Alpharetta, Ga. — Neal Freeman, visionary of LakePoint Sports in Emerson, Ga., will begin construction in May on Fairway Social, a golf and entertainment concept that Freeman is bringing to Alpharetta, Ga. The 11,000-square-foot entertainment destination, Fairway Social, will be located in The Maxwell, a joint development between Mayfair Street Partners, LLC and The Providence Group of Georgia, LLC. A total of 44,000 square feet of retail, restaurant and office at The Maxwell will be complemented with 138 residential units. “We have been actively seeking this unique blend of food, …
restaurants
Baton Rouge, La. — While the majority of its 500 restaurants are open and serving customers through its drive-thrus, Raising Cane’s dine-in only restaurant has shifted operations to make masks instead of its signature chicken fingers. Raising Cane’s crew members have begun sewing 3-ply cloth masks to ease the shortage at local hospitals, donating more than 600 masks after the first week of production. As crew members get more proficient, the numbers are expected to grow significantly in coming weeks. “I can’t tell you how proud I am of our …
New York City — Shake Shack will return a $10 million coronavirus stimulus loan it received through the federal government’s Small Business Administration Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). The New York City-based burger chain said it will return the funds after garnering capital through its investors. Shake Shack received the $10 million loan April 10. Shake Shack operates 189 restaurants and employs about 8,000 workers. SOURCE: ShoppingCenterBusiness.com
Seattle — MOD Super-Fast Pizza Holdings, LLC (MOD Pizza) has welcomed Josh Guenser as its new chief financial officer. He will oversee financial operations, fiscal responsibility, reporting and accounting for all 480+ MOD locations across North America. Guenser joins MOD after spending the last 10+ years at Starbucks, most recently serving as senior vice president, finance, Americas. In this position, Guenser was responsible for managing the finance and accounting team overseeing the results of 18,000+ owned and licensed Starbucks stores in the United States, Canada and Latin America. During his …
San Diego — Jack in the Box Inc. has appointed Darin Harris as chief executive officer. He will also join the board of directors, both effective on the start of his employment no later than June 15, 2020. The board has elected David Goebel to serve as non-executive chairman of the board. Harris has more than 25 years of experience leading franchised and corporate multi-unit retail and service businesses. Most recently, Harris has served as CEO of North America for IWG PLC (IWG), the holding group for several leading providers …
Birmingham, Ala. — Slim Chickens, a leading fast-casual franchise which features dine-in and drive-thru in the “better chicken” segment, will open its first location in Alabama in fourth quarter 2020. The forthcoming restaurant comes out of the brand’s recent multi-unit franchise agreement in the Birmingham market. Jeff and Andrea Goldt are the franchisees bringing Slim Chickens to the state and are multi-unit owners in the greater Atlanta area. The couple owns multiple fast-food restaurant franchises and has more than 25 years of restaurant ownership experience. “The Goldts are exactly the …
Auburn, Ala. — Chicken Salad Chick, a Southern-inspired, fast-casual chicken salad restaurant concept, has quickly adapted operations to adhere to mandates across the nation suspending restaurant dine-in services by introducing online ordering, curbside pickup and local Quick Chick delivery options at all locations. For added convenience and to further limit interaction while still providing residents with quality meals, Chicken Salad Chick has introduced pop-up drive-thrus and is currently testing third party delivery, at select locations. Quick Chick deliveries allow the brand to provide preordered and prepackaged sizes of their chicken …
Denver — The Good Times Restaurants Inc. board of directors has named Ryan Zink as the new chief executive officer of Good Times Restaurants Inc., effective immediately. Zink has served as acting chief executive officer and chief financial officer since October 2019. “I have the utmost confidence in Ryan. As acting CEO, he has demonstrated outstanding leadership and the ability that will be needed to lead the company out of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and into a bright future,” says Geoff Bailey, chairman of the board of directors. …
— By Katie Lee — Tropical Smoothie Cafe has opened more than 100 restaurants each year for the past 3 years — and continues to grow on pace to reach 1,000 locations by 2021. When Retail & Restaurant Facility Business last interviewed Tropical Smoothie Cafe (TSC) more than 3 years ago, we were talking about its milestone 500th location. Now, with more than 830 cafes open — 124 opened in 2019 alone — the fast-growing concept remains on track to reach 1,000 locations in 2021 and 1,500 locations …
Jericho, N.Y. — Nathan’s Famous, Inc., an American tradition serving New York favorites for more than 100 years, is overhauling its technology resources aimed at aiding franchisees in everything from daily operations to online ordering and driving customer loyalty. “In the fall of 2019, we embarked on a journey to update our technology across the board in restaurants nationwide,” says James Walker, senior vice president, restaurants. “It’s been quite some time since this brand took on an initiative like this one, and we believe the partnerships we’ve created since then …