Restaurant

Los Angeles — The CBRE Group has signed a multi-year contract with Carlson to provide project management for select locations in the United States including the company’s world headquarters. Carlson is a family-owned, global hospitality and travel industry company with more than 1,300 hotels in operation and development and more than 900 restaurants worldwide.

Tampa, Fla. — Burger 21, a new concept from The Melting Pot Restaurants, has announced the opening of its first restaurant in Virginia. To be located in Ashburn, the restaurant, which is approximately 3,200 sq. ft., will be one of four units planned for the Greater Washington, D.C., area.

Currently, Burger 21 has 11 restaurants open and 17 franchised locations in development across the U.S. Plans call for a minimum of 15 additional restaurants in the Greater Washington, D.C., area.

Atlanta -- Christine Day, the outgoing CEO of Lululemon, has been appointed CEO at Luvo, a start-up frozen-food company that focuses on healthy, low calorie, low sodium meals. Day’s appointment is effective April 1.

Seattle — Nordstrom plans to open a 35,000-sq.-ft. Nordstrom Rack at The Greene Town Center in Dayton, Ohio, in the fall of 2014. Olshan Properties, formerly known as MPI, Mall Properties, Inc., manages The Greene Town Center.

Nordstrom Rack has four other locations in Ohio, two of which opened this past fall in Columbus and Westlake. Another Rack location is set to open at Sun Center in Columbus this spring. Nordstrom operates three full-line stores in Ohio.

Charlotte, N.C. -- Bojangles' Restaurants Inc. has appointed Clifton Rutledge as CEO effective Jan. 24. Rutledge joins Bojangles' from Texas-based hamburger chain Whataburger, succeeding current CEO Randy Kibler, who announced his plans to retire from this role in September 2013 but will remain active as chairman of the company's board of directors. Additionally, Bojangles' has promoted its senior VP of company operations Kenny Avery to COO.

APPLEBEE’S GIVES CUSTOMERS MORE CONTROL OF DINING EXPERIENCE

Casual dining chain Applebee’s is looking to redefine and enhance its guest experience by placing tablets tableside. The company plans to deploy 100,000 devices — E la Carte Presto tablets, powered by Intel — chainwide by the end of 2014. It is installing the tablets on every table and in multiple bar positions at its more than 1,8000 U.S. restaurants.

Sooner or later, disruption occurs in almost every sphere of human activity. While the radical upending of long-established norms and conventions is not always a positive development, oftentimes disruptive forces enable a burst of creativity and innovation that move an industry toward new levels of success and achievement.

Ann Arbor, Mich. -- Beginning in mid-2014, Domino's customers who have a Pizza Profile on their Domino's mobile app, as well as the Ford SYNC in-car connectivity system, will be able to use Ford SYNC to place their saved 'Easy Order' in just a few simple, voice-activated steps.