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Wendy’s this year will introduce nationally the Pretzel Bacon Cheeseburger that it has tested in a few markets, according to Janney Montgomery Scott Analyst Mark Kalinowski. The premium, pretzel-bun burger has enough upward sales potential that Kalinowski upgraded The Wendy’s Co. to Buy. “We do not know exactly when this product will go national; Wendy’s [...]

In April 2012, Good Times Burgers & Frozen Custard hired Heathcote Capital LLC, many assumed the Golden, Colo.-based regional QSR was seeking a buyer. But President-CEO said that on the contrary Good Times was looking to buy. This week 39-unit Good Times announced deals with Charlotte, N.C.-based Bad Daddy’s Burger Bar. BurgerBusiness.com spoke with Good [...]

McDonald’s Corp. releases Q1 2013 sales results on Friday and the numbers aren’t expected to be pretty. Or positive. A 1.5% decrease in global comp sales for February after a 1.9% decline in January have fairly well sealed the deal on the quarter. There also are signals that consumer confidence and spending are still fragile [...]

Opened in 2008, Blanc Burgers + Bottles was one of the early adopters of the modern burger-bar concept and was the inaugural winner of the BurgerBusiness.com Burger Brackets competition in 2010 (it repeated in 2011; the 2013 winner will be crowned on Monday). That longevity means it has seen the number of upscale burger competitors [...]

Burger King’s Spring Menu for 2013 explodes in literally a dozen directions like fireworks. As BurgerBusiness.com tipped last week, new menu items include a Chipotle Whopper and Donut Holes. But this menu flies all over the board: there are a stuffed beef burger, regular beef burger, turkey and chicken sandwiches plus a chicken wrap. It [...]

A McDonald’s franchisee says the chain will remove Angus Third Pounder burgers, Chicken Selects and apple-walnut salad, a move likely intended to clear menu space for an expected rollout of McWraps and other new items. McEnaney Enterprises, a Princeton, Ky.-based McDonald’s operator, announced via Twitter that the Selects , the salad and Angus burgers all [...]

Jake’s Wayback Burgers is no stranger to change. The chain that began in Newark, Del., in 1991 simply as Jake’s augmented its name in 2010 to gain some separation from all the other Jake’s. But that was two years and a couple dozen locations ago. On March 1, the chain introduces a new menu intended [...]

A Massachusetts native, Frank Scibelli has been a successful restaurateur in Charlotte, N.C., for many years. He already operated Mexican spot Cantina 1511 and Italian dinnerhouse Mama Ricotta’s when he decided to also ride the upscale-burger wave. He and Dennis Thompson (founder of the Lone Star Steakhouse chain) opened the first Bad Daddy’s Burger Bar [...]

In his interview with BurgerBusiness.com earlier this month, J.M. Owens, president of the Greater Atlanta McDonald’s Operators Association, said that one challenge keeping McDonald’s from offering breakfast all day is simply space limitation: There isn’t enough grill space in a standard McDonald’s kitchen to prepare two menus—breakfast and lunch/dinner—at once. In Rockford, Ill., northwest of [...]

The chef/restaurateur you love to hate meets the food you love to eat. Gordon Ramsay is opening a burger joint. Gordon Ramsay BurGR opens Dec. 22 at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, four days after another new eponymous operation, Gordon Ramsay Pub & Grill opens down the street at Caesars Palace. That [...]

Burger King Worldwide’s recently released third-quarter results were reasonably strong, with a 1.4% systemwide increase in same-store sales. The U.S./Canada segment did even better, up 1.6%. But Asia/Pacific comps were down 2.2% as a result, the company said, of weak sales in Australia and Korea. This wasn’t the first time this year that Australia, where [...]

Sonic Drive-In fills a competitive gap in its menu with the introduction of a new line of Premium Chicken sandwiches. The feature sandwiches are Crispy or Grilled Asiago Caesar Chicken sandwiches that feature white-meat chicken, tomato, lettuce, a signature Caesar dressing and sliced Asiago cheese on warm, whole-grain ciabatta buns. Less-dressed-up Crispy Chicken and Grilled [...]

“It has been a huge hit for us. The brave don’t hesitate to give it a try but others are often urged by others who have tried it and loved it,” says Mike Meehan, co-owner (with Chris Dodge) of Fat Guy’s Burger Bar in Tulsa, Okla. “I would say that 90% of the people who [...]

Less than two months after reorganizing its menu boards to spotlight items with 400 or fewer calories, McDonald’s Corp. announced that beginning next week it will include calorie information for all items on in-store and drive-thru menus. In doing so, it gets a jump on a requirement in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act [...]

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, with a little help from Seattle magazine (which earlier picked its Top 25), selects the Emerald City’s Top 20 Burgers. Where specific burgers were mentioned, they are included below. In some cases, no specialty burger was mentioned, so a tasty-sounding choice was added. Check the menus; surely there’s an idea begging to [...]