Catering news

• Bloomin’ Brands closes 43 restaurants

  17-02-2017 18:43 via nrn.com
  
  Bloomin’ Brands Inc. said on Friday morning that it has closed 43 underperforming restaurants amid persistently weak same-store sales at most of the company’s casual dining brands.
  Same-store sales at its flagship Outback Steakhouse chain fell 4.8 percent, and declined 2.3 percent at Carrabba’s Italian Grill in the quarter ended Dec. 25. Same-store sales fell 1.9 percent at Bonefish Grill, but increased slightly, 0.2 percent, at Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse. 
  Bloomin&
  
  Read more

• DineEquity CEO Julia Stewart resigns

  17-02-2017 15:21 via nrn.com
  
  Julia Stewart, one of the restaurant industry’s most high-profile CEOs who engineered the 2007 merger of IHOP and Applebee’s, resigned on Friday morning, DineEquity Inc said. 
  Stewart will be replaced on an interim basis by Richard Dahl, who is currently the lead director on the company’s board of directors. Stewart’s resignation is effective March 1. 
  “I am honored to have led this extraordinary global company through significant periods of growth and tr
  
  Read more

• Stephan Pyles named to MenuMasters Hall of Fame

  17-02-2017 04:30 via nrn.com
  
  Chefs Stephan Pyles and Stephanie Izard will be honored at this year’s Nation’s Restaurant News MenuMasters gala, sponsored by Ventura Foods. 
  Pyles will be inducted into the MenuMasters Hall of Fame and Izard has been named the 2017 Innovator of the Year. 
  Pyles has long been a fixture on the Dallas dining scene and pioneered the Southwestern Cuisine movement in the 1980s.
  A fifth-generation Texan, he has created 22 restaurants in five cities over the past 30 years, inclu
  
  Read more

• Alexander Acosta nominated as labor secretary

  17-02-2017 04:02 via nrn.com
  
  President Donald Trump on Thursday named law school dean Alexander Acosta as his second nominee for labor secretary, after the withdrawal of restaurant CEO Andy Puzder.
  Acosta, dean of the Florida International University law school in Miami, served on the National Labor Relations Board from December 2002 to August 2003, and as a federal prosecutor in Florida. He is the first Latino nominated to Trump’s cabinet.
  “I think he’s going to be a tremendous secretary of labor,”
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Denny’s new pancakes boost sales

  17-02-2017 03:31 via nrn.com
  
  Denny’s Corp. same-store sales increased 0.9 percent in 2016, including 0.5-percent growth in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 28, a result that easily outpaced other dine-in restaurants during a difficult year.
  For that, the operator can thank pancakes.
  In July, the Spartanburg, S.C.-based family-dining chain upgraded its pancake recipe with fresh buttermilk, real eggs and a hint of vanilla. The result: More than a third of customers now order pancakes. 
  “The customer response wa
  
  Read more

• Take NRN's 2017 Operator Survey

  17-02-2017 02:58 via nrn.com
  
  Take the Nation’s Restaurant News Restaurant Operator's Survey below to share current plans, challenges, and expectations for your business and the restaurant industry. In an upcoming special report, NRN will analyze top-line aggregate data and trends. All responses are anonymous. Content loading...Please enable javascript!
  
  Read more

• How restaurants should handle ‘A Day Without Immigrants’

  17-02-2017 01:17 via nrn.com
  
  Worker walkouts and protest are expected across the country Thursday and possibly Friday to stage “A Day Without Immigrants,” but legal experts warn that these events should be handled differently than the “Fight for $15” protests in recent years.
  The Day Without Immigrants has largely been organized on social media by various advocacy groups opposed to the White House’s position on immigration. The protest’s stated goal is to demonstrate how important immigr
  
  Read more

• Wendy’s plans to add 1,000 units by 2020

  17-02-2017 00:42 via nrn.com
  
  To get bigger, The Wendy’s Co. is getting smaller.
  The Dublin, Ohio-based burger chain wants to add another 1,000 locations by 2020, executives told investors on Thursday. One strategy the company plans to use to encourage that growth is a new, more flexible design that will enable Wendy’s to go into smaller spaces.
  Traditionally, the quick-service chain needed at least an acre of real estate to build its traditional, standalone units. But its new “smart design” can go i
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

Follow @newsl_catering on Twitter!