Heather Lalley

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First Watch CEO Chris Tomasso among IFMA Silver Plate Award winners

The 70th annual awards from the International Foodservice Manufacturers Association recognize leaders who have made lasting contributions to advance the foodservice industry.

Wendy’s and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad public-relations week

Marketing Bites: After its now-walked back comments about dynamic pricing, the burger chain is catching the flame-grilled indignation of some restaurant competitors.

Portillo’s sees opportunity in catering, pickup-only stores

The Chicago-style fast casual opened 12 new restaurants in 2023, a record number, and said same-store sales rose 5.7% during the year.

McDonald’s flips its ‘M’ for manga fans

Marketing Bites: The burger giant becomes WcDonald’s on Monday, with a limited-time spicy WcNugget sauce. Plus, Zoup! has a new name but the exclamation point isn’t going away.

Emerging Brands

How Sean Brock is spreading joy via Joyland

The famed Southern chef is ready to grow his fast-casual concept, saying it’s “a great privilege for somebody to make something as simple as a burger and fries and see how happy it makes people.”

Fast-growing 7 Brew Coffee gets growth investment from Blackstone

With the transaction, early investor Jimmy John Liautaud of sandwich chain fame sold his stake in the drive-thru coffee-stand concept.

Restaurants spring for leap day deals

Marketing Bites: It only comes around every four years, after all. Plus, lots of developments in restaurant loyalty programs.

El Pollo Loco hires Yum Brands vet Liz Williams as CEO

Williams, previously president of Taco Bell International, will assume her new role at the fast-casual grilled chicken chain on March 11.

Restaurants embrace the darker side of Valentine’s Day

Marketing Bites: Chains are consoling those who’ve recently been dumped, as well as offering to do the breaking up on behalf of their customers.

McDonald’s reaches cage-free egg goal ahead of schedule

The burger giant, which bought nearly 2 billion eggs last year, said it had to rework its supply chain to meet its sourcing demands.

$4.35M settlement reached in rape of teenage McDonald’s worker

Franchisee Rice Enterprises, which declared bankruptcy last year, had employed a registered sex offender as a manager.

Slimmed-down Pizza Inn and Pie Five continue profitability streak

Parent company Rave Restaurant Group said it made about $600,000 during its second quarter, about twice its net income from a year ago.

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