The Michelin Guide San Francisco, Bay Area & Wine Country 2011 was released this week, marking the fifth edition for the area. This year’s guide features 519 restaurants, 74 of those are in the Bib Gourmand category. The San Francisco area also boasts two of only 91 restaurants in the world receiving three or more stars from the group.
As of September 15, 2010 T.G.I. Friday’s has been offering guests a new allergen supplement menu. The new menu makes it easier for guests with food allergies to make informed food choices. The new menu features icons detailing the food groups present in each dish.
T.G.I. Friday’s has also announced an updated restaurant and bar menu in the Denver area. The new menu features 20 new dishes and drinks for guests with a heavy focus on meal customization options. The new menu is currently only available in participating Denver locations, and may expand to a national menu in the future.
Wall Street is optimistic on the restaurant front. Over the past year shares of Chipotle, DineEquity, and BJ’s Restaurants increased by 141%, 89%, and 87% respectively. The optimism and growth has been driven by three months of positive signs coming from increased traffic in the restaurant industry.
Red Robin Gourmet Burgers has announced it will open a new location in Brookfield on Monday, November 8 at 11 a.m. The company will celebrate the grand opening of the restaurant with a weeklong fundraiser in conjunction with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. During the week, 50 cents from each gourmet burger sale will be donated to the NCMEC to support child safety programs.
For the fourth consecutive year, McDonald’s is teaming with the Hispanic Scholarship Fund to present the McDonald’s Steps for Success College Workshop. The event will be held in Los Angeles on November 13 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The bi-lingual workshop is free and offered to students and their parents. The application process, financial aid, and the McDonald’s scholarship program will be prominent features of the event.
Buffalo Wild Wings has announced the results of their third quarter ending September 26. The company announced that overall revenue increased by 14% compared to the same quarter last year. Company-owned restaurants also saw an uptick in sales to the tune of 13.9%, while system-wide same store sales increased by 2.6%. The strong quarter left the company with an increase in net earnings of 23.7%.
Kona Grill released the results from the company’s third quarter ending September 30. Overall, sales at the restaurant grew by 7.1% over the previous year. However, same store sales showed no change, while comparable non-same store sales increased by 12.8%, resulting in an operating profit margin of 12.8%. Even with the positive signs, the company reported a net loss of $0.05 per share, which was down from a $0.11 loss per share last year.
Bravo Brio Restaurant Group has announced the completion of their initial public offering of 11.5 million shares of BBRG common stock. The shares were listed at $14.00 each. BBRG began trading on the Nasdaq Global Market on October 21. The total proceeds of the offering after deductions and underwriting expenses was nearly $62.4 million. BBRG will use the net proceeds to repay debt and other corporate expenses.
NTN Buzztime, Inc. has announced a new restaurant and bar trivia game for Canadian players. The new game will feature trivia questions in history, politics, sports, entertainment, and geography specific to Canada. The one-hour game debuted on October 26 and will air each Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday at participating locations.