May 27, 2013

Women in Foodservice

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 differentiate their brands. For many, that...

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
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,...

Read Full Story // read more about: Flatbread Grill, Suzy's Swirl, Back of House, Finance, In the Store, Growth
Industry News
Superman Gets a Super Burger at Carl's Jr., Hardee's

Boasting six slices of bacon, the new Super Bacon Cheeseburger is available now at all Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. locations. The newest premium burger offering from Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s is part of the restaurants’ promotional tie-in with Warner Bros. Pictures’ release of “Man of Steel,” in...

Read Full Story // read more about: Carl's Jr., Hardee's, Burgers, Marketing, Menu Development, Promotions
Industry News
Pancheros Gets Cheeky With New Packaging

Pancheros, a fast-casual Mexican restaurant known for “Burritos Better Built,” introduces its new package design. The packaging revamp includes novel graphic designs for all of the franchise’s items, such as beverage cups, napkins, carryout bags, and burrito boxes. Pancheros’ new packaging features phrases meant...

Read Full Story // read more about: Pancheros, Marketing, Packaging
Industry News
Recapping the NRA Show

As the lights went out on the National Restaurant Association’s Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show (NRA Show) in Chicago on Tuesday, there was plenty to consider about the future of the industry. The show featured no shortage of technological advancements, not just in computing hardware and software, but also in equipment and...

Read Full Story // read more about: Back of House, Equipment, Kitchen, In the Store
Industry News
Complete NRA Show Coverage

Click on the headlines below to catch up on QSR ’s coverage from the floor of the National Restaurant Association’s Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show (NRA Show). Recapping the NRA Show As the lights went out on the National Restaurant Association’s Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show (NRA Show) in Chicago on Tuesday, there...

Read Full Story // read more about: Fazoli's, Live Basil, Back Office, Equipment, Kitchen, Menu Development, In the Store, Menu Innovations, Ordering, Promotions, Growth, Health
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 percent in the same period. Franchise units saw a...

Read Full Story // read more about: Toppers Pizza, Finance, Marketing, Pizza, Franchising, Growth
Operations
The New Face of R&D

There’s no way around the truth that social media is now a critical tool for limited-service restaurant brands. It plays an influential role in marketing and building brand identity, and allows concepts to reach out to and interact with fans and followers to build deeper relationships. But using social media is about more than...

Read Full Story // read more about: Baskin-Robbins, Sloan's, Wing Zone, Desserts, Menu Development, Consumer Trends, Menu Innovations, Social Media, Ingredients & Dayparts
Restaurant operators learn valuable tips at restaurant industry's largest show.
Industry News
2013 NRA Show Guide
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Read Full Story // read more about: Cosi, Competition, Growth
NRA CEO Dawn Sweeney helps protect restaurant operators interests.
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...

Read Full Story // read more about: Healthy Menus, Competition, Women in Foodservice, Growth
Food production systems like hydroponics help restaurants use more local goods.
Ingredients & Dayparts
Can Quick Serves Save the World?

No longer is local sourcing just a utopian ideal. It’s a practice coming to life and continually gaining momentum in foodservice, with the number of local ingredients on menus growing by 73 percent over the last four years, according to market research firm Mintel.

But, at its most...

Read Full Story // read more about: Chipotle, Mad Greens, Sloco, Green, In the Store, Consumer Trends, Menu Innovations
Industry News
Dunkin' Donuts Grows Healthy Menu With Turkey Sausage

Helping guests greet the warm weather with more smart choices, Dunkin’ Donuts announced a permanent addition to its DDSMART menu: the Turkey Sausage Breakfast Sandwich.

A breakfast sandwich option under 400 calories, the new sandwich features a fried egg topped with turkey sausage...

Read Full Story // read more about: Dunkin' Donuts, Breakfast, Healthy Menus, Menu Development, Sandwiches
Industry News
Offering Value Isn't Enough; Taco Bell Wants to Redefine It

It may seem like a lofty goal, but Taco Bell is dead set on not only redefining value at the quick-service level, but also delivering it to consumers in a variety of ways.

Specifically, the brand is focusing on four key areas: the low- and high-price end of the menu, new menus and...

Read Full Story // read more about: Taco Bell, Menu Development, Executive Insights, Promotions
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
Low calorie menu options boost quick service restaurant sales.
Health
Slimmer Items, Hefty Sales

The lower the calorie counts in restaurant menu items, the better for business, according to recent research by public policy research organization Hudson Institute.

The report analyzed 21 of the nation’s largest restaurant chains, including quick-service brands like McDonald’...

Read Full Story // read more about: Healthy Menus, Consumer Trends, Menu Innovations, Ingredients & Dayparts
Fine dining brand Shula's opened fast casual sister restaurant Shula Burger.
Competition
The Great Migration

On Fort Lauderdale, Florida’s 17th Street, tucked in the shadow of giants Chipotle and Panera Bread, an upstart burger joint dreams of someday entering the same upper ranks of the fast-casual world that those two brands helped create. Though the restaurant carries a familiar name, its vibe...

Read Full Story // read more about: Larkburger, Shula Burger, Operations, Consumer Trends, Growth, Fast Casual
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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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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Women leaders like Flatbread Grill's owners successfully launch new brands.
Finance
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...

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...

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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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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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Innovations like the Marinara Tower were featured on the NRA Show floor.
Back of House
Recapping the NRA Show

As the lights went out on the National Restaurant Association’s Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show (NRA Show) in Chicago on Tuesday, there was plenty to consider about the future of the industry.

The show featured no shortage of technological advancements, not just in computing hardware...

See More