Paul Westra, a well-known restaurant market analyst for Chicago-based Stifel, set off quite a kerfuffle last week.  He downgraded 11 leading restaurant company stocks, noting a broad-based slowing of same-store sales since the first of the year, according to a survey his firm conducts. He said the trend “reflects the start of a U.S. restaurant…

Softer sales and a dampened outlook among operators led to a decline for the second consecutive month in the National Restaurant Association’s Restaurant Performance Index, but even as restaurant performance and operators’ expectation continued to fall, the overall numbers still attest to expansion in the industry. The RPI stood at 100.3 in June, down 0.3…

Consumers’ confidence remains at a fairly high level, but they were a bit less optimistic in July than a month or year ago, according to separate surveys from the University of Michigan’s Surveys of Consumers and the Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Survey. According to the UM Surveys, the recent decline is attributed to rising concerns,…

Scotsman Ice Systems has appointed Nick Mirkovich as its new Vice President-Sales and Marketing. Mirkovich, based in the company’s corporate headquarters in Vernon Hills, Ill., will be responsible for managing sales through distribution, key chain and direct accounts throughout the Americas. He joins Scotsman after nearly 15 years working in sales, marketing, product management and…

Now that it’s found success with its next-generation “Experience of the Future” restaurant in parts of Europe, Canada, and Australia, McDonald’s plans to further expand the program in the United States. The company said in its second-quarter earnings conference call that more than half of its restaurants in Canada have been fully converted to the…

Chipotle Mexican Grill will enter the burger market this fall with a limited-menu concept called Tasty Made. The first location will open this fall in Lancaster, Ohio. The menu will include burgers, fries, and shakes. The Denver chain, still regaining its sales footing following E. coli outbreaks that affected its primary brand restaurants in 14…

Two major foodservice consulting firms, Atlanta-based Camacho Associates and Restaurant Design Service, have joined together their organizations, aiming to create a stronger, more competitive company. The merger brings together 112 years of experience designing commercial kitchens and laundries. The combined company will operate be headquartered in Atlanta, with offices in Charlotte, N.C., and Eufaula, Ala.,…

Bettcher Industries has tapped Gregory Nolff as Area Sales Manager in the company’s Food Service Equipment Group. In this position, Nolff is responsible for the sale of all Bettcher foodservice equipment to operators and authorized channel partners in the western states and provinces of the United States and Canada. He also is responsible for identifying,…

Now that it’s found success with its next-generation “Experience of the Future” restaurant in parts of Europe, Canada, and Australia, McDonald’s plans to further expand the program in the United States. The company said in its second-quarter earnings conference call that more than half of its restaurants in Canada have been fully converted to the…

It’s official: coffee brewer manufacturers can start qualifying their products for Energy Star certification, effective immediately. The qualifying process comes after industry outreach and procedurals by the Environmental Protection Agency to determine parameters and requirements for Energy Star certification. Those new, finalized guidelines, known as Version 1.0 Commercial Coffee Brewers Program Requirements, including the Version…