East Rutherford, N.J. — Hudson, a travel experience leader with more than 1,000 stores in airports, commuter hubs, landmarks and tourist destinations across North America, has expanded the retail offerings at LaGuardia Airport Terminal B, bringing the spirit and vibrancy of New York City to life within the terminal while reaffirming the company’s long-standing commitment to its local roots and airport partners. As part of the new, 7-year contract with LaGuardia Gateway Partners (LGP), the private operator and developer of Terminal B, Hudson is debuting two of its new localized …
Lexington, Ky. — A&W Restaurants posted double-digit, year-over-year sales in May, with some franchise locations doubling their sales. Other burger chains, on average, managed only a 2% increase, according to Black Box Intelligence. The iconic brand’s performance comes as it reduces royalties for new franchisees. The incentive program lowers royalties in the first year of all new development agreements from the standard 5% to 3%. Second year royalties are 4%. Initial fees on multi-unit agreements also are being discounted. “The incentives give franchisees extra cushion in their first few years …
Indianapolis — Simon Property Group has terminated its Feb. 9 merger agreement with Taubman Centers Inc. Simon also filed an action on June 10 in Michigan’s Oakland County Circuit Court saying Taubman breached the covenants in the merger agreement. Under the terms of the agreement, Simon was to acquire an 80% interest in Taubman for approximately $3.6 billion. Indianapolis-based Simon says its termination of the merger agreement is based on two separate grounds. “First, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a uniquely material and disproportionate effect on Taubman compared with other …
North Miami Beach, Fla. — FRONTIER Building has completed a new Wawa convenience store and gas station located at 530 NE 167th St. in North Miami Beach, Fla. The new 6,119-square-foot outpost is located on a corner lot which formerly housed a Krispy Kreme. It has an outdoor sitting area and six pumping stations. FRONTIER was hired to demolish that store earlier this year and recently completed the ground-up construction of a larger, more modern Krispy Kreme next door to this Wawa. This is the second Wawa FRONTIER has built …
Riverside, Calif. — Farmer Boys®, the farm fresh fast-casual chain, has named David Wetzel, its current senior vice president of operations, as its new president and chief operating officer. The promotion comes alongside the announcement that Farmer Boys’ current president and COO, Karen Eadon, has retired after 6 years with the company and nearly 40 in the restaurant industry. In his new role as president and COO, Wetzel will be responsible for driving overall brand strategy, corporate and franchised development and restaurant performance. Wetzel joined the Farmer Boys team in …
Mill Valley, Calif. — The North American Sustainable Refrigeration Council (NASRC), a 501(c)(3) environmental nonprofit working to advance climate-friendly natural refrigerants in supermarkets, is launching a new pilot program to offset the upfront costs of natural refrigerant technologies. “High upfront cost is the primary hurdle preventing the adoption of environmentally friendly natural refrigerants,” says Danielle Wright, NASRC executive director. “Funding support is key to bridging the gap and stimulating the economies of scale necessary to bring costs down.” NASRC’s new Aggregated Incentives Program (AIP) pilot is a free platform to …
Toronto — TouchBistro, an all-in-one POS platform for restaurants, has hired John Doolittle to join its executive leadership team as chief financial officer. As CFO, Doolittle will guide the transformation of TouchBistro’s financial structure to prepare for its future growth, including operational strategy, regulatory and disclosure planning, tax restructuring and management of capital markets. Most recently, Doolittle was CFO at OpenText, a global software company with a $10 billion market capitalization. He also held many senior finance roles during 22 years at NORTEL, a multinational telecommunications and data networking equipment …
Woonsocket, R.I. — CVS/pharmacy has added 55 COVID-19 testing sites in North Carolina and 15 sites in South Carolina. The tests are accessible through appointments only. Patients will be required to stay in their cars and will be directed to the pharmacy drive-thru window, where they will be provided with a test kit and given instructions. A CVS team member will observe the self-swab process to ensure it is done properly. Tests will be sent to an independent, third-party lab for processing and the results will be available in approximately …
— By Mike Welsh — Retail curbside pickup and mobile apps are here to stay — what that reliance on a digital platform means for the industry moving forward in a post-COVID world. In an effort to understand how retail curbside pickup, mobile apps and other digital-first retail strategies will change shopping habits even post-COVID, Retail & Restaurant Facility Business interviewed Mike Welsh of the Waltham, Massachusetts-based digital consulting firm Mobiquity. R&R: In this new era of the COVID-19 pandemic, retailers must offer a digital-first option in order …
— By Jill Woodside — Facilities management during crises: Best practices to succeed. Numerous risks surround facilities management and those problems swell during major facilities management crises. The COVID-19 crisis is the most obvious, but its impact on facilities management is a true Black Swan event. According to James M. Berklan of McKnight’s Long-Term Care News, the costs of PPE have increased over 1,000% amid the crisis, and while it’s easy to only associate that cost with direct care workers, what about the PPE that facilities management custodial professionals …