restaurants

Florida — Hawaiian Bros Island Grill, a fast-growing, island-inspired restaurant concept, has signed a 52-unit development agreement with Southern Rock Restaurants, LLC/Southern Rock Hawaii, LLC. The deal marks the brand’s entry into Florida, with Southern Rock planning to develop the 52 restaurants across Jacksonville, Gainesville, Tampa and Orlando during the next 6 years, including 24 restaurants planned in the next 3 years. Leading the development is Southern Rock CEO Max Piet, a restaurant industry veteran with more than 35 years of experience and extensive knowledge of building and running multi-unit …

Pasadena, Calif. — Dave’s Hot Chicken opened its 500th restaurant, in Phoenix, on Oct. 8. The growing brand had reached its 400th restaurant earlier in 2026; shortly after, the brand opened a record eight restaurants in a single day in April across markets from Connecticut to Utah. In total, Dave’s has added approximately 100 restaurants since April. What started in 2017 as a late-night pop-up, Dave’s made the leap to brick-and-mortar within months, eventually catching the attention of Wetzel’s Pretzels co-founder Bill Phelps, who partnered with the founders to begin …

Atlanta — Zaxbys®, an Atlanta-based QSR franchise, is entering the travel hospitality sector through a multi-unit agreement with Areas USA, the nation’s largest privately held travel hospitality company. The deal will develop five restaurants at Florida Turnpike service plazas, and the team recently opened the first unit on Sept. 29 at the Turkey Lake Service Plaza in Orlando, Fla. The deal marks Zaxbys’ largest non-traditional development agreement to date. As consumers increasingly seek recognizable restaurant brands wherever they travel, Zaxbys is expanding beyond traditional freestanding restaurants into heavily frequented destinations …

New York City — Shake Shack Inc. plans to enter Brazil through a new licensing partnership with Bold Hospitality Company, a São Paulo-based hospitality company with longstanding ties to communities across Brazil through its restaurant operations. Following 7 years of growth in Mexico and the brand’s upcoming entry into Panama, Brazil represents the next significant step in Shake Shack’s growth across the region. “As we continue to expand across Latin America, Brazil has long stood out as one of our most requested markets,” says Michael Kark, president of global licensing …

Dallas — TGI Fridays® has signed a development agreement with Bliss Bites LLC to open five new Fridays restaurants across New York State. The agreement marks the company’s first domestic development agreement in more than a decade, reenergizing its growth plans in the U.S. The agreement advances the momentum of Fridays’ “1-2-3 Strategic Vision,” its growth plan charting a path to more than 1,000 units and $2 billion in annual revenue by 2030. Fridays opened its first restaurant on Manhattan’s Upper East Side in 1965, and the state remains a …