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CAVA Q1 2026: Traffic and expansion lift sales
CAVA reported 32.1% Q1 revenue growth.
Jersey Mike's $8 Billion Gamble: Inside Blackstone's Franchise Growth Machine
Blackstone paid $8 billion for a majority stake in Jersey Mike's, making it one of the most expensive QSR acquisitions in history. Now the private equity giant is executing a textbook franchise growth play: 400+ new units in 2026, international expansion into the UK and Ireland, and whispers of an IPO before the decade ends.
Dutch Bros' Breakout Year: How a Drive-Thru Coffee Chain Is Outrunning Starbucks
Dutch Bros posted $1.64 billion in 2025 revenue, a 27.9% jump, while expanding to 1,136 locations and guiding toward $2 billion in 2026. As Starbucks stumbles through a complicated turnaround, the Oregon-born drive-thru chain is writing a different kind of growth story.
The Kiosk Takeover: 80% of QSRs Now Run Self-Service and the Counter Will Never Be the Same
Eight out of ten QSR locations now have self-service kiosks, McDonald's alone has deployed them in 20,000 stores worldwide, and operators report 15-30% higher average tickets. With a 73.8% annual quit rate hollowing out front-of-house teams, the traditional counter is being redesigned from scratch.
Burger King's $350 Million China Bet: RBI and CPE Target 4,000 Restaurants by 2035
Restaurant Brands International has completed a joint venture with CPE that injects $350 million into Burger King China, targeting 4,000 locations by 2035. With CPE taking 83% ownership and a 20-year master development agreement in place, this is the biggest QSR international expansion bet of 2026.
Sweetgreen's Sour Turn: Same-Store Sales Crater 11.5% as the Salad Bowl Bubble Deflates
Sweetgreen's Q4 2025 same-store sales plunged 11.5%, its stock sits 89% below IPO price, and closures are mounting. With CAVA surging and Noodles & Company shrinking, the fast-casual segment is splitting into clear winners and losers. Here is what went wrong and what operators can learn.
The Robotic Makeline Arms Race: How Chipotle and CAVA Are Betting $25 Million on Automated Assembly
Chipotle and CAVA have jointly invested $25 million in Hyphen, the startup building automated makelines that can assemble 350 bowls per hour at 99% accuracy. With 65% of Chipotle's digital orders eligible for automation and the industry bleeding workers at a 73.8% annual quit rate, the robotic kitchen is no longer a science project.
Raising Cane's Explosive Growth: How a One-Item Menu Built a Global Expansion Machine
While major chains shutter hundreds of locations, Raising Cane's is opening nearly 100 new company-owned restaurants in 2026 and launching into London and Mexico. The privately held chicken finger chain's radical simplicity is proving to be its greatest competitive advantage.
Yum Brands Has Processed Over 2 Million AI Drive-Thru Orders. The Pilot Phase Is Over
Yum! Brands has crossed 2 million voice AI orders across 300-plus Taco Bell drive-thrus, making it the largest QSR voice AI deployment in the world. For the industry, the message is clear: this technology has graduated from experiment to infrastructure.
McDonald's Just Posted Its Best Quarter Since 2023. What Changed?
McDonald's U.S. same-store sales grew 6.8% in Q4 2025, the chain's best domestic quarter since Q3 2023. A value reset, seasonal promotions, and a recovery from last year's E. coli crisis all played into results that significantly beat Wall Street expectations.
Tariffs Are Squeezing Restaurant Margins in 2026, and the Playbook Is Running Thin
A new wave of tariff-driven cost pressure is hitting restaurant operators at the worst possible time, with food costs up 40% over five years while menu price increases lag at 30%. With consumer spending softening and supply chains in flux, the traditional tools for protecting margins are losing their edge.
USDA Proposes Faster Poultry and Pork Line Speeds, and QSR Operators Should Pay Attention
The USDA's proposed increase in poultry and pork slaughter line speeds could expand supply capacity at a moment when food costs are climbing. For QSR chains that rely on chicken and pork as their primary proteins, the regulatory shift carries real implications for procurement costs and supply chain stability.
Papa John's Plans 300 Store Closures While Betting Big on a Turnaround
Papa John's will shutter roughly 300 underperforming North American locations by end of 2027, with 200 closures targeted for this year alone. New CEO Todd Penegor, who previously led Wendy's through its own reset, is cutting dead weight while laying the groundwork for what the company hopes will be a durable recovery.
The QSR Value War Is a Race to the Bottom. Here's Who's Winning and Who's Bleeding.
Every major fast food chain is running some form of value promotion in 2026, and the math is punishing franchisees while rewarding brands with digital infrastructure and scale. The winners and losers of this price war are becoming clear.
Wendy's Is Closing Up to 350 U.S. Locations. Here's What Went Wrong.
Wendy's posted its worst same-store sales decline since the pandemic and is now closing up to 358 U.S. restaurants in the first half of 2026. A breakdown of what went wrong: breakfast underperformance, value messaging failures, leadership instability, and franchise economics that no longer work.
Pizza Hut Is Closing 250 U.S. Locations in 2026. The Problem Runs Deeper Than You Think.
Yum! Brands is shuttering 250 Pizza Hut locations in the first half of 2026 as part of a program called 'Hut Forward.' But the store count is a symptom, not the disease. A structural mismatch between the brand's legacy dine-in identity and a delivery-dominated market has left Pizza Hut fighting for relevance while Domino's laps it on every metric that matters.
22 States Are Raising Minimum Wages in 2026. Here's What It Means for QSR Operators.
For the first time in U.S. history, more states have minimum wages at or above $15 per hour than at the federal floor of $7.25. Twenty-two states are raising wages in 2026, with Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Missouri, and Nebraska crossing $15 for the first time. Here is what QSR operators need to know about the numbers, the P&L impact, and the levers available to protect margins.
Miso Robotics Acquires Zignyl in the $28 Billion Race to Automate Restaurant Kitchens
The maker of Flippy just bought a workforce management platform, signaling that the future of kitchen automation isn't just robots replacing workers. It's a single integrated platform managing robots, labor, and operations together. Here's what operators need to know.