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The Final Four have become the Final Two: The 2012 Burger Brackets Championship match will pit the unexpected No. 16 seed Andy’s/Highway 55 against the brand that got into the competition via the play-in round: Ted’s Montana Grill. Fans of Johnny Rockets and Elevation Burger put up amazingly strong fights with hundreds of votes, but [...]

Accelerating the reworking of its menu, Burger King is looking at all aspects and dayparts for revision. That includes creating new entrée salads, a category in which it hasn’t been active for several years. Three new Garden Fresh Salads are being offered in selected markets at premium prices (though prices vary among markets). They include [...]

Meet Gregory. If he looks familiar, it may be because he looks like the weary history teacher we all had in high school. If you were especially unlucky he also was your counselor who never really knew your name. And didn’t care. Yep, him. His is the face McDonald’s has chosen to represent the new [...]

Zach Conine doesn’t. And he’s cool with charging $5 for fries, too. The VP-development for LEV Restaurant Group says the menu for its i♥burgers restaurant that it opened in December 2010 in the ultra toney The Shoppes at The Palazzo hotel/casino is not just fairly priced, it’s the least-expensive dining option in the  complex. LEV [...]

What a weekend! What a competition! The two-time champ has been dethroned and four brash brands battle it on the Road to the Championship! These four chains are still standing thanks to outpouring of support from their fans. To vote, go to the original Bracket post HERE.

Smashburger is again adding a national specialty burger alongside its menu of customized and locally themed burgers. The Fresh Mex Burger will be offered until April 29. To drive trial, Smashburger has a coupon on its Facebook page that gets users a free entrée with purchase of the Fresh Mex Burger or flanker Fresh Mex [...]

Don Thompson was named chief executive officer of McDonald’s Corp., effective July 1, 2012, following the announced retirement of Vice Chairman-CEO Jim Skinner. Skinner, 67, has worked at McDonald’s for 41 years and has served as CEO since November 2004. Thompson has been with the company for 22 years. A graduate of Purdue University with [...]

New research from The NPD Group shows that rather than being a monolithic daypart, breakfast is better understood as a collection of eating and drinking occasions. And many adults, 41% according to NPD’s Morning MealScape 2011 study, indulge in two or more such occasions on a typical morning. The average number of eating/drinking occasions per [...]

Burger King next week will show that it, too, can create innovative, upscale burgers when it introduces the Lamb Flatbread burger as an LTO in its UK restaurants. As far as I can tell, it will be the first lamb burger from a major QSR chain. Fast casuals and upscale independents have offered lamb burgers [...]

Burger King Holdings announced positive sales everywhere but the U.S. and Canada despite the introductions of new burgers and new advertising. Burger King reported a Q4 profit of $29.4 million, compared with a $93.9 million loss a year ago. Revenue declined 0.7% to $580.6 million. Systemwide same-store sales were +1.2% thanks to significant gains in [...]

Burger King hopes to grab a bigger share of the growing chicken-snack category with the introductions of Chicken Strips and Crispy Chicken Snack Wraps. Crispy Chicken Snack Wraps, available with Honey Mustard or Ranch sauce, are now moving into selected markets. They will be included on Burger King’s expanded $1 Value Menu where all items [...]

Restaurants spent $5.875 billion on measured advertising in 2011, up 4.4% from the previous year, according to new data from Kantar Media. That surge comes as total spending by all U.S. business categories increased just 0.4% last year to $144 billion. Read the complete Kantar report here. McDonald’s remains the industry’s most heavily advertised brand, [...]

The number of U.S. restaurants is shrinking. But quick-service burger restaurants, both chains and independents, didn’t get that memo and continue to grow. Research released Monday by Chicago-based The NPD Group finds that the total number of U.S. restaurants declined by 6,483 or 1.1% between the fall of 2010 and the fall of 2011. The [...]

BurgerBusiness.com’s 3rd annual Burger Brackets are back for 2012 because March just isn’t Madness without them! Here’s how these brackets work: ◙ Once again 64 brands have been invited to play, representing a mix of big burger chains, small burger chains and indie burger joints. ◙ These 64 burger brands are divided among four brackets, [...]

Just when every other QSR thought it was safe to bring out a couple of premium-price items to bolster their bottom lines, McDonald’s cuts them off at the knees by casually dropping the bomb that it’s going to revamp its value-menu lineup. And that was right after McDonald’s had totally dunked on QSR competitors by [...]