How Dave & Buster’s Modernized its Workforce Management Experience

As the digital revolution sweeps across the globe, impacting employees, organizations, and industries in its wake, restaurants have a unique opportunity to measure technology’s impact on not just the way work gets done, but the way people work. On one hand, the benefits of automation are endless, particularly in the restaurant and hospitality industry, where…

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Anthony’s top-tier executive team is leading its growth.

In 2015, USA Today wrote an article asking, “Is Anthony’s the best pizza chain in America?” The story described the experience: “Imagine pizza so good that seasonal snowbirds from New York—the most pizza-defensive city in the country—liked it so much they imported it from their winter stays in Florida. If you think of a chain…

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Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza Builds a Brand with Lasting Power

Wayne Jones visited 38 Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza locations before signing on as chief executive in 2017, succeeding founder Anthony Bruno. Each stop tugged at his roots. Jones grew up in California, with little money, and got into restaurants so he could eat. And there was a local pizza place where the owner would put…

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Despite the Trade War, China is Still an Alluring Market

China has just about everything you’d want in a restaurant market: a massive population with a growing middle class, pioneering concepts that have shown it is accepting of Western cuisine and, of course, roads that aren’t pockmarked by too many competitors. None of that is likely to change because of a lingering trade war between that…

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Growing Plant-Based Food Industry

Much of the research into and news coverage of the growing plant-based food industry has focused on retail sales and new products on supermarket shelves, but foodservice channels are increasingly becoming a key focus of plant-based culinary innovation. Plant-based protein shipments to foodservice outlets grew 20% last year, according to NPD Group. The growth comes…

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No Wonder Popeyes Ran out of its New Chicken Sandwich

KeyBanc analyst Eric Gonzalez says Popeyes stores sold about 1,000 chicken sandwiches a day before the new product sold out. Sandwich sales also accounted for about 30% of Popeyes sales in the time it was available while store traffic doubled, Gonzalez adds. Popeyes officially launched its chicken sandwich on Aug. 12 but it wasn’t until…

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McDonald’s Acquires Apprente to Bring Voice Technology to Drive-Thru

As of today, it’s announcing that it’s buying Apprente, a startup building conversational agents that can automate voice-based ordering in multiple languages. If that sounds like a good fit for fast-food drive thru, that’s exactly what McDonald’s leadership has in mind. In fact, the company has already been testing Apprente’s technology in select locations, creating voice-activated…

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Huddle House Agrees to Buy Perkins

Huddle House Inc. agreed to buy 342 Perkins Restaurant & Bakery locations, the company said. The Atlanta-based family-dining brand said it expected the deal to close on Oct. 21. Terms were not disclosed. In early August, Perkins & Marie Callender’s Inc. filed for bankruptcy protection and closed 29 Perkins Restaurant & Bakery and Marie Callender’s…

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