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Craig Bahner may only have started as Wendy’s chief marketing officer in April, but he’s already weighing significant changes to strengthen the brand. Speaking to analysts at Wendy’s Investors Day program on June 28, Bahner outlined plans to accelerate new-menu-product development, revise its 99¢ value menu into a two-tier pricing structure, increase its use of [...]

McDonald’s European operation loves America, especially New York. A New York Classic double burger is currently on offer in Austria and the NYCrispy has been one of the most popular LTOs across Europe in the past year. But now McDonald’s in Germany is daring to improve on the American favorite by introducing what it calls [...]

Chef Bryant Ng received his classical culinary training at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. His menu at The Spice Table in Los Angeles is global and elegant but still informal enough to include a killer burger. That may be one reason he is one of 12 recently named “Best New Chefs for 2012” by Food [...]

A year ago, Carl’s Jr./Hardee’s brash “We Believe in Burgers” TV commercial proclaimed, “We believe in putting hot models in our commercials because ugly ones don’t sell burgers.” That commercial may not have been politically correct but it is empirically true: The two chains reported solid sales for the 16-week quarter ended May 21, 2012, a [...]

NPD Group released new research on the effectiveness of online marketing. Its CREST study finds 6% of restaurant visits (926 million visits) were influenced by online marketing during the first quarter of 2012,. Those online-influenced visits accounted for 8% of restaurant spending. Not surprisingly, what had the most impact were pocketbook-targeted applications: deals and special [...]

Spicy has become a basic QSR flavor, along with barbecue. McDonald’s is doing a spicy LTO version of Chicken McBites; Jack in the Box has its Chipotle Chicken Club sandwich. But fiery is another matter, and that’s the territory into which Red Robin Gourmet Burgers is wandering. The chain has added two new “styles” or [...]

The restaurant industry is slowly recovering from the recession. The National Restaurant Association forecasts real sales growth this year of just 0.2% for full-service restaurants and 0.4% for limited-service restaurants. That growth pace only intensifies the battle for customer dollars, and limited-time menu specials, often with branded ingredients, are an increasingly popular marketing tool in [...]

McDonald’s unveiled new uniforms that will be worn by the crew working its four restaurants at next month’s London Olympics and subsequently by staff at all UK restaurants. The look borrows from TV’s “Mad Men” while rejecting baseball caps as being “too American.” Created by British designer Wayne Hemingway, co-founder of the Red or Dead [...]

And we’re worried about soft drinks larger than 16 ounces? Burger King is marking its 5th anniversary in Japan with the limited-time offer a five-patty Whopper. And to make excess more accessible, the chain has cut the price from ¥1,100 (roughly $14) to just ¥550 ($7). A large combo with fries and a drink will [...]

Burger King’s spring TV campaign promoting its menu revamp promised, “Exciting things are happening at Burger King.” And it appears that excitement was measurable. YouGov BrandIndex, which charts consumer perception of brands, says Burger King’s celebrity campaign had a dramatically positive impact of both men’s and women’s views of the chain. Men responded favorably to [...]

Burger King’s newfound ambitiousness continues to surprise. The chain announced a new summer menu that includes not just the rollout of the Carolina BBQ Whopper as predicted here earlier this week, but a rolling series of limited-time items that includes all of the products it had tested earlier this year in Nashville, including the much [...]

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 [...]

McDonald’s could be excused if it chose to sit back and rest up for its big sponsorship role at next month’s London Olympics. Instead, the chain is sponsoring another big sporting event: the 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, known as Euro 2012. It starts tomorrow (June 8) with matches held through July 1 in Poland [...]

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 [...]