Younger consumers apparently don’t like using paper coupons and its value-heavy approach hasn’t worked to generate sales . . . .

RBI’s Burger King Moves Away from Paper Coupons

Burger King is cutting coupons. Specifically, the fast-food chain has been reducing the frequency with which it uses paper coupons to get customers in the door. Apparently, company executives said, younger consumers don’t use them enough. Burger King wants to spend its money instead on offers that will actually get them in the door. “It’s been traditionally an important channel,” Jose Cil, CEO of Restaurant Brands International. “But its effectiveness has eroded over time, especially with younger consumers.” Burger King’s move away from paper coupons is coming along with a broader move away from the value frequency with which the brand had been known for years. The chain has traditionally carpet-bombed the market with value offers and paper coupons. It has typically been the biggest discounter among the three big burger chains, often running three times as many value offers. That value focus has not translated into sales of late as consumers have instead bought larger menu items and willingly paid higher prices for their meals. Burger King’s sales have fallen behind its competitors and that likely continued in the third quarter when its same-store sales declined 1.7%. That came on top of a 3.2% decline in the same period a year ago, making it a two-year decline of about 5%. Cil told investors on Monday that the company is aware of its gap with competitors and has long-term plans to fix it. Ditching paper coupons impacted the chain’s same-store sales in the third quarter, Cil said. But taking that step could help the brand move toward options that have a stronger return on investment. “We felt it makes sense to transition media allocation and focus on other consumer-facing channels that we believe over time will generate a higher return,” Cil said. Specifically, those channels could be digital, particularly through its Royal Perks loyalty program the company introduced earlier this year. Loyalty programs are more successful with younger consumers. The offers target existing customers, rather than a more general audience. “This is what Royal Perks is designed to do,” Cil said, noting that shifting offers to “known diners” can help the company “engage them better and drive guest behavior and ultimately build a strong base with the younger generation.” Burger King should be able to shift its focus “quickly,” Cil said. “We believe we’ll be able to shift to a much more accretive digital coupon and digital engagement over time.” Yet the brand is looking to get it right on value, generally. The company last quarter ran a pair of offers, including a 2-for-$6 offer and a buy-one-get-one offer, which didn’t resonate as well with customers as the chain’s offers in the same period a year ago. Cil believes the company ran too many such offers, confusing guests and hurting operations. “For years, we’ve been spreading ourselves too thinly across too many messages with mixed results,” he said. “Historically, we’ve consistently had the most value constructs in the market, three times as many as our lead competitors, which diluted marketing firepower and added to operational complexity. It also confused guests.” Burger King said its investments in digital and data analytics gave the company a clearer view of these efforts. Cil said the chain is now focused on “fewer, more impactful offers and value platforms.” In other words, Burger King is planning to shift that carpet bombing towards a more targeted value offer strategy. – Source: Restaurant Business.

Cisco is giving its Webex service a new holographic meeting feature, with participants depicted in lifelike 3D . . . .

Cisco will announce on Tuesday that it’s getting into the hologram business. At its WebexOne customer conference, it’ll describe a new service called Webex Hologram, which enables virtual meetings in augmented reality—with the participants represented as photorealistic holograms instead of cartoon-like avatars. I got an early look at the new service and spoke to two of the Cisco executives leading the development of the service, which runs on headsets including Microsoft’s HoloLens and Magic Leap’s Magic Leap. The discussion started out as a conventional Webex call, but then I put on the HoloLens the company had sent me and the meeting went 3D. I was sitting at the little bistro table in my kitchen, and suddenly Cullen Jennings, Cisco’s CTO for security and collaboration, showed up right across the table from me. His hologram looked impressively lifelike. And that’s exactly the point of Webex Hologram–to evolve remote collaboration from old-school video conferences where 2D participants are stacked up on a screen to meetings where it feels like you’re gathered around a table talking to real people. “Since the beginning of time, people sat around in a circle and had a real conversation, and our current 2D video conferencing equipment where everyone’s just a flat surface has taken us a long way away from that,” says Cisco EVP and general manager of security and collaboration Jeetu Patel, who is leading the Hologram project. “I’m trying to figure out how to get back to that circle experience.” Cisco’s experience also includes the ability to walk around a 3D object, point to it, discuss it, and, perhaps, practice repairing it. One compelling use case, Patel says, is when a company needs to discuss the fine details of a product with the far away contractor that will manufacture it. This sort of meeting usually involves a trip to Asia so that it can happen in person, a more troublesome proposition in pandemic times. Microsoft developed the ability to render a company’s product within the HoloLens; Cisco aims to add to the experience by making the people seem real. If we were an architecture firm and we’re doing architectural approval . . . you want to see the people at the same time, and you want to understand people’s reactions and how they’re dealing with the data,” Patel says. In my kitchen, Jennings conjured up a torso-up model of a human skeleton. It appeared to hover over the table between us. I was able to grab it and rotate it, then grab two sides of it to adjust its size. The movements of my hands were being tracked by the cameras on the front of the HoloLens headset I wore. Jennings and I might have been two doctors in two cities discussing the bones or organs of a patient. Patel says Cisco is in “very early development” with its holograms.

A half dozen of Cisco’s Webex customers are now trying out the Hologram meetings. The company will soon expand its beta program to 50 partners, and later expand it to 250 customers before bringing Webex Hologram to general availability. The technology still comes with some important caveats. Cisco]In my session with Jennings, I could see a convincing hologram of him, but all he could see of me was a set of digital hands and the vague notion of where I was sitting. To represent me as a hologram would have required a multi-camera 3Dcapture system set up in my kitchen to capture video of me from multiple angles. I could see Jennings’ hologram because he had a capture array set up at his end. Patel says Cisco is working on the capture array part of the equation with its customers, who are trying to understand the best ways of capturing not only 3D images of meeting participants but also of the objects they might be discussing and collaborating on. The company isn’t saying how much the capture arrays might cost. And if I’d had a capture array set up in my kitchen, the cameras would have captured me wearing the HoloLens, which made me look like a cyborg. My body language would be visible, but my eyes—the best window into my thinking—would be at least partially obscured by the light of the displays within the lenses of the HoloLens. If I was in a hologram meeting with my team, we’d all have to be wearing headsets in order to see each other (and any virtual models being discussed). So if the idea is to make meetings more natural and human, the headset itself would certainly detract from that. More compact, user-friendly mixed-reality glasses are coming, which might help a lot. Cisco says that it hopes to identify a small number of use cases that will improve collaboration and save customers money. Its promotional materials show a single person, not wearing a HoloLens, holding a digital object and discussing it with a HoloLens-wearing person, presumably located far away. Even though this is something less than the “round table” ideal Patel spoke of, it may be good enough to help the participants work out design issues, make repairs, or settle on manufacturing solutions. Even with these caveats, it makes sense for Cisco to be digging into holograms now. AR headsets will improve as will network speeds and cloud computing. Capture array prices may go down. In a few years, when real meetings of holograms become more possible, Cisco and Webex want to be ready. Source: Fast Company.

