Fast Casual Restaurant

East Peoria, Illinois — McDonald’s Restaurants of Peoria/Bloomington will join the East Peoria Levee District with the opening of a new restaurant in September.

 Local owner-operator Scott Bandy will be overseeing the construction of the restaurant, with plans to include a modern exterior and dual drive-thru lanes. Interior features include a dual-point ordering system with new split counter function, free Wi-Fi, and digital menu boards.

Columbus, Ohio - Sbarro is entering into Bolivia with a new store opening at the Ventura Mall in Santa Cruz. Sbarro Bolivia SRL plans to open a total of 10 eateries in Bolivia during the next decade.

The franchise agreement with Sbarro Bolivia SRL further expands Sbarro's footprint in South America, which currently includes eateries in Brazil and Colombia, as well as locations launching soon in Peru.

Canton, Mass. - Dunkin' Donuts has signed a multi-unit store development agreement with new franchisees Wendover Donuts LLC to develop five restaurants in North and South Greensboro, North Carolina. The locations will incorporate traditional and combination unit development with sister brand, Baskin-Robbins, with the first store planned to open in 2015.

Austin, Texas – Dining out appears to be a big part of consumers’ summer plans. According to two recent surveys of more than 1,000 adults conducted by digital offers provider RetailMeNot, respondents estimate on average they will eat out nearly every day of the week (six days) and likely nine times a week during vacation.

In its PizzaRev case study series, CSA offers an insider’s look at the conception, initial rollout and growth of the southern California-based fast-casual concept PizzaRev. Likened to “the Chipotle of pizza,” this innovative chain lets customers choose from an artisanal array of toppings to craft their own pizzas very quickly in a high-end stone hearth oven.

Smashburger is getting on the right track when it comes to reducing its energy use. The fast-casual, fast-growing better-burger eatery has deployed a Web-based energy management system that helps it identify energy cost-savings while also providing a consistent level of comfort.

Youngstown, Ohio — Chipotle Mexican Grill will debut at the Ohio Valley Mall in St. Clairsville, Ohio, in November. It will be the first Chipotle in the Ohio Valley region. The restaurant’s 2,195-sq.-ft. space is in a building currently undergoing renovation. Two other new merchants, to be announced in the near future, will join Chipotle in the building.

Cafaro affiliated companies own and manage the recently renovated Ohio Valley Mall.

New York – Soupman Inc., parent company of specialty restaurant chain The Original Soupman, is partnering with the Atlanta Franchise Group, a franchise development company brought on to grow The Original Soupman's franchise presence across the country.

Ann Arbor, Mich. – Pizza chains Pizza Hut and Papa John’s are tied for the highest customer satisfaction score among quick-service restaurants. According to the 2014 American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), Papa John’s (unchanged from 2013) and Pizza Hut (+3%) share the lead at 82, with Little Caesar (-2%) and Domino’s Pizza (-1%) not far behind at 80.

Irvine, Calif. - Baja Fresh is piloting a solution from Sparkfly that will allow it to launch promotions through Google Search, Facebook, Yelp, Opera Mediaworks and UberMedia, and assess the effectiveness of each individual channel with real-time redemption data. Leveraging the technology from the Sparkfly platform, the campaign includes information on basket size and individual items purchased.