This site uses cookies to improve your experience. To help us insure we adhere to various privacy regulations, please select your country/region of residence. If you do not select a country, we will assume you are from the United States. Select your Cookie Settings or view our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Cookie Settings
Cookies and similar technologies are used on this website for proper function of the website, for tracking performance analytics and for marketing purposes. We and some of our third-party providers may use cookie data for various purposes. Please review the cookie settings below and choose your preference.
Used for the proper function of the website
Used for monitoring website traffic and interactions
Cookie Settings
Cookies and similar technologies are used on this website for proper function of the website, for tracking performance analytics and for marketing purposes. We and some of our third-party providers may use cookie data for various purposes. Please review the cookie settings below and choose your preference.
Strictly Necessary: Used for the proper function of the website
Performance/Analytics: Used for monitoring website traffic and interactions
Cheese debuts a new arcade concept for adults who want to be kids Emerging Brands Big Way brings a fast-casual take on hot pot This 13-unit chain from Canada recently opened its first U.S. Only this one is fast casual. But KPOT is a casual dining concept. location in the Los Angeles area, with more to come. by the end of 2025.
News prices commodities Breakfast Joe Guszkowski is a senior editor with Restaurant Business covering technology and casual-dining chains. Investors are leery about fast-food chains and they’re jumping onto a few key casual-dining bandwagons. Sign up here. View All Articles by This Author Want breaking news at your fingertips?
at the Italian casual-dining chain as its investments in affordability and Uber delivery paid off. 20, 2025 Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Consumers are finding value in casual-dining brands like Olive Garden. Same-store sales at the Italian casual-dining chain spiked 6.9% By Joe Guszkowski on Jun.
Premium Emerging Brands Olive & Finch lets diners dictate how they want to experience the brand This growing premium fast casual out of Denver is expanding with an all-day menu priced no higher than $20. But that doesn’t mean that it hasn’t changed with consumer demand.
Fast-casual Condado Tacos—which prefers calling itself “next-gen casual”—has long had a bar program with a selection of conventional margaritas and beers to go with its Mexican-style menu and vibe. Investors are leery about fast-food chains and they’re jumping onto a few key casual-dining bandwagons. By Patricia Cobe on Jul.
Premium Technology Loyalty programs are growing. " Now the structure is in place to accelerate expansion outside California, without franchising. Whether theyre working is another thing. Tech Check: Restaurant loyalty programs are increasingly popular, but they’re far from a silver bullet for driving traffic.
News franchising acquisitions finance Joe Guszkowski is a senior editor with Restaurant Business covering technology and casual-dining chains. Premium Technology Loyalty programs are growing. Become a Restaurant Business member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.
The chain was able to get ahead on things like branding, packaging, relationships with distributors and, perhaps most importantly, technology. News Emerging Brands franchising Lisa Jennings is a veteran restaurant industry reporter and editor who covers the fast-casual sector, independent restaurants and emerging chain concepts.
Salad is rising as the next drive-thru concept The fast-casual Greenlane is plotting growth across Florida with investor and NFL star Rob Gronkowski working the drive-thru window. But Tampa-based Greenlane is among a growing number of fast-casual concepts making freshly prepared salads a drive-thru option. By Lisa Jennings on Jun.
A rendering of Perkins Griddle & Go fast-casual concept. Simultaneously, the company also created a fast-casual version of Perkins called Griddle & Go, another nod to younger, on-the-go customers. And there will be more technology, including self-service ordering kiosks. It also sports the chain’s new name and logo.
Agentic AI is the next wave of the technology in which AI will be able perform tasks while more or less flying solo. There are already some restaurant applications for this technology , at least on the consumer side. Merriam-Webster You’ve likely heard of generative AI, or AI that can create content based on human input, like ChatGPT.
But it wasn’t quite so bad for fast-casual concepts , which outpaced other categories with 9% growth in 2024, according to Technomic. Fast-casual chicken chains, including Dave’s Hot Chicken, saw double-digit sales growth, while fast-casual pizza continued to falter. Segment leader Chipotle Mexican Grill rose to No.
Here are the highlights from the webinar conversation: 1. Kiosks Are Coming for Fast Casual Here’s a stat that might surprise you: 62% of brands are using or rolling out kiosks in 2025. While QSRs lead at 80%, fast casual is catching up quickly. The takeaway: “Kiosks are coming to fast casual.
