How Shake Shack, Chipotle supporting racial equality

by Cherryh Cansler — Editor, FastCasual.com

June 8, 2020

Chipotle and Shake Shack, two fast casual brands that the industry holds up as leaders, are showing their support for racial equality.

Uber Eats to offer no fee delivery for black-owned restaurants

June 8, 2020

Uber Eats last week announced a plan to promote black-owned restaurants by dropping delivery fees in the U.S. and Canada for the rest of the year.

6 Ways to Optimize Your Online Menu & Survive the COVID Crisis

These are turbulent and scary times for restaurant operators across the board. Online orders went from 10% to 100% of your business in just a matter of days.

5 Best Practices for Marketing Your Online Order Channel

Now more than ever, we're living in a digital world. Restaurants were quite rudely reminded of that two months ago when COVID first hit and they were forced to…

3 Ways to Rebuild Your Brand & Attract Customers Post-COVID

All at once restaurant owners were forced to shut down in-store operations, adapt to all-digital ordering, and now … the mandate to deliver flawless safety…

Boloco CEO: 'Most real change requires irrational passion, effort, behavior'

Although a Boloco located on the Boston Common sustained smashed glass, stolen computers and cash amid George Floyd protests last week, CEO John Pepper…

Portland eatery installs vending machine to serve guests during COVID-19

June 8, 2020

Pix Patisserie, a Portland restaurant, installed a refrigerated vending machine to serve rotating trays of pork dumplings, squid, crème brûlée, macarons and…

Webinar to explore how mid-market restaurateurs hyper-focus on digital channels

June 5, 2020

Paul Doerner While many fast-casual restaurant concepts have successfully pivoted to off-premise during the coronavirus pandemic, the desire to reopen…

Top restaurant trends place premium on home, health, purpose, price

June 5, 2020

This year, the market researchers at Euromonitor expect per capita global consumer expenditure to decline by approximately 5% and the global economy to enter…

Just Salad exec: 'A calorie label simply isn't enough'

June 5, 2020

Just Salad is embracing carbon labeling, which means its menu will feature the carbon footprint that reflects the total estimated greenhouse gas emissions…

Displaced restaurant workers create web series amid pandemic

June 5, 2020

In hopes of changing how people view the foodservice industry, a group of Atlanta-based restaurant workers created a web series called, "Gratuity Not Included…

Keeping tabs on Top 100 winners' traits plus Oracle expert's pandemic-era performance tips

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

On today's podcast, FastCasual Editor Cherryh Cansler gives her take on top traits of this year's Top 100 Movers & Shakers winners, while an Oracle restaurant…

Webinar offers insightful strategy for retailers in the 'new normal' of business

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

A free on-demand informative webinar, sponsored by LogMeIn, offers critical insight for retailers getting back to business in the wake of COVID-19.

Coolgreens revamps vending strategy, targets residential, office market

June 5, 2020

Coolgreens, an Oklahoma City, Oklahoma-based fast casual restaurant chain, is catering to high-rise residential and office buildings in Dallas, according to a…

Same-store sales, growth up at Slim Chickens amid pandemic

June 4, 2020

Since February 2020, Slim Chickens, based in Fayetteville, Arkansas, has inked six multi-unit agreements representing 38 franchise restaurants. The deals, all…

Greek From Greece 'on the fast track'

June 4, 2020

On the heels of a 31-unit expansion deal that included merging with and rebranding its largest competitor in Manhattan, Greek From Greece Café Cuisine has…

Flexibility Act en route to president: Restaurant industry breathes sigh of relief

June 4, 2020

Better loan terms, loosened FTE rehire requirements and a longer coverage period are just some of the benefits of the PPP Flexibility Act passed by the Senate…

Is Starbucks still Starbucks?

by Robert Passikoff — Consultant, Brand Keys

Now that the pandemic has forced Starbucks to change its operating model, Brand Keys' Robert Passikoff wonders what's the difference between Starbucks and a…

Mercato Partners launches $90M investment fund to fuel up-and-coming brands

June 4, 2020

Mercato Partners, an investor for growth-stage companies, has developed Savory, a $90 million fund to help scale up-and-coming restaurant concepts. To create…

Philly's Best opening first Northern California Location

June 3, 2020

Philly's Best, which serves Philly cheesesteaks, hoagies and fries, is opening its first Northern California location this summer in Oakland near the Oakland…