The Inspire Brands brand is partnering with Miso Robotics to test Flippy Wings . . . .

Buffalo Wild Wings is Now Testing a Robot that Can Fry Chicken Wings

Miso Robotics — the robotic technology company behind the burger-flipping Flippy the Robot — announced Thursday a partnership with Inspire Brands’ Buffalo Wild Wings. Flippy Wings is a “robotic chicken wing frying solution” that is designed to help brands maximize chicken wing output even while short-staffed in the kitchen. “Technology is making a fundamental impact on the end-to-end restaurant operational model,” Paul Brown, CEO of Inspire Brands said in a statement. “Intelligent automation including AI and robotics will not only transform how we communicate with and take orders from our guests but also how we prepare and serve food to those guests. This transformation will ultimately result in improved efficiencies in our restaurants and an overall elevated experience for our guests and our team members.” Inspire Brands’ first Flippy Wings machine (which is already being dubbed “Wingy”) is being installed at the Inspire Brands Innovation Center in Atlanta, and a second will be installed at the Allowance Kitchen—Inspire Brands’ ghost kitchen center — where it will be tested and tweaked before making its way to a standalone Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant sometime next year. Wingy can fry up chicken wings and drop them into a hot holding area for kitchen staff to pick up and distribute to guests when they’re ready. Initial tests by Miso show a 10-20% increase in productivity speed when the robot is being utilized, as well as fewer oil spillages. “From day one, Flippy Wings will cook more food with less waste and save staff for higher-value contributions,” Mike Bell, CEO of Miso Robotics said in a statement. “Flippy Wings fries fresh, frozen or hand-breaded products like a pro, avoiding cross-contamination and increasing throughput while reducing costs. It is fast, safer to operate than traditional fryers and the whole system can be set up in just a few hours over existing equipment.” Miso Robotics already is partnered with restaurants like White Castle has more robotic technology partnerships planned down the line in 2021 and beyond. Source: NRN.

Paul Damico, in the expanded CEO role, says the new division has an eye on possible acquisitions . . . .

NRD Creates Experiential Brands Platform with Fuzzy’s Taco Shop

NRD Capital Management LLC has expanded the role of Fuzzy’s Taco Shop CEO Paul Damico to cover its newly created platform company, Experiential Brands, which is targeting acquisitions, the company said Tuesday. Atlanta-based NRD in August named industry veteran Damico to serve as CEO of the Irving, Texas-based Fuzzy’s Taco Shop, which has 150 units in 17 states, and he will now also head the new platform. “Experiential Brands will be the holding company and Fuzzy’s Taco Shop will be the first brand we put into that new platform,” Damico said in an interview Tuesday. Damico said the company has not identified specific acquisition targets, but they would likely be in line with Fuzzy’s, a fast-casual taco concept with a bar and often a patio. “We’re going to be looking for brands that really provide an experience to the guest,” Damico said. The proliferation of delivery, online ordering, and takeout during the COVID-19 pandemic, Damico said, “really changed the landscape. But I truly believe that there are brands out there where the guest really wants to come into the brick-and-mortar restaurant — not just have a great meal, but they want to have a little bit of experience.” The target also would be franchised or ripe for that expansion format, he added. “Paul is an experienced veteran in the restaurant franchise industry and has a proven track record of successfully scaling and growing franchised brands, most notably growing Moe’s Southwest Grill from 200 to 700 units, making him the ideal fit for this role,” said Aziz Hashim, founder, and managing partner of NRD Capital, in a statement. Restaurants with dine-in areas are still very viable in the Vaccine Era, Damico noted. “There’s pent-up demand to get out,” Damico said, and Fuzzy’s units have seen that in positive same-store sales increases. A Fuzzy’s franchisee has also created a Taqueria concept in Minneapolis that is only about 1,100 square feet, so the brand does have smaller options, Damico said. Fuzzy’s recently entered a new state, Wyoming, with a new franchisee in Casper, Damico said. “The industry is coming back in the different markets that we operate,” he said. “When you think about Fuzzy’s,” Damico added, “we’ve got restaurants that are 4,000 and 5,000 square feet and we’ve got restaurants that are 1,100 square feet. They are all performing way better than 2019 and then certainly significantly better than 2020.” Before joining Fuzzy’s in August, Damico served as CEO of Global Franchise Group LLC. Prior to that, he was president of Atlanta-based Focus Brands with oversight of six internationally recognized brands. NRD Capital Management in 2016 acquired a majority stake in Fuzzy’s, founded in 2003 in Fort Worth, Texas. -Source: NRN.

Tyson Breaks Ground on Virginia Poultry Plant

Tyson Foods broke ground on a new poultry processing facility near Danville, Va., on Oct. 21. The company plans to invest $300 million in the project that will serve as a production plant for fully cooked Tyson branded chicken products. When the 325,000-square-foot facility is finished more than 376 jobs are expected to be created. “We’ve worked successfully in the Commonwealth of Virginia for decades and are investing in a new facility here because our customers and consumers continue to want more high-quality Tyson brand chicken in their stores, homes, and restaurants,” said David Bray, group president of poultry for Tyson Foods. “We’re thankful for the invitation to become a part of the Danville and Pittsylvania County communities, the support from both state and local leaders, and the presence of such a strong workforce in the region.” Tyson expects the facility to be operational by early 2023. Dignitaries that attended the groundbreaking included Virginia Governor Ralph Northam along with many local leaders. “Tyson has a deep history in rural America, and they’ve set a national example on responding to COVID,” Mr. Northman said. “Their employees are safer for it, and we’re thrilled to see the company put down roots in southern Virginia.” Tyson employs more than 2,000 people across the state of Virginia in the hatchery, grain, and processing operations. The company will receive grants from Virginia’s Opportunity Fund, the Virginia Investment Performance Grant, and the Tobacco Region Opportunity Fund. It is also eligible to receive other assistance from the Virginia Enterprise Zone Program and the Virginia Talent Accelerator Program. Source: Food Business News.

