Food & Beverage News

Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc. is celebrating its 50th anniversary by taking a tiny-sized store to the streets of New York before it launches its first sponsorship of a float in Thursday’s annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. “As we celebrate our golden anniversary, this is a big moment for Cracker Barrel, and we wanted…

Olive Garden has lived by this creed for the better part of a year: Give up traffic, but make decisions with the long-term health of the business in mind. And it boils down to the state of the industry, Darden CEO Gene Lee said during the company’s latest quarterly review. The luxury to plan ahead…

There are two ways to look at any pain point, and that’s the case with Darden and labor. First, the rough side, which is a sounding-board subject for restaurants: Regulation by outside parties, perhaps not invested in the success of the business, are putting up costly roadblocks that make it difficult to create more and…

Smokey Bones appointed longtime restaurateur James O’Reilly as its new chief executive officer. O’Reilly joins Smokey Bones from Long John Silver’s, where he served as CEO for four years. He was selected by private equity firm Sun Capital Partners for his track record of leadership, brand building, and value creation. O’Reilly’s plans are to improve…

The global scope of the clean label trend was on display on the opening day of Food Ingredients Europe, taking place Nov. 28 – Nov. 30 in Frankfurt. It is clear the trend has gone mainstream globally and is beginning to move into ingredient and finished product processing techniques. Processing techniques that may be perceived…

A former McDonald’s employee revealed on social media that he didn’t give customers the proper amount of McNuggets. Fortunately, this man was a generous rule-breaker and his customers’ lives were made better due to his actions. I worked at McDonald’s for two and a half years and I put 11 nuggets in almost every 10-piece I…

The Redwood City, Calif.-based company is well-known for its advanced residential cooking technology paired with a chef-powered service. Brava offers proprietary cooking-by-light technology which provides users a fast, flexible, space saving and eco-friendly appliance for their kitchen counter. The patented light technology cooks food up to four times faster, requires no preheat and allows the preparation of multiple…

Sbarro announces its inaugural location in Costa Rica. In an exclusive development agreement with franchise partner Pizza in Paradise Sociedad Anonima, led by Jorge Moya and sons Jorge and Jose, has opened Sbarro—known for its extra-large New York-style pizza slice—in Lincoln Plaza in the city of Moravia, with more locations to follow. “The restaurant industry in…

In an industry where labor costs continue to strain operating margins, The Cheesecake Factory is trying to gain an edge by focusing on staffing and employee retention. According to a study conducted in 2017, a whopping 72 percent of all restaurant workers left their jobs compared to a 47 percent rate across all industries. As…

In-N-Out Burger plans to open its first Colorado restaurants in late 2020. And, while the brand is only available in six states, the Southern California-based institution won’t have trouble luring customers to its brand when it enters its seventh state. The iconic 71-year-old year old chain has built a cult following and its reputation precedes…