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Although restaurant sales showed no growth in 2010, the restaurant industry increased total ad spending, according to data from Kantar Media. Spending by the category was $5.652 billion, a 2.3% increase over 2009. According to the National Restaurant Association, restaurant sales were off 0.2% last year. For restaurants, Q1 was the strongest ($1.454 billion) for ad [...]

AOL announced the winners of its City’s Best program, where users vote for their favorite restaurants, bars, theaters, clubs, etc. We’ll skip the rest and home in on the Big Question: Who won Best Burger?             As a resident of the state that elected Rod Blagojevich its governor, twice, I can say with authority that [...]

Ξ Looking ahead: Trend forecasting, like Christmas marketing, arrives too soon. We’ve two months left in 2010 but the prognostication about 2011 already has begun. ● Mintel’s list of consumer (not necessarily foodservice) predictions leads with the dire suggestion, “Prepare for the worst.” The researcher foresees “the need for brands to demonstrate how a product [...]

Ξ Give Wendy’s credit for making social networking truly social. So often it’s one-way nonsense like the endless “Tell us why you love us!” Facebook promotions and pointless “So what’s going on?” Twitter chatter. Most chains and indies would rather than speak than listen. After all, now that you’ve amassed several hundred Twitter and Facebook [...]

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RhvhARsIyQ If the recession really has bottomed out, as some analysts would like us all to believe, and consumers are sliding back toward their old spending habits, why are burger chains still discounting like this? Jack in the Box yesterday rolled out its Really Big Chicken Sandwich Combo. For $3.99—still below the times-are-tough $4 price ceiling—customers [...]

Saveur last year reignited the patty melt debate, noting that some contend it “isn’t technically a burger, because it has no bun.” The magazine didn’t take a stand (but provided a great recipe), claiming “We love it just the same.” Restaurant chains are voicing similarly amorous feelings, declaring patty melts the new mini burgers. Keeping [...]

[March 9 update: Hungry Jack's has met the throwdown and responded already with a "$4.95 Extra Value Brekky": The deal includes one of 3 muffin sandwiches (including Eggs Benny) plus hash browns and cappuccino. The muffin's in your court McDonald's!] Ξ Don’t think discounting is done. Checkers/Rally’s has expanded its $1 offerings with the addition of “Unbelieva Burgers”: [...]

If you were holiday shopping (or more likely working) and missed them, these were the best of last week’s lists, forecasts and analyses: ► Locally sourced produce and proteins rank Nos. 1 and 2 on the National Restaurant Association’s “What’s Hot” survey for 2010. ► A continuation of the “better burgers” bandwagon is among 20 [...]

[Update: We were correct on Hardee's Portobello Mushroom Melt Thickburger. See our earlier trend-spotting post on melts.  See Hardee's commercial here.] ► Hardee’s today will announce another new menu product because it has been about 19 minutes (OK, three weeks) since the last new item—Smothered Country Potatoes—made their debut. We reported last week that sources say the [...]

Projecting same-store sales in the current quarter to be as much as 10% below year-earlier levels, Jack in the Box Chairman-CEO Linda Lang boldly outlined significant strategic changes in menu product mix, advertising message, media buys and more in the months ahead. In the chain’s 2009 fiscal fourth quarter earnings call with securities analysts on [...]

[Dec. 14 Update: Jack in the Box accelerating breakfast push. see it here.] [Dec. 4 Update: BK testing $1 English muffin sandwich to compete. See it here.] McDonald’s reportedly will expand nationally the “Mix from Six” $1 breakfast menu it has been testing in Chicago. Meanwhile, Canton, Mass.-based Dunkin’ Donuts—one of the breakfast category’s toughest [...]

First came the unsettling news of “Gordon Ramsay, At Your Service,” a stop-action-animation series in the works with Chef Ramsay tooling about on a motorcycle and sidecar borrowed from the Two Fat Ladies. Now we’re told Travel Channel next year will give us the animated  “Anthony Bourdain’s Alternate Universe.” Judging by the trailer for the six-part Web series, it’s [...]

In 2007, Tom Ryan and partners purchased a Denver burger joint, rebranding it Smashburger for the way fresh hamburger is smashed on its hot griddle. More than three dozen locations have followed and the company says it has sold franchisee agreements that will open more than 200 over the next five years. Smashburger is the [...]

McDonald’s gets not just nostalgic but downright poetic in a new campaign marking its 35 years in the United Kingdom. Beginning Oct. 10, the advertising uses the tagline “There’s a McDonald’s for everyone” in tandem with the global “I’m lovin’ it” logo.  Dubbed the ”Favourites” campaign, work from Leo Burnett/London emphasizes core menu items the chain has [...]

[Update: See reader comments below for nutrition info on new wraps.] Wendy’s is ready to roll out the Bacon Deluxe cheeseburger, but it also is checking out additional potential extensions of its Boneless Wings. In selected markets, Wendy’s is testing a Baja Wrap in conjunction with the previously reported Smokehouse BBQ Wrap. Appropriately, the Baja gets a more [...]