Frisch's 2-Q profits soar 66%

Jan 16, 2007

CINCINNATI Frisch's Restaurants Inc., operator or franchisor of 118 Frisch's Big Boy restaurants and franchisee of 34 Golden Corral units, recorded a 66.9-percent surge in second-quarter profit, as increased sales and reduced food and payroll...

Casual dinnerhouse outlook remains gloomy for 2007

Jan 15, 2007

Shortly before the end of 2006, a Houlihan’s restaurant in the Convention Center District of Austin, Texas, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and shuttered its doors after just six months in operation.The reasons, according to bankruptcy...

Planet Smoothie to hit the road for the good of the globe

Jan 15, 2007

ATLANTA Planet Smoothie is preparing to put the nation’s ecology in the spotlight with the launch of a promotion encouraging eco-friendly behavior and healthful practices. — ...

Planet Smoothie to hit the road for the good of the globe

Jan 15, 2007

ATLANTA —Planet Smoothie is preparing to put the nation’s ecology in the spotlight with the launch of a promotion encouraging eco-friendly behavior and healthful practices. Although a number of chains ranging from...

In the era of Simon Cowell, restaurants vie for sales through talent contests

Jan 13, 2007

OKLAHOMA CITY Add Sonic Drive-Ins to the list of chain and independent restaurants that are betting on talent contest tie-ins to snag attention during the normally slow post-holiday season. With broadcasters fighting for viewers with...

In the era of Simon Cowell, restaurants vie for sales through talent contests

Jan 13, 2007

OKLAHOMA CITY Add Sonic Drive-Ins to the list of chain and independent restaurants that are betting on talent contest tie-ins to snag attention during the normally slow post-holiday season. With broadcasters fighting for viewers with...

Unclear exit strategies cloud chains’ outlooks

Jan 08, 2007

Able to drive the lane against his teenage grandsons while playing basketball at his Colorado vacation home, the 67-year-old franchisee of three budget steakhouses thought he was in great shape, financially and physically.The restaurateur, whom we...

ERBERT & GERBERT’S SANDWICH CHAIN PICKS AGENCY OF RECORD

Jan 08, 2007

EAU CLAIRE, WIS. —Erbert & Gerbert’s Subs & Clubs, based here, has picked Colle+McVoy of Minneapolis as its agency of record. The agency will be responsible for redesigning the chain’s in...

Red, Hot & Blue chain bought by Fla. group

Jan 08, 2007

ARLINGTON, VA. —Red, Hot & Blue Restaurants Inc., operator or franchisor here of 33 sit-down barbecue restaurants, has been acquired by Dancing Pigs LLC, a Windermere, Fla.-based investment group...

Responsibility of parents has been forgotten in furor over ads’ effect on childhood obesity

Jan 08, 2007

I was not allowed to have war toys when I was a child. I could not have a plastic gun or rifle, nor toy soldiers. My parents forbade them.During Lent, my brothers and sisters and I were not allowed to watch TV except on Sundays, a day not counted...