A makeover is in store for all 301 corporate Jamba Juice units in the U.S. next year. The Emeryville, Calif., chain is launching a four-year capital expenditure program to refresh and redesign its company-owned stores; it also has 454 franchised stores. Jamba Juice has told investors its 2013 plans include growing its 788-unit base with…

Wyman Roberts, president of Chili’s Grill & Bar, will add the title of CEO and president of Brinker Int’l. on Jan. 1. He’ll succeed Doug Brooks, who joined Brinker two years after its 1975 founding and will continue to serve as chairman of the board through December 2013. In addition to his new responsibilities, Roberts…

Unified Brands has appointed Steve Carlson as director of national chain accounts; he’ll be responsible for strategic growth in the chain market segment in addition to leading the chain account management team for the company’s Groen, Randell, Avtec and A la Cart product lines. Carlson had been director of national sales responsibilities for Chipita America,…

Registration opens this week for a double dose of professional development programs sponsored by the National Association of College & University Food Services. The Foodservice Directors Symposium and Purchasing Seminar will come together Jan. 21-23 at Hotel Contessa, in San Antonio. Each of the programs will feature targeted networking and education for attendees, plus one day…

The board of the anfponline.org.  The closing date for resumes is Thursday, Dec. 13. Anyone interested in being considered for the position can contact JDG on a priority basis.

While chain equipment and supplies purchases in the U.S. remained healthy in the third quarter, the recession in Europe once again pulled down sales at both ITW’s Food Equipment Group and Manitowoc Foodservice. As a result, combined sales for the seven publicly reporting E&S companies were flat in the third quarter 2012 compared to the…

A pronounced slowdown in restaurant operator traffic and sales in September pulled down the Restaurant Performance Index maintained by the National Restaurant Association. On the other hand, operators are a bit more optimistic about the short-term future. The overall index fell 0.3 point to 100.3, but remained above the 100 tipping point the separates expansion…

Midscale and casual dining restaurants continued to see traffic declines in the second quarter of 2012, according to The NPD Group’s CREST data. Both segments have now seen four consecutive years of quarterly traffic declines, the research group reported. A 1% gain in visits to quick-service concepts kept overall traffic flat in the quarter. QSR…

The forecasts for key economic drivers of foodservice remained weak in the early November survey of 50 leading economic forecast groups, according to Blue Chip Economic Indicators. The forecast for real gross domestic product in the U.S. rose slightly to 2.2% for 2012, thanks to a stronger than expected advance GDP number for the third…