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Menu prices rose 0.3% in May, as foodservice operators continued to raise prices more than competitors in food-retail outlets including grocery stores. For the last 12 months, menu- price increases now outpace grocery-store price increases for the first time since early 2010. Menu prices are up 2.9% on an unadjusted annual basis while food-at-home prices…

Burger King is setting its sights, and its crown, on China. On June 15, the burger chain announced that it will open 1,000 restaurants in the world’s most populous country during the next five to seven years. There are currently just 63 Burger King restaurants in China, compared with more than 1,400 McDonald’s outlets there.…

Prices for food at the wholesale level fell in May after rising in March and April, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Producer Price Index, released June 13. At the finished goods level, prices were down 0.6%, while the National Restaurant Association calculates overall wholesale food prices fell 0.5%. The PPI also…

Scoping the real trends as we head toward our annual E&S forecast.

Given the economic uncertainties in Europe and Asia, and their possible impact on domestic foodservice (see related article this issue), FER Fortnightly asked Technomic V.P. Joe Pawlak if the research firm announced any revision of its current foodservice operator forecasts for this year and 2013 at its Trends & Directions Conference, held June 20. No,…

Think it’s easy to win a KI Award? Think again.

Technomic Inc. held its annual Restaurant Trends & Directions Conference in Rosemont, Ill., on June 20. Among the highlights of this wide-ranging look at the trends driving the foodservice business was a presentation by Dr. Arjun Chakravarti, the Chicago-based research firm’s consulting economist. Economic risks in Europe and Asia could indeed negatively impact foodservice spending…