Popular Articles

Beyond Meat Faces Delisting as QSR Partners Quietly Exit Plant-Based Menus

Beyond Meat received a Nasdaq delisting warning in March 2026 after its stock traded below $1 for 30 consecutive days. The company's collapse from a $14 billion peak now threatens the supply chain for restaurant chains that built menus around its products.

McDonald's Q1 2026 Preview: Winter Storms, Value Fatigue, and the Deceleration Debate

McDonald's reports Q1 2026 earnings on April 23. After a strong Q4 with U.S. comps up 6.8%, management already warned investors to expect a sequential slowdown. Here's what operators and investors should watch.

Salad and Go Cut Its Store Count in Half. The Turnaround Playbook Is a Lesson for Every Fast-Growing Chain.

The drive-thru salad chain went from 146 locations to 71 in less than a year. New CEO Mike Tattersfield says the brand was growing just for growth's sake. Here is what operators can learn from one of the sharpest contractions in recent QSR history.

MCL Restaurant and Bakery Shrinks to Seven Locations After 76 Years of Cafeteria-Style Dining

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.

McDonald's Best Burger Initiative: A Quality Overhaul Across 14,000 U.S. Locations

McDonald's is rolling out its Best Burger program to every U.S. market by the end of 2026. The initiative overhauls cooking methods, seasoning, and bun preparation across 14,000 locations. It is the most ambitious quality push since the Made for You system two decades ago.

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.

Multi-Unit Franchise Operators: The Hidden Power Players Running QSR

Flynn Restaurant Group operates 2,600 locations. Sun Holdings runs 1,300. You've never heard of them, but they control more of QSR than most brands. Here's how the mega-operators are quietly taking over the industry.

California's $20 Fast Food Wage, Two Years Later: Higher Prices, Fewer Jobs, and an Automation Accelerant

Two years after AB 1228 imposed a $20 minimum wage on California fast food workers, new UC Santa Cruz research shows higher prices, reduced employment, and accelerated automation.

Why Your Fast Food Order Is Wrong 15% of the Time

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.

Panda Express vs Wingstop: Two Models, One Question

Panda Express runs 2,200+ company-owned locations generating $6.2 billion in U.S. sales. Wingstop operates 3,056 mostly franchised restaurants with $5.3 billion in systemwide sales. Both are growing fast, but their business models could not be more different. Which one is actually better?

The QSR Packaging Revolution: Sustainability vs Cost

Dynamic Pricing Comes to QSR: How AI Is Quietly Rewriting the Menu Board

AI-powered dynamic pricing and real-time menu engineering are moving from pilot programs to mainstream adoption in 2026. With food costs still 35% above pre-pandemic levels, operators who treat the menu board as a static document are leaving margin on the table.

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.

Why Korean Fried Chicken Is Taking Over American QSR

Korean fried chicken chains grew from 200 to 500+ U.S. locations in six years. Bonchon (120+ stores), bb.q Chicken (50+), and Pelicana (40+) are expanding aggressively. Double-frying, thin crispy skin, and gochujang glazes are winning customers from KFC and Popeyes.

How TikTok is Changing QSR Marketing

Menu hacks going viral, employee content, the algorithm's impact on sales. Real case studies of what drives revenue and what flops on TikTok in QSR.