Full Service

Panera Bread is buying a brand it once owned. And it's also getting a new CEO.

Starbucks Coffee Company is doing something it has never done before: breaking bread on site.

Entertainment and dining are the current bywords of brick-and-mortar retail, and one will be replacing the other in a remake of a center in Asheville, North Carolina.

The Kroger Co. is looking to extend its share of consumers' food dollars — this time, however, it’s aiming for the dollars spent on meals outside the home.    The supermarket retailer is opening its first-ever full-service restaurant, which will be located next to Kroger's new Marketplace store in Union, Kentucky. In a nod to the year Kroger was founded, the restaurant will be called Kitchen 1883. It will open in late October.   

Many American communities see the closing of a long-successful department store as a tragedy. Town officials of Oak Lawn, Illinois, see it as an opportunity.   “It is a great location and I think its future…can be very, very bright and strong, and so does the owner of the property,” village manager Larry Deetjen said of the shopping center at 95th Street and Pulaski Road in an interview with the Chicago Tribune.  

A start-up that specializes in melted-sandwiches made from high-quality ingredients is looking to go nationwide.   Melt Shop hopes to grow to 100 locations during the next five years across the U.S. and internationally via franchising, The brand, founded in 2011 in New York, currently operates six corporate-owned locations in New York, one at Mall of America, Bloomington, Minn., and one in King of Prussia, Pa. It recently expanded into the Middle East and will open seven locations in the region, with four opening in Kuwait by March 2018.

An industry veteran has been tapped to lead operations at of the nation's fastest-growing fast-casual restaurant companies.    Mod Super Fast Pizza Holdings has appointed  Paul Twohig to the new role of COO,  effective immediately. The appointment comes as the company continues its rapid expansion in the United States and abroad. With Twohig’s arrival, Chris Schultz, former senior VP of operations, will take on the new role of senior VP, international to lead Mod’s development abroad.  

It had to happen sooner or later. The hipster pioneers of Brooklyn’s greatest real estate reclamation project are having kids and leaving Williamsburg behind. Many of them have landed in the quaint riverside towns of Westchester County, a swath of land the New York Times has christened “Hipsterbia.”  

Start your engines: Ace Café, a motorcycle and car-themed chain, has parked itself in downtown Orlando.     The 35,000-sq-ft. entertainment, dining and retail destination is the first North American location of the London-based brand and the sixth Ace Cafe in the world. Ace Cafe Orlando spans two floors and features a full-service restaurant, four bars, a coffee bar, a stage, a mezzanine that overlooks the main floor dining area and stage, and private and semi-private spaces for groups.  

The 300,000-sq.-ft. mixed-use center being erected by International Speedway Corporation across from Daytona Speedway is filling up fast.   Three new tenants have signed on to One Daytona. Sister brands Clair de Lune, a home fragrance store, and Kasa Living, a home décor shop are Canadian brands making their first appearance in the region. Joining the development’s food and beverage roster is Built Custom Burgers, a build-your-own burger concept offering up a long list of toppings at no additional charge.