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That American Craft Beer Week (May 13-19) falls within National Burger Month is only fitting: the synergy between craft beers and craft burgers has helped both these businesses grow rapidly in the past decade. In his BurgerBusiness.com interview earlier this week, Slater’s 50/50 Co-founder Scott Slater said, “I attribute much of my success to craft [...]

While many others are exploring the synergies between burgers and craft beers, Zinburger Wine & Burger Bar already has jumped ahead a step. The Briad Group this week opens its third Zinburger, a 5,300-square-foot restaurant at Towne Plaza at Garden State Park in Cherry Hill, N.J., proving that a concept that seemed a little out [...]

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 [...]

Quarterly earnings conference calls by Red Robin Gourmet Burgers, The Wendy’s Company and Jack in the Box provided interesting snapshots of where the burger-restaurant business stood through the first half of 2012. Same-store sales reports were positive if not stellar. Red Robin’s comp sales for it Q2 ended July 8 were up 0.8% thanks to [...]

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, [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Leading fast-casual burger chain The Counter has opened its first licensed airport unit, this in Terminal D at Miami International Airport in partnership with contractor HMSHost Corp. As often happens with airport locations, a breakfast menu was mandated to satisfy bleary-eyed morning travelers and this Counter location has that, plus 2,150 square feet of dining space with seats [...]

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 [...]

Having watched rival McDonald’s U.S. sales heat up this summer thanks in part to smoothies and frappés while its own sales struggled to escape red ink, Burger King is looking to join the fast-beverage trend by testing a Strawberry Banana Smoothie of its own. In one mid-Atlantic test market, Burger King operators confirm that the chain [...]

McDonald’s became the world’s largest restaurant brand by watchin g, learning and adapting. Today’s second-quarter earnings call shows it still knows how to spot a trend. McDonald’s reported a 4.8% increase in global comparable sales for the quarter, including a 3.7% improvement in the U.S. and Europe jumping 5.2%. Although the economic picture—here and overseas—remains [...]

While Burger King and Subway have embraced the Seattle’s Best coffee brand to boost their breakfast business, Jack in the Box is looking farther west, to Hawaii. The chain this week continues the improvement of its breakfast menu by rolling out new Kona Classic coffee to accompany the Grilled Breakfast Sandwich introduced earlier this month. Asked [...]

[Update: Miss BK Joe? Click here for a company that says it ships BK Joe/Douwe Egberts coffee.] House brands are nice; national brands are better. That’s what Burger King apparently decided in throwing its home-grown BK Joe coffee brand under the bus in order to take up with Starbucks-owned Seattle’s Best Coffee as it battles for [...]

McDonald’s reported some impressive sales gains for 2009, but did so with little help from U.S. restaurants in the 4th quarter. Globally, same-store sales were up 10% for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2009, but rose only +0.1% in the U.S. (up 1% in December). For full-year 2009, global comp sales rose 3.8% and were [...]