Breakfast

Financing

Portillo's will decide at the end of summer whether to expand breakfast

The fast-casual chain's morning daypart test is limited to five units in Chicago for now. With traffic down 3.1%, CEO Michael Osanloo said Portillo's is focusing on building brand awareness in new markets to combat economic headwinds.

Operations

Portillo's readies breakfast test with chocolate cake donuts and Polish sausage-and-egg sandwiches

Five locations in the Chicago area will offer the limited-time pilot, starting April 15. Company officials say the test is a response to longtime demand.

It's a good time for artisan croissants, pan dulce and bombolone. Bakery concepts big and small see plenty of opportunity for growth.

The Chicago-based fast casual will start testing a morning menu at select restaurants on April 15.

The data-driven strategy will allow the breakfast-and-lunch chain to target ads to individual customers. It is part of the chain’s plan to boost traffic this year.

The pancake chain already sells a lot of breakfast, even at dinner time. It believes a new marketing strategy will help it sell even more.

Peter Phillips joins the bakery boom with a second concept called Somedays Bakery. With this concept, he takes a completely different approach to growth.

The Bottom Line: The sandwich, created by franchisee Herb Peterson, made its national debut 50 years ago. The impact of that product has been significant.

Forget croissants. This concept is all about adorably cubed "mou" bread, described as a brioche-milk bread hybrid.

Nearly 30 additional locations could shut their doors this year as the diner chain’s comeback efforts hit a snag.

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