Tampa, Fla. — Burger 21® signed six new franchise agreements in 2015, representing six future restaurants, including the brand’s first locations in Pennsylvania, Texas and Arkansas. In 2016, the brand will debut its first hybrid, freestanding restaurant and one of the first steps in a brand refresh plan announced last year. Also, to kick off 2016, Burger 21 opened its 21st restaurant in January and has more than 20 franchised restaurants in development in 11 states.
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Charlotte, N.C. — Woburn, Mass.-based U.S. PAVEMENT Services, Inc. was named the Number 1 contractor for 2016 by Pavement Maintenance and Reconstruction Magazine from a pool of over 20,000 paving and paving maintenance contractors. The award was accepted at the National Pavement Expo (NPE) by founder and CEO, Mike Musto.
Atlanta — Chick-fil-A has begun the national rollout of Apple Pay, which will provide customers added convenience with an easy, secure and private way to pay. Apple Pay will be introduced in a gradual rollout to each Chick-fil-A restaurant and will be available chainwide by late 2016.
Woonsocket, R.I., and Minneapolis — CVS Health and Target Corporation have opened the first CVS Pharmacy locations in Target stores. The new locations are in the Charlotte, N.C., market. The pharmacies, located in Hickory, Monroe, Morrisville, Raleigh, Matthews and Wesley Chapel, are being operated through a store-within-a-store format and are branded CVS Pharmacy.
San Jose, Calif. — Togo’s Eateries, LLC has promoted two senior vice presidents to c-level positions. Susan Koch, former senior vice president of finance, has been named chief financial officer, and Todd Peterson, former senior vice president of franchise development, has been named chief development officer. Koch and Peterson will continue to play instrumental roles in the revitalization and expansion of Togo’s.
Mooresville, N.C. and Boucherville, Quebec — Lowe’s Companies, Inc. and RONA inc. have entered into a definitive agreement under which Lowe’s is expected to acquire RONA for C$3.2 billion (U.S. $2.3 billion). Together, Lowe’s Canada and RONA stores will create Canada’s leading home improvement retailer.
Denver — Smashburger, the rapidly expanding better burger restaurant, has named Michael J. Nolan as its new executive vice president – chief development officer. Nolan will oversee the company’s development (real estate, construction, design, facilities), franchise sales and IT departments, effective immediately.
Baldwyn, Miss. — Hancock Fabrics, Inc., a leading retailer in fabric, sewing and accessories, and its wholly owned subsidiaries have filed voluntary petitions for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. Approximately 70 stores will close as part of the restructuring.
Chillicothe, Ohio — Chillicothe, Ohio-based Petland Inc. is expanding its international reach into the Middle East North Africa region. In the last 2 years, Petland has opened more than 20 new locations in international markets. Within the next year, the pet store chain plans to open stores in Saudi Arabia and has signed a master franchise agreement to develop stores in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Turkey, Qatar, Lebanon, Kuwait and Bahrain.