Pie Five launches cauliflower crust LTO

January 3, 2018

Cauliflower is certainly having its moment and Pie Five is seizing that moment with a new cauliflower crust available until Feb. 11, a news release said. 

Nov.16 webinar: How to catch a (restaurant) thief

November 1, 2017

The fact that employees steal in a variety of ways from small acts of supply theft to substantial acts of fraud, is a dirty little secret shared by every…

FAT Brands completes $10.5 million acquisition of Ponderosa, Bonanza steakhouses

October 31, 2017

FAT Brands Inc, parent company of Fatburger, Buffalo's Cafe and Buffalo's Express, has completed the acquisition of Homestyle Dining LLC, the parent company to…

Millennials: 'Give us big discounts, cut the small talk'

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

One of the more eye-opening sessions at this Fast Casual Executive Summit in Nashville this month was a quick, question-filled hour-long chat with a varied…

Chipotle CEO: 'We still have much work to do'

by Cherryh Cansler — Editor, FastCasual.com

Despite missing analysts' marks, CEO Steve Ells said he's as optimistic as he was when starting Chipotle nearly 24 years ago.

Summit keynote speaker: 5 seconds to leading amidst rapid change

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

Best-selling author and CNN commentator Mel Robbins tells fast casual leaders why they are likely just 5 seconds away from the best approach to their toughest…

Coffee chains proliferate ... especially in Juneau

October 17, 2017

NPD Group said a recent restaurant census found that there were 33,129 gourmet coffee shops in the U.S., a 2 percent increase in units from last year. That's…

Restaurant biz down, but not as bad as it looks

October 13, 2017

Ever since Hurricanes Harvey and Irma roared through most of the nation's southern regions, analysts and others have been itching for numbers on the storms…

Slim Chickens caters to football fans' food demands

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

There may be no greater test of the success of a catering program than a fanatic football fan, who's been guzzling suds and suddenly becomes hungry. Party…

Tropical Smoothie shows lots of love to City of Brotherly Love

September 11, 2017

Pennsylvania's renowned "City of Brotherly Love" is getting a whole bunch of the sweet stuff from the Tropical Smoothie Cafe brand, which today announced an…

Golub Capital supports Café Rio Mexican Grill acquisition

September 11, 2017

Café Rio Mexican Grill is being acquired by Freeman Spogli & Co., according to a news release. This moves comes after Golub Capital announced it is…

Top take-homes in teaching restaurant tech to work together

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

Competition and narrow margins in the restaurant business demand a nip-and-tuck approach to efficiency. Uncle Maddio's recently worked with ParTech to…

Fazoli's 'Comeback Kid' shares turnaround story at London summit

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

"It was ugly," Fazoli's President and CEO Carl Howard exclaimed as he detailed the state of the chain when he arrived to lead it nine years ago. "I mean…

Study shows 'anytime eaters' here to stay: Are you ready?

The anytime eater is upon us and many chains have found that feeding "the new normal" requires a shift away from traditional meal packaging, both in portion…

London Summit: Coyote Ugly's key considerations before taking on the world

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

Coyote Ugly has learned to speak a lot of different languages along its path to global growth. Here, one of the chain's leaders shares the key elements for any…

Are you paying to power your competitor when they could be paying for you?

By Jeff Julia/Author, Navigating the Maze of Energy Efficiency Projects

The New Economy: It's all about restaurants

August 14, 2017

In Cleveland and New York City, more than a third of the new jobs added since 2015 are food and drink service industry positions, while the entire state of…

New tool helps small restaurant brands handle big turnover problem

August 11, 2017

Snagajob, the mammoth hourly worker recruiting service and website, has introduced a new tool that helps smaller restaurant business owners recruit, schedule…

Wayback Burgers to test food trailers in the Big Apple

by Elliot Maras — Editor, Kiosk Marketplace & Vending Times

The fast casual chain teams with a trailer specialist to launch its first mobile food initiative, starting in New York City.

Show and tell: Coolgreens demonstrates how 'picturing' community health can be profitable

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

Oklahoma-based Coolgreens defines itself through community health, and as the chain expands, it will spread that idea in a very visual way.