Pokka Café HK will be expanding its coffee and Western-style casual-dining businesses into China. The Hong Kong-based chain operates 34 restaurants under 12 brands in Hong Kong and Macau, offering specialty coffee and casual dining.Its expansion will be guided by Shanghai-based Xiao Nan Guo Restaurants Holdings, which purchased 65% of Pokka Corp. last November for…

CaliBurger, the Southern California-style burger chain that isn’t based in California, continues its global expansion. The Shanghai-based chain will open the first of three units in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, this year; Caliburger’s debut will be bolstered with a food-truck rollout. Co-founded by three Americans, CaliBurger has about 50 restaurant branches across China and outlets in Hong…

Dubai-based Al Ahli Holding Group will open no fewer than 20 Philippine-themed food and beverage outlets called “Little Manila” across the Middle East and beyond over the next five years. Six Filipino brands will be grouped into Little Manila franchise outlets: Binalot, a Filipino quick-serve chain known for banana-leaf-wrapped dishes; Jay-J’s, a chicken chain; Fruitas,…

The Middleby Corp. closed 2014 with a bang, acquiring companies on two continents. On Dec. 22, the U.S.-based Middleby announced its acquisition of Desmon Food Service Equipment Co., a Nusco, Italy, manufacturer of chilling and freezing equipment with annual revenues of approximately $15 million. Its products include commercial blast chillers and refrigeration products. Middleby followed…

Grupo Nutresa SA, the Colombian food industry conglomerate that has made at least 18 acquisitions since 2000, has paid US$384 million to buy the country’s largest quick-serve chain, El Corral. The Bogota-based burger chain, controlled by Aldage Inc., has 340 outlets, including freestanding, c-stores and mall units; it also has a better-burger offshoot known as…

Kevin Fink has been named executive v.p. of the Ali Group. He will relocate from Denver, where he has been president of Ice-O-Matic, to join Ali’s corporate team in Milan. Beginning March 2, Fink will report to Massimo Giussani, COO, Ali Group, and assist in the group’s overall support, control and development initiatives of its 76 brands;…

Just Falafel is going for a new look and back-to-basics menu to match its new identity as JF Street Food. The UAE-based quick-serve chain announced at the end of 2014 that it would rebrand itself in an effort to boost its sales and operations. The company also has launched a global design competition to redo…

In the latest private equity buyout in Britain’s restaurant sector, the casual-dining chain TGI Fridays has sold its U.K. franchise business to Electra Partners. Texas-based TGI Fridays, itself sold last year to investment firms Sentinel Capital Partners and TriArtisan Capital Partners, operates 66 venues in Britain; it has more than 900 restaurants in 60 countries.…

Strong jobs growth and falling gasoline prices are among the factors driving sales and customer traffic growth in the U.S. restaurant market during the last four months of 2014. And the improved consumer environment also underlies an upward revision of Technomic Inc.’s 2015 forecast of foodservice operator sales, released to the firm’s customers in mid-January.…

With futures prices for Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude oil well below $50 a barrel on Jan. 27, and U.S. prices for regular gasoline/petrol approaching $2.00 a gallon, the plunge in petroleum prices has become a major factor in the outlook for foodservice growth in most of the world. The impact has already been…