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Yum Brands Releases First-Ever Food Trends Report: What 59,000 Restaurants See Coming
Yum Brands published its first Food Trends Report, pulling data from Taco Bell, KFC, Pizza Hut, and Habit Burger Grill across 59,000 locations. The report spotlights craveable drinks and sauce customization as the next traffic drivers, offering operators a data-backed lens on where consumer demand is heading.
CES 2026 Food Tech Roundup: Zero-Staff Stores, Robotic Baristas, and the Next Wave of QSR Automation
CES 2026 put zero-staff retail, robotic food prep, and AI-driven operations on full display. For QSR operators, the question isn't whether these technologies are coming -- it's how fast the unit economics will justify deployment.
Fatburger Opens in Paris: First of 30 Locations Planned Across France by 2028
FAT Brands is pushing Fatburger into France with 30 units targeted by 2028, starting with a new location near Paris. The expansion raises a pointed question for the industry: can a financially distressed franchisor build a winning international presence while fighting through Chapter 11 at home?
Trump Lifts Select Food Tariffs: What the Executive Order Means for Restaurant Operators
President Trump signed an executive order removing tariffs on select food and beverage imports, including beef, coffee, tropical fruit, and fertilizers. Operators running beef-forward menus or premium coffee programs get real relief. Chicken, pork, and dairy operators are still on their own.
KFC's American Decline: How the Original Chicken Chain Fell to Fifth Place
KFC, the chain that invented fast-food fried chicken in America, has fallen to fifth place among US chicken chains. Consumer spending dropped 4% to $4.34 billion as Raising Cane's and Wingstop surged past the Yum Brands stalwart, exposing structural problems no LTO can fix.
OneRyan Global Acquires Mr. Gatti's Pizza: A Dallas Family Office Bets on the Pizza Buffet's Second Act
OneRyan Global, the family investment office of tax consulting titan Brint Ryan, has acquired a controlling interest in Mr. Gatti's Pizza, capping a transition to a fully franchised system and positioning the 57-year-old pizza buffet brand for an unconventional expansion into Walmart stores and convenience locations.
Layne's Chicken Fingers Signs 44-Unit West Texas Deal as Franchise Surge Accelerates
A College Station chicken finger brand that once operated a single restaurant near Texas A&M is now chasing statewide saturation. A 44-unit deal with C5 Restaurants signals Layne's may be on a trajectory similar to Raising Cane's early expansion years. Whether the crowded chicken QSR segment leaves room for another ascent is the central question operators and investors should be asking.
Logan's Roadhouse Has a Third Owner in Six Years. Does SSCP Management Have a Plan That Actually Works?
SSCP Management's quiet acquisition of Logan's Roadhouse from SPB Hospitality is the latest chapter in the struggling steakhouse chain's ownership saga. With this being SSCP's third distressed-brand buy in five years, the question for investors and franchisees is whether the collect-and-rehabilitate strategy produces real turnarounds or just delays inevitable decline.
Zaxby's Crosses 1,000 Restaurants and Sets Its Sights on a National Footprint
Zaxby's quietly surpassed 1,000 restaurants in January 2026, operating across 22 states with 60+ new openings planned for the year. The brand's Modern Farmhouse prototype and Goldman Sachs-backed expansion push raise a core question for the industry: can a deeply regional chain scale to national relevance without losing what made it work?
Portillo's Strategic Reset: How a Chicago Icon Choked on Its Own Expansion
Portillo's raised $466 million in its 2021 IPO on promises of 920 locations. Four years later, the stock has lost 90% of its value, a CEO is gone, and an activist investor forced a full strategic pivot. The story of what went wrong is a lesson every regional chain operator needs to read.
The Great Restaurant Stock Divergence: Why CAVA and Wingstop Trade at Premium Multiples While Legacy Chains Stall
Public restaurant equities have split into two distinct tiers. Growth names like CAVA and Wingstop command premium valuations on the strength of traffic gains and unit expansion; legacy QSR and casual dining stocks are trading at distressed multiples or heading private. Here is what separates the winners from the losers, and whether current prices are justified.
Texas Roadhouse Keeps Defying Gravity: Traffic Gains, Tech Upgrades, and the 50th Bubba's 33
Texas Roadhouse posted 3.5% comp growth in Q1 2026 while peers bleed traffic, opened its 50th Bubba's 33, and keeps proving that from-scratch food and equity-driven management are the most durable competitive advantages in casual dining. Here's what operators at every price point can learn from their model.
Chick-fil-A's Spring 2026 Menu Offensive: Seven New Items and the Jalapeño Ranch Gambit
Chick-fil-A launched seven new menu items on March 9, 2026, capping a period in which the chain quietly rolled out six additional sandwiches earlier in the year. The headline move is a Jalapeño Ranch Club sandwich lineup that signals something more than a seasonal refresh.
The Cheesecake Factory Finally Goes Digital: 26 New Restaurants and a First-Ever Mobile App
The Cheesecake Factory is launching its first-ever dedicated mobile app in Q2 2026, making it one of the last major full-service chains to close the digital gap. Combined with plans to open up to 26 new restaurants across its multi-brand portfolio, the company is betting that a diversified growth model can outpace rivals anchored to a single concept.
Dave's Hot Chicken and Roark Capital: A Billion-Dollar Bet on Becoming the Next Wingstop
Roark Capital paid roughly $1 billion for a 245-unit Nashville hot chicken chain in June 2025. The math only makes sense if you understand the Wingstop playbook Roark has already run once before, and why Dave's Hot Chicken might be the one brand positioned to repeat it.
19-Unit Starbird Signs 36-Store Texas Deal to Triple Its Footprint
A California super-premium chicken chain just signed its biggest development deal ever, with a Texas auto dealership empire as the franchisee.
Gong cha Buys Back 170 U.S. Franchise Locations to Fuel National Push
Gong cha's acquisition of master franchise rights covering 170 U.S. locations signals a structural shift in how the global bubble tea leader plans to control its American growth.
Bojangles Scales AI Drive-Thru to Nearly 500 Stores With 96% Accuracy
Bojangles has deployed Hi Auto's voice AI system across nearly 500 locations, maintaining 96% order accuracy at scale and cutting drive-thru employee workload by a third.