Fiesta Restaurant Group Inc. is closing 19 Taco Cabana restaurants immediately, the company said. Dallas-based Fiesta, which also owns the fast-casual Pollo Tropical brand, said all the closures were of stores that had posted significant losses. As of Sept. 29, Fiesta had 173 Taco Cabana units, with 165 company-owned and eight franchised. The closures represent more… read more

The presence of co-branded food product offerings exploded in 2019 across a wide variety of categories. These items from legacy food brands allow companies to enter new food and beverage categories without the need to establish an entirely new brand or product. The 2019 National Association of Convenience Stores Show previewed upcoming consumer packaged goods releases,… read more

“For us, this year, we’re finishing up a pilot of tests that are showing very encouraging results to relaunch the T.G.I. Fridays bar,” CEO Ray Blanchette said at the ICR Conference in Orlando, Florida. About 30% of Fridays’ $2.1 billion in systemwide sales come from its bar. But like many in the casual dining industry,… read more

Smoothie King doesn’t need a big menu to keep growing. This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast “A Deeper Dive” features Wan Kim, the 1,000-unit smoothie chain’s CEO. Kim discusses the chain’s strong growth—it has more than doubled in size since he took over in 2012—as well as its responses to technology and innovation. Kim… read more

Customers will be able to order the chain’s first fully vegan meal by pairing Veggie Dippers with vegan accredited french fries and any soft drink or sauce. The Veggie Dippers also will be available as a fully vegan Happy Meal. “In the last 12 months we’ve seen an 80% uplift in customers ordering vegetarian options… read more

The facility will produce fresh pizza dough for more than 300 Domino’s stores located throughout the region. It will feature automated technology, including ingredient batching, mixing and portioning, weight adjustment, tray stacking and spiral coolers, which will produce 20,000 trays of dough balls per day. Set to open in late 2020, the facility will create… read more

The temporary castle in San Antonio will serve the Midwestern chain’s famous sliders along with sides and dessert. White Castle, a popular Midwestern burger chain, is coming to San Antonio with a Valentine’s Day-themed pop-up restaurant. The temporary castle in San Antonio will serve the Columbus, Ohio, chain’s famous sliders along with sides and dessert… read more

What’s “too fast” when it Comes to Opening More Restaurants? The restaurant industry is full of cautionary tales of buzzy new brands exploding on the scene only to become unwieldy as they grow too quickly. Opening too few new stores is no better. What’s the key to a healthy store-opening rate? In its Fast Casual insider podcast… read more

A new Las Vegas-based organization plans to bring together female restaurant industry mentors with newcomers to help them navigate the hospitality world. Elizabeth Blau of Blau + Associates and restaurants such as Honey Salt and Buddy V’s Ristorante and Mary Choi Kelly of MCK Leadership Talent Group co-founded the Women’s Hospitality Initiative that kicks off its… read more

Wanted: Restaurant manager. Competitive salary: $100,000. The six-figure sum is not being offered at a haute cuisine location with culinary accolades, but rather at fast-food chain Taco Bell. In the increasingly tight U.S. labor market, the company is betting a higher salary will help it attract workers and keep them on the team. The Yum… read more