Food & Beverage News

Whether you love or hate its coffee, there is no denying that the Starbucks brand is a juggernaut. The green siren logo—with her ingeniously asymmetrical face—is a universal beacon for a caffeine fix. And there is no mistaking one of the company’s hyperbolic beverages like the Tie-Dye Frappucino, which you can spot on the street…

Energy drink introduced along with the new tiny-store format. Caribou Coffee is launching a new type of store that only has drive-through and walk-up windows. The tiny-store format, called Caribou Cabins, is aimed at on-the-go customers, or those who don’t mind sitting outside. The move is an attempt to stay relevant in the steep —…

Kura Sushi USA bucked recent history when it hit the stock market August 1. The 23-unit revolving sushi-style restaurant raised $41 million in its initial public offering—the first for a restaurant chain since Wingstop and Fogo de Chao went public in 2015. Shares of Kura, a subsidiary of 400-unit Kura Japan, popped 40 percent that…

Jose Cil, CEO of Restaurant Brands International which owns Popeyes, says the company planned for the national roll-out of their chicken sandwich, but didn’t anticipate it “would break the internet” and sell out so quickly. Well, if you didn’t jump on the Popeyes chicken sandwich craze and wait in hour-long lines to sink your teeth…

To feed nearly 10 billion people by the middle of the century without trashing the climate, the food system has to fundamentally change—and one major piece of that involves reducing the massive amount of food that’s never eaten. Around a third of all food produced, or 1.3 billion tons a year, is wasted. Cutting food waste in…

Recession concerns have increasingly worried investors of late. But restaurant executives aren’t concerned about it at the moment, at least based on recent comments from the CEOs of some of the largest U.S. chains. Earlier this week, Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson told Jim Cramer of CNBC that the company hasn’t seen any signs of looming economic…

Struggling Kona Grill has a new owner, although it’s far from a stranger. The Scottsdale, Arizona-based brand was dealt to Williston Holding Co. Inc., the company founded by Marcus Jundt. He is one of the polished chain’s founders and served on the board from 2000–2009. Jundt also held the CEO post twice—from 2006–2009 and then…

UPS announced that its venture capital arm has made a minority investment in TuSimple. The announcement also revealed that since May TuSimple autonomous trucks have been hauling UPS loads on a 115-mile route between Phoenix and Tucson. UPS confirmed to Gizmodo this is the first time UPS has announced it has been using TuSimple autonomous…

Papa John’s International Inc. has appointed Jim Norberg as the company’s first chief restaurant operations officer, the company said. Norberg, who had served as chief operating officer at McDonald’s USA until 2015, will oversee the operations of corporate and franchise stores for the Louisville, Ky.-based quick-service pizza brand. “Jim has an impressive growth track record,…

Scott and Ally Svenson knew what they were getting into when they created MOD Pizza. The Seattle natives had found their knack for the food business when they started London-based Seattle Coffee Company (eventually acquired by Starbucks) and honed it while helping to build the Italian brand Carluccio’s. Their itch to create MOD Pizza back…