Sponsored By

Trending this week: Flynn Restaurant Group’s $816 million offer to buy NPC International out of bankruptcyTrending this week: Flynn Restaurant Group’s $816 million offer to buy NPC International out of bankruptcy

NRN staff

November 12, 2020

10 Slides
A Wendy's storefront

Already have an account?

This week on Nation’s restaurant News, the biggest news was that Flynn Restaurant Group bid $816 million to buy NPC International out of bankruptcy. The deal would give Flynn a total of more than 2,500 restaurants.

Other restaurant companies continued to report their third-quarter earnings, with casual-dining chain Red Robin seeing same-store-sales declines of 25.1% and quick-service chain Wendy’s seeing increases of 7% in the U.S. NRN took a close look at the latter’s plans to restructure operations and make other moves tied to franchisees, new growth and breakfast.

McDonald’s this week unveiled a sweeping growth strategy, including introduction of a crispy chicken sandwich, a new loyalty program and plant-based menu items. NRN spoke to analysts about these changes to find out if the quick-service burger giant is trying to catch up to rivals.

Across the country on Election Day, a variety of ballot initiatives impacting restaurants passed. These span from minimum-wage increases to third-party delivery wins to legalized recreational marijuana. Meanwhile, COVID cases continued to rise, and cities and states tightened restrictions, with Massachusetts setting a curfew and Chicago closing indoor dining altogether.

Click through to read these stories and see what else was trending on NRN.com this week.

Related:Trending this week: What the Inspire Brands-Dunkin’ Brands deal could mean for restaurant mergers and acquisitions going forward

Subscribe Nation's Restaurant News Newsletters
Get the latest breaking news in the industry, analysis, research, recipes, consumer trends, the latest products and more.