NRN.com - Darden Restaurants Inc. has agreed to sell Red Lobster to San Francisco-based private equity firm Golden Gate Capital for $2.1 billion in cash, the casual-dining company said Friday.

After taxes and transaction costs, Darden expects to receive net proceeds of $1.6 billion, of which about $1 billion would be used to retire outstanding debt. The remaining $500 million to $600 million will be deployed for a share repurchase program of up to $700 million in fiscal 2015, the Orlando, Fla.-based company said. Continue

NRN.com - Some quick-service restaurants had to temporarily close or re-staff with managers Thursday as workers protested in as many as 150 U.S. cities and 33 nations, calling for minimum wages of $15 hour, according to various reports.  

The one-day protest continueda campaign launched by various organizations a year and a half agoand expanded it to international locations of large brands such as McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's and KFC.

USA Today reported that strikers claim that managers opted to briefly close down a Burger King in Dorchester, Mass., where some workers were striking, but Burger King spokesman Alix Salyers said that the unit was never closed. And while McDonald's officials insist that no McDonald's restaurants have been closed anywhere due to the strike, protesters insist that several have. Continue

Belvalante Michette Hall, 37, was arrested on Thursday after she called 911 from the Subway restaurant along the 900-block of Cox Road.

According to a 911 recording, Hall called around 5:43 p.m. to say employees had put the wrong sauce on her flatbread pizza.

“I’m down here and these people done gave me marinara sauce instead of pizza sauce and I’ve got them also down here telling me to shut up, all up in my face and everything,” Hall said in a 911 recording. “Can you please send a cop down here?”

“It’s terrible. And I got my receipt, and I told them I can’t eat that kind of sauce, and now they’re telling me I can’t get my money back,” she told 911. “And they can’t make me another pizza with pizza sauce on there.”

Hall was arrested for misuse of 911 system and booked in the Gaston County Jail. She was released three minutes later after posting a $2,000 bond.

Read more at  http://www.newstalkflorida.com/woman-arrested-for-calling-911-upset-about-subway-order/#yzm4PKAsQhr0G8ZR.99

Live5news.com - A Berkeley County man was sentenced to 60 years in prison for a 2011 armed robbery in Goose Creek. 

Solicitor Scarlett Wilson said 26-year-old Donte Samar Brown was convicted of three counts of armed robbery, five counts of kidnapping, second-degree burglary, and criminal conspiracy after nearly a week long trial. Brown must serve eighty-five percent of his sentence before being eligible for parole. 

Prosecutors say the co-defendant, Christopher Wilson, pleaded guilty to similar charges in December 2013. Wilson was sentenced to a similar term of 60 years in the South Carolina Department of Corrections.

Brown and Wilson's convictions stem from an incident on Dec. 24, 2011, when two masked men, one armed with a butcher knife and the other with a handgun, forced their way into the back door of the local Zaxby’s. Continue

NBC news.com - At first glance, there was nothing particularly noteworthy about the robbery Thursday of a restaurant in suburban Atlanta.

An armed man made off with the cash register, scuffled with employees and sped off down the road. Police are still looking for him.

It all started around 5 p.m. ET Thursday at a Waffle House in Norcross, a northeastern suburb of Atlanta, when a portly man wearing overalls and a blue ski mask walked in. Continue

Jacksonville.com - This is Florida and most Floridians love seafood. They just want to be sure that they're getting what they pay for, if it is grouper let it be grouper and not tilapia.

A database, compiled by out news partner The Florida Times-Union, reveals there is a problem with seafood being misrepresented in our community. Siena's Italian Cuisine was on the list. Oktay Kiroglu is the owner.

"It was like September or October of last year," said Kiroglu. That's when a state restaurant inspector found fish being sold as grouper when it was not. Kiroglu said he transported from one restaurant to another in an unlabeled bag. "They thought it was grouper and put it on the special," he said.

Kiroglu said there was never an intent to defraud customers "It was an honest mistake," he said, "and we apologize for what happened." Continue

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KOB.com - A federal jury on Wednesday found an Applebee's restaurant not guilty of over-serving a patron who was later involved in a deadly drunk driving crash.

However, Applebee's and the franchisee who operated the Santa Fe restaurant negotiated a settlement minutes before the verdict came down.

Four years ago, Santa Fe police said James Ruiz was driving drunk when he got into a crash, killing teenage sisters Del Lynn and Deshauna Peshlakai. The girls' family argued that Applebee's had over-served Ruiz.

The details of the settlement are confidential, but the girls' father says the lawsuit still accomplished something.

"I don't want my girls dying for nothing. We want to be heard, we want to make some changes in the rules of alcohol--people taking responsibility and sticking to their rules when it comes to alcohol the drunk driver," David Peshlakai said.

Ruiz is serving a 42 year prison sentence for the deadly crash. Continue

NRN.com - Sales and traffic bounced back somewhat for restaurant chains in March as the nation thawed after months of snow and ice, according to the latest Restaurant Performance Index, or RPI, by the National Restaurant Association.

The RPI rose to 101.4 in March, the highest level in 10 months, an increase of 0.9 percent compared with 100.5 in February. The monthly composite index tracks the health of and outlook for the U.S. restaurant industry and has remained above 100 for 13 consecutive months, which signifies a period of expansion. Continue