Dallas — Nestlé® Toll House® Café by Chip® has named Thayne Thompson as the premier bakery café chain’s “2016 Franchisee of the Year.” His café is located in Overland Park Mall in Overland Park, Kan.
restaurants
Dallas — In a new franchise development deal that includes parts of New York and New Jersey, Pie Five Pizza will soon be expanding to the East Coast. The first locations are planned for Franklin Park in South Brunswick and Summerhill Square in East Brunswick.
Franklin, Tenn. — CKE Restaurants Holdings, Inc. (CKE), parent company of Carl’s Jr.® and Hardee’s®, has made two strategic appointments and a promotion to the executive leadership team in its effort to accelerate business and redefine the QSR category. Jeff Jenkins joins as chief marketing officer, Tom Brennan joins as chief operating officer, and Chip Seigel has been promoted to chief legal officer.
Westlake, Ohio — The fun family casual-dining franchise Quaker Steak & Lube has hired industry veteran Bruce Lane as vice president of franchise services. TA Restaurant Group, which acquired Quaker Steak & Lube in 2016, appointed Lane as part of its aggressive strategy to reinvigorate the 43-year-old brand and grow Quaker Steak & Lube into a nationally recognized concept through franchising.
Atlanta — Three-time GRAMMY award-winning artist Zac Brown, of Zac Brown Band, has teamed up with the Atlanta Hawks to open the next restaurant under the Southern Ground family of brands, Zac Brown’s Social Club, in the heart of Atlanta, Philips Arena.
St. Louis Park, Minn. — Diversified Restaurant Group, LLC, a restaurant group that manages 150 Taco Bell restaurants in Northern California and Nevada, has formed a new payroll and accounting partnership with Delaget, LLC, a QSR leader in helping franchises run more effective operations with loss prevention, analytics, reporting and payroll solutions.
Canton, Mass. — Dunkin’ Donuts has opened a new location inside Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Las Vegas in partnership with leading travel industry retailer Hudson Group. This new restaurant marks the first-ever Dunkin’ Donuts to be opened in a Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.
Houston — The Rustic, one of the most successful restaurant-and-bar concepts in Texas, will soon break ground on its first Houston location in anticipation of an early summer 2018 grand opening. With another location under construction in San Antonio, the Houston location marks The Rustic’s third location. (The first is in Dallas.)
Cicero, Ill. — The owners of a 100-year-old bar that had been a center of nightlife in Cicero, Ill., until it was damaged by fire last year, indicated that Restore Construction not only saved their building but also gave their future new meaning. The building housed a popular lounge called La Carreta that catered to between 70 and 82 customers each night.