June 19, 2013
Industry News
Stouffer's Takes to the Road with Food Trucks

Nestle Prepared Foods Company announced today that Stouffer's will "hit the road" this fall with a fleet of branded food trucks to serve up their iconic and delicious Stouffer's macaroni & cheese with fresh toppings in major cities across America that will support local...

Read Full Story // read more about: Stouffer's, Food & Beverage, Growth, Emerging Concepts
Firehouse Subs has learned to prepare stores for emergencies like fires.
Operations
Expect the Unexpected

No operator wants to think about his restaurant catching on fire, a tornado destroying his roof, or an armed robber walking through his front door.

But to successfully deal with unexpected emergencies, quick-serve restaurants must have a plan in place long before an event happens.

...

Read Full Story // read more about: Firehouse Subs, Moe's Southwest Grill, Operations, Security, Training
Industry News
Garbanzo Hits the Town for First Orange County Unit

Garbanzo Mediterranean Grill, a Colorado-based fast-casual restaurant concept featuring healthy Mediterranean cuisine, announced the grand opening of its first Orange County, California, franchise location on Wednesday, May 29.

The new restaurant is the Mediterranean concept’s 22...

Read Full Story // read more about: Garbanzo, Healthy Menus, Franchising, Growth, Fast Casual
Industry News
Wendy's Reintroduces a Summer Favorite

Salad season really heats up starting today ... with the return of Wendy's most popular seasonal favorite: Berry Almond Chicken Salad.

Read Full Story // read more about: Wendy's, Healthy Menus, Food & Beverage, Health
Industry News
Taco John's New VP Plans to Double Store Count

Shawn Eby has been named the vice president of operations for the Mexican quick-service restaurant chain Taco John’s International. Eby joins Taco John’s with 26 years of experience in the restaurant industry and was most recently the senior director of franchise operations in the...

Read Full Story // read more about: Taco John's, Franchising, Human Resources
Industry News
Taco Bell Foundation Creates Times Square Yearbook

The Taco Bell Foundation for Teens, together with Get Schooled, invites teens to take part in a one-of-a-kind project, “Yearbook Time! Upload Yourself Into Times Square Using Instagram.”

To participate, students are asked to make the Graduate for Mas promise to graduate high...

Read Full Story // read more about: Taco Bell, Charitable Giving, Social Media, Promotions
Industry News
Rutgers Grads Debut Bonchon Chicken in New Brunswick, NJ

Korean-style fried chicken restaurant chain Bonchon Chicken officially opens on Saturday, June 8, in New Brunswick, New Jersey. The first 100 customers will receive five free chicken wings.

The New Brunswick Bonchon Chicken, available for dine-in, takeout, or delivery, is conveniently...

Read Full Story // read more about: Bonchon Chicken, Franchising, Growth
Industry News
Freddy's Feeds Oklahoma Tornado Victims

Freddy's location in Moore, Oklahoma, was spared during the F5 tornado May 20. Sunday they served 5000 first responders and volunteers during an all-day effort themed 'Hot Dogs for Heroes'.

Read Full Story // read more about: Freddy's, Burgers, Charitable Giving, Charitable Giving
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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Five to Seven will invest in healthy and sustainble fast food brands globally.
Healthy Menus
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”...

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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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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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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.

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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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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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New fast food brands like Live Basil first start as innovative business ideas.
Finance
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...

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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...

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Industry News
WFF Partners with MGM for Conference

Women’s Foodservice Forum (WFF) is entering a partnership with The MGM Resorts Foundation, the non-profit foundation driven by employees of MGM Resorts International, one of the world’s leading hospitality companies, to present the Seventh Annual Women’s Leadership Conference. WFF and the MGM Resorts Foundation will collaborate on programming and content for the Foundation’s conference.

Read Full Story // read more about: Training, Executive Insights, Women in Foodservice
Industry News
WFF Provides New Perk for Members

After more than a year in development, Women’s Foodservice Forum (WFF) has launched its Leadership Library, a custom, best-in-class collection of books, articles, best-practices, and videos members will use to develop their leadership competencies.

 

Read Full Story // read more about: Women in Foodservice
Women in Foodservice
All Fair in Foodservice?

The foodservice industry has come a long way since the days when it was dominated by men, with more than half of the restaurant talent pool now made up of women. From the front counter to the corner office, women are increasingly influencing the future of the industry.

Read Full Story // read more about: Cinnabon, New Miami Subs Grill, Human Resources
Industry News
WFF CEO Woods Earns Dallas Directors Award

Women’s Foodservice Forum (WFF) president and CEO Fritzi Woods was recently recognized as an honoree of Dallas Business Journal’s 2013 Outstanding Directors Award. The Outstanding Directors Award program operates in conjunction with the National Association of Corporate Directors and is sponsored by Ernst & Young. The program honors directors from Dallas-based nonprofits and public and private companies.

Read Full Story // read more about: Women in Foodservice
Women in Foodservice
Cleared for Launch

Starting any business can be a difficult prospect, but in an industry where men have historically outnumbered women, the roadblocks to doing so can be even more challenging when you’re female.

For many female foodservice entrepreneurs, being taken seriously as a business owner is often the biggest challenge, says Arzu Esendemir, CEO and cofounder of Mediterranean fast casual Flatbread Grill in Upper Montclair, New Jersey.

Read Full Story // read more about: Flatbread Grill, Suzy's Swirl, Back of House, Finance, In the Store, Growth
Industry News
Passport Food Group Hires Duo of Execs, Opens New Facility

Passport Food Group announced the hiring of Jeffrey Taveres and Jim Debiase, two experienced sales executives.

Tavares joined Passport Food Group as the Asian market account manager, and will be responsible for supporting the Asian foodservice and retail customers in California, Arizona, and Nevada. He was most recently with the Asian sauce and ingredients company Lee Kum Kee.

Debiase joined the company as the Southern California territory sales manager, and will be responsible for supporting all non‐Asian foodservice accounts in Southern California.

Read Full Story // read more about: Food Safety, Women in Foodservice
Executive Insights
The Advocate

The most powerful woman in the restaurant industry isn’t intimidating, nor is she larger than life. She isn’t cold, tight-lipped, terse, or abrasive. She doesn’t talk down to you. She doesn’t double-book you and cancel at the last second.

Certainly one might expect such a person to be and do any number of those things; overseeing nearly 1 million members that collectively earn more than $650 billion in sales and represent 4 percent of the entire U.S. GDP isn’t a walk in the park.

Read Full Story // read more about: Healthy Menus, Competition, Women in Foodservice, Growth
Industry News
8 Lessons from WFF's Annual Leadership Conference

For the first time, QSR had the honor of attending the Women’s Foodservice Forum’s Annual Leadership Development Conference, held this year on April 14–17 in Orlando, Florida.

Read Full Story // read more about: Marketing, Operations, Executive Insights, Women in Foodservice, Outside Insights