This week on Nation’s restaurant News, the biggest news was that Flynn Restaurant Group bid $816 million to buy NPC International out of bankruptcy. The deal would give Flynn a total of more than 2,500 restaurants.
Other restaurant companies continued to report their third-quarter earnings, with casual-dining chain Red Robin seeing same-store-sales declines of 25.1% and quick-service chain Wendy’s seeing increases of 7% in the U.S. NRN took a close look at the latter’s plans to restructure operations and make other moves tied to franchisees, new growth and breakfast.
McDonald’s this week unveiled a sweeping growth strategy, including introduction of a crispy chicken sandwich, a new loyalty program and plant-based menu items. NRN spoke to analysts about these changes to find out if the quick-service burger giant is trying to catch up to rivals.
Across the country on Election Day, a variety of ballot initiatives impacting restaurants passed. These span from minimum-wage increases to third-party delivery wins to legalized recreational marijuana. Meanwhile, COVID cases continued to rise, and cities and states tightened restrictions, with Massachusetts setting a curfew and Chicago closing indoor dining altogether.
Click through to read these stories and see what else was trending on NRN.com this week.