Restaurant News

share franchise news, to prosper and amuse

Home | MyMauMau: Log In / Register | Ask Franny | Newsletter
Log In / Register | May 25, 2013

Investigative News

Giordano's Franchisees Get Bigger Piece of Pie

Member | Janet Sparks | May 7 | food, legal
Giordano's Pizza Chicago
Neon sign of a Giardano's Pizza restaurant in Chicago. photo / thomas hawke

CHICAGO – A judge has dismissed all claims against Giordano’s Pizza franchisees brought by the former owners of the bankrupted company, stating the husband and wife team do not have individual standing to sue.

Add Comment | Read More

Forty Percent Loyal to Favorite Restaurant Regardless of Promotions

Member | BMM | May 3 | food
Loyalists versus Bargain Hunters
Question: Which of the following best describes you?
NPD: Loyalists vs Bargain Hunters at restaurants
Source: The NPD Group/ How Consumers Choose to Eat Out

CHICAGO —More than forty percent of consumers say they are loyal to their favorite restaurants and will go there whether or not the establishment has a promotion, reports market researcher The NPD Group.

Add Comment (1 Comments) | Read More

Arby’s Hires on Paul Brown as CEO

Member | BMM | Apr 30 | food, manage

ATLANTA – Arby's Restaurant Group, Inc. announced today that it has hired hospitality executive Paul Brown as its chief executive officer.

Add Comment | Read More

KFC Launches Boneless Chicken Today

Member | BMM | Apr 14 | food
Boneless ad coverage the front facade of the Yum Brands headquarters in Louisville, Kentucky
The front of parent company Yum Brands headquarters, Louisville, Ky. Apr 13, BMM

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – KFC introduced boneless, skinless pieces of white and dark meat chicken today throughout U.S. outlets.

Add Comment | Read More

Restaurant Visits with Kids Flat in 2012

Member | BMM | Apr 9 | food

CHICAGO — In 2012 adult-only restaurant visits grew for the first time in four years while visits that included children remained flat for the second consecutive year, according to a market r

Add Comment | Read More

Deals No Longer Driving Restaurant Traffic

Member | BMM | Mar 27 | food

CHICAGO — Restaurant visits driven by value menus and combination meals were down last year despite strong deals.

Add Comment (2 Comments) | Read More

Signs of Recovery in U.S. Restaurant Industry

Member | BMM | Mar 21 | food, trends

CHICAGO — The 500 largest U.S. restaurant chains registered a 4.9 percent annual sales increase in 2012, a marked improvement over 3.5 percent the prior year.

Add Comment (8 Comments) | Read More

Taco Bell Launches Cool Ranch Taco

Member | BMM | Mar 7 | food
Brand new Cool Ranch Doritos Tacos poster goes up on the window of a franchise
Brand new poster put up on a franchise window this morning. photo/bmm

IRVINE, Calif. — Taco Bell rolls out a new Cool Ranch Doritos flavored taco shell today to its restaurants and franchises nationwide.

Add Comment | Read More

Gluten Avoiders Reach New High in 2013

Member | BMM | Mar 7 | food, trends
  "I'm trying to cut back/avoid gluten in my diet."
NPD Tracks Gluten Avoidance
Source: NPD Group/Dieting Monitor, 52 week year ending Jan. 30, '13

CHICAGO —As of this January about a third of U.S. adults say they want to cut down or be free of gluten in their diets, the highest percentage making this claim since market researcher The NPD Group, began asking the question in 2009.

Add Comment | Read More

Noncommercial Foodservices Showing Growth Signs

Member | Don Sniegowski | Feb 22 | food

CHICAGO — Noncommercial foodservice operations accounted for 34 percent of total U.S. foodservice sales in 2012, garnering over $200 billion in sales, according to Technomic Inc.

Add Comment | Read More
Syndicate content
more

Headlines from the 'Net

TGI Fridays Franchisee Shocked at Fake-Liquor Allegations in New Jersey Restaurants

Member | Bob Frankman | 2:09 pm | food

New Jersey state officials accused 13 TGI Fridays restaurants of substituting premium liquor for cheap ones. The CEO of giant multiunit franchisee Briad Restaurant Group said he was shocked.