Keeping it Regal

In many ways, White Castle is regarded as royalty in the ultra-competitive fast-food burger segment. With 362 restaurants in 14 states, it may not be the biggest chain compared to its Goliath-like competitors, but White Castle is leading the pack in longevity, industry firsts, and creating a cult-like following. Celebrating 100 years in business in 2021, the chain holds the distinction of not only being the first-ever fast-food hamburger chain but also is credited with inventing restaurant carryout; becoming the first fast-food chain to sell 1 billion burgers; and creating what it calls “the crave” among its legions of customers (cravers) whose appetites for the 2-inch, square sliders is seemingly unrelenting. The still-family-owned company employs about 10,000 workers, most of who work at the restaurants. About 210 of those work in the company’s new headquarters, much of which is devoted to paying homage to the company’s rich history and its loyal cravers. While the original White Castle restaurant was built in Wichita, Kan., the company’s home base moved to Columbus, Ohio, in 1934 where the company bought an existing building on 18 acres to use as its headquarters for $50,000 cash. It has since been razed. The newly constructed home office opened just before the COVID-19 outbreak and soon after its ribbon-cutting, most employees were forced to work from home until recently. As the company, and the fast-food industry has evolved over the years the family-owned company remains committed to continuing operating certain aspects of the business that were priorities of its founders while adopting strategies that address today’s market. For example, the company has a history of vertical integration, which still includes owning and operating the bakeries and meat plants that supply its restaurants and retail business. White Castle’s vertical integration has been a cornerstone of the company since day one when Billy Ingram and his business partner, Walter Anderson founded the company. “That has always been a part of our approach to managing quality and being customer-focused,” said Jamie Richardson, vice president of marketing and public relations who is married to one of the fourth-generation owners, Kate. Richardson, who’s been with the company for 22 years, said, “Having our own meat plants – we’re starting to call them our ‘slider provider’ meat plants – has been huge.” One of those plants, in Zanesville, Ohio, is celebrating its 20th year in operation, the newest of the company’s three meat-processing facilities including one in Lebanon, Ind., and the other in Orleans, Ind. In keeping with the company’s tradition of maintaining operational control of its manufacturing, White Castle runs three frozen retail plants in Covington and Louisville, Ky., as well as one in Vandalia, Ohio, in addition to two bakeries where it makes buns, in Cincinnati and Rensselaer, Ind.

Try, try again

When discussing innovation within the company, whether it’s a new menu item or a new corporate initiative or policy, Richardson said the mindset is to try anything within reason and to learn from what works and what doesn’t work. That empowerment is a priority of Lisa Ingram, great-granddaughter of the founder who now serves as president and chief executive officer and holds the distinctive title of “Slider Queen.” “We’ve tried a lot of things and not all of them have worked, but a lot of them have,” Richardson said. “And Lisa has really led us down a path of ‘let’s try a lot of things, but not everything.’ It really is our Slider Queen who gets all the credit for doing all these things in the spirit that her dad and her grandfather and her great-grandfather brought to the business and keeping it alive and making it relevant to the challenges of today.”

Food focused

Approximately 80% of the products manufactured at the 70,000-square-foot Zanesville beef plant, which sits on a 10-acre plat, are patties that are shipped to one of White Castle’s 362 restaurants. The other 20% of beef processed at the facility are beef logs that are shipped to the company’s retail plants, where they are sliced, and made into frozen, microwaveable sliders sold in multiple box sizes at a growing number of retail stores. Whether sliced or unsliced, logs are typically processed using three lines with one additional line available for backup. Log boxing is also part of production on designated shifts. “The meat logs are shipped directly to our retail division because they have their own slicing operation inline, which is why we don’t slice for them,” said Dave Rife, the chief manufacturing officer who oversees White Castle’s eight manufacturing facilities. About 40 employees work at the Zanesville plant. Rife is the oldest of the fourth generation working in the family-owned business, which includes his cousin Lisa Ingram. The company works with a network of beef companies that ship frozen, 60-lb blocks to the plant. The raw product is stored in a freezer before the blocks go to an unboxing area and are conveyed to the first of two grinding operations using grinding and blending equipment from Weiler. “The yield is phenomenal,” Rife said of the results of the double grinding and blending process. “The primary grind is a larger grind and the meat goes into the mixers in a process that lasts about 15 minutes.” Next, the product goes to the final grind, using a much smaller plate, and it is extruded using White Castle’s customized, five-hole horn, that is equipped to create the square logs and the tell-tale holes that run the length of every log. “In the final grind, that’s where the magic happens,” said Al Swearingen, plant manager, as the more finely ground beef is extruded through White Castle’s proprietary meat horn, which creates the signature five holes that run the length of every log and are part of every party. The idea to add the holes was suggested in 1947 by an employee at what then was a meat plant in Cincinnati. The practice was adopted and implemented in 1951, as a means of allowing patties to cook faster and reduce the weight of each patty. The meat horn was patented in 1954. Like the patented beef horn, a log saw, which was also custom-made by White Castle engineers, cuts the logs into uniform, 37-inch lengths before they are conveyed to a spiral freezer prior to slicing. Swearingen said that crust is formed when the logs’ internal temperature is chilled to 26˚F and an external temperature of 0˚F. “After about 20 minutes, we get a nice crust on them for our slicing operation,” Rife said. After the logs move to one of three Thurne, gravity-fed slicers, the patties go through foreign material detection before the interleaving process, which separates each patty. Then they go into a stacker and the stacks are manually boxed for shipment to the restaurants. Unsliced logs destined for retail processing are conveyed to the log-boxing line. “We put six logs in each box, palletize them and send them to the retail plants,” Rife said. Formulations for the patties never change, Rife added. “You’ve got to make sure you get the exact same flavor profile, whether you’re in a restaurant or you’re getting them from the grocery store.”

Retail and restaurant ready

The Zanesville plant and the facility in Orleans are almost identical in operation and throughput, however, it employs about 24 more people than Zanesville. With a footprint of about 48,000 square feet and employees numbering about 40, the Lebanon plant was renovated about three years ago to produce beef logs exclusively for the retail division. Retail production at Lebanon is supplemented by the two sister plants and Swearingen said it takes all three producing logs to keep up with retail demand. Logs produced at Lebanon go through the identical process as the other two plants, differing only in that it uses an impingement freezer, and the logs are not sliced. “And then it’s a very automated process for packaging and palletizing,” Rife said, adding that robotic technology is an important part of the renovated plant’s operation. Across the three meat plants, operations typically run at about 80% of capacity with Zanesville running a single production per day followed by a nightly sanitation shift. The other two facilities run two processing shifts per day and nightly sanitation. Currently, the beef processing plants produce more than 45 million lbs of product per year, with room and capacity to grow. “We’re thinking far enough ahead that we can continue to feed the souls of cravers everywhere by having enough capacity to do what we need to do,” Rife said. Fortunately, just before COVID-19 became prevalent, Rife and his team decided to renovate the Lebanon facility, making its production dedicated to logging production only. “We assessed everything and agreed that if we were to go down this path, we can increase our throughput by around 28% to 30%, by just focusing on making logs every day,” Rife said.

