consumers, fast casuals have been left to search for new ways to...

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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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Secure quick serve restaurants improve sales and have high return on investment.
Back of House
Safety, Security, Sales

Traditionally, when quick serves plan security strategies, they address three main industry challenges: prevent shrinkage, guard against in-store and drive-thru robbery, and protect the company from fraudulent lawsuits. Operators need to carefully examine security solutions that will provide the...

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Industry News
Concessions Int'l Names New VP of Business Development

Atlanta-based Concessions International (CI), a leading foodservice concessionaire with operations in airports across the United States,announced the promotion of LeMonica Hakeem to vice president of business development.

Hakeem has worked in a variety of roles within CI and sister company HJ Russell & Company over the past 12 years, most recently as interim director of business development.

She was instrumental in CI being awarded its Atlanta airport contract and three additional locations in its Denver and Dallas/Fort Worth operations.

Read Full Story // read more about: Women in Foodservice, Human Resources
Industry News
Women's Foodservice Forum Returns to White House

Women’s Foodservice Forum (WFF) returns to the White House to honor extraordinary women veterans who are making a difference in communities across the country. The event is part of the White House Champions of Change, which brings individuals to the White House to share their ideas for winning the future. 

Read Full Story // read more about: Operations, Women in Foodservice
Industry News
Starbucks Recruits Sharon Rothstein as Global CMO

Starbucks Coffee Company announced it has appointed Sharon Rothstein as global chief marketing officer.

Rothstein was previously senior vice president of marketing at innovative specialty beauty retailer Sephora.

Read Full Story // read more about: Starbucks, Beverage, Marketing, Women in Foodservice, Human Resources
Industry News
Cintas Partner Receives RFMA's Vendor of the Year Award

Cintas Corporation, a leader in fire-protection services, announced that Annaji Sailer, a Cintas employee-partner, has received the prestigious “Vendor of the Year” award from the Restaurant Facility Management Association (RFMA).

Sailer works for Dunnwell, a division of Cintas Fire Protection, and has been a RFMA member for nearly five years, dedicating herself to advancing the restaurant facility management profession and women within the industry.

Read Full Story // read more about: Women in Foodservice
Women in Foodservice
Tap Into the Network

More women enter the foodservice industry every year, and they’re being met with a growing wealth of experience and support from which they can draw. A number of networking and leadership development groups have taken on the task of providing stronger gender diversity at all levels of the industry, and are ensuring that more growth opportunities exist for women.

Read Full Story // read more about: Dairy Queen, Meatheads, Wendy's, Growth, Human Resources
Industry News
WFF Partners Up with People Report

 

Read Full Story // read more about: Operations, Consumer Trends, Women in Foodservice, Technology
Industry News
Apply Now for Les Dames d'Escoffier Int'l Awards

The application period for the fifth-annual Les Dames d’Escoffier International (LDEI) Legacy Awards is now open.

This year, six LDEI Legacy Awards will be given in three categories: Culinary, Wine, and Entrepreneurship.

Each Legacy Award offers a one-week workplace experience under the direction of highly successful, award-winning members of LDEI. The Legacy experience is a high-energy, labor-intensive, and career-expanding opportunity.

Read Full Story // read more about: Women in Foodservice
Industry News
Women's Foodservice Forum Appoints New Board Members

Women’s Foodservice Forum (WFF) is pleased to welcome three new members to its Board of Directors: Karen Bowman of Deloitte, Twila Day of Sysco, and Jack Sinclair of Walmart.

WFF Board member Marie Perry, of Brinker International, has joined the board’s Executive Committee in the role of treasurer, replacing the retiring Julie Swan, formerly of Sysco.

Read Full Story // read more about: Women in Foodservice