Food & Beverage News

What’s “too fast” when it Comes to Opening More Restaurants? The restaurant industry is full of cautionary tales of buzzy new brands exploding on the scene only to become unwieldy as they grow too quickly. Opening too few new stores is no better. What’s the key to a healthy store-opening rate? In its Fast Casual insider podcast…

A new Las Vegas-based organization plans to bring together female restaurant industry mentors with newcomers to help them navigate the hospitality world. Elizabeth Blau of Blau + Associates and restaurants such as Honey Salt and Buddy V’s Ristorante and Mary Choi Kelly of MCK Leadership Talent Group co-founded the Women’s Hospitality Initiative that kicks off its…

Wanted: Restaurant manager. Competitive salary: $100,000. The six-figure sum is not being offered at a haute cuisine location with culinary accolades, but rather at fast-food chain Taco Bell. In the increasingly tight U.S. labor market, the company is betting a higher salary will help it attract workers and keep them on the team. The Yum…

Landry’s was the sole bidder for the assets of HRI Holding Corp., the parent company of Leawood-based Houlihan’s Restaurants Inc. The company owns and operates 47 restaurants in 14 states and its brands include: Houlihan’s Restaurant + Bar, Bristol Seafood Grill, J. Gilbert’s Wood-Fired Grill, Devon Seafood Grill and Make Room for Truman. Eight of its…

It was November 1919 when Gary Mitchell’s maternal great grandmother Ma Edelstein opened S&S Restaurant in Cambridge, Mass. The name was a not-so-veiled reference to the Yiddish maternal expression “es and es,” or “eat and eat.” The warm sentiment set the welcoming tone for what has become an institution that has spanned five generations in…

Dine Brands International announced the first IHOP restaurant opening in Lima, Peru through an agreement with Percapitals S.A.C., which calls for 25 IHOP restaurant openings in Peru through 2028. The openings are projected to bring more than 600 new jobs to the regional economy. “South America is an important growth market for Dine Brands and…

Buddy’s Pizza lays claim to creating Detroit-style pizza in 1946. Now, the brand is looking to take its signature pies beyond its 16 units—all of which are in Michigan—and recently named Nando’s veteran Burton Heiss chief executive officer. Heiss is expected to oversee the goal of transforming Buddy’s into a 50-plus unit brand within the…

Restaurant gift cards appeal to 72% of people, according to a new survey from the National Restaurant Association. About 47% of U.S. adults say they plan to give a restaurant gift card this season, according to Hudson Riehle, the Washington, D.C.-based trade association’s senior vice president of research and knowledge. That number rises to 60%…

Fazoli’s has joined forces with Impossible Foods, Inc. to offer spaghetti dishes featuring plant-based meat sauce. The Italian fast-casual chain is debuting Impossible meat sauce, made with ground Impossible Burger, and testing it at five locations near its headquarters in Lexington. Fazoli’s will incorporate the meat alternative, made with soy protein, into two Italian menu…

The Mexican fast-food chain Tuesday said it will expand its dollar menu with the return of one of its most successful $1 offerings, Double Stacked Tacos. The company will offer three flavors of the taco: Nacho Crunch, Chipotle Cheddar and Reaper Ranch. The item features both a hard shell and a soft tortilla. The tacos bring to 21 the number of…