Tropical Smoothie Café unveils another Texas location

June 23, 2016

Tropical Smoothie Cafe's newest location in Texas, owned by Vanessa Boles, at 19075 I-45 South, #116C in Shenandoah, will open in September.

Blaze pizza stakes out new locations in Ontario, Texas

June 23, 2016

Blaze pizza announced this week that it is opening two locations in North America.

Taja India awards franchise in Lone Star state

June 23, 2016

Taja India, the Denver-based, Indian restaurant concept, is opening in Pearland, Texas in late July. The franchise agreement, signed by Parazon Inc., outlines…

Dickey's BBQ Pit opens another San Antonio unit, launches charitable foundation

June 23, 2016

Dickey's Barbecue Pit, ranked No. 1 in FastCasual's Top 100 Movers and Shakers, has expanded deeper into San Antonio, Texas and launched  a charitable…

Structured interviews: Part of a recipe for hiring great people

by Jennifer Yugo, Ph.D. — Principal Consultant, Engaging Business Communications

By using structured interviews, you can gather four times the amount of accurate information compared to an inconsistent or conversational, unstructured…

Sin City says hello to The Halal Guys

June 22, 2016

The Halal Guys announced this week that franchisee, FOMO THG is opening the chain's first Nevada location right in the heart of Sin City. The Las Vegas…

5 strategies for franchise success over the long haul

by Judy Mottl — Editor, RetailCustomerExperience.com & DigitalSignageToday.com

By adopting five strategic actions, a franchisee can build strong customer retention and loyalty.

Reinventing the customer experience

The future of retail: It’s all about the experience. HP enables retailers and hospitality operators with the tools they need to empower their employees with…

Presented by HP Inc.

To tip or not to tip?

Chef Christopher Koetke discusses how the industry and customers feel about tipping.

As Pieology gobbles up Project Pie, are fast casual pizza wars set to go nuclear?

June 22, 2016

Pizza Wars might just have entered a whole new phase today when Pieology Pizzeria announced it is acquiring its competitor, Project Pie — the first fast casual…

Tech, information partnership create tool to target supply chain safety

June 22, 2016

FoodLogiQ, a software solutions company that measures food safety, has joined with the product information network, 1World Sync, to create a tool that allows…

800 Degrees Pizza heats up with new partnership

June 22, 2016

Murfey Ventures is now investing in 800 Degrees Pizza. This new partnership is allowing 800 Degrees to expand in area and corporate development as well as…

Americans have lots of new-found love for fast food, but still smitten with full-service

by S.A. Whitehead — Food Editor, Net World Media Group

Americans are feeling the love a little more these days for fast food, according to this year's customer satisfaction survey and index for the food service…

Still need to fill some summer employee spots? Look for candidates with camp counselor qualities

by Lon Southerland — Executive Vice President, GuestMetrics, LLC.

Need some pinch-hitters to flesh out the spring hires that didn't work, or didn't last? Think about candidates who've had experience as camp counselors, or…

Muscle Maker Grill opens 2 locations in Orange County

June 21, 2016

Two new Muscle Maker Grill California locations are opening, one at 2775 North Main Street in Santa Ana, and another at 2646 DuPont Drive in Irvine, come June…

Consolidated Concepts partners with GuestMetrics on food cost analysis tools

June 21, 2016

Consolidated Concepts, a supply chain player, and data analytics firm GuestMetrics are teaming up in a five-year partnership that will mesh…

El Pollo Loco signs deal with PLM Restaurants

June 21, 2016

PLM Restaurants signed a franchise deal to acquire two existing El Pollo Loco Tucson locations, and open six new locations by August 2019. 

Dean Foods scoops up Friendly's for $155M cash

June 21, 2016

Friendly's Ice Cream and Dean Foods Co. today finalized a $155 million cash deal that makes the retail ice cream and manufacturing business officially part of…

Umami Burger partners with Medeiros to launch in Japan

June 21, 2016

Umami Burger is joining Japanese company, Medeiros Holdings Co., Ltd., to launch 10 licensed locations in Japan in the next five years. The first location…

Freebirds mobile app aims to enhance customer experience

June 21, 2016

Freebirds, the Texas-based restaurant, is launching a mobile app and rewards program.