ORLANDO Darden Restaurants Inc. might be shopping soon for a restaurant chain in the 100-unit range, and the company has not ruled out candidates that franchise, according to analyst and press reports on the Red Lobster and Olive Garden parent’s...
MIAMI Benihana Inc., operator or franchisor of 96 restaurants, including the 76-unit namesake teppanyaki chain, posted a year-over-year, same-store sales jump of 9.3 percent at corporate units systemwide, which helped boost the company’s fiscal...
NEW YORK The Patina Restaurant Group has agreed to open a duplicate of its namesake Los Angeles restaurant in the famed Lincoln Center music and entertainment complex here. The opening will make the Patina brand the onsite dining choice...
PLANO Texas Bennigan’s Grill and Tavern said it will try to use its zero-trans-fat items as a marketing advantage when a new menu is released by the Metromedia Restaurant Group division in April. The chain switched to trans-fat-free oil in...
NEW YORK The co-owners of the five-unit Heartland Brewery brew-pub chain have sold a 49 percent stake in the company to its employees through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan. Jon Bloostein, Heartland’s founder, CEO, and leader of the...
CALABASAS HILLS Calif. The Cheesecake Factory Inc. logged a 0.8-percent uptick in year-over-year systemwide same-store sales for its fourth quarter ended Jan. 2, driven mainly by a 7.8-percent gain at secondary concept Grand Lux Café and a 0.4...
CHICAGO Celebrity chef and restaurateur Charlie Trotter is working with United Airlines to develop dishes bearing his name for premium-level service on the carrier’s transcontinental flights, starting this summer. The branded selections...
LOS ANGELES Industry veteran Arich Berghammer has been named president of the three-unit Pink Taco casual-dining chain, officials announced Wednesday. Berghammer was previously chief operating officer of SBE Restaurant and Nightlife Group...
DALLAS The 48-unit Dave & Buster’s Inc. on Monday named Brian Jenkins as chief financial officer. Steve King, chief executive of the company, had been acting CFO after the resignation last year of W.C. Hammett in the wake of the company going...