Chef Anthony Carron and partners' 800 Degrees Neapolitan Pizzeria has partnered with Tokyo-based Lumine Co Ltd with a multi-unit agreement to open pizzerias across Japan. This is the first international licensing deal for the rapidly expanding restaurant group, which recently opened in Downtown Los Angeles and Las Vegas.  "We are honored to partner with Lumine Co Ltd and […]

Taco Bueno broke ground today on the first of three new restaurants planned to open in Colorado Springs, Colorado, this year. In total, the three locations are anticipated to add more than 100 jobs in the community while offering consumers an authentic Tex-Mex dining experience. “Taco Bueno is thrilled to have selected Colorado Springs for […]

Juice It Up!, a leader in the raw juice bar and hand-crafted smoothie segment, will open its first Oregon location in the Tanasbourne Shops in Hillsboro. This will be the first of three locations that Brooklynn Lorenzen, president of Oregon-based Juice 55 LLC, will open in the Portland area.  “I’m super excited to be the […]

Del Taco reported that the brand is making significant strides in the South, with a focus on expansion in Georgia, Florida, and the Carolinas. Franchisee Clay Gullatt of Columbus, Georgia, is no stranger to Del Taco’s growing began his franchise career  in 1997 with a BBQ chain, then became a franchisee for a popular pizza […]

Dunkin’ Donuts, America’s all-day stop for coffee and baked goods, announced today the signing of a multi-unit store development agreement with a new franchise group, Donut World, LLC, to develop two Dunkin’ Donuts restaurants and one combination restaurant with its sister brand, Baskin-Robbins, in Columbia and Jefferson City, Missouri. The group’s first restaurant is planned to […]

PizzaRev marked its entrance into South Dakota with a Pizzas for a Purpose fundraising event at 3901 W. 49th St. in Sioux Falls. Guests are invited to pay-what-they-want for a custom-built, personal-sized pizza with a suggested $8 contribution to benefit Children’s Miracle Network and Sanford Children’s Hospital. PizzaRev-Sioux Falls is owned and operated by Todd […]

Smoothie Factory Juice Bar, a leading retailer of real fruit smoothies, fresh cold-squeezed juices, and nutritional products, enjoyed a record year for growth and development in 2014, adding 20 new locations for a total of 52 locations under its new parent company, BRIX Holdings, LLC. The revitalized Smoothie Factory Juice Bar store concept will open […]

Pieology Pizzeria announced today that its doors will officially open to the Carlsbad, California, community on Monday, March 2. The new restaurant is located at 2647 Gateway Road in the Bressi Ranch Village Center by Nékter Juice Bar and Peet’s Coffee & Tea. A proven favorite with SoCal fans, Pieology will soon have four restaurants in […]

Togo’s Eateries, Inc., a “West Coast Original” since 1971, announced today the signing of two multi-unit franchise agreements with new franchisees to develop two restaurants in the East Bay area and three in the San Fernando Valley.   As part of this development, Mary Zinchiak will open two locations in Walnut Creek and Lafayette, California, over […]

Pizza Patrón announced today the opening of its brand new Houston, Texas, restaurant located at 14405 Bellaire Blvd.The store was opened by long-time Pizza Patrón franchisees Bravo Pizzas Houston, LLC. This is the seventh store in the Houston market for this group of multi-unit operators. The store is open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. […]

Pancheros announced Adam Kaufman as the recipient of the 2014 Franchisee of the Year Award. Based in Columbia, Missouri, Adam was lauded for maintaining a superior level of service at his location and achieving double-digits sales growth within the first 18 months of opening. Adam opened his first Pancheros restaurant in Missouri almost two years ago and […]

PizzaRev announced today the addition of two franchise groups to bring the fast casual, build-your-own pizza concept to Sacramento and Riverside County, California. “While we continue to develop our corporate store footprint throughout greater Los Angeles, we’re focused on working with experienced multi-unit restaurant operators to realize the brand’s growth potential in new markets across […]

Tin Fish Restaurant is proud to announce that they are selling franchises to franchisees nationwide, as of February 2015.    Since its initial launch in 1997, Tin Fish has had a mission to deliver a high-quality experience through offering fresh, lean, healthy seafood meals to its customers. The decision to become a franchise originated after […]

When the recession hit in 2008, quick serves in the U.S. got a wake-up call: Even in the Western world, where drive thrus and combo meals were invented, quick serves are not immune to tight wallets and budget cuts. While brands in the U.S. struggled, some had a saving grace: an international presence. Take Dairy […]

Admittedly, a list of the best values in the quick-service franchise arena is a catalog coated in subjectivity. Yet, there remains an assortment of common characteristics that many franchise values possess. First, a good franchise deal is more than a simple, by-the-numbers assessment of franchise fees and start-up costs, a method that would fill any […]

In an industry of ever-more-ostentatious offerings, the Italian ice is about as humble as it gets: water, fruit, and sugar. Yet, Rita’s has parlayed that simple formula into a successful franchise business with an enviously loyal customer base. For the country’s largest Italian ice concept, which turns 25 this year, simple is anything but stupid. […]

Success in today’s competitive quick-service market requires companies to open more restaurants, faster and in the optimal locations. That’s all while trying to minimize sales cannibalization between restaurants and constantly evaluating which restaurants to close and which to renovate. For a franchise system to grow and improve its business, it needs to have control of […]

Lean and Mean In the past six months, Ed Frechette has noticed a trend. “People on Wall Street are coming to Au Bon Pain for meetings and interviews,” says Frechette, senior vice president of marketing for the Boston-based chain, which has locations in New York City. Financial executives are not the only ones looking to […]

Gary Worthington grew up inhaling freshly baked bread in the kitchen of his childhood home in Grantsville, Utah, a small farming community 40 miles west of Salt Lake City. Decades later, Worthington still enjoys the comforting aroma, though now it comes from his own business. Worthington and his family operate Kneaders Bakery & Café, a […]

September 27, 2007, was a big day in Soweto, a township of more than a million people just outside the South African city of Johannesburg. Former president and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Nelson Mandela and other dignitaries gathered with a local choir and a crowd of thousands to mark a very special occasion. It was […]

As Burger King (NYSE: BKC) steers itself to becoming a global brand, John Shaufelberger is at its marketing helm and looking toward Europe. In charge of creating “Super Fans” in every corner of the globe, Burger King’s new senior vice president of global product marketing explains how focusing on customers’ similarities will be the key […]

Franchisees are the backbone of the quick-service restaurant industry. It’s their entrepreneurial spirit and support that gives chains the staying power and reach to compete across the country and beyond. Without them The Colonel might never have left Kentucky and Pizza Hut would be nothing but a hut. Here, in no particular order, is a […]