The Latest

  • Grubbrr's kiosks on display at the National Restaurant Association Show in 2024.
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    Aneurin Canham-Clyne/Restaurant Dive
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    9 restaurant industry trade shows to attend in 2025

    The coming year is brimming with restaurant conferences and trade shows covering key issues for the business sector, from franchising strategy to economic forecasts.

  • A Smoothie King with a drive-thru.
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    Courtesy of Smoothie King
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    Smoothie King targets 100 openings in 2025

    The chain, which is also testing food items this year, plans to enter Phoenix for the first time as part of its Southwest expansion plan.

  • McDonald's, Pokemon Go hero imagery
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    Courtesy of McDonald's
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    McDonald’s amplifies mobile app with Pokémon Happy Meal

    The burger chain is again wedding pop culture and nostalgia with a Happy Meal box inclusive of a Pokémon booster pack, poster and sticker sheet.

  • An image of serveral food items from Taco Bell's Craving's Value Menu
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    Courtesy of Taco Bell
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    Why quality may trump price in 2025’s restaurant value battle

    The mixed success of recently launched value menus highlights the importance of focusing on more than just affordability, experts said.

  • An image of two men standing at a counter ordering food.
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    Lacheev via Getty Images
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    Restaurant spending to increase slightly in 2025: Fitch

    Investment in tech like artificial intelligence will also define the year, supporting restaurant operations as inflation and labor market challenges persist.

  • A smiling white man in a suit. He's wearing a jacket with peaked lapels and no tie, for what it's worth.
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    Permission granted by Starbucks
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    Starbucks warns of corporate layoffs in March

    CEO Brian Niccol framed forthcoming job cuts as a way to increase efficiency and accountability and reduce organizational complexity.

  • An image of the Shake Shack logo on a window.
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    Scott Olson via Getty Images
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    Q&A

    Shake Shack’s CFO talks 1,500-unit goal, drive-thru and restaurant optimization

    Katie Fogertey is confident that the burger chain, once only in New York City, can reach its next big target through labor model updates, drive-thru optimization and profitability improvements.

  • The entrance to a P.F. Chang's restaurant is pictured on Aug. 4, 2014 in Schaumburg, Illinois.
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    Scott Olson via Getty Images
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    P.F. Chang’s drops lawsuit claiming UKG lost, destroyed employee data

    The restaurant chain sued in 2022 claiming that the HR vendor had provided “false hope” that it could recover some of the chain’s deleted information.

  • An image of a Twin Peaks restaurant with wooden exteriors.
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    Permission granted by Twin Peaks
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    Twin Hospitality Group expects to go public on Jan. 30

    Fat Brands’ spinoff of its highest-performing brands will help it deleverage its balance sheet, which includes $1.2 billion in debt.

    Updated Jan. 17, 2025
  • A photograph of a brick building with a red sign and white letters that says Chipotle.
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    Spencer Platt via Getty Images
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    Chipotle invests in firm that makes plant-based meat from duckweed

    The restaurant chain’s venture fund is also backing efforts reduce cow-based methane emissions.  

  • An image of a restaurant with tables that showcases a pretzel, ice cream and cookie concept.
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    Permission granted by Fat Brands
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    Fat Brands will grow a new tri-branded snack concept

    The company combined Great American Cookies, Marble Slab Creamery and Pretzelmaker at a unit in Texas, with plans to open more.

  • An image of Krispy Krunchy Chicken display at NACS
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    Permission granted by Krispy Krunchy Chicken
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    Krispy Krunchy Chicken names new CFO

    Jim Zielke brings more than three decades of restaurant leadership experience to the c-store-focused concept.

  • An arm reaches out of a gray car to collect a bag of food while an employee with blue gloves hands off the bag.
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    NewSaetiew via Getty Images
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    QSR traffic turns positive in Q4, report shows

    A push toward more restaurant value offerings appears to be paying off, with spikes in traffic seen in October and November, according to Revenue Management Solutions data.

  • A man stands on a stage talking
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    Julie Littman/Restaurant Dive
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    Portillo’s tests computer vision to boost drive-thru times

    Managers will see a screen flashing red if a car has sat for four minutes, allowing them to redeploy labor and move guests faster through the drive-thru.

  • People sit in a coffee shop.
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    Adam Gray via Getty Images
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    Starbucks reverses open-door policy as it pursues coffeehouse environment

    Under the new policy, customers will have to make a purchase if they want to hang out in Starbucks coffee shops or use its bathrooms.

  • An image of a building with a sign that says "Sweetgreen."
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    Courtesy of Sweetgreen
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    Sweetgreen CTO shares the chain’s data-focused approach to CX

    CTO Wouleta Ayele discussed why she designs experiences by working backwards from an ideal outcome at the National Retail Federation’s Big Show conference.

  • Panera Bread storefront
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    Permission granted by Panera Bread
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    Panera hires marketing, culinary executives

    Robin Seward joins the chain as senior vice president, brand and innovation, while Scott Uehlein was hired as vice president of culinary.

  • An image of a store sign that says Shake Shack. To the left is a green neon sign of a burger
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    Joe Raedle via Getty Images
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    How Shake Shack plans to triple its unit count

    The chain is targeting 1,500 company-owned units by enhancing leadership, boosting operations and entering new markets, executives said at ICR. 

  • The facade of a Baskin-Robins restaurant.
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    Robert Way via Getty Images
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    Baskin-Robbins’ new loyalty program aims to balance simplicity and variety

    Baskin-Robbins Rewards, which launched in December, aims to make it easy for customers to earn rewards while offering a variety of redemption options.

    Updated Jan. 15, 2025
  • An exterior pink building with Saucy by KFC signage
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    Permission granted by Saucy by KFC
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    KFC taps CEO from Taco Bell North America

    Scott Mezvinsky inherits the chain as it invests in marketing and its tech-centric Saucy concept in a bid to stand out from buzzy chicken rivals. 

  • A photo of the upgraded coffee service in a 7-Eleven in Laurel, MD.
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    Jessica Loder/C-Store Dive/Restaurant Dive
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    Column

    3 Big Numbers: C-stores zero in on coffee consumers

    Wawa, Casey’s and 7-Eleven all are either updating their coffee programs or employing promotions to draw in more caffeine aficionados.

  • A building with a drive-thru that is blue and white. Signage says Just Salad.
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    Courtesy of Just Salad
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    Just Salad joins the drive-thru game

    A New Jersey outpost is the first of multiple drive-thru units the fast casual chain plans to open in 2025.

  • bartaco family packs
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    Permission granted by bartaco
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    Bartaco promotes president to CEO

    Anthony Valletta takes the reins from Scott Lawton, who co-founded the chain in 2010 and guided it through major pandemic-induced staffing changes.

  • A Papa Johns worker delivers fresh dough and ingredients from a truck.
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    Courtesy of Papa Johns
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    Why Papa Johns wants market density, not more territories

    The pizza chain’s biggest growth opportunities lie in markets where it already has a presence, executives told investors in December.

  • A exterior shot of the blue and yellow building with CosMc's signage
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    Permission granted by CosMc's
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    McDonald’s to shutter 3 CosMc’s, open 2 more

    The chain said its beverage-centric concept works better in smaller locations and will close larger restaurants that were converted from McDonald’s units.