This week on Nation’s Restaurant News, the top story was Florida Senate passes law protecting restaurants and consumers from third-party delivery services. The Florida state Senate passed a bill last week designed to regulate third-party food delivery apps, specifically with the aim of increasing consumer and business protections against companies like DoorDash, Grubhub, and Uber Eats. The bill heads to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ desk next for final approval.
In other news, Panera Bread unveiled its “biggest menu transformation in history,” including nine new items and reimagined recipes and portion sizes, for a total of 20 menu updates. The new menu items include sandwiches like the Toasted Italiano sandwich with Black Forest ham, soppressata and provolone; and salads like the Southwest Chicken Ranch with romaine lettuce, grilled chicken, Ranch dressing, and chipotle aioli. Panera COO Debbie Roberts dubbed the menu overhaul the start of “Panera’s new era” as the company “gets back to [its] roots” in the salad and sandwich categories.
Also, El Pollo Loco Holdings Inc. is looking to technology in the form of kiosks and kitchen equipment to offset increased labor expenses as California readies for quick-service wage hikes to $20 an hour on April 1, brand executives said.
Click through the gallery to see what else was trending on NRN.com.