Partners in success

In addressing the beef operations’ supply chain, Rife said White Castle works with a variety of companies. “We don’t look for suppliers, we look for partners,” Rife said. As Coca-Cola’s longest customer at 100 years, Rife said it is that type of longevity the company looks for in all its partners. “When I look at our suppliers on the meat side, these are all people that we have been associated with for a very long period of time.” The target fat content of each burger is between 26% and 27%, which in earlier years was confirmed by continuously sampling products from the mixer and waiting for the in-house lab results before proceeding. “Now, with technology, we have equipment in place that tells us in real-time what’s going on,” Rife said, “so we just keep cranking, but we still pull some samples to ensure the equipment is doing what it’s supposed to.” Additionally, random product samples are also taken of the raw material coming into the plant and throughout all the processing steps to prevent and detect pathogens in the supply chain. Maintaining optimum food safety throughout the production process was part of White Castle’s culture from the beginning, Rife said. “My great-grandfather started this company in ‘21. It was really important to him to change the mindset of people, especially around ground beef,” he said. “Because back then, Upton Sinclair’s book really painted a bad picture of the meat processing industry, and so he really felt that the best way to control the quality of what went over that counter is to control the quality of what comes in the back door. That’s why we have our own meat plants. That’s why we have our own bakeries. Those are the key ingredients in our slider.” Finished logs and patties are held at the plants for three days after production until all lab testing confirms the frozen products are safe.

Craving during COVID

White Castle’s meat operations were challenged by the pandemic. Employee protection measures included PPE, installing partitions in work and break areas, requiring temperature checks at entryways, social distancing practiced wherever possible and designated cleaners targeting high-traffic and touch areas. When positive cases were confirmed, contact tracing was used to ensure workers were safe. In terms of demand, initially, the company saw a sharp drop off in sales as many consumers stayed home. “And then it rebounded like a hockey stick,” Rife said. “It took off.” He said the company’s cult-like following proved the loyalty of its customers. “They sought it out wherever they could and if they couldn’t get it in the restaurant, they went to the freezer aisle in the grocery store and vice-versa. It has kept us very busy.” Swearingen said variations in the market and consumer behavior may fluctuate but the company’s production remains predictable. The manufacturing part of White Castle’s meat business is based on simplicity and is focused on producing one raw product with no other ingredients. Beyond that, focusing on efficiency and improving operations is the emphasis. “It’s a simple process,” he said. “We run one product for White Castle so it’s all about safety first, quality second.” – Source: Food Safety Monitor.

The tech giant will help deploy the innovation at scale . . . .

McDonald’s Partners with IBM to Expand Voice-Ordering Technology

The technology has been tested at multiple restaurants with positive results. McDonald’s revealed Wednesday that it’s turning to IBM to accelerate the growth of its automated voice-ordering technology. As part of the agreement, IBM will acquire McD Tech Labs, which was formed following the burger chain’s 2019 acquisition of Apprente, a leader in voice-based, conversational technology. McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski said IBM’s expertise in building customer-care solutions with artificial intelligence and natural language processing will ignite the development and scale of the automated order-taking technology. For IBM, the purchase will complement its existing work with Watson, an AI computer system that’s used by businesses across financial, health care, telecommunications, and retail sectors. “Really the reason we’re doing this with IBM is to be able to have someone that can take how far we’ve gotten right now with the solution and be able to finish the development, and then help us deploy this at scale,” CFO Kevin Ozan said during the chain’s Q3 earnings call. “We’re going to use their expertise certainly in AI and everything they’ve learned from Watson, etc.” The move comes about five months after Kempczinski announced at Alliance Bernstein’s Strategic Decisions Conference that McDonald’s was testing automated voice-ordering solutions at 10 restaurants in the chain’s home base of Chicago. The tech resulted in 85 percent accuracy, and employees only needed to step in roughly 20 percent of the time. Kempczinski cautioned that automated voice-ordering wouldn’t be rolled out nationally anytime soon and emphasized the process will require a few more years. Explaining his philosophy on whether to outsource or insource technology, the CEO said there are times where it makes more sense for McDonald’s to acquire tech so that it can accelerate development and tailor the product to its needs. However, he added that at a certain point, the technology reaches a level that requires a partner with better resources and knowledge. “I think what we did with Apprente is very much consistent with that philosophy, which is we’ve had it for a couple of years, I’ve been really pleased with how the team has progressed. The development of that, we’re seeing some very encouraging results in the restaurants that we have it,” Kempczinski said. “But there is still a lot of work that needs to go into introducing other languages, being able to do it across 14,000 restaurants with all the various menu permutations, etc., and that work is beyond the scale of our core competencies if you will. And so I think in this case, IBM is a natural partner for us.” Financial details of the sale were not disclosed, although Ozan said there shouldn’t be much of a financial impact. “Maybe about less than 100 people I think were associated with that business, and so those folks will now go work with IBM,” the CFO noted. ” … It isn’t a big financial statement impact, plus or minus, I’ll say, going forward.” The transaction is expected to close in December. Upon closing, the McD Tech Labs team will become part of the IBM Cloud & Cognitive Software division. – Source: QSR.

As the industry returns to a new normal, it’s important to keep beneficial practices . .  . .

Six Key Strategies to Elevate Food Safety

In organizations with a culture of food safety, everyone from the corporate CEO to the manager and janitorial staff feels accountable. After being sequestered in their homes for months due to COVID-19, consumers are reemerging with a hunger to dine out again. Restaurants are happy to welcome guests but are still reeling from massive changes imposed by the pandemic. Whether reopening dining rooms after extended closures or finding their footing in a world of new omnichannel ordering, quick service restaurants and fast-casual managers are grappling with evolving rules and regulations, changing diner preferences, and an entirely new workforce. Amidst new challenges, guidelines, and expectations, restaurants continue to have the critical responsibility of offering sanitary eating spaces and food preparation practices that help prevent diners from getting a foodborne illness. The Centers for Disease Control estimates that 48 million people get sick and 3,000 die each year from foodborne illness in the United States alone. As restaurant managers endeavor to overcome the challenges of operating during a pandemic, here are six tips for elevating food safety.

