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.
Raising Cane's milestone 1,000th location on Hollywood Boulevard is more than a vanity number. It signals a brand with serious scale ambitions, a World Cup strategy, and a founder finally coming home.
MCL, once a 30-location Midwest cafeteria institution, is closing five more units this month and citing years of declining sales. What the chain's collapse reveals about America's dying cafeteria format.
Marc Lore's Wonder has raised $600 million at a $7 billion valuation and acquired Grubhub for $650 million, building a food hall concept that promises to solve what ghost kitchens never could. The model is ambitious, the expansion pace is aggressive, and the implications for QSR operators are significant.
Chipotle Mexican Grill is entering Mexico for the first time in 2026, selling American-interpreted Mexican food to the nation that invented the original. The irony is obvious. The business logic, though, is worth examining carefully.
Long John Silver's ended 2024 with just 485 locations, down from roughly 1,500 at its early-2000s peak. The chain's 57-year slide offers a case study in structural disadvantage, franchise economics gone wrong, and the limits of turnaround playbooks.
The Supreme Court struck down IEEPA-based tariffs in February, then the White House pivoted to Section 122 authority within four days. For QSR procurement teams, the legal ground has never shifted faster.
The FTC just secured a $17 million settlement against Xponential Fitness, the largest monetary recovery in a franchise case in FTC history. The violations have nothing to do with fitness and everything to do with how franchisors sell franchises. QSR brands should read the complaint carefully.
Wingstop opened a record 493 net new restaurants in FY2025 while posting its first domestic same-store sales decline in 22 years. Is this a cyclical correction, or is the brand growing faster than its own unit economics can absorb?
The companies gave different economic assessments of the doughnut rollout. This chronology separates their disclosures from investors’ allegations.
With ground beef hitting $6.69 per pound and the U.S. cattle herd at a 75-year low, QSR chains are racing toward chicken with an urgency that goes beyond trend-chasing. From McDonald's Chicken Big Mac to Taco Bell's poultry pivot to Raising Cane's 1,000th location, the competitive dynamics of 2026 are reshaping how every operator thinks about protein.
While closing up to 600 U.S. restaurants, Wendy's is signing franchise agreements for 60+ new locations in Mexico. The strategic logic behind the pivot, and what it means for the chain's long-term trajectory.