This week on Nation's Restaurant News the top story was Applebee’s puts its boneless wings to the test with new 50-cent promotion. Applebee’s just held a double-blind taste test featuring boneless buffalo wings from the top two national brands (Wingstop and Buffalo Wild Wings). The test, conducted by a third-party research firm, included 1,000 consumers aged 18 to 74 from geographically dispersed markets and Applebee’s won by a “statistically significant margin,” according to chief marketing officer Joel Yashinsky.
In other news, Rob Lynch is leaving his role as CEO of Papa Johns to take on the same position at Shake Shack, effective May 20. Lynch succeeds Randy Garutti, who announced his intentions to retire in December after leading the company for more than two decades. Garutti will transition as an advisor in May to ensure a smooth transition.
Lynch was hired at Papa Johns in August 2019 and helped drive record global systemwide sales of over $5 billion at the company. He has also led the company’s growth to approximately 5,900 units.
See what else was trending on NRN.com this week.