Taco Bell Sales Help Fast-Food Giant Yum Brands Top Expectations Yum Brands on Wednesday reported quarterly earnings and revenue that topped analysts’ expectations, fueled by strong same-store sales growth at Taco Bell. Overall, the restaurant giant saw solid U.S. demand as high-income consumers traded down to fast food and low-income diners bought its chains’ value… read more

Hiring enough workers and finding a steady supply of ingredients proved difficult for Chipotle Mexican Grill in the fiscal year ended Dec. 31, 2022, but both issues eased late in the year. “I’m also happy to see an improvement in turnover with December being one of our best months in the past two years for… read more

Little optimism was voiced at World Economic Forum Heads of state, business leaders and public policy experts met in Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in mid-January to discuss the state of the global economy. While some presenters appeared hopeful about the near-term and long-term outlook, the group did not identify… read more

A strong first quarter has given Starbucks’ management team confidence the company is capable of not only weathering a global economic slowdown but continuing to grow. Brady Brewer, chief marketing officer, said during a Feb. 2 conference call to discuss first-quarter results, that relevance and resilience will be keys to growth no matter the economic… read more

Debbie Stroud, who also spent 27 years with McDonald’s, will take over operations at the 900-unit Whataburger . . . . Whataburger on Friday named former Starbucks and McDonald’s executive Debbie Stroud to be its new chief operating officer. Stroud spent five years at Starbucks, where she was senior vice president of U.S. retail operations,… read more

The Owner of Taco Bell, KFC, Pizza Hut, and Habit has opened a new restaurant every hour over the past two years, despite challenges in its two biggest markets . . . . The chain’s owner, the Louisville, Ky.-based Yum Brands has been on something of a crusade of late to prove that it can… read more

Chick-fil-A will test its first plant-based entree: a cauliflower sandwich. KEY POINTS Chick-fil-A will test a cauliflower sandwich in three markets, starting Monday. The new sandwich closely resembles its famous chicken sandwich but uses breaded and pressure-cooked cauliflower in place of meat. The fast-food chain said it’s been working on a plant-based sandwich for nearly… read more