Discover commits $5M to support Black-owned restaurants

July 6, 2020

Discover Financial Services has committed $5 million to provide assistance to Black-owned restaurants in the U.S. in the form of $25,000 grants for…

Pie Five Q3 comp sales plummet with pandemic onset

June 29, 2020

Pie Five and Pizza Inn parent, Rave Restaurant Group, had a brutal third quarter ending March 29, according to a company press release. Pie Five domestic…

Restaurant transactions slowly rebound as dine-in service returns

June 9, 2020

Nearly three-quarters, 68%, of U.S. restaurants are able to reopen dine-in service as COVID-19 restrictions are being lifted and customer transactions are on a…

Fat Brands reports wider Q1 loss amid COVID-19

June 1, 2020

Fat Brands Inc., the owner of eight fast casual restaurant brands, including Fatburger and Elevation Burger, reported a wider loss in the first quarter as the…

Saladworks expanding via mobile ecosystems with Reef tech help

May 20, 2020

The create-you-own salad concept Saladworks is partnering with Reef Technology to create mobile ecosystems and now has its footprint in 17 Reef hubs throughout…

Slim Chickens opening first Cleveland location in 2021

May 15, 2020

Slim Chickens will open the first of six locations planned for Cleveland, Ohio in the first quarter of 2021.

KKR leads $43M funding round for Slice independent pizzeria platform

May 13, 2020

Pizzeria ordering and marketing tech platform, Slice (MyPizza Technologies, Inc.) has raised $43 million in Series C funding. KKR led the round with…

Uber has approached Grubhub on takeover deal

May 12, 2020

Uber Technologies Inc., one of the world's leading ride-sharing services and operator of UberEats,  had made an overture to buy rival food delivery service…

Eating up profits: The high cost of restaurant POS downtime, and the surprising difference SD-Branch can make

One tenth of 1 percent. It might not seem like much, but it adds up. And when that one tenth of one percent is POS downtime, it adds up to a lot: A lot of…

El Pollo Loco rescinds annual outlook on 1.5% Q1 sales drop

April 9, 2020

The 480-unit mostly Western U.S. chain, El Pollo Loco, reported that its Q1 sales fell 1.5% for the period that ended March 25. Still, before the pandemic…

Slim Chickens arrives in Colorado, launches food truck

March 12, 2020

It's been a busy month for Slim Chickens as the brand opened its first Colorado location, in Aurora, and also launched its first food truck.

FAT Brands completes $40M whole business securitization

March 9, 2020

FAT Brands Inc., the parent company of Fatburger, has completed a $40 million whole business securitization, a move that will significantly lower the company's…

With blistering Q2 for Pie Five, Rave CEO promises leadership changes

February 12, 2020

Promising to beef up leadership in "underperforming areas" of its business, the recently named CEO of double-pizza brand company, Rave Restaurant Group…

Leveraging technology to manage restaurant labor costs

Labor can make or break a restaurant, being the one variable that exists in all facets of a restaurant’s core functionality and a top concern among managers…

Postmates slashes staff, closes Mexico City office as investors sour on gig companies

December 4, 2019

On demand delivery service Postmates has slashed dozens of jobs and closed its Mexico City office amid rising investor concerns about several high profile gig…

Cook's Tortas jumps into franchising with Fransmart's help

December 3, 2019

Fast casual Mexican sandwich brand,Cook's Tortas, is launching a franchise program with the help of development company, Fransmart.

Muscle Maker files for IPO

November 27, 2019

Fast casual chain, Muscle Maker, aims to raise up to $59 million in an initial public offering on the Nasdaq. The filing is the second try at the public…

Punchh raises $40M in Series C funding, enters deal with Casey's General Stores

November 14, 2019

Punchh, a firm that provides AI-based marketing solutions for retailers, said it raised $40 million in a Series C funding round and also entered an agreement…

Former Uber boss Kalanick raises $400M for ghost kitchen, delivery platform

November 8, 2019

Travis Kalanick, the Silicon Valley icon who was ousted as CEO of Uber, raised $400 million from Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund in January for his new…

Big franchise growth ahead for Slim Chickens

October 21, 2019

Slim Chickens has a goal to hit 600 locations in the next decade and is making fast track on the initiative with seven multi-unit franchise agreements totaling…