Romano’s Macaroni Grill will be under new ownership by mid-April. Its parent company, Ignite Restaurant Group, has announced a definitive agreement to sell the chain to Redrock Partners, a Phoenix investment group.Houston-based Ignite, which also owns the 138-unit Joe’s Crab Shack and 21-unit Brick House Tavern + Tap brands, said it will receive about $8…

The International Foodservice Manufacturers Association unveiled the winners of its 2015 Silver Plate Awards earlier this month during its annual Chain Operator Exchange in Las Vegas. One of the seven Silver Plate winners will be chosen to receive IFMA’s 2015 Gold Plate Award, which will be presented at the 61stAnnual Gold & Silver Plate Celebration in…

The Association for Healthcare Foodservice has elected its 2016 board of directors. Beginning their terms on Aug. 1 are: President-Elect: Julie Jones, director-nutrition services, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, Ohio. Treasurer-Elect: Dave Reeves, director-hospitality services, Elmhurst Memorial Healthcare, Elmhurst, Ill. Directors: Nicole Charbonneau, chief-production and service branch ANM, San Antonio Military Medical…

Time to update your calendars. The

Just a week before buyers and exhibitors descend on Chicago for the annual NRA Show, a younger but growing foodservice and hospitality show will be open for business in Hong Kong. The 16th edition of HOFEX 2015 returns May 6-9 to the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. Officially known as the “16th International Exhibition…

Our friend Dean Landeche taught us long ago the correlation between gasoline price and restaurant sales trends. And while Joe Pawlak at Technomic Inc. says job gains are a bigger factor in the current remarkable spurt in same-store sales and customer traffic since September last year, there’s no question the gasoline-price trend is a factor.…

Updated restaurant unit data from CHD Expert shows independent operators continue to overwhelmingly dominate the full-service category. Of the 443,000 full-service units tallied by CHD as of February 2015, 90% are defined as independent, defining operator organizations with fewer than 10 units as independents. (Independents sometimes are defined as operators having fewer than five units.)…

One of the realities of the Great Recession and its aftermath were years of negative traffic counts and sluggish sales for full-service restaurants and chains. Traffic counts tracked by The NPD Group were negative or at best flat every quarter compared with the year prior for nearly eight years. Same-store sales tracking from research firms…

As the U.S. Department of Agriculture forecast in December, wholesale food prices overall are declining, although certain commodities, especially beef, remain at very high levels. Wholesale food prices declined for the fourth consecutive month in February, according to preliminary figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the National Restaurant Association released March 13.…

The National Restaurant Association will host its annual Public Affairs Conference April 14-15 at the Ronald Reagan Building and Int’l. Trade Center in Washington, D.C. Last year, more than 700 industry professionals attended. Topics slated for this year’s conference run the spectrum from nutrition, labor, taxes, healthcare, sustainability and the workforce. More information and registration…