Food & Beverage News

It’s official: January is indeed the worst month of the year for restaurants. Between 2013 and 2019, traffic during the month of January was 6% lower than the average month and 11% lower than the peak month of June, according to The NPD Group’s latest Seasonality Index for Total Restaurant Traffic. To overcome the slump,…

Meeting the requirements of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) and ensuring the safety of baked and snack food products in today’s market is paramount, and selecting the right technology for the job can be critical. Since product characteristics differ from pies to cakes to salty snack foods, sourcing the right inspection and detection technology…

An outbreak of E.coli linked to romaine lettuce grown in the Salinas region of California has spread to 23 states, according to the Food and Drug Administration (F.D.A.). Health officials traced the outbreak to three farms in the region but are still investigating the exact source. A total of 102 illnesses and 58 hospitalizations have been…

MOD Super Fast Pizza Holdings, LLC announced it has expanded its development agreement with Best Pizza, LLC, its exclusive franchisee in Colorado. The deal increases Best Pizza’s development agreement from 25 to 45 locations, and adds Southern Wyoming to their territory. Best Pizza is operated by industry veterans Bob Merullo, Kevin Embree and Scott Schooler,…

BBQ Holdings, Inc. announced its partnership with Travis Clark for its newest restaurant, which is opening on December 9 at 3510 Northwest Expy, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, 73112. The upscale barbecue restaurant opening is the first of several new barbecue concepts that the company is launching before the end of 2019. Clark Crew BBQ Founder, Travis…

After winning a strategic investment in November with an eye on growth, Seattle restaurateur Ethan Stowell is closing three restaurants at the end of the year and converting them to other concepts, the company said. In November, Seattle Hospitality Group announced a strategic investment in Ethan Stowell Restaurants, or ESR, the multiconcept group founded by…

Scott Murphy, formerly chief operating officer of Dunkin’ U.S., has been elevated to the role of president of Dunkin’ Americas for Dunkin’ Brands Group, Inc. He assumes the responsibilities from David L. Hoffmann, who remains chief executive officer of Dunkin’ Brands. A 15-year veteran of the company, Mr. Murphy in his new role will oversee…

McDonald’s Corp. has named Ian Borden, left, to the position of president of the company’s international division, an expanded role created in the aftermath of the firing of Steve Easterbrook. The new role comes after Joe Erlinger was named McDonald’s USA president after Easterbrook’s abrupt exit last month. Erlinger was previously president of international operated markets. He…

The attorneys general of 18 states and the District of Columbia have blasted a proposed change in the way restaurants determine when they’re obliged to pay servers and other tipped employees the full minimum wage instead of taking a tip credit, saying federal regulators’ planned discontinuation of the 80/20 guideline would be illegal. In a…

McDonald’s black franchisees are choosing to leave the chain, Business Insider reported. In 2008, there were about 304 black franchisees at the chain and in 2017, there were 222. The average cash flow of black franchisees is much less than the average cash flow of all of the chain’s restaurants, the report said, citing franchisees,…