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Burger King once again has revamped its coffee, this time adopting a “a new, 100% Latin American arabica bean custom blend” from supplier Seattle’s Best, a unit of Starbucks. The new Smooth Roast platform includes brewed coffee, iced coffee and, for the first time, lattés (beginning in March), which moves Burger King a bit closer [...]

Smashburger disproved the notion that a brand couldn’t be both local and national when it created special burgers for each of the markets or regions in which it operates. For example, in Costa Rica, where its first store opened on Dec. 1, Smashburger devised a burger topped with local favorites chorizo, grilled Turrialba cheese, refried [...]

Burger and brew? You bet. Burger with wine? Many burger lovers and restaurateurs aren’t sure they go together. But Wine Enthusiast magazine has released its 2012 list of the 100 Best Wine Restaurants in America. The magazine says these operations “have established themselves as standouts for wine lovers, boasting visionary beverage programs and innovative menus, [...]

Is there a more curious cross-cultural mashup than an American fast-food chain hawking a Taiwanese beverage in Germany? Meet “Chan McTi” a Chinese character who may cross the border into caricature as he introduces bubble tea—tea with tapioca pearls—to McCafé in Germany. In his lemon-lime suit, Chan’s antic energy will make you wonder what’s really [...]

Starbucks’ $100 million acquisition of San Francisco-based Bay Bread LLC and its La Boulange bakery brand speeds the transformation of its coffee shops into bakery/cafes. As such, many observers see Starbucks looking to take share from top bakery/cafe brand Panera Bread. But Starbucks may also be moving to blunt the rapid growth of McCafé. Coffee [...]

Starting today, parents who purchase Happy Meals at McDonald’s restaurants in the UK will have the option of a new proprietary sparkling drink called Fruitizz. A mix of 60% fruit juice (from apples, grapes and raspberries) and natural sparkling water, the beverage has no added sugars or artificial colors or flavors. Rather than be aseptically [...]

The Greene Turtle Sports Bar & Grille chain still believes in burgers. On Jan. 2, the 30-unit mid-Atlantic chain introduced a limited-time menu of four half-pound stuffed burgers: the Spicy Jack (stuffed with jalapeňos, pepper-Jack and Cheddar cheeses); the Pep & Cheese (stuffed with pepperoni, fresh basil and Provolone cheese); the Bacon & Cheddar (stuffed [...]

Wendy’s North America systemwide same-store sales increased 2.3% in the second quarter, ended July 3, 2011, President-CEO Roland Smith reported this morning. Average check increased 1.4% in the quarter; transactions rose 0.9%.  Now free of Arby’s drag, The Wendy’s Co. appears energized about strengthening the Wendy’s brand. Most of what was discussed on today’s analyst [...]

In select Midwest markets, Hardee’s is offering a BLT Double Cheeseburger—topped just as you’d guess from the name—for a value-friendly $2.39 or 2 for $4. To go with it, a 32-oz. Coke or tea is just $1.  Such pricing looks to be the new QSR norm this summer as commodity costs make deep discounting on [...]

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgYoX1IiJOI It’s a sign of McCafé’s importance to McDonald’s—in Europe at least—that the chain that made the Coca-Cola-glass giveaway a promotional staple is now giving out coffee cups. Beginning today, McDonald’s in France (where it is colloquially called McDo) once again offers customers one of six brightly colored coffee cup from well-known kitchenware marketer Revol with purchase of a [...]

Sonic plans to simplify its crowded food-and-drink lineup when it introduces new menu boards on May 26. But gaining breathing room comes at the cost of removing 18 slower-selling items. At the same time, however, the chain is adding new limited-time Loaded Burgers, drinks and a dessert.  KeyBanc Capital Markets’ restaurant analyst Brad Ludington reports [...]

When it created the “M Selections by McDonald’s” menu in Australia in 2009, the strategy was to set apart the chain’s premium-price items, including the Mighty Angus and Grand Angus burgers that had recently been introduced. As advertising explained, these menu items are “A little bit fancy.” Now Macca’s, as the chain is colloquially called [...]

Apparently it’s crystal-ball-prediction time and I’m already late. So I’ll give one prediction plus a few burger trend observations.  2011 will be the Year of the Stuffed Burger. Why? Because Burger King is going to show off what its new broilers can do by adding cheese-stuffed burgers early next year. Once it does, burger joints [...]

McDonald’s uses a broad array of marketing tactics, but historically it has left head-to-head-taste-test comparisons to bloggers. That’s why it’s interesting that the chain this week has launched a taste-test TV commercial for its McCafé coffee in Australia. httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H36D7puFkZU The spot opens with a young woman’s assertion that “Blind taste tests have shown that more people [...]

So the obvious question is how McDonald’s can report a 5.3% increase in third-quarter same-store sales when competitor Jack in the Box is down 9.4% for the latest quarter, Sonic is down 6.4%, Carl’s Jr. is down 7.4, Wendy’s is down 1.7% (Q2), and the National Restaurant Association’s Restaurant Performance Index has been flat for [...]