Strain has 20 years of experience in retail development. He is a founding partner of RDE, LLC, a consulting firm providing store development advice to multi-unit restaurants around the country. He has also held real estate and store development positions with McDonald’s, Dunkin’ Brands, and Starbucks. “I am thrilled to join the Potbelly family and… read more

The National Restaurant Association and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants created a Restaurant Revitalization Fund Expense Tracker to help grantees more easily document their use of funds in specific categories. The budget tool is essential for restaurants, bars, breweries, caterers, distilleries, bakeries, food trucks and other entities who will need to closely track their RRF eligible… read more

Stories outlining business best practices from consumer packaged goods brands proved especially popular with SmartBrief’s food and beverage readers this week. A feature on Clorox’s hybrid work model topped the list. The company redesigned its California headquarters to better facilitate social distancing and updated employee roles that call for a mix of in-office and remote… read more

Chef Troy Guard enjoys the process of building new concepts from the ground up. What started with a single fine-dining restaurant, TAG, in Denver in 2009 has blossomed into an umbrella group of eight distinct concepts, ranging from fast-casual to high-end and everything in between. But for as much as Guard relishes starting from scratch,… read more

The first Buona Beef opened in Chicago 40 years ago, a 1,500-square-foot spot with 36 seats and no drive-thru that was secured when the owners took out a $ 10,000-second mortgage. It took 15 years, but the Italian beef concept opened its second location and then developed a plan to steadily add units. Today, Chicago-based… read more

Having been around for more than a century, Nathan’s Famous is no stranger to operating a legacy brand through the ebbs and flows of fast-food trends. Of late, this has materialized across 168 operating ghost kitchens—a number growing each week, SVP of restaurants James Walker says. It includes Nathan’s as a bolt-on opportunity for independents… read more