Despite increasing overhead and declines in consumer dining, the fast casual category of restaurants continues to grow, even as other parts of the restaurant industry struggle. Technomic’s new report on fast casual chains in America shows that Mexican restaurants have become the most wide spread, while bakery cafes are second. Fast casual chains grew an average of 6 percent in 2010.
Consumers are using their Twitter accounts to rave about favorite foods or discuss a bad experience, so many fast food giants are getting in the game of responding to these tweets. Yum! Brands, the parent company of national restaurant chains like Papa John’s and Taco Bell, has hired a team of social media managers to handle Twitter. These social media experts also work to spread word of mouth promotions on Facebook and keep track of consumer opinions through social media.
McDonald’s is pushing ahead with their plans to become the world’s most technologically advanced fast food chain in the world. European locations will begin testing a completely computerized ordering system. Customers will place orders through easy to use touchscreen computers instead of speaking with an employee at a cash register. This will save the restaurants money and employee time, and will make orders more accurate for customers.
Darden Restaurants, parent company that owns and operates chains like Olive Garden and Red Lobster, is shuffling some of their top executives to re-engineer their leadership structure. Olive Garden’s President, Dave Pickens, will become the President of Red Lobster. Red Lobster’s current President, Kim Lopdrup, is moving to the SVP of Business Development position for the entire Darden company.
Zagat’s editorial team has compiled a new list for New York showcasing some of the top new talent in the restaurant industry. The list is known as the New York “30 Under 30” and contains the top 30 restaurantuers and chefs under the age of 30. Honorees include Cedric Vongerichten, the executive chef at Perry St., the butcher and co-owner of The Meat Hook and chef-owner of Eddie Huang at BaosHaus.
Atlanta Bread is intregrating Italy’s best selling coffee brand, Lavazza, in all of their national stores. To celebrate the chain will be giving away free coffee all day on May 23rd. Anyone who is a fan of the store on Facebook can pick up their free cup of coffee. The chain chose Lavazza coffee due to their social responsibility and top quality roasted blends.
Dickey’s Barbecue Pit continues their fast paced 2011 expansion campaign with their first location opening in New Jersey. The new location, which is still in the planning stages, will be opened in Hoboken by Alan Cohen. Franchisee Cohen grew up in Texas, the home of the Dickey’s chain, so he knows barbecue. The chain is currently operating in 33 states, but by the time their expansion push is over, this number will be in the mid-40s.
Buffalo Wild Wings has opened their first international location with a new restaurant in Canada. Located in Oshawa, Ontario, this Buffalo Wild Wings will serve the same Tex Mex and hot wing focused menu as others but will also offer a unique Honey Garlic wing sauce that American restaurants don’t serve. The new restaurant brought over 100 jobs to the Oshawa community and plans to support local sports teams and other groups.
A new Red Robin Gourmet Burgers is coming to Maryland in the next few weeks. The Frederick, Maryland Red Robin will hold their grand opening on May 30th. The restaurant will give away free child ID kits from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to celebrate. Red Robin’s menu focuses on premium, gourmet burgers as well as a variety of salads, wraps and sandwiches to pair with fries and other popular side items.
Healthy Fast Food, a company specializing in chains that offer consumers healthier snack and meal choices while on the go, has changed its name to U-Swirl. The name change reflects their business focus on cafe style frozen dessert restaurants. The company hopes that the new name will help consumers and investors alike quickly understand the self-serve frozen yogurt focus of their efforts.