Train, train, and train again—In a recent survey, 84 percent of restaurant operators said staffing levels were lower than normal. Restaurants are scrambling to staff their operations and many employees are new to retail foodservice. These employees may not be aware of the dangers of foodborne illnesses or basic food safety protocols. For this reason, restaurants should completely reboot their food safety programs, beginning with the basics of safe food handling and foodborne illness. Repetition is a good way to reinforce the importance of food safety, and it may be beneficial to provide multiple training videos, pose questions on food safety during the interview and training process, and include food safety on periodic employee reviews. Employee infractions should result in retraining. This level of repetition instills the importance of this issue.

Leverage technology—There is technology available to support food safety best practices. Internet of Things (IoT) temperature devices can monitor hot and cold food holding and service areas, instantly alerting managers when temperatures fall outside an acceptable range. Hand washing monitors help guide employees in proper handwashing techniques. Touchless technologies like digital displays in the back of the house reduce transmission risk from employees handling food. If particular areas have presented a problem in the past, identify technologies that can support best practices for improved compliance and results.

Build a culture of food safety—In organizations with a culture of food safety, everyone from the corporate CEO to the manager and janitorial staff feels accountable. Everyone understands the consequences of failure to follow proper protocols. Managers take all food safety infractions seriously and immediately take corrective action. They commend a “see something, say something” attitude among employees, providing incentives and rewards for employees that take action with regard to food safety. Parent companies emphasize the importance of food safety with resources, training, and incentives. Everyone must be observant and understand that doing the right thing to protect the integrity of food quality is not just a matter of “not getting caught,” but a matter of pride and responsibility.

Partner with a third party—Restaurants with excellent food safety records is those that don’t wait to evaluate their food safety practices until the annual FDA inspection occurs. A surprising number of establishments use the FDA inspection as a gauge of their food safety performance. Unfortunately, this practice is like failing to study for the final exam. Once the FDA inspection occurs, the results are public. And while it’s never too late to take corrective action, the location and brand may suffer the stigma of being “unclean.” Consider using a third-party auditor who can provide regular assessments, allowing for improvements prior to FDA inspections. This not only increases the likelihood of a more favorable rating but may also help ensure that best practices are in place across all locations, regardless of geographic location or presiding health department.

Audit every store—Every owner/operator or manager is different, and employee profiles may differ depending on the location. Left unverified, the rigor of food safety practices may simply rest on the personal conviction of a single location manager, rendering it completely inconsistent across locations. It is critical that management audit each individual store for compliance with food safety best practices.

Have emergency response plans in place—Unfortunately, some emergencies are simply unavoidable. However, there is plenty a food facility can do to prepare for unexpected circumstances and potentially avoid food contamination that may occur as a result. Having an emergency plan, and then training for and rehearsing the plan, can help with proper mitigation of the threats of potential contamination.

Return to the joy of dining out—safely

Quick-service restaurants, fast-casual, and restaurants of every type have successfully weathered 2020, reinventing food delivery options, overcoming supply chain disruptions, and adopting new measures and processes to keep employees and diners safe. Their resilience and tenacity are impressive. As the industry returns to a new normal, it’s important to keep beneficial practices that have occurred as a result of the pandemic. More frequent cleaning increased handwashing, and the transition to contactless service all help create a cleaner dining environment. However, it’s also important to reinstate food safety as a critical priority to deliver confidence to diners and the community. With safe dining environments, we’ll all return to the joy of eating out. – Source: QSR.

Local suppliers, with fewer customers and less name recognition, don’t face the same regulatory standards . . . .

Food Safety Tips for Restaurants Buying Local Ingredients

The most crucial consideration is ensuring regulatory compliance. There’s a growing trend among restaurants, especially smaller establishments, to buy local ingredients. This can provide some of the freshest meat and produce around, and customers like knowing their patronage support nearby businesses. As beneficial as this practice can be, it can also come with some unique food safety concerns. Since larger farms and suppliers serve more clients, they face greater scrutiny when it comes to factors like health and safety practices. Any mistakes or regulatory violations are more likely to catch the eye of the public. Local suppliers, with fewer customers and less name recognition, don’t face the same standards. That’s not to say local farms are less safe, but there may be a higher risk of something going wrong. Given that risk, restaurants with local suppliers should take some steps to ensure food safety. Here are five tips to help with that.

Research Applicable Food Safety Regulations

Perhaps the most crucial consideration for restaurants buying local ingredients is to ensure regulatory compliance. The FDA’s Food Code updates every two years, so regulations may change over time. Consequently, restaurants should be sure they’re up to date on these rules so they can assess and enforce the most recent guidance. Food safety regulations can vary from area to area, too. Restaurants need to research and understand what rules apply to them and their suppliers, which can differ. Having a more thorough knowledge of local regulations can help restaurateurs determine whether a supplier is a safe choice. Farms should be able to provide certifications or other evidence of their compliance. When looking for suppliers, restaurants should ask for this proof to confirm their safety.

 Ask for Proof of Best Practices

Government regulations provide a solid baseline for judging ingredient safety, but they may not cover everything. Several things that either improve or threaten sanitation may not fall into any legal guidance. Restaurants can account for this by looking for extra best practices in their potential suppliers. For example, farmers shouldn’t irrigate crops for two to seven days before harvesting to prevent waterborne contaminants. Similarly, if a local farm raises animals and produce, it should keep them separate to avoid cross-contamination. Farms should also regularly test things like soil and water quality. Restaurants should understand farming best practices to assess them in suppliers. It’s not enough to go by a partner’s word, either, so they should ask for proof. Visiting the farm in person to inspect the supplier’s practices is an excellent way to verify safety.

Thoroughly Inspect Shipment Quality

Restaurants can’t expect their suppliers to bear the full burden of ensuring food safety. Even with the most up-to-date and rigorous quality standards, mistakes can happen, and things can slip through the cracks. That’s why restaurants must inspect the quality of every shipment. Whenever an order comes in, a manager or other well-trained employee should look through it. Not all points of concern are visible to the naked eye, but workers should spot any glaring problems. For example, oddly colored or dirty produce may indicate poor washing or spoilage. If there has been a recent local health issue related to a specific ingredient, restaurants should pay closer attention. Otherwise, they should assess quality across all items, paying particular attention to foods that tend to have higher associated risks.