It could have been worse: Fast-casual pizza chain sales declined 5%. Premium Technology Olos restaurant tech odyssey will continue in private Tech Check: After a rocky few years on the public markets, the online ordering giant will continue its quest for “hospitality at scale” under a new owner. It’s not just those three.
Salad is rising as the next drive-thru concept Technology Tech supplier SpotOn launches a mobile app to compete with aggregators Food C-stores are stealing fast-food tactics. Premium Technology DoorDash wants to be everywhere Tech Check: The delivery company is gobbling up more of the restaurant tech ecosystem.
Fast-casual Panera Bread has been going through significant change over the past two years, with multiple board and leadership changes. News leadership Fast_Casual Lisa Jennings is a veteran restaurant industry reporter and editor who covers the fast-casual sector, independent restaurants and emerging chain concepts. Sign up here.
News technology delivery finance Joe Guszkowski is a senior editor with Restaurant Business covering technology and casual-dining chains. Become a Restaurant Business member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.
Probably not The Bottom Line: The fast-casual Mexican chain remains a shockingly good value and its first-quarter sales slowdown was not out of the ordinary. Among fast-casual chains, the slowdown was more pronounced. None of this isn’t to say that there aren’t potential issues with the fast-casual chain. Photo: Shutterstock.
Premium Technology Loyalty programs are growing. " Now the structure is in place to accelerate expansion outside California, without franchising. Whether theyre working is another thing. Tech Check: Restaurant loyalty programs are increasingly popular, but they’re far from a silver bullet for driving traffic.
Private-equity firm Savory Fund made a major investment in casual-dining chain Hawkers Asian Street Food. Starbucks’ latest gambit to improve operations? Giving store managers ownership over testing early-stage ideas and sharing the results systemwide. Members help make our journalism possible.
Trending Beverage Starbucks sets the 2025 release date for Pumpkin Spice Latte this summer Premium Technology Loyalty programs are growing. Whether theyre working is another thing. Whether theyre working is another thing. Those aggregators have become vital for Domino’s market share, and other chains too.
The New Jersey-based fast-casual chain has been acquired by private-equity firm Thompson Street Capital Partners, the company announced Wednesday. News acquisitions franchising Lisa Jennings is a veteran restaurant industry reporter and editor who covers the fast-casual sector, independent restaurants and emerging chain concepts.
Since the menu at this fast-casual chain is rooted in Mediterranean flavors, this dessert is not a big culinary stretch. Frozen Greek yogurt is layered with pistachio butter, crisp kataifi, a chocolate shell and a pistachio cream drizzle. Nick the Greeks Pistachio Cream “Dubai Chocolate” Froyo. Photo courtesy of Nick the Greek.
Photos courtesy of Lime Fresh Mexican Grill With nine locations in Florida, fast-casual Lime Fresh Mexican Grill is David to Taco Bell’s Goliath. By Patricia Cobe on Jul. 16, 2025 Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Lime Fresh Mexican Grill launched two limited-time pizzas at the beginning of July.
Premium Emerging Brands Olive & Finch lets diners dictate how they want to experience the brand This growing premium fast casual out of Denver is expanding with an all-day menu priced no higher than $20. But that doesn’t mean that it hasn’t changed with consumer demand.
Chris Tomasso, CEO of First Watch, and Barry McGowan, CEO of Fogo de Chao, are both joining a new board for Hawkers Asian Street Food, the casual-dining chain Savory acquired last month. By Jonathan Maze on Jul. 15, 2025 Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Hawkers' board will feature two notable full-service chain executives.
After fast-casual chain &Pizza heard from customers that its prices were too high , it lowered them late last month and simplified its menu structure to highlight affordable options. Wendy’s launched a 100 Days of Savings summerlong promotion, serving up a variety of deals through its app. It’s a unique spin on Southern comfort.
24, 2025 Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Puttshack is one of the concepts in the Emerging portfolio, which focuses on technology-fueled experiential restaurants. Emerging is a company founded by Mathew Focht that describes itself as investing “at the intersection of restaurant innovation, technology and experiential entertainment.”
