WILBRAHAM Mass. Friendly Ice Cream Corp., which owns or franchises than 510 restaurants throughout the Northeast, has appointed Kevin McNamara to the newly created position of senior director for organization and management development. ...

SEATTLE Sir Paul McCartney will record the first album to be released by Starbucks Corp.’s new co-owned music label, which will distribute its compact disks in part through the coffee chain’s outlets, the company told shareholders Wednesday. ...

BOSTON With a dissident investor demanding changes and the home office considering a sale or other strategic alternatives, a group of 39 Friendly’s franchisees sent a letter to shareholders of the family-dining chain’s parent company on Wednesday...

DUBLIN Ohio Wendy's International Inc. upped its full-year, per-share earnings guidance by 9 cents Tuesday, after it completed an almost $300 million share repurchase that will reduce the company's share count by about 9 percent. The...

OVERLAND PARK Kan. The top executives of Applebee’s International Inc. will be paid 2006 bonuses based on achieving only 43.6 percent of their performance targets for the year, the casual-dining powerhouse disclosed today in a securities filing...

MINNEAPOLIS Caribou Coffee Co. Inc., the coffeehouse segment’s No. 2 operator, has hired operations and human resources veteran Roz Mallet as its new president and chief operating officer. ...

OAK BROOK Ill. McDonald’s is expanding a pilot program that offers Pepsi products together with its standard Coca-Cola fountain drinks, according to a story in the marketing newspaper Advertising Age. Restaurants participating in the 10-month-old...