Dutch Bros Coffee — which went public for the first time last fall — is optimistic about its development pipeline, despite external inflationary pressures that are affecting the entire restaurant industry. The Oregon-based coffee chain’s same-store sales declined 3.3% for the second quarter ended June 30, 2022, but on the flip side of that, the… read more

Pizza Hut and its parent company Yum Brands are partnering with Dairy Farmers of America (DFA) to launch a sustainability initiative aimed to help participating farmers reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. The initiative will allow the DFA and dairy suppliers to engage in annual farm-level greenhouse gas and energy footprinting. The project will use the Farmers… read more

Although the menus at Atomic Wings, Famous Toastery, and Beef O’Bradys have little in common, their leaders are facing the same conundrum: How to raise prices to offset rising food costs without losing customers. Food-away-from-home prices, for example, were up about 7% over 2021 and will climb another 3 to 4% in 2023, according to… read more

In this photo illustration, a McDonald’s McPlant Beyond Meat burger is displayed with french fries at a McDonald’s restaurant on Feb. 14, 2022, in San Rafael, Calif. Last week, McDonald’s confirmed to CNBC that its U.S. test of the McPlant burger has ended. Yes, that means the fast food corporation’s first ever meatless burger is no more,… read more

Starbucks’ Interim CEO Howard Schultz on Monday hinted at potentially significant changes as part of a strategy to “reinvent” the coffee giant, declaring that “this is the next chapter of Starbucks” while listing several “bold ideas” that will guide the chain’s future going forward. But he was scant on the details, simply promising that they… read more

Over the past few months, COVID-19 has had a significant impact on how we think and behave when it comes to food and beverage (F&B). When lockdowns were implemented in countries around the world, non-essential retailers were closed, dining-in was prohibited, and supply chains were tested. As a result, buying behaviors and attitudes have changed… read more

As a continuation of The Hartman Group’s long-running syndicated research on the organic market stretching back over 25 years, our newest report, Organic 2022: Then, Now, Next, explores the transformation of organic from a niche category based in a social movement to a mainstream marker of quality across food and beverage categories. Organic 2022: Then, Now, Next finds… read more

U.K.-based Neat Food Co. has arrived in New York City to plot rapid growth across the U.S. If old-fashioned veggie burgers were the first generation of the plant-based movement, the arrival of the truly meat-like Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat was the 2.0 version. Now Neat Burger — as the restaurant concept is named —… read more