More than half a dozen restaurant and convenience-store chains have jointly filed an amicus brief supporting a lawsuit against the Federal Reserve regarding high swipe fees charged by major banks. CKE, parent of Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr., joins Auntie Anne’s, Burger King, International Dairy Queen, Jack in the Box, Starbucks Corp., The Wendy’s Co., and…

Ketchup and monkey bars are a potent mix for germs. Widespread publicity about allegedly unsanitary slides and tunnels at some of the nation’s fast-food playgrounds has led the California State Assembly to approve a bill expanding food-safety laws to cover the indoor and outdoor playgrounds. Under the bill, restaurants would be required to post signs…

The rollout is official.

CKE Goes Public Pollo Tropical and its other Latin-themed brands and created a new publicly traded company, Fiesta Restaurant Group. Carrols is already Burger King’s largest U.S. franchisee; it nearly doubled its size last March by buying another 278 restaurants from the burger chain. At Fiesta, the strategy focuses on the growth potential for Pollo…

Greg Siegelman has joined

The ServