San Diego — Mike’s Red Tacos, the celebrated San Diego-born beef Birria brand, is fueling rapid national growth with the launch of a dynamic franchising initiative. An accomplished team of restaurant industry leaders is spurring expansion through a strategic investment in the brand. Together with the original Mike’s Red Tacos founder, they have created remarkable momentum for the brand, securing development agreements with experienced franchisees from Dave’s Hot Chicken, Jersey Mike’s, Blaze Pizza, Dunkin’, Little Caesars, Carl’s Jr, Wetzel’s Pretzels, etc. that total more than 200 planned locations. Leading the …
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Austin, Texas — Loman AI, an industry-leading Voice AI phone answering platform for restaurants, has formed a new partnership with SpotOn, a leading restaurant technology company, that enables restaurants using SpotOn POS to deploy AI-powered phone automation across their operations. This integration transforms the phone from a chronic operational bottleneck into a scalable, always-on revenue channel for SpotOn users. Through this partnership, restaurants using SpotOn can now leverage Loman’s AI voice agent to automate inbound phone calls 24/7/365. Loman answers calls instantly, takes orders, books reservations, handles payment securely, answers …
Columbus, Ohio — Designer Brands Inc. has appointed Sheamus Toal as executive vice president, chief financial officer and principal financial officer. Mark Haley, who has served as interim principal financial officer during the transition period, will return full time to his position as senior vice president, controller and principal accounting officer. Toal joins the company from The Children’s Place. Toal brings deep financial and operational experience shaped by decades of leadership in chief financial officer and chief operating officer roles across large, complex public and private companies. As a proven …
Dallas — Black Sheep Coffee, an international coffee brand with a rapidly expanding U.S. presence, has secured a 20-store multi-unit development agreement across the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) metroplex. The deal marks a significant step in the brand’s Texas growth strategy and continued expansion across the United States. The agreement will bring 20 additional locations to the DFW region over the next 5 years, with planned sites across Richland Hills, Bedford, Plano, Garland, Rowlett, Mobile City, Sunnyvale, Richardson and Sachse. The expansion builds on Black Sheep Coffee’s established footprint in North …
New York City — Saks Global Enterprises LLC, a leading luxury retail company, is underway on an initial phase of optimization across its Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus store footprint, which will include nine store closings. There are no changes to the Bergdorf Goodman operational footprint. “We are initiating a series of actions to reinforce Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman as the ultimate destinations for luxury with a seamless multi-channel shopping experience,” says Geoffroy van Raemdonck, chief executive officer of Saks Global. “By optimizing our operational …
New York City — Gregorys Coffee, a culture-defining coffee brand born in New York City, has officially launched its franchise program. After nearly 20 years of perfecting the craft coffee experience and scaling to more than 50 cafés, Gregorys is expanding through franchising with a proven brand, a time-tested model, deep guest loyalty and infrastructure built for long term growth. Since opening its first café in Manhattan in 2006, Gregorys has spent two decades earning loyalty through a quality-first approach that touches every part of the guest experience — from …
Richmond, Va. — CarMax, Inc. has appointed Keith Barr as president and chief executive officer, as well as a member of the board of directors, effective March 16, 2026. David McCreight, current interim president and CEO of CarMax, will transition to his prior duties as an independent director of the board. Tom Folliard will remain in his role as interim executive chair of the board until the company’s annual meeting in June 2026, after which he is expected to resume his prior duties as non-executive chair of the board. Barr …
Wichita, Kan. — Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers has appointed Todd Paladini as chief information officer (CIO), a newly created role and the first CIO position in the restaurant brand’s history. In this role, Paladini will lead the brand’s enterprise technology strategy and partner across the business to help accelerate scalable growth and enhance the guest and franchisee experience. Paladini brings more than two decades of international IT leadership experience, with a track record of building and modernizing technology capabilities for multi-unit, guest-focused brands. Over the course of his career, …
Bellevue, Wash. — Eddie Bauer LLC, operator of Eddie Bauer stores in the United States and Canada and a licensee of the Eddie Bauer brand, has entered into a Restructuring Support Agreement (RSA) with its secured lenders and commenced voluntary Chapter 11 cases in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey. The RSA is designed to enable Eddie Bauer to move through the process as quickly and efficiently as possible. Through the RSA and the Chapter 11 proceedings, Eddie Bauer will conduct liquidation sales at its …
Fort Worth, Texas — HTeaO, the nation’s leading iced tea franchise, has appointed Chris Phillips as chief financial officer. In this role, Phillips will oversee the company’s finance, accounting, information technology and strategic planning functions as HTeaO continues its rapid expansion across the U.S. Phillips brings more than two decades of experience leading finance and strategy for highly franchised, multi-brand restaurant organizations. His background includes senior leadership roles with some of the most recognizable names in the industry, including Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen and Darden Restaurants. “Chris brings the rare combination …