Individual concept restaurants may garner more attention and praise, but a restaurant franchise can bring in consistent profits. If you’re interesting in investing in the restaurant industry, opening a group of well-tested and proven franchise locations is a better idea that trying to develop your own award winning idea. It is also easier to raise capital for a tested brand than for an original idea.
Quiznos is adding a new Southern style sandwich to their menu to add a new twist on the fresh toasted sandwich line up. The Southern BBQ Pulled Pork features freshly cooked barbeque pork. Other new menu items include the Pork Cuban, the Farmers’ Market Salads line and Flatbread Wraps featuring whole grain breads.
Whataburger is adding two new menu items to celebrate summer, but they’ll only be available for a limited time. The Pineapple Pie and the Pineapple Shake were both added to the national menu on June 6th. Both new items bring the sunny tropical citrus taste of pineapple to Whataburger’s classic hand-spin milkshakes and freshly cooked personal pies.
If you plan to travel with a loved one or your entire family this summer, make sure to plan at least one trip while on the road to the classic Cracker Barrel Old Country Store. Cracker Barrel is the perfect choice for eating home style food while on a road trip. To celebrate, many locations have added new attractions to their stores that will run until August 10th.
Dickey’s Barbecue Pit is the latest chain to enforce a franchise wide price increase to all menu items. This increase was brought on by rising fuel costs and the increasing price of foods, especially pork and chicken. The chain doesn’t want to cut quality or service to save money, and they hope that customers will continue to choose their chain despite the 10% higher prices.
The Dickey’s Barbecue Pit chain is also expanding at a rapid pace with a new location in West Valley. This is the first location for the town, but it is the third Dickey’s for franchise owner John Thomson. This new restaurants contributes to the comfortable 35% growth rate the company has seen in the past two years.
California Pizza Kitchen has signed a new agreement that will allow the company to expand its international locations into Taiwan. The chain will work with the new partner Quanta Foods to build 6 restaurants over the five years in the Asian country. Over 30 locations are already in China, Guam and other countries, but the chain is always looking for new opportunities to grow.
Johnny Rockets is celebrating both the 25th anniversary of the All-American Burger chain and the opening of their new store. The new location was built at the South Street Seaport landmark in New York City. A ribbon cutting ceremony and grand opening was held on June 6th that included the introduction of a new milkshake flavor and alcoholic beverages.
Church’s Chicken has hired a new Global Chief Development Officer to help oversee the development of the brand. Pedro Voyer will be joining the company and will be responsible for both international and domestic marketing. Re-imaging and construction management are also part of his new duties. He left a position at Burger King to join Church’s.
Kona Grill recently appointed Micheal A. Nahkunst as the interim President and CEO. Marc A. Buehler, the former CEO and President, has left the company. The chain is currently searching for a new candidate to fill the position both internally and globally, but Nahkunst has the experience and skills needed to run the company until one is found.