Take Care in Handling and Preparation

Restaurants can further ensure safety by handling and preparing their local ingredients with care. This step is a critical one, whether establishments are buying local or not. Errors in cooking, holding, equipment and worker hygiene are among the most common sources of foodborne illness. All workers should maintain high hygiene standards, wash their hands frequently and thoroughly, and keep their work clothes clean. Requiring kitchen staff to wear gloves is another recommended precaution, as long as they change them between handling different foods. earing the same gloves throughout the entire cooking process can lead to cross-contamination. Restaurants should also thoroughly clean all their ingredients, even if suppliers did so before shipping. Keeping kitchen equipment clean and storing foods at proper temperatures are other essential steps.

Require Tracking and Transparency

Restaurants should establish a transparent, easy-to-track supply chain. Local suppliers may not have as many resources as a larger company, but they should still provide traceability and transparency. These precautions will let restaurants track any health problems to their source, leading to appropriate actions. Restaurants should be able to track each box of meat or produce through its entire lifecycle. Any point in production or shipping that isn’t clear is a factor they can’t account for when looking into an issue. Transparency enables restaurants and their suppliers to find exactly where any problems arose so they can act accordingly. Restaurants Can Stay Safe While Buying Local Buying local doesn’t have to mean sacrificing food safety. If restaurants follow these steps, they can enjoy the freshness and quality of homegrown ingredients without worrying about their health. Local suppliers can bring many benefits to any establishment as long as they take the proper precautions. – Source: QSR.

Employees are tracking 37 percent more work/activity overall per week . . . .

Safety Activity Jumps 280 Percent at Restaurants

The increase in safety work also signals that multi-unit operators are more actively assigning and enforcing the completion of this work as opposed to just assuming that it will get done. The restaurant industry’s response to the coronavirus pandemic has been, in a word, impressive. Tough decisions have been made, new business strategies rolled out, closings and re-openings and some re-closing—all often on a day’s notice. Restaurateurs and multi-unit operators have shown that agility, and the ability to adapt quickly across a large operation, is a competitive differentiator if not a survival skill. But beyond the launch of curbside service, limited menu options, or new sanitization procedures, what has changed about the work that’s actually happening in stores every day? By analyzing the usage of Zenput across 50,000-plus locations in more than 40 countries, we have a unique opportunity to see at scale what type of work happens across locations, at what frequency, and how operators have responded during the coronavirus pandemic. We took a close look at quick-service and fast-casual brands in particular and found the following:

Quick-serves are completing 280 percent-plus more “safety” work per week compared to pre-COVID-19 levels

Quick-service staff are tracking 37 percent more work/activity overall per week compared to pre-COVID highs

Larger chains (70-plus locations) are more reliant on technology to coordinate response relative to smaller/independent chains

Similar to other industry reports we saw a 14 percent drop in “closures” in March and April—the decrease in the number of locations using the app at all during that time.

Increase in Safety Work at Quick-Service Stores

An increase in “safety” work may not come as a surprise, but the 280 percent increase is meaningful because it highlights the level of action that these organizations are taking, and the importance of enforcing their new safety procedures operation-wide. The nearly 4x increase underscores the extent to which multi-unit operators have responded and taken responsibility for customer and employee safety. Previously, “safety” typically focused on food safety and customer experience—a food safety audit checklist or makeline temperature check are common examples. However, the increase in safety work is also due to the broadened scope of the effort now being taken on at the store level, including more sanitization procedures, maintaining social distancing protocols, and completing health checks or screenings to check employee’s temperature before a shift and ask questions about recent interactions. The increase in safety work also signals that multi-unit operators are more actively assigning and enforcing the completion of this work as opposed to just assuming that it will get done. While washing hands or cleaning counters may have been a normal part of the day to day, VPs of operations and other leaders are increasingly assigning “safety” and other types of tasks to help store staff know what to do, how, and when, and to give leaders better visibility into whether or not it was done.

37 Percent Increase in All Store-Level Work Pre-COVID

In Zenput, store managers and staff complete checklists and answer questions such as “Were the front door handles sanitized?” at certain times of the day. In March and April, such activity in stores that remained open dropped 19 percent as the first wave of closures hit the industry. However, that activity rebounded 69 percent from the lows of March and April—an increase of 37 percent from the highs before the coronavirus outbreak. The increase in total work being completed and tracked in stores is a combination of employees being asked to do more work more regularly, as well as operators’ desire to oversee it more effectively, particularly by larger organizations with more locations.

Larger Chains More Reliant on Technology to Quickly Coordinate COVID-19 Response

The more locations run by one operation, the more difficult it is to change course or roll out new procedures as a single unit and ensure compliance against them. Zenput’s platform data shows that users from larger organizations (70-plus locations) use the platform twice as often as smaller firms and that their usage doubled with the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic while smaller teams increased their usage too but at a lesser rate. Particularly at a time when field management teams have been grounded—no longer visiting their stores in person or limiting their visits—enforcing compliance against new sanitization procedures or other protocols becomes harder. And, the risk of litigation or damage to the brand increases if a store fails to comply with them. It has been inspiring to see our customers leverage Zenput in such meaningful ways during this pandemic, rolling out new procedures more quickly and improving confidence that customers and employees are being kept safe. We’ll continue to release new product functionality to elevate teams’ ability to execute every day and make our teams available to help them succeed. Source: QSR.

Team hailing from Rudy’s Bar-B-Q and Mighty Fine Burgers of K&N Management join to bring fresher barbecue experience to Smokey Mo’s fans alongside rebrand . . . .

Smokey Mo’s TX BBQ Hires Restaurant Industry Veterans, Plans Texas Expansion of Multi-Unit Barbecue Concept

Team hailing from Rudy’s Bar-B-Q and Mighty Fine Burgers of K&N Management join to bring a fresher barbecue experience to Smokey Mo’s fans alongside rebrand. Smokey Mo’s TX BBQ, an authentic Texas barbeque chain with 16 locations throughout Central Texas and 21 years of successful corporate operations, announced new members of its leadership team. They will be spearheading a company rebrand, franchise development and expansion, menu refinement, and the enhancement of guest experiences. The new team members have deep roots in growing Texas restaurants, including Rudy’s Country Store & Bar-B-Q and Mighty Fine Burgers Fries & Shakes. Craig Haley, president, and Gini Quiroz, vice president of human resources, join the Smokey Mo’s team after many years of working together at K&N Management, one of the only two restaurant groups to win the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. “As we enter this highly anticipated phase of Smokey Mo’s, we want to move quickly, but at the speed of ‘right,’ to maintain our guest experience and make it the absolute best it can be,” said Haley. “Our guests love Smokey Mo’s because of its quality ingredients, affordable pricing, and the fact our meat is freshly smoked each day, and our vision is to take this quality to the next level to become the best neighborhood barbeque in Texas.” Haley has especially focused on updating the Smokey Mo’s menu with fresh ingredients and upgrades to fan favorites. In addition to the rebrand, Smokey Mo’s BBQ will tap local partnerships for various facets of the business, including the addition of new desserts in partnership with Central Texas-based bakeries. Smokey Mo’s will also be expanding its catering and group pack offerings, bringing in its first-ever catering director to streamline the at-home barbecue catering experience. – Source: NRN.

