restaurants

Dallas — Smoothie King has made three key additions to its executive leadership team: Marianne Radley, chief marketing officer; Juan Salas, chief information officer; and Laura Scavone, chief people officer. All three have been added to the brand’s C-suite and will be responsible for leading effective, cross-functional teams to achieve Smoothie King’s strategic business goals. “We’re excited to have Marianne, Juan and Laura join our growing leadership team. They are exemplary leaders in their respective segments, each possessing a wealth of experience in the QSR industry and will undoubtedly make …

0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail

Los Angeles — FAT (Fresh. Authentic. Tasty.) Brands Inc. has opened its first tri-branded location: a Fatburger, Buffalo’s Express and Hot Dog on a Stick. This unique new location is situated in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Valley Village. “Since 2013, we have been able to effectively scale the co-branded model of Fatburger and Buffalo’s Express,” says Mason Wiederhorn, chief brand officer of FAT Brands. “As FAT Brands has continued to expand its portfolio, we have been exploring other like-minded brands to join together, most recently, Johnny Rockets and Hurricane …

0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail

Virginia Beach, Va. — Bonchon is continuing to grow in the state of Virginia. The popular restaurant, known for its crispy, hand-brushed Korean fried chicken, has a new opening in the Hilltop West shopping center in Virginia Beach, Va. The new location opened on November 22. The Virginia Beach Bonchon location has full table service and everything on the menu is available for takeout and delivery. Founded in Busan, South Korea, in 2002, Bonchon today has more than 390 locations across eight countries including Thailand, Philippines, Singapore, Cambodia, Myanmar, Australia, …

0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail

Clarksville, Tenn. — Rapidly expanding franchise Island Fin Poké Co. has made its debut in Clarksville, Tenn., marking its 26th location and its first in Tennessee. The new location opened on November 14. Island Fin Poké Co. is a Florida-based fast-casual concept known for its Hawaiian-style build-your-own poké bowls. “Our area has been craving something new and fresh, so we are glad to be able to provide these exciting, Island-inspired flavors to Clarksville,” says Jeff Bryant, franchise owner of the new Island Fin Poké Co. “We’re looking forward to introducing …

0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail

Minneapolis — Caribou Coffee®, a national premium coffeehouse and Panera Brands company, has opened its first-ever domestic franchise location. Located in Wooster, Ohio, the grand opening on Nov. 17 marked a significant milestone for Caribou Coffee since announcing its domestic franchise program in October 2021. Earlier this year, Caribou Coffee announced its first multi-unit agreement with franchisee Mike Mariola, who intends to develop locations in the Columbus, Dayton and Cincinnati markets. “We’ve been anticipating the day when we could welcome guests to Caribou’s first U.S.-based franchise location,” says Matthew Walls, …

0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail

Houston — Shipley Do-Nuts, makers of gourmet, made-fresh-daily do-nuts for more than 85 years, has signed a deal with Lexington, Va.-based franchisee Jody Mask to open three Shipley locations in Virginia — a new state for the brand. Mask is currently scouting potential sites in the Virginia Tech area as well as Roanoke, Salem, Lynchburg, Harrisonburg and Williamsburg/Stanton. He expects to open the first location within the next year to 18 months. Shipley, which first opened in Houston in 1936, has experienced record-setting growth over the past year and is …

0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail

Los Angeles — On November 14, sweetgreen opened its first advanced order vehicle pickup window, “sweetlane,” located in Schaumburg, Ill. The grand opening of “sweetlane” serves as the latest iteration of the company’s evolving restaurant experience, testing new formats to meet customers where they are. As the first of its fleet, the “sweetlane” provides an effortless experience for visitors in vehicles to pick up online orders through a drive-up window. To order via “sweetlane,” customers place their order through the sweetgreen website or app, and choose “sweetlane” as their desired …

0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail

— By Rob Reiter —   A new law in California creates insurance incentives for installation of safety barriers to protect outdoor diners and other pedestrians.     As outdoor dining and similar streetside venues became commonplace throughout the U.S. during the pandemic, so too did deaths and injuries from vehicles crashing into those diners and pedestrians. California Assemblymember Dr. Bill Quirk (D-20) saw the same trend in his state and introduced legislation that created incentives for installation of safety barriers in the context of outdoor dining and related activities …

0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail

San Diego — QDOBA Mexican Eats (QDOBA), the largest franchise opportunity in the fast-casual Mexican segment, is coming out of a development banner year after differentiating itself with flexible footprint options that allow the brand to work well in a variety of traditional and non-traditional venues. The brand also added 34 new QDOBA locations in 2022. Among the 34 locations, 16 were franchise, 16 were license and two were corporate openings. The license locations included seven military locations, two airport locations, a premium outlet location as well as the brand’s …

0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail

Denver — Quiznos has signed a multi-unit development agreement with franchisee Parish Patel that will yield 30 restaurants across Arizona starting in 2023. Part of a 7-year build schedule, three sites are slated to be built in the first and second year each, and the remaining locations over the last 5 years of the agreement. Patel, a former multi-unit franchisee who left the system in 2015 to pursue other fast-casual restaurant ventures, signed the multi-unit deal after experiencing the potential in Quiznos, a beloved and highly recognized brand under REGO …

0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail