Restaurant

Atlanta -- Sandwich operator Arby's Restaurant Group recorded systemwide same-store sales growth in first quarter 9.8%, marking 18 consecutive quarters of comp growth and indicating progress toward the quick-serve chain’s goal to surpass $4 billion in system-wide total sales by the end of 2018.
 

New York – Consumers might be a little nicer to Mom this year than last year. IBISWorld expects total Mother’s Day spending to reach $20.8 billion, representing an increase of 2% from 2014 spending, and an annualized increase of 6.5% since 2010.

Average household spending on Mother’s Day is also set to grow, with the standard family shelling out an estimated $169.21, representing a 4% increase from the 2014 average.

Rehoboth Beach, Del. - Grotto Pizza has leveraged the Paytronix Rewards Platform to implement a multi-tiered loyalty program that enables the chain to reward year-round diners without heavily discounting seasonal guests. In particular, the “Winter Wednesday” promotion has enabled Grotto Pizza to increase off-season traffic on what was its slowest day of the week by 84%.

By Steve Backman and Jeff Übl

In Bismarck, North Dakota, where a regional boom associated with the nearby Bakken Formation has made the state second only to Texas in terms of U.S. oil production, commercial development is on the rise. The missing piece of the puzzle for the city, however, has been the conspicuous absence of a defining downtown mixed-use destination: the kind of a social, civic, financial, and experiential cornerstone that gives residents and visitors somewhere to live, work, play and stay.

Dallas – On The Border Mexican Grill & Cantina is partnering with NCR Corp. to offer mobile payment at all of its corporate restaurants. Using the NCR Mobile Pay solution, seamlessly integrated with the NCR Aloha POS solution, On The Border allows customers to pay their check using their mobile device.

Seattle – Net earnings rose 16% to $494.9 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2015 from $427 million a year earlier at Starbucks Corp. Cost of sales grew at a slower pace than extremely strong revenue growth, which helped boost profits.

Starbucks plans to open 1,650 net new stores globally during fiscal 2015. This includes 600 new stores in the Americas, half licensed; 200 new stores in Europe/Middle East/Africa, primarily licensed; and 850 new stores in China/Asia-Pacific, primarily licensed.

Canton, Mass. -- Dunkin’ Brands Group had a slam-dunk first quarter, with first quarter profit growth of 11.7%, a revenue increase of 8.1%, and U.S. same-store sales growth of 8% in its Baskin-Robbins unit. The Dunkin’ Donuts segment saw same-store sales climb a more modest 2.7%.

The chain added 79 net new restaurants worldwide during the quarter, which included 78 Dunkin Donuts in the U.S.

Dallas – Waiting in line is probably the least appetizing part of the dining out experience. That is why Chili’s Grill &Bar has selected the NoWait mobile network to power its new mobile waitlisting app.

Rolling out nationwide in summer 2015, NoWait enables guests to search local Chili's restaurants, understand the wait time to be seated and add their names remotely to a restaurant's real-time seating list. Customers will also be able to track their place in line and show up when their table is scheduled to be ready.