Xperience Restaurant Group hits accelerator on growth . . . .

Five New Restaurants are Coming for Sol Mexican Cocina, Solita Tacos & Margaritas, and Chevys Fresh Mex Brands

Looking past the pandemic bump in the road, Xperience Restaurant Group is pushing forward with growth for its Sol Mexican Cocina and sister Solita Tacos & Margaritas brands, as well as the legacy Chevys Fresh Mex. The Cypress, Calif.-based multi-concept group’s parent Z Capital Partners LLC acquired the four Sol and two Loita restaurants in late 2019. Sol is a fine-dining concept with a Baja-inspired menu that brings a more polished Mexican concept into the Xperience family. Little sister brand Solita is a more accessible version with a lively bar scene that could work on “just about any street corner,” said Randy Sharpe, Xperience CEO. A new Sol is scheduled to open in Irvine, Calif. in early December, converting a former El Torito Grill location. Sharpe said the company is also negotiating new Sol locations in Las Vegas, Boston, and New York City to open over the next two years. Solita has even more room for growth, said Sharpe. A Solita is scheduled to open in Anaheim, Calif., next to Angel Stadium before the end of the year, in a former Hooters location. And second new Solita is scheduled to replace a Rock Bottom Brewery unit in Long Beach, Calif., in the spring of 2022. Xperience is also developing a new concept that will be an extension of the El Torito brand, though he was not ready to share details. Xperience operates 32 El Torito locations and one El Torito Grill. The new concept will go in next to an El Torito on the Redondo Beach pier in California and will share a patio. Sharpe said it be more bar-centric and will be designed for growth, with live entertainment and late-night opportunities. “It will have a different vibe [than El Torito],” Sharpe said. “And there will be an opportunity to grow it as an extension.” Meanwhile, the company is scheduled to open a new Chevys Fresh Mex, the group’s legacy Tex-Mex concept, in Orlando, Fla., next week. The new Orlando location will be company-owned. Over the past year, Xperience has acquired three Chevys franchise groups, and, though a handful of franchise operators remain in the system, Sharpe said growth for Chevys going forward will likely be company-operated units. “We’re very bullish on Chevys’ growth,“ he said. The new unit in Orlando, which will be Chevys’ 24th location, reflects the ongoing brand refresh, with most locations remodeled. “It’s a beautiful new look and color scheme,” said Sharpe. “It reminds me more of what Chevys was in the beginning. The colors are brighter. Chevys really prided itself on a rustic look, combined with contemporary.” The group also operates four locations of the Acapulco brand — which are not slated for growth — as well as several one-offs, including Las Brisas, which has a landmark location overlooking the ocean in Laguna Beach, Calif., as well as Who Song & Larry in Vancouver, Wash., and Sinigual in New York City. Xperience is the former Real Mex Restaurants, which was acquired by Z Capital out of bankruptcy in 2018, then with 52 restaurants in the portfolio. Now, with the acquisitions over the past two years, Xperience operates 72 restaurants across its brands and Sharpe said the group is ready to expand to reach its 15% growth target by the end of 2022. “2019 was an excellent year for the group. 2020 was a down year and it was a tough year. But 2021 is far exceeding 2019 results,” he said. “It has put us in a position to bring our restaurants to different communities and we’re very grateful for it.” – Source: NRN.

Every brand in the pizza space is wrestling with a wide range of challenges . . . .

