Darden CEO: Olive Garden is Doing Just Fine Darden CEO Rick Cardenas could sense a common theme as analysts peppered him and CFO Raj Vennam with inquiries during the company’s recent Q1 earnings call. “We’re getting a lot of questions on traffic at Olive Garden,” the chief executive pointed out. There’s a reason why. Olive… read more

Ali Group Updates the Welbilt Leadership Team Multiline foodservice equipment manufacturer Welbilt made a series of changes to its leadership team both at the corporate level and across several of its lines. At the corporate level, company veteran Jim Courtright will now serve as vice president of sales, Americas for Welbilt. He will be responsible… read more

Earlier this year, Bowery Farming — the largest indoor farming company in the US — opened a vertical farm in Bethlehem, Pa., that is fully powered by renewable energy, includes an ultramodern water recapture and filtration system, and uses proprietary data, artificial intelligence, and robotics that allow the company to grow more food, smarter. Using… read more

MOD Pizza Hopes to Capture Busy Parents During Back-to-School Season with its Latest Offer or most families, back-to-school means pizza Really, all seasons mean pizza for families with young children, but the fast-casual MOD Pizza is positioning to win busy parents who need help getting dinner on the table this time of year. Seattle-based MOD… read more

The new restaurants were established through a franchising agreement with Mohamed Makawi, president of Eagles Landing Restaurants LLC. Mr. Makawi also launched IHOP’s first location in the United Arab Emirates. “This partnership follows the tremendous success of our IHOP opening in Cairo, one of 10 new international IHOP locations opened this year, and our recently… read more

As a premium dish, the plant-based version costs $1.25 more than real chicken. / Photograph courtesy of Panda Express. Panda Express has taken the plant-based version of its famed Orange Chicken national this week, at least for a limited time. Beyond The Original Orange Chicken has rolled out to the chain’s 2,300 units across the… read more

The Phoenix-based chain announced a more than $100 million investment round on Thursday, capital that will enable the healthful brand to grow both the primary full-service concept and the smaller-format brand, which will have a different menu but the same focus on health and wellness. It’s something True Food guests were asking for, said CEO… read more

True Food Kitchen has three key objectives in the coming years, according to CEO Christine Barone—expand the footprint, launch smaller formats, and spread its better-for-you offerings to a greater customer base. All of those goals, and more, are expected to come true thanks to a recent $100 million-plus funding round, the largest investment in the… read more

St. Louis-based Marcone, a distributor of home appliance, HVAC and plumbing repair parts, announced it’s expanding into commercial kitchen repair component distribution. To lead the newly created Marcone Commercial Kitchen Group, the company tapped former Welbilt executive Keri Llewellyn as president and industry veteran EJ Morrow as chief commercial officer. Llewellyn most recently served as… read more

When it comes to fast food, McDonald’s remains the king. There are a number of fast-food chains that have tried, but none have been able to completely knock McDonald’s from its lofty perch. To keep its hold on number one, McDonald’s has had to continue to be inventive while also continuing to give customers what… read more