Buddy’s Pizza lays claim to creating Detroit-style pizza in 1946. Now, the brand is looking to take its signature pies beyond its 16 units—all of which are in Michigan—and recently named Nando’s veteran Burton Heiss chief executive officer. Heiss is expected to oversee the goal of transforming Buddy’s into a 50-plus unit brand within the… read more

Restaurant gift cards appeal to 72% of people, according to a new survey from the National Restaurant Association. About 47% of U.S. adults say they plan to give a restaurant gift card this season, according to Hudson Riehle, the Washington, D.C.-based trade association’s senior vice president of research and knowledge. That number rises to 60%… read more

Fazoli’s has joined forces with Impossible Foods, Inc. to offer spaghetti dishes featuring plant-based meat sauce. The Italian fast-casual chain is debuting Impossible meat sauce, made with ground Impossible Burger, and testing it at five locations near its headquarters in Lexington. Fazoli’s will incorporate the meat alternative, made with soy protein, into two Italian menu… read more

The Mexican fast-food chain Tuesday said it will expand its dollar menu with the return of one of its most successful $1 offerings, Double Stacked Tacos. The company will offer three flavors of the taco: Nacho Crunch, Chipotle Cheddar and Reaper Ranch. The item features both a hard shell and a soft tortilla. The tacos bring to 21 the number of… read more

Jack in the Box has sold its San Diego headquarters to the city’s local school district for $21.5 million.San Diego Unified School District approved the purchase of the property last week after initially making an offer to the quick-service chain on March 12. The property, at 9330 Balboa Avenue, includes a 15,000-square foot building on… read more

JAB Holding Company is combining two of its coffee brands — Dutch beverage group Jacobs Douwe Egberts and Berkeley, Calif.-based Peet’s Coffee & Tea — and exploring an initial public offering outside of the United States with the merged company, JDE Peet’s. Jacobs Douwe Egberts announced the merger Dec. 17, adding Berkeley, Calif.-based Peet’s Coffee… read more

When it opened last year, the Lynchburg, Virginia, location of East Coast Wings + Grill launched with a charity day instead of a grand opening. Franchisees Mike and Leah Morrell donated 10 percent of their sales from the day, and the corporate office in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, matched their gift. The result? A $2,000 donation… read more

The Dinex Group Tuesday announced the appointment of Sebastien Silvestri as its first Chief Executive Officer. A respected authority in the hospitality industry, Silvestri comes to Chef Daniel Boulud’s award-winning restaurant group with more than 25 years of proven experience focused on development of bold marketing strategies, effective partnerships and branding tactics.  In this newly… read more

It’s official: January is indeed the worst month of the year for restaurants. Between 2013 and 2019, traffic during the month of January was 6% lower than the average month and 11% lower than the peak month of June, according to The NPD Group’s latest Seasonality Index for Total Restaurant Traffic. To overcome the slump,… read more

Meeting the requirements of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) and ensuring the safety of baked and snack food products in today’s market is paramount, and selecting the right technology for the job can be critical. Since product characteristics differ from pies to cakes to salty snack foods, sourcing the right inspection and detection technology… read more