Restaurant News Bites: Noma, Red Robin, Starbucks

Restaurant News Bites: Noma, Red Robin, StarbucksThe Danish restaurant Noma was recently named as the best restaurant in the world by the San Pellegrino’s World’s 50 Best Restaurants List. Over 800 food industry experts voted for their favorites, and Noma gathered the most votes. The chef and team at the restaurant are excited but not surprised because Noma first made it to number one on last year’s list.

Red Robin restaurants will soon feature a new menu in all company owned restaurants, according to Red Robin Gourmet Burgers. More than a dozen new items will be added to the menu of gourmet burgers, chicken sandwiches and other healthy options. New appetizers, including fried mushrooms and clam strips, and new side items for combo meals.

Wingstop is already the maker of fine hot wings, but they’ve expanded their chicken offerings by adding a new sandwich. The Glider Chicken sandwich features a whole boneless chicken breast breaded and tossed in the guest’s choice of Wingstop’s famous sauces. The new Gliders are topped with pickles and served on fresh yeast rolls.

High sodium intake can lead to kidney problems, high blood pressure and heart attack, so Subway restaurants have started reducing the sodium in all of their sandwich menu items. All of the items on the Fresh Fit menu have 28% less sodium now, and the rest of the sandwiches had a reduction of 15%. Subway is now the largest restaurant chain in the world, and they want to help their customers make healthy choices.

Starbucks has released its 2010 Global Responsibility Report which outlines the amount that the company spent on environmentally friendly and consumer conscious choices. Over half of the power used by Starbucks restaurants in America came from a sustainable source, and the company engaged over 50,000 young people in community activity. Fair trade coffee purchases were also up.

Jamba Juice is working on an active refranchising campaign to update and refresh older stores. The company sold 41 stores in the Midwest recently, bringing the total of refranchising stores to 173. This frees up resources for the company to focus on their company owned locations in California and other states. Of the over 700 total locations, only 308 are now operated by the company itself.

Yum! Brands, the company that operates popular franchises like Taco Bell, KFC and Pizza Hut, has opened its 400th  KFC location in Indonesia.  The company looks to over 1,000 locations in Indonesia by 2015.

Parents and kids can print out Easter Egg Holders from the Chuck E. Cheese’s website because the company wants families to get excited about the holiday. The Egg Holder creates a beautiful centerpiece once the child has colored and decorated it and filled it with dyed eggs. Kids can also find printable decorations for making their own Chuck E. Cheese’s egg.

Portland City Grill is bringing a new option for private dining in Portland by unveiling their new private Chef’s Table. The Chef’s Table seats 14 and guests will eat in total privacy 30 floors about the city. The restaurant presents a stunning view of the Portland skyline, and the 30th floor location is the perfect location to view it from.

The Daily Grill is holding a new contest that involves making a 30 to 45 second commercial for the restaurant. The “If I Make a Commercial for Daily Grill” competition starts on May 1st. The grand prize includes $4,000 cash and $1,000 worth of gift cards to the Daily Grill. Winners will be chosen based on creativity and quality, and how much the commercial motivates people to visit the grill.