June 19, 2013
Industry News
A Quick-Serve Rebound?

In a sign that the economic landscape might finally be rebounding for quick serves, early results from Technomic’s upcoming “Top 500 Restaurant Chain” report reveal that the fastest-growing limited-service restaurant chains in the U.S. realized average sales increases of 22.3 percent between 2011 and 2012.

Read Full Story // read more about: Chipotle, Dickey's, Firehouse Subs
Industry News
McAlister's Gets Hearty and Healthy with New Menu Items

McAlister’s Deli, a leading fast-casual restaurant, is offering guests new limited-time menu items including sandwich grillers, a seasonal berry salad, and hearty pot roast. The menu runs April 8–June 30 and features:

Read Full Story // read more about: McAlister's Deli, Healthy Menus, Menu Development, Sandwiches
Consumer Trends
The Secret’s Out

Though not new, secret and hidden menus have taken hold in recent years as social media–savvy diners share off-the-menu experiences with potentially viral audiences. And today, more quick-service brands are finding that a secret menu can offer guests a fun and unique experience worth coming back for.

Read Full Story // read more about: Boloco, In-N-Out Burger, Panera Bread, Marketing, Competition, Menu Innovations, Promotions
Outside Insights
Planting the ‘Seeds’ of Marketing

The old adage “squeezing blood out of a turnip” may best describe how many marketers today feel when it comes to finding new ways to stretch their marketing budget dollars. Whether they slashed advertising media buys, reduced the number of new collateral materials, or scaled back on product launches, retailers were affected...

Read Full Story // read more about: Marketing
Outside Insights
3 Tips for Food Truck Insurance

There’s a food truck for every type of cuisine nowadays. Mobile eateries’ sudden rise in popularity has taken the country by storm, and just like other businesses, the trucks need to be insured, whether they’re operators’ main business or secondary source of income. From 2011 to 2012, Progressive saw a nearly 20...

Read Full Story // read more about: In the Store
Industry News
KFC Debuts New Original Recipe Boneless

When nearly four in five servings of fried chicken in the U.S. are served “off the bone” – strips, bites, and filets – what’s the most famous fried chicken restaurant in the world to do? For KFC, the answer was simple: Get rid of the bones.

Read Full Story // read more about: KFC, Menu Development, Food & Beverage, Menu Innovations, Social Media, Promotions
Industry News
Seattle's Best Taps Into $4.3B Blended Beverage Industry

Seattle’s Best Coffee, a division of Starbucks Corporation, partnered with food manufacturer Inventure Foods Inc. to launch a first for the coffee industry: a blend-at-home frozen coffee beverage line. “The blended marketplace is huge and growing; it’s a $4.3 billion category,” says Jennifer Dimaris, vice...

Read Full Story // read more about: Seattle's Best, Beverage, Menu Innovations, Ingredients & Dayparts
Industry News
Barberitos Brings Back Mango Salsa

Barberitos rolls out its warm-weather menu item: mango salsa. The sweet salsa made its debut last year and was a hit. It is commonly paired with the jerk tilapia available on Fridays, as well as Barberitos chicken. Mango salsa will be available throughout the summer at all Barberitos locations. Barberitos is a quick service restaurant...

Read Full Story // read more about: Barberitos, Menu Development, Food & Beverage, Menu Innovations
Fast casual brands attract customers with alcoholic beverage programs
Menu Innovations
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...

Read Full Story // read more about: Blaze Pizza, Chipotle, Freebirds, Fresh to Order, Starbucks, Uncle Maddio's, Beverage, Menu Development, Competition, Consumer Trends, Ingredients & Dayparts
Superfoods like blueberries offer nutritional and flavorful menu potential.
Menu Innovations
Wonder Food

Look, up on the table! It’s a burdock. It’s a plantain. It’s … superfood!

Although there’s nothing really super-heroic about eating nutrition-rich fruits and vegetables, the foods give customers an opportunity to pursue healthier options at a time when many...

Read Full Story // read more about: Bowl of Heaven, Freshii, Just Salad, Red Mango, Healthy Menus, Menu Development, Health, Ingredients & Dayparts
New fast food brands like Live Basil first start as innovative business ideas.
Industry News
Birth of a Brand

It always starts with a simple idea.

