C-Speak: Nestlé Professional president preps restaurant pros for year ahead

Restaurant brands often look to culinary & beverage product providers, like Nestlé Professional, when planning LTOs and trying to determine trends for…

Pizza Inn Express franchisee opens 4th Arkansas store

January 16, 2020

Danville, Arkansas will become the newest home to a Pizza Inn Express on Friday when it debuts its East Eighth Street store there inside a renovated gas…

Kansas City gets a dose of 'Old Chicago'

January 16, 2020

Old Chicago  Pizza & Taproom opened a North Kansas City Wednesday on Diamond Parkway with free pizza for a year given to the first 100 customers yesterday.

Mountain Mike's climbs aboard Morgan Hill, California

January 16, 2020

Mountain Mike's is continuing expansion in the West with its latest opening in Morgan Hill, California, south of San Jose. The new Condit Shopping Center store…

Tasty Hut acquires 117 Pizza Huts

January 15, 2020

Rage Inc. sold 117 Pizza Hut locations in seven mostly southeastern states to Tasty Brands, a subsidiary of Tasty Hut LLC, according to a news release from…

What pizza operators can learn from Domino's use of AI

by S.A. Whitehead — Food Editor, Net World Media Group

Tuesday, Pizza Marketplace told you about Domino's use of AI to boost the customer experience. Today, we break down what restaurateurs can take away from the…

Hungry Howie's opens midwestern Michigan store

January 14, 2020

Hungry Howie's Pizza will open the doors to its Big Rapids, Michigan store tomorrow, with a special $6.99 large one-topping pizza offering and the donation of…

Marco's names operations chief to guide growth

January 14, 2020

Marco's Franchising, LLC. has moved longtime franchisee and area representative, Tim Brown, into the role of vice president and chief of operations. The brand…

Domino's digs into GPUs' data-churning mega-muscle to transform customer experience

by S.A. Whitehead — Food Editor, Net World Media Group

Domino's has discovered a virtual goldmine in the data-handling computer power of a resource once confined to the picture-heavy needs of video gaming — the GPU.

California Pizza Kitchen stores tap into customer intelligence platform

January 13, 2020

California Pizza Kitchen has tapped restaurant intelligence platform, Yumpingo, to bring real-time guest insights to the 240-plus unit brand, according to a…

Yum Brands names Godiva, InterContinental Hotels CEOs to board

January 13, 2020

Yum Brands, Inc. today appointed Godiva Chocolatier CEO Annie Young-Scrivnerand InterContinental Hotels Group CEO Keith Barr to its board as non-executive…

Restaurant gift card sales strong despite shorter holiday season

January 13, 2020

Although restaurants felt the affect of the shortened 2019 holiday sales season in gift card sales, those sales are still on an upswing, according to data from…

Papa John's only winner in last week's pizza trading wars

by S.A. Whitehead — Food Editor, Net World Media Group

Trading in the runup to National Pizza Week was anything but a celebration for most publicly traded brands, with all but Papa John's posting losses.

RFIS 2020 Sponsor Preview: Heifer International

by Cherryh Cansler — Publisher, FastCasual.com

A staggering 821 million people go to bed hungry every night, a stat that Heifer International wants to change.

Grubhub addresses phone order snafu

January 9, 2020

Grubhub customers will be hearing a new prompt when placing a call to a restaurant using the ordering app, which will direct them to press the No. 1 to place…

RFIS 2020 Sponsor Preview: Guardian EdgePro

by Cherryh Cansler — Publisher, FastCasual.com

Brands frustrated with their commercial security operations may want to look into EdgePro, an online security management tool that provides oversight for large…

Stoner's Pizza's Atlanta debut part of Southeastern US push

January 9, 2020

QSR pizza brand, Stoner's Pizza Joint, has opened its first Atlanta location and newest franchisee-owned store at 120 Piedmont Ave. NE, under Chunara Food…

Boston's dishes out options to 'lifestyle' diners

January 8, 2020

Boston's Pizza Restaurant & Sports Bar does not intend to let the age of so-called "lifestyle-eating" emerge without giving the pizza a prominent presence…

Pizza Inn, Pie Five parent company adds top finance leader

January 8, 2020

Rave Restaurant Group, parent company of Pizza Inn and Pie Five parent, has named a former 7-Eleven finance chief as its vice president of finance. Clint…

Pizza robot startup, Zume, reportedly laying off most of its workforce

January 7, 2020

SoftBank-backed robotic pizza startup, Zume, plans to lay off up to 400 employees — 80% of its staff— and won't renew its Seattle lease in an effort to stop…