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By Jonathan Maze on Mar. 04, 2025

The Bottom Line: The Mexican fast-food chain is the best-performing part of parent company Yum Brands’ business, easily besting KFC and Pizza Hut. It’s also the one with the most company stores. That’s not a coincidence.

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Financing

Shrinking Steak n Shake turns to beef tallow

By Jonathan Maze on Mar. 03, 2025

The Bottom Line: The burger chain has closed 200 locations since 2018 and each of its ownership formats closed a net number of restaurants in 2024. And it quietly overhauled management.

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Emerging Brands

Chip City Cookies co-founder gets creative with croissants

By Lisa Jennings on Feb. 28, 2025

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

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Technology

Restaurants take a closer look at computer vision

By Joe Guszkowski on Feb. 28, 2025

The technology promises to give operators an analytical eye on their business. It’s improving and becoming more affordable. But some hurdles remain.

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Financing

Del Taco puts itself into a Rocky Mountain bind

By Jonathan Maze on Feb. 28, 2025

The Bottom Line: The Mexican fast-food chain moved aggressively to terminate an operator just one year after it gave them the right to operate an entire state. And then the lender pulled the plug.

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Technology

At Krispy Kreme, a reminder of restaurants' digital risk

By Joe Guszkowski on Feb. 27, 2025

Tech Check: Fallout from a cyberattack sunk the doughnut chain’s stock to an all-time low. Restaurants pursuing more digital sales should take notice.

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Emerging Brands

Chi-Chi's gets ready for its second act

By Joe Guszkowski on Feb. 25, 2025

The long-defunct Mexican casual-dining chain is working to raise $3.5 million through crowdfunding as it plans to open two restaurants this year and set up a franchising program.

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Financing

A steady parade of difficult news hits the restaurant business

By Jonathan Maze on Feb. 25, 2025

The Bottom Line: The year is starting out just like last year, with big bankruptcy filings, weaker-than-expected sales results and layoffs. So much for cautious optimism.

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Financing

McDonald's Egg McMuffin changes the restaurant business

By Jonathan Maze on Feb. 25, 2025

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.

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Food