Popular Articles

The Protein Tariff Shock: How 25% Duties on Canadian Beef and Tripling Seafood Costs Are Forcing Menu Rewrites

Canadian beef now carries a 25% import duty, some seafood products have tripled in price, and the full cost wave hasn't hit yet. Here's what QSR operators need to know before the dam breaks.

Gabriel Vesci opens Paris Baguette after years running McDonald’s

The June 15 Thousand Oaks café puts an operating location behind Vesci’s West Los Angeles development plan, following his earlier move from burgers to bakery cafés.

Raising Cane's Opens Its 1,000th Restaurant on Hollywood Boulevard

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.

Higher-income households account for most restaurant spending

New Census income figures and the restaurant association's analysis show how higher-income households contribute to spending on meals away from home.

Brinker International's $6.25 Billion Comeback: How Chili's Big Smasher Turned a Casual Dining Chain Into QSR's Biggest Threat

QSR property asking yields rise in Q3

Boulder’s October report puts corporate and franchisee property asking yields 97 basis points apart, with separate comparisons by lease term.

Sbarro plans POS and payments upgrade at nearly 300 U.S. restaurants

Sbarro plans Aloha Next and Voyix Pay adoption at nearly 300 U.S. restaurants. The agreement aims to unify store operations, payments and central data management.

Yum Brands After Gibbs: Chris Turner Inherits a 59,000-Restaurant Empire and an Unfinished AI Transformation

Chris Turner stepped into the Yum Brands CEO seat in October 2025 after three decades of operational DNA built by David Gibbs. A financial architect taking the wheel of the world's largest fast food company by unit count raises real questions about execution versus analysis, especially as Yum's AI bet scales toward 60,000 locations and Pizza Hut bleeds stores.

Del Taco's $115 Million Fire Sale: What Jack in the Box's Loss Reveals About Bolt-On Acquisition Risk in QSR

Jack in the Box bought Del Taco for $575 million in 2022 and sold it for $115 million in late 2025. The 80% value destruction in under four years is a case study in what happens when a struggling brand tries to grow by acquisition.

Quality Brand Group Builds an Operating Structure for Expansion

QBG’s latest sales ranking sits alongside a documented expansion of field leadership, training capacity and new-store opening support.

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.

The QSR Debt Bubble: Are Franchise Loans the Next Subprime?

Overleveraged franchisees, loose lending standards, government guarantees. It's not 2008, but it rhymes. Here's why QSR franchise debt is becoming a problem - and who pays the price.

QSR Franchising Growth Stalls Below 0.5%: Why 2026 Is a Year of Survival, Not Expansion

The International Franchise Association projects QSR franchise growth below 0.5% in 2026, the weakest showing of any major franchise sector. With food costs 36% above pre-pandemic levels, labor costs up 35%, and tariffs hitting supply chains, operators are cutting menus and switching suppliers rather than signing new leases.

How Much Does a Marco's Pizza Franchise Cost in 2026?

Marco's Pizza franchise costs range from $287,000 to $807,000. With 1,100+ locations and targeting 80+ new stores in 2026, the brand focuses on quality ingredients and Roma-style pizza.

Dutch Bros’ traffic growth meets higher food and occupancy costs

Systemwide same-shop transactions grew 5.1% in Q1, while company-shop gross margin fell to 20%. Coffee, food and rent weighed on costs.

Johnny Carino's Bets Its Future on a Bar-Forward Prototype. Here's the Strategy.

The nearly 30-year-old Italian casual dining chain is debuting a 6,000 square foot bar-forward prototype in Laredo, Texas. With 20 draft beers, craft cocktails, and fire pits, it's a bet that beverage-driven traffic can reverse casual dining's structural decline.

Wendy's Q4 2025 Earnings: 11.3% Same-Store Sales Plunge Forces a Rebuilding Year

Wendy's posted its worst quarterly same-store sales performance in years, with U.S. comps down 11.3% in Q4 2025. Interim CEO Ken Cook is betting on Project Fresh, a new value menu, and hundreds of closures to reset the brand.

Presto Raises $10M as Drive-Thru Voice AI Enters Its 'Prove It' Era

Presto Automation closed a $10 million funding round as the drive-thru AI sector moves from pilot theater to deployment accountability. With McDonald's IBM experiment now a cautionary tale, operators are demanding hard numbers on accuracy, labor savings, and rollout speed.