Add Comment | Read More

McDonald's Don Thompson Defends Chain on Obesity, Minorities

Reporter | Don Sniegowski | 11:17 am | food
video via ABC News

McDonald's annual shareholders meeting Thursday morning was filled with both criticism and adulation.

Add Comment | Read More

Annual Meat Consumption per Capita by Country

Reporter | BMM | May 18 | food, trends

via chartsbin.com

This map from ChartsBin shows current worldwide annual Meat Consumption per capita. World average meat consumption: 41.90 kg per person per year.

Add Comment | Read More

McDonald’s May Trim Its Menu

Reporter | Don Sniegowski | May 17 | food
Angus burger items missing in this Kentucky McDonald's
Angus burgers pulled Monday from this Kentucky McDonald's. photo/bmm

Engaged in a race to boost more traffic and same-store-sales than competitors, fast food chains have understandably gone the route of adding more menu items. Over the years those menus have become bloated.

Add Comment (1 Comments) | Read More

Smuggling Service Delivers KFC Chicken through Tunnels to Gaza Strip

Reporter | Janet Sparks | May 16 | food

KFC DeliveryFor six years Rafat Shororo has been longing for the taste of KFC he had eaten in Egypt, and this week the  Gaza resident got his “finger lickin’" fix at home.

Add Comment | Read More

McDonald's and Wendy's Vie for Cost-Conscious Customers

Reporter | Janet Sparks | May 9 | food

McDonald's Website

McDonald’s Corp. and Wendy’s admit it is getting more challenging in winning customers with value menu deals, not just in the U.S. but also globally.

Add Comment | Read More

Will Opening Late Boost Store Profits?

Reporter | BMM | May 6 | food

Franchised restaurant chains are extending their opening hours in hopes that they can scrape in a few more dollars. Reporter Sarah Needleman of the Wall Street Journal asks two experts, who are not unknown to Blue MauMau, is it worth the extra expenses for store owners?

Add Comment (3 Comments) | Read More

Big QSR Chains Beef Up Dollar Menu

Reporter | BMM | May 5 | food

Taco Bell, McDonald's, Burger King and other major chains battle to attract consumers with cheap menu items. Restaurant unit economist John Gordon explains the "barbell" strategy of QSR pricing.

Add Comment (1 Comments) | Read More

McDonald's Considers Delivery and All Day Breakfast to Raise Sagging Sales

Reporter | BMM | May 1 | food

@DavidBegnaud of Breaking News reports that McDonalds is considering serving breakfast items all day long as well as testing delivery service. Rival Burger King already offers delivery in several large cities and will likely expand.

Add Comment (1 Comments) | Read More

Schaden Launches Honest Pizza as His Latest Concept

Reporter | Janet Sparks | Apr 28 | food

Despite recent litigation woes and failures with past concepts, Rick Schaden, under his Consumer Capital Partners, is now launching yet another concept.

Add Comment (1 Comments) | Read More
Syndicate content
more

Expert Advice

McDonald's Owner/Operators Temperature Check

Expert | john a. gordon | May 22 | food, op-ed
john a. gordon's picture

Recently I gained additional perspective on the issues and discontent in the McDonald's U.S. owner/operator community.

Add Comment (6 Comments) | Read More

Forty Six Million Reasons Why Restaurants Should Think Ahead

Expert | john a. gordon | May 16 | food, manage
john a. gordon's picture

Note from John Gordon: Several 'fast casual' summits will be conducted this year, one this week before the NRA Show kicks off in Chicago. Steve Johnson, the Grocerant space expert, and I feel the future of food retail is not to look back and see what worked in the past, but to look forward, thinking carefully about the customer.

Add Comment | Read More

Restaurant Brand Protectionism Will Lose Customers

Expert | Steven Johnson | May 6 | food
Steven Johnson's picture

I have noticed that Kodak is nearly out of business. Growing up in the 1960’s and ‘70’s, every family had a Kodak Camera and I still have one of mine.

Add Comment | Read More
Syndicate content
more