The eight-unit fast-casual concept Off The Hook Restaurants is beefing up its executive team as it plans growth in Louisiana. She also led a turnaround at Jamba as vice president of operations, and spent 14 years with Starbucks, rising to director of business operations. Blaze is now based in Atlanta. Have consumers moved on?
News technology consumers Joe Guszkowski is a senior editor with Restaurant Business covering technology and casual-dining chains. Become a Restaurant Business member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here. Get today’s need-to-know restaurant industry intelligence.
News Tech Check technology Joe Guszkowski is a senior editor with Restaurant Business covering technology and casual-dining chains. Give them a reason to bite on whatever you’re putting out there, and let them get back to what they were doing,” he said. View All Articles by This Author Want breaking news at your fingertips?
News independents chefs Lisa Jennings is a veteran restaurant industry reporter and editor who covers the fast-casual sector, independent restaurants and emerging chain concepts. Become a Restaurant Business member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.
Morgan Global Technology, Media and Communications Conference last month, according to an AlphaSense transcript. News Tech Check technology delivery Joe Guszkowski is a senior editor with Restaurant Business covering technology and casual-dining chains. Is that a good thing for restaurants? By Joe Guszkowski on Jun.
News marketing delivery technology Joe Guszkowski is a senior editor with Restaurant Business covering technology and casual-dining chains. Become a Restaurant Business member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.
On Thursday, the casual-dining chain promoted Lyle Tick, its president and chief concept officer, to the top job. News casual_dining Joe Guszkowski is a senior editor with Restaurant Business covering technology and casual-dining chains. By Joe Guszkowski on Jun. Sign up here.
Photo courtesy of QSR Automations QSR Automations and Crunchtime, two of the biggest back-of-house technology suppliers in the restaurant industry, are planning to merge, the companies said Tuesday. Louisville-based QSR Automations provides digital kitchen display systems for many large casual-dining brands. Sign up here.
The casual-dining chain confirmed that it laid off a small number of employees to align with its new First Choice plan , which calls for the chain to refranchise some company-owned locations in order to pay down debt. It’s also working to lower restaurant expenses through supply chain efficiencies and technology investments.
shops Value pressure comes to the fast-casual sector Financing These full-service restaurant chains opened the most locations last year In an overall down year for full-service unit growth, these five brands bucked the trend. Investors are leery about fast-food chains and they’re jumping onto a few key casual-dining bandwagons.
With just one report, the fast-casual burrito chain lost its sense of invincibility. Almost every publicly traded fast-casual chain, outside of previously struggling Noodles, faced some sort of sales slowdown. By Jonathan Maze on Jul. Photo: Shutterstock. Chipotle’s stock was down 12% this year as it was.
Melting Pot chain announced a flurry of other leadership moves Tuesday: Randy Barnett was promoted from VP of technology to chief technology officer. News franchising leadership Joe Guszkowski is a senior editor with Restaurant Business covering technology and casual-dining chains. Sign up here.
Premium Emerging Brands Olive & Finch lets diners dictate how they want to experience the brand This growing premium fast casual out of Denver is expanding with an all-day menu priced no higher than $20. Part of the value offering is giving guests options for how they use the concept.
Premium Emerging Brands Olive & Finch lets diners dictate how they want to experience the brand This growing premium fast casual out of Denver is expanding with an all-day menu priced no higher than $20. Part of the value offering is giving guests options for how they use the concept.
Investors are leery about fast-food chains and they’re jumping onto a few key casual-dining bandwagons. Premium Technology Why Red Lobster switched from building tech to buying it Tech Check: The seafood chain is returning to Olo after its homegrown system proved too costly to maintain. McDonald’s is testing its own options.
Investors are leery about fast-food chains and they’re jumping onto a few key casual-dining bandwagons. Premium Technology Why Red Lobster switched from building tech to buying it Tech Check: The seafood chain is returning to Olo after its homegrown system proved too costly to maintain. McDonald’s is testing its own options.
We organize all of the trending information in your field so you don't have to. Join 49,000+ users and stay up to date on the latest articles your peers are reading.
You know about us, now we want to get to know you!
Let's personalize your content
Let's get even more personalized
We recognize your account from another site in our network, please click 'Send Email' below to continue with verifying your account and setting a password.
Let's personalize your content