This week on nrn.com, the top story was about Outback Steakhouse’s parent company Bloomin’ Brands planning to close 41 restaurants across its portfolio as it weighs underperforming units. The decision was shared last Friday on an analysts’ call after the company released earnings for the Dec. 31-ended fourth quarter. According to CEO David Deno, “we periodically review our asset base and, in our latest review, we made the decision to close 41 underperforming locations. The majority of these restaurants were older assets with leases from the ‘90s and early 2000s.”
In other news this week, Crumbl became the first large restaurant company to launch an app for Apple Vision Pro, Apple’s new “mixed reality headset” that combines digital content with physical space, much like augmented reality. The Crumbl app features a visually immersive, simple interface that focuses more on high-definition images of Crumbl’s bakery selections than on typeface and minimizes the need for consumers to fill out ordering forms.
Other top stories: restaurants are starting to get bullish on breakfast again; The Cheesecake Factory returns to development pace; and Buffalo Wild Wings provided free wings because the Super Bowl went into overtime. Get all these stories and more in the gallery.