Blaze Pizza CEO: We’re Facing Industry Challenges Head-on

There are more than a few big challenges facing pizza brands, but Blaze Pizza, given its strength and willingness to succeed, is facing the hurdles head-on. Blaze Pizza President and CEO Mandy Shaw shares how her company is getting creative on finding interim solutions and meeting consumers’ demand for convenience and comfort food. Every brand in the pizza space is wrestling with a wide range of challenges, from the ongoing coronavirus Delta variant and the labor shortage to supply-chain obstacles and consumers’ changing expectations. And the industry scenario is no different at Blaze Pizza which was founded in 2011 by Elise and Rick Wetzel. The brand has more than 340 restaurants across 41 states and six countries. So far this year Blaze has signed six multi-unit franchise agreements, totaling 22 individual unit commitments, and opened nine locations across key markets like Texas and Florida. The brand is dealing with the same volatile road to recovery following the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic year and has been fast to pivot in adopting new protocols and responding to changing customer wants, needs and expectations. The recovery charge is being led by Mandy Shaw, who joined Blaze Pizza as CFO in January 2018 and was named president and CEO in November 2019 — a few short months prior to the pandemic hitting the U.S. in March 2020. Shaw is no stranger to running a big brand has served as chief accounting officer, CIO, and CFO in the international division of Bloomin’ Brands, one of the world’s largest casual dining companies with approximately 77,000 team members and more than 1,450 restaurants throughout 47 states and 20 countries, according to the company’s website. In an in-depth email interview, Shaw shared how Blaze Pizza is navigating the challenges as well as what she attributes to the brand’s success. Q. As the restaurant industry, as a whole, emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic what are the top challenges those in the pizza marketplace are facing? Is it keeping the digital pace strong or now grappling with the second wave thanks to the Delta variant? Or both? A. As we continue to navigate the ups and downs of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the road to recovery has a lot of volatility today at the individual location and regional levels. The restaurant industry has faced a handful of challenges, and to survive in this fast-paced environment, brands have had to pivot restaurant operations and adopt new protocols to ensure they’re meeting their customer’s wants and needs and responding to changing local protocols. The real top challenge affecting the restaurant industry and many others is the labor shortage, as business owners experience new pressures on recruiting as well as hiring and retaining staff. These challenges have not only pushed hours of operations but also led to development delays and supply distribution issues. Who hasn’t been in a business in the last month and seen a sign asking for patience because key ingredients are unavailable? Manufacturers of both food and non-food equipment and supplies have felt this ripple effect in their production and fulfillment capabilities. Those product and food shortages have affected restaurants and pizza concepts collectively, coupled with skyrocketing prices of supplies in general. At Blaze, we are committed to keeping supply costs low for our franchise owners and doing everything we can to support our restaurant operators. We’ve gotten really creative on finding interim solutions or ways to get products into our locations while avoiding the drastic increases in cost. The delta variant is certainly hindering the restaurant industry’s recovery, but it’s yet to create issues in the way COVID-19 did last year. It’s safe to say that 2020’s unprecedented challenges have allowed us to better prepare for what may come of the delta variant, and by tapping into our strength and willingness to succeed, we will be able to face these hurdles head-on. Q. Pizza, along with other quick food options, spiked big in the past year with consumer shutdowns and COVID stress. What are today’s pizza consumers looking for (innovative menu items or faster delivery) from a pizza brand and how is Blaze responding to the consumer demands and expectations? A. The pandemic sparked new consumer behaviors and demands, but it really leaned in on the necessity of convenience. With dining room closures across the nation, customers became accustomed to having a handful of reliable dining options, including takeout, third-party delivery, and curbside pickup. This demand for accessibility is not going away and a survey conducted by VIPinsiders says that more than 50% of consumers will still use a curbside pickup, as opposed to dine-in post-pandemic. We have long held the mantra of 360-degree availability so that our guests can get Blaze the way they choose, whether that’s in a restaurant or off-premise. The more channels you have, the higher your sales volumes because you can’t force them to only use one avenue of getting your product. Speed of delivery will of course always be something that appeals to the consumer, but the ultimate reality is that for great food, they want reliability. Does their food arrive at the committed time? Then, as the service provider, you win. In addition to convenience and reliability, today’s pizza consumers are looking for both classic craveable items, like our Cheesy Bread, and innovation, like our newly launched Pesto Garlic Cheesy Bread. Blaze has always been recognized for its fun, surprising menu items, which we recently took to the next level by launching a Blazin’ Hot Chicken Pizza and a Chipotle Ranch Chicken Pizza. At Blaze, we have more permissibility than other pizza brands to play with ingredients and toppings because of the quality of our product and ingredients. With our Chief Culinary Officer and co-founder Brad Kent spearheading Blaze’s menu, we’re constantly staying ahead of the latest food trends and adding new pizza toppings to meet our customer’s cravings and dietary restrictions — all while staying true to who we are and what we do best… great pizza, fast.

Q. One of the toughest challenges for any business, but especially those in the foodservice world, is keeping the supply chain healthy and wrestling with product and ingredient access. Can you talk a bit about if Blaze faced or is facing supply chain challenges and how you’re dealing with them?

1. The supply chain is among the many challenges restaurants have faced during their COVID-19 recovery. Although businesses were able to snap back somewhat quickly after dining restrictions were lifted, the supply chain wasn’t as lucky. The demand for supplies, food and other products significantly outnumbered manufacturers’ and distributors’ capabilities. Even businesses outside of the restaurant industry reported shortages in items, and as the demand continued to increase, so did the prices. Re-establishing the full chain will still take some time, even though the first half of next year for all the sources to catch up and get back to normal staffing and reliable production and distribution. At Blaze, we managed to successfully dodge many issues facing the competitive set by getting creative about how to fulfill our restaurants and franchise owners’ needs. Having our core staple products on demand and a dedicated team of creative people that have remained on top of the supply chain disruptions has kept our outages limited and our shelves stocked.
2. From your perspective what has been the biggest change or trend in the past year in the pizza world and what drove it and what do you see that being in the next year?
3. The biggest trend that intensified over the past year was consumers’ demand for convenience and comfort food.

As consumers became accustomed to effortless, off-premise dining during the pandemic, their preference also shifted towards craving more comfort foods. Pizza has always been credited as one of the most beloved foods no matter the demographic. Recently, legacy pizza brands have begun to dabble in the nostalgic sale of some of their older products. Popular cheeseburger and taco flavors have been making waves, along with other iconic styles like Detroit-style pizza resurfacing in headlines. While bringing back fan-favorites can generate buzz among consumers, Blaze Pizza has remained true to its mission of sticking to what we do best — our version of great pizza, made fast. Our brand has gone to great lengths to reimagine and upgrade America’s favorite food. Using only natural and fresh ingredients by utilizing smart food sourcing with an eye toward sustainability, we’ve been able to establish new ingredient standards across our segment. We’ve hand-picked preservative-free ingredients that have elevated our topping options and increased our menu variety, putting us ahead of what I suspect to be next year’s trend. The deepening of the consumer desire for customization. Guests are looking for options that cater to all of their needs. Our natural ingredients check one of their boxes, while our diversified menu checks another. Options like our Keto, cauliflower and amazing house-made gluten-free crusts have opened the door for new and existing pizza lovers to enjoy their favorite Blaze creations.

1. What do you attribute to Blaze Pizza’s success at this point and what will be ‘behind’ its success in the next few years?
2. Our company’s success stems from Blaze’s unwavering authenticity. We provide consumers with a well-crafted product backed by culinary design, clean ingredients, and great guest service. Our relationship with our franchise owners is also at the core of what we do and how we do it, as we pride ourselves on maintaining clear communication with our restaurant operators and providing best-in-class support. It’s the franchisee’s passion for our brand and business model that spearheads Blaze’s success both internationally and in local markets. These outstanding qualities, along with our executive team’s focus on maintaining profitability, have enabled Blaze to grow rapidly and expand our footprint across 38 states and six countries. In 2021, Blaze has signed six multi-unit franchise agreements totaling 22 individual unit commitments and opened nine new locations so far this year across key markets like Texas and Florida. Of these developments, the four restaurants that opened this summer in the greater Dallas market have experienced strong opening sales and remain a favorite in their communities. It’s testimonies like this that give us confidence for Blaze’s future success, especially as we expand in new states, such as Alaska, and open 10 more locations this year. The last key component to our future will be a focus on technology. We’re excited to launch a new mobile app this month, which has been redesigned to enhance our customer’s ordering experience. Consumers will get a faster and more intuitive way to re-order their Blaze favorites or create their own great-tasting pizza made exactly how they want. We are also working on a variety of internal technology developments intended to simplify the operating experience for our franchisees. That partnership is key to delivering on an elevated guest experience alongside our dedication to quality product and hospitality. – Source: Fast Casual.

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