Thursday at 6:29 a.m.
Filed under:
Beverages,
Food,
Franchises
By Dow Jones Newswires-Wall Street Journal
Coffee cups at the McDonald's restaurant at Fullerton & Central in Chicago. (Phil Velasquez/Chicago Tribune)
Fickle coffee drinkers are most loyal to a purveyor better known for burgers, a new study found. Coffee customers of McDonald’s Corp., said they were more loyal to the home of the Big Mac than those who frequent Starbucks Corp. and Dunkin’ Donuts in a study by market research firm CustomersDNA LLC.
The as-yet unpublished study involved 15,000 fast-food customers who were asked about their coffee and breakfast-buying habits, only 29 percent of McDonald’s customers said they go to a Starbucks or Dunkin’ Donuts for coffee or breakfast in a given month. Get the full story »
April 13 at 4:55 p.m.
Filed under:
Food,
IPOs,
International
By Reuters
Arcos Dorados Holdings, a large South American franchisee of U.S. fast-food chain McDonald’s sold more shares than originally planned at a price above the proposed range in an IPO on Wednesday, a source familiar with the deal said. Get the full story »
April 13 at 12:43 p.m.
Filed under:
Beverages,
Food,
Restaurants
By Tribune newspapers
ORLANDO — A 2-year-old boy was accidentally served sangria instead of orange juice at a Lakeland Olive Garden last month, prompting Orlando-based Darden Restaurants to caution its employees to be more careful with alcoholic drinks.
Earlier this week, a toddler was mistakenly given a small amount of alcohol at a Detroit-area Applebee’s restaurant — because a mixed drink was mislabeled as apple juice. Get the full story »
April 13 at 10:55 a.m.
Filed under:
Earnings,
Energy,
Food
By Reuters
U.S. agribusiness and trading giant Cargill said on Wednesday its quarterly earnings rose 30 percent, lifted by its grain processing business. Get the full story »
April 13 at 10:37 a.m.
Filed under:
Beverages,
Investing
By Associated Press
Bottles of Jim Beam bourbon sit on a shelf in a liquor store in Deerfield, Illinois, U.S., on Nov. 1, 2010. (Tim Boyle/Bloomberg)
Fortune Brands Inc. plans to pour money into marketing its liquor brands like Jim Beam and Maker’s Mark as it prepares to become a standalone spirits company.
A top executive also says it will keep an eye out for potential acquisitions. Get the full story »
By Reuters
U.S. fast-food chain McDonald’s Corp. said Wednesday it had scrapped a television commercial in the devoutly Catholic Philippines after facing a barrage of criticism from church leaders. Get the full story »
April 12 at 4:07 p.m.
Filed under:
Food,
International
By Associated Press
McDonald Corp.’s biggest franchisee, Argentina-based Arcos Dorados Holdings Inc., is expected to go public this week in an offering whose value could approach $1 billion, the latest sign that the market for initial public offerings is heating up. Get the full story »
April 12 at 12:01 a.m.
Filed under:
Food,
Restaurants,
Work culture
By Mary Ellen Podmolik
McDonald’s Corp. and 11 other companies were tapped Tuesday by Working Mother magazine as the best companies for hourly employees in 2011. Get the full story »
April 11 at 2:37 p.m.
Filed under:
Food,
Franchises,
Restaurants,
Updated
By Dow Jones Newswires
Wendy's natural-cut fries debuted in November. (Wendy's/Arby's)
Wendy’s/Arby’s Group Inc. is standing up to its biggest burger rival, McDonald’s Corp., by putting its marketing dollars toward gaining more french fry market share. By changing its recipe to differ more from McDonald’s french fries, Wendy’s is choosing to compete by being unique, rather than solely by trying to be better.
“French fries are a significant part of our menu,” said Ken Calwell, Wendy’s chief marketing officer. “And it’s so hard to have something unique and different, that still tastes good, in the fast-food industry. So, we see the new fries as a huge opportunity for us.” Get the full story »
April 8 at 2:47 p.m.
Filed under:
Chicago executives,
Food,
Restaurants,
Updated
By Dow Jones Newswires
McDonald’s Corp. Chief Executive Jim Skinner received a total of $9.7 million in compensation in 2010, including his roughly $42,000 annual salary increase and a 38 percent increase in his annual performance bonus. Get the full story »
April 8 at 6:31 a.m.
Filed under:
Food,
International,
Restaurants
By CNN
The Japanese unit of McDonald’s Corp. said Friday that same store sales in March declined 7.3 percent on year, falling short of year-earlier levels for the first time in four months due to the massive earthquake and tsunami that struck northeast Japan. Get the full story »
By Dow Jones Newswires-Wall Street Journal
Ronald McDonald slaps first graders' hands as they head to lunch at Dawes Elementary School in Evanston in 2008. (Heather Stone/Chicago Tribune)
McDonald’s Corp. is putting its long-time character Ronald McDonald back on television and bolstering his web presence, resetting its sights on younger consumers after its recent push to target adults with specialty coffee and smoothies.
The new commercials starting Wednesday, starring McDonald’s mascot of 48 years, encourage kids to go to HappyMeal.com, with parents’ permission, to play games and create photos with Ronald. Get the full story »
April 6 at 8:30 a.m.
Filed under:
Food,
Packaged foods
By Michael Oneal
A tub of Garrett's caramel popcorn. (Garrett)
Chicago’s iconic Garrett Popcorn is giving away free snack-sized bags of its CaramelCrisp from 11 a.m, until 2 p.m. at all of its stores today, in a promotion celebrating National Caramel Popcorn Day.
Garrett’s will donate $1 to Save the Children’s Japan Earthquake Tsunami Children in Emergency Fund. Through the end of today, Garrett is also donating $2 from every popcorn tin sold to Save the Children.
Get the full story »
April 5 at 1:51 p.m.
Filed under:
Food,
Policy,
Politics,
Updated
By Emily Bryson York
A child eating fries from a McDonald's Happy Meal at Navy Pier, July 7, 2010. (William DeShazer/Chicago Tribune)
A New York City councilman is planning to introduce legislation to ban McDonald’s fast food meals unless they meet certain nutritional standards.
Councilman Leroy Comrie of Queens plans to announce the legislation at a press event at 11 a.m. CST, according to his chief of staff. The proposed bill would make it illegal to distribute toys, games, trading cards or admission tickets along with any meal for children unless they have less than 500 calories, 600 mg of sodium and 35 percent of calories from fat, excluding nuts, seeds and nut butters. Get the full story »
April 5 at 11:04 a.m.
Filed under:
Food,
M&A,
Packaged foods
By Reuters
Cans of Pringles on display in New York, April 5, 2011. (Reuters/Shannon Stapleton)
Diamond Foods Inc. is buying Procter & Gamble Co.’s Pringles chips business in a deal valued at $1.5 billion.
Analysts have been speculating for years that Procter & Gamble might shed Pringles, as the world’s biggest consumer products maker had indicated in the past that the food business didn’t fit in with the rest of its portfolio. Get the full story »
