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The founder of Jimmy John’s sandwich shops says he’s considering moving his company’s headquarters from Champaign to Florida because of Illinois’ tax increase.
Jimmy John Liautaud told The (Champaign) News-Gazette Tuesday that he’s gathering information on a potential move and will ask the company’s board to decide. Get the full story »
Yum Brands Inc. said it’s shopping for a buyer for its Long John Silver’s and A&W All-American Food Restaurants to focus on international expansion.
The company, which also operates Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and KFC, said the chains don’t fit in with its long-term growth strategy, and it doesn’t expect the sale to have a material effect on its ongoing earnings or cash flow. Get the full story »
Estonia’s Consumer Protection Board said U.S. fastfood franchise McDonald’s Corp. may have used the Estonian changeover from kroon to euro as a cover to raise prices, according to a report from the BNS news agency Monday. Get the full story »
Lady Gaga’s favorite Judas Priest burger will still cost $12 at Kuma’s Corner as the trendy Chicago eatery is resisting raising prices though the cost of making that burger has gone up.
“You can’t pass it on, not in times like this,” Kuma’s manager Frank DeBoss said of beef prices that recently rose 10 percent. Get the full story »
Chef Grant Achatz places a dish on a server's tray at Alinea, one of the Chicago restaurants featured in the AAA's latest restaurant guide. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
Chicago ranked as the top town for foodies in AAA’s latest restaurant guide, a title the city is holding for the fifth year in a row.
The AAA Motor Club gave seven restaurants in Chicago five diamonds for 2011, the travel agency’s highest rating. Las Vegas ranks second with five restaurants, and New York is third with three. Get the full story »
Cox News Service | Atlanta-based Chick-fil-A says diners reserved nearly 1 million free spicy breakfast biscuits on getspicychicken.com, starting on Dec. 27. Some stores ended the promotion on Jan. 1, while others continued it until Jan. 8.
The biscuit went on sale on Monday. Get the full story »
New York-based startup VillageVines has raised a first round of funding from Hearst Interactive Media, GrandBanks Capital and High Peaks Venture Partners for its exclusive restaurant site. Get the full story »
Even as its U.S. parent bows to consumer demand for healthier products, McDonald’s in Japan is ladling on the calories — an unusual strategy in a country known for its healthy diet and longevity.
Japan’s top restaurant chain by number of stores, McDonald’s Holdings Co. (Japan) Ltd. rolled out its Big America 2 campaign last week, featuring four burgers named for U.S. locales. The Idaho burger, which will make its debut by the end of this month, features a quarter-pound beef patty, melted cheese, a deep-fried hash brown, strips of bacon, onions and pepper-and-mustard sauce. The calorie count: 713. Get the full story »
Alfalfa sprouts.
By Alejandra Cancino and Monica Eng | Jimmy John’s is replacing the alfalfa sprouts on its menu with clover sprouts, the company said today.
The popular restaurant chain pulled alfalfa sprouts from its menus in December after a number of customers tested positive for salmonella. The recent outbreak has infected more than 100 people in 18 states.
Jimmy John’s said the switch will take place immediately in their corporate-owned stores, and that it will ask its franchises to follow suit. Get the full story »
By Monica Eng | The Food and Drug Administration issued a warning Monday for consumers to avoid alfalfa sprouts and spicy sprouts that were grown on a farm in Urbana, Ill., because of a suspected link to salmonella. Get the full story »
McDonald’s promoted its vice president and general manager of the Indianapolis region to vice president of multicultural marketing.
Edgardo A. Navarro Linares will be responsible for the company’s strategic and ethnic consumer marketing efforts in the United States. Get the full story »
A 3-year-old eats fries from his Happy Meal in a California McDonald's. (AP /Eric Risberg)
After months of threats, the Center for Science in the Public Interest has sued Oak Brook-based McDonald’s, alleging that its practice of giving toys with children’s meals is deceptive advertising.
The organization garnered a slew of media attention last summer when it threatened to sue McDonald’s, claiming that the toys constitute a method of circumventing parental control and teaching children unhealthy eating from a early age. Get the full story »
McDonald’s Corp. plans to double the number of its restaurants in China to 2,000 by 2013, a senior executive said on Wednesday as it speeds up expansion in the fastest growing major economy.
The top global fast food chain, which opened its first outlet in the southern boom town of Shenzhen 20 years ago, is facing fierce competition with Yum Brands Inc., the parent of Pizza Hut and KFC, which has roughly 3,700 outlets in China. Get the full story »
Crain’s Chicago Business | The Chicago Plan Commission is scheduled Thursday to consider plans for a 4,600-square-foot Chick-fil-A restaurant in the parking lot of the Home Depot on Elston Avenue.
From the Financial Times | The chief executive of McDonald’s has described critics of the company who have tried to curtail the sale of Happy Meals aimed at children as “food police” and accused them of undermining parents in making decisions for their families, in an interview with the Financial Times
“We’ll continue to sell Happy Meals,” said Skinner adding that the new rule “really takes personal choice away from families who are more than capable of making their own decisions”. Get the full story>>
