LEBANON TENN. —Proving that having “Old” in its name does not preclude a restaurant chain from trying new things, family-dining operator Cracker Barrel Old Country Store has augmented its food safety and quality assurance program with...

Some restaurant chains are honing their marketing efforts to target a different type of customer: potential franchisees.Dunkin’ Brands Inc. and Maui Wowi Hawaiian both have hired agencies to help drive franchisee recruitment, and the small Bar...

Qdoba Mexican Grill takes a different approach to its business from its fellow Denver-based fast-casual burrito chain, Chipotle Mexican Grill. Chipotle restaurants are all company-owned. Qdoba, whose management has been known to...

We work in a chaotic industry where success—or failure—is often determined by pennies earned or pennies lost on a store-by-store, period-by-period, shift-by-shift basis. So as we rush headlong into the final quarter of 2007, I thought it might be...

Air travel, buffeted by an unprecedented number of flight delays and cancellations, has become more nerve-wracking except among one particular flight-dependent contingent: the airport foodservice operators who are crediting sales increases of up...

Pittsburgh is not known for setting culinary trends, but some restaurant operators in the area are well ahead of the curve. Eat’n Park, a 79-unit family-dining chain based there, rolled out espresso machines in 2003, shortly after improving the...