Taziki's names COO

January 15, 2020

Taziki's Mediterranean Café has promoted Mike Smith, former VP of operations, to COO. Before joining Taziki's, he was the VP of operations for Hootwinc (DBA…

Chicken Salad Chick expanding in Texas

January 14, 2020

Chicken Salad Chick is adding a location in Fort Worth, Texas' Ridglea Village. Following the brand's debut in Arlington last month, this unit marks…

Juice It Up launches to-go packs

January 14, 2020

Juice It Up has launched to-go packs that allow guests to customize six-to-12 smoothies or juices for easy pick-up and transport. At a 10% discount, the pack…

Coolgreens promotes VP to president, COO

January 14, 2020

Coolgreens has promoted Todd Madlener from vice president of operations to president and chief operating officer.

Fazoli's expanding Kentucky footprint

January 14, 2020

Fazoli's, based in Lexington, Kentucky, is growing in its homestate with a restaurant set to open this summer in Pikeville, according to a press release.

Paris Baguette promotes COO Tipton to CEO of US business

January 14, 2020

Paris Baguette has made a few changes to its executive leadership, including promoting former COO Darren Tipton to CEO of the chain's United States business…

How Starbucks CEO wants to use AI to nurture the human spirit

In a recent blog, Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson discusses how the company balances technology and human interaction in its 31,000 stores and 400,000 employees…

Dat Dog CEO explains brand's 3 stages of menu development

Editor's note: A View From the Top is a series featuring first-person accounts from some of the fast casual industry's most innovative leaders. If you are…

Taco Cabana closing 19 Texas units

January 13, 2020

Taco Cabana is closing 19 units in Texas, according to a press release from Fiesta Restaurant Group, the chain's parent company, which also owns Pollo Tropical.

Restaurant gift card sales strong despite shorter holiday season

January 13, 2020

Although restaurants felt the affect of the shortened 2019 holiday sales season in gift card sales, those sales are still on an upswing, according to data from…

Tropical Smoothie reports record-breaking growth

January 13, 2020

Tropical Smoothie Cafe this week reported its eighth consecutive year of same-store sales growth and that it had opened 124 cafes and signed 213 franchise…

Former Cousins Subs employees now franchisees

January 13, 2020

Justin and Laura McGraw, both former Cousins Subs employees, are now franchisees for the brand after opening a Cousins Subs store in Brookfield, Wisconsin.

RFIS 2020 Sponsor Preview: Heifer International

by Cherryh Cansler — Publisher, FastCasual.com

A staggering 821 million people go to bed hungry every night, a stat that Heifer International wants to change.

Capital One's Winninger addresses the bank cafe experience

Reimagining the in-branch customer experience has become an increasingly important challenge amid the rise of mobile banking an alternative payment options.

Presented by FastCasual.com

Dickey's entering Republic of Georgia

January 10, 2020

Dickey's Barbecue Pit is expanding to the Republic of Georgia with the location set to open soon in the country's capital, Tbilisi. Tibua Shalva, owner of the…

Zume calls upcoming layoffs a shift in strategy

January 10, 2020

Monday is D-Day for 360 staffers at the 500-employee Zume Pizza, and some of the details of the mass layoff are becoming clearer. The pizza-making robot…

How Dog Haus' menu innovation, tech-centric approach is doubling growth

January 10, 2020

Dog Haus, based in Pasadena, is hoping to propel its 9.1% growth in 2019 same-store sales growth into an even stronger 2020. 

Grubhub addresses phone order snafu

January 9, 2020

Grubhub customers will be hearing a new prompt when placing a call to a restaurant using the ordering app, which will direct them to press the No. 1 to place…

RFIS 2020 Sponsor Preview: Guardian EdgePro

by Cherryh Cansler — Publisher, FastCasual.com

Brands frustrated with their commercial security operations may want to look into EdgePro, an online security management tool that provides oversight for large…

Florida's Island Fin Poke coming to Maryland

January 9, 2020

Poke was a meal not well-known outside of Hawaii until a few years ago, but today there are nearly 2,000 poke restaurants outside of Hawaii, with much of that…