NRN.com -The annual NRN Top 100 report, now in its 41st year, ranks the largest restaurant chains and foodservice companies based on U.S. sales, unit counts, growth rates, market share and various other metrics. The industry-leading report has been used as a benchmarking tool for restaurants, suppliers, distributors and analysts to track brands, private-equity ownership and industry growth.

This year, the Top 100 U.S. restaurant chain market totals $222.1 billion in sales, a 3.2-percent increase from a year earlier, compared with a 5.6 percent increase in the Preceding-Year. That two-plus-point retreat in Latest-Year aggregate sales growth for the Top 100 reflects challenges restaurants faced in 2013 Continue

NRN.com - A group of 27 McDonald’s owner-operators representing 231 domestic restaurants have given the most pessimistic outlook for the next six months of business in the history of Janney Capital Markets’ quarterly McDonald’s Franchisee Survey, placing a majority of the blame on the brand’s senior leadership.

Janney’s restaurant analyst, Mark Kalinowski, wrote in a research note that the franchisees surveyed on their six-month outlook gave an average rating of 1.84 on a scale of 1 to 5, in which 1 means “poor” and 5 means “excellent.” Nine of the 27 respondents rated their outlook at 1, and no franchisees indicated their outlook was a 5.

“This 1.84 number is meaningfully below the 2.9 average result over the history of the survey and below the 2.21 result from three months ago,” Kalinowski wrote. “Indeed, this result becomes the worst ever in our decade plus of conducting this survey, even lower than the previous low score of 1.89 from six months ago.” Continue

Fastcasual.com - Pie Five Pizza has awarded 18 franchise units to retired Cleveland Indian Matt LaPorta to bring the brand throughout the Tampa, Fla., area beginning in early 2015. LaPorta, who is also a former University of Florida baseball player, will be joined by fellow MLB retiree Josh Fields and restaurant operators Brandon Birdwell and Jeff Engle to expand the chain from Pasco County to Sarasota, Fla.

“For the longest time I’ve wanted to open up a cool pizza place like this. I guess you could call pizza my new passion,” LaPorta said in a news release. “So when Josh told me about Pie Five, and my family and I tried it out for ourselves, I knew this was it. The operational model is excellent, the company’s leadership is top notch and the food is fantastic.  I’m convinced Pie Five is going to be a huge hit in this area.”

Fields is also currently spreading the Pie Five brand throughout Oklahoma City with former NFL star Billy Bajema.

Fastcasual.com -Did you know every star on a Yelp reviewleads to a 5 to 9 percent increase in revenue for restaurants? One of the most useful tools you can utilize is Yelp for restaurants, as it increasingly affects your reputation.

In episode #045 of theSocial Restaurant Podcast, I welcome Chris Tomasso, Chief Marketing Officer at First Watch. First Watch has experienced an increase in same-store sales 29 out of the last 30 years. How do they do it? Yelp reviews are a large part of its business model. First Watch allows users to decide to review on their own without nudging or reminders, and they reply to nearly every review personally. You'll want to hear Chris talk more about Yelp for restaurants, company culture and First Watch's many successes. Continue

NRN.com - The second quarter ended on a slow note, with lackluster same-store sales in June due in part to ailing dinner and weekend traffic. However, improvements in consumer spending trends bode well for the second half of the year, according to the latest NRN-MillerPulse report released Tuesday.

Restaurant same-store sales rose 0.8 percent in June, lower than the 1.9-percent increase recorded in May. Still, the second quarter ended on a better note than the first, with same-store sales rising 1.4 percent, compared with the 1-percent increase in the prior quarter.

As has been the case for some time, poor traffic was to blame, said Larry Miller, founder and chief executive of the monthly MillerPulse report. Continue

Marinacityonline.com -A federal judge on Thursday granted a motion to dismiss the class action lawsuit against an Arlington Heights, Illinois, company owned by two River North residents.

The case against Restaurant.com had been argued before the New Jersey Supreme Court and a U.S. Court of Appeals.

In 2010, two New Jersey residents sued RDC on behalf of themselves and others over gift certificates they purchased that had expiration dates and a disclaimer in violation of New Jersey law. RDC faced as much as $1 million in fines.

The suit was dismissed, then appealed, and made it to the New Jersey Supreme Court, which ruled the gift certificates were tangible property and therefore subject to the law RDC was accused of violating. But it was up to District Judge Joel A. Pisano to decide if that meant the ruling could be applied retroactively or to future cases only. Continue

Eater.com -  A food blogger in France has been fined 1500 euros ($2,040 USD) for writing a negative review of a restaurant. According to Arret Sur Images(translated), Caroline Doudet wrote an unflattering review of Il Giardino, an Italian restaurant in Cap-Ferret, France in August of 2013 on her blog Les Chroniques Culturelles. She was brought to court six months later by the restaurant.

Engadget.com - Hey small-business owner, you're pretty savvy. I know you're pretty savvy because you're reading this website on the internet, like the savvy small-business owner above. But some of your colleagues aren't quite as connected as you are. And sometimes that disconnected crowd faces serious real-world implications as a result: Take former restaurant owner Rene Bertagna for instance. His long-standing Virginia restaurant,Serbian Crown, closed last year "after nearly 40 years" due to, he believes, an error in Serbian Crown's Google Maps listing. The error was grievous, he tellsWired, and he's now suing Google in a Virginia court. Continue

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