For Brian Bailey at Ichor Restaurant Group, it began with the idea that Ohioans needed better barbecue. Six years after that idea initially took hold, Old Carolina Barbecue opened the doors to its first unit, in Canton, Ohio. The company later opened...

Read Full Story // read more about: Fazoli's, Little Greek, Live Basil, Old Carolina Barbecue Company, Back of House, Finance, Marketing, Operations, Competition, In the Store, Growth
Ice cream brands are increasing innovation to take business back from fro yo.
Consumer Trends
Can Ice Cream Survive?

They seemed to pop up almost overnight. In strip malls and on street corners across the country, frozen-yogurt shops suddenly offered an exciting new option for America’s collective sweet tooth, teasing at healthfulness and innovating with self service and customization. Once concentrated...

Read Full Story // read more about: Baskin-Robbins, Cold Stone Creamery, Jeni's, Sloan's, Desserts, Competition, Menu Innovations, Ingredients & Dayparts
Quick service brands are using big data to streamline and improve business.
Operations
Get a Grip on Big Data

Franchisees, C-suite executives, and marketing experts in the limited-service industry have likely all come across the term big data in some form or another over the last couple of years.

But unless their background or interests lie in analytics or statistics, they probably shrugged it...

Read Full Story // read more about: Haute Dogs & Fries, Jamba Juice, Back of House, Back Office, In the Store, Consumer Trends
Wrap concept BSkis in Chapel Hill successfully delivers food to campus students.
Industry News
Signed, Sealed, Delivered

Burger King hopes its new delivery service will be a great profit-driver for the chain, as the company is banking on customers to put in large orders for office lunches, birthday parties, and other gatherings in the select cities where the service is offered.

But it may not be the only...

Read Full Story // read more about: Burger King, McDonald's, [B]Ski's, Back of House, Online & Remote Ordering, Consumer Trends
Industry News
Toppers Boosts System-Wide Sales by 40% in Q1

Despite the crowded pizza category, Toppers Pizza is taking its share of the more than $40 billion pie.

System-wide sales increased by more than 40 percent for both company-owned and franchised units in the first quarter of 2013, and same-store sales for company units were up 13.59...

Read Full Story // read more about: Toppers Pizza, Finance, Marketing, Pizza, Franchising, Growth
Costa Vida offers fresh Mexican ingredients in a laid back fast casual setting.
Emerging Concepts
One to Watch: Costa Vida Fresh Mexican Grill

A decade ago, JD and Sarah Gardner returned home to Utah from a trip to Cabo San Lucas, inspired by the surfing culture and local cuisine of the Baja Peninsula Coast. Soon after, the pair opened Costa Vida Fresh Mexican Grill.

Read Full Story // read more about: Costa Vida Fresh Mexican Grill, In the Store, Franchising, Growth
A new tool from GS1 U.S. will help operators protect their food safety.
Food Safety
Cracking the Food Safety Code

For years, barcode technology has been commonplace in the retail sector, where it’s used to gather information about products, sales, and even consumer trends at various transaction points. But now, due to a major standardization initiative and broadening food-safety concerns, the same...

See More
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...

See More
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...

See More
A Wing Zone franchisee changed his cooking equipment to get better results.
Back of House
The Transformational Franchisee

Army and Air Force foodservice provider The Exchange has been serving U.S. military families since 1895 with meals in cafeteria lines and snack bars. It wasn’t until 1985, however, that it first signed a license agreement with a name-brand food franchisee—at the time, Burger King.

See More
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...

See More
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....

See More
Five to Seven will invest in healthy and sustainble fast food brands globally.
Finance
Good Food for All

Five to Seven, a new restaurant funding initiative launched in May by foodservice industry veterans Brad Blum and John Vincent, has goodness at its core and as its goal. “Good food for the planet” is the initiative’s tagline, as Blum and Vincent want “good food”...

See More
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...

See More
Superfoods like blueberries offer nutritional and flavorful menu potential.
Healthy Menus
Wonder Food

Look, up on the table! It’s a burdock. It’s a plantain. It’s … superfood!

Although there’s nothing really super-heroic about eating nutrition-rich fruits and vegetables, the foods give customers an opportunity to pursue healthier options at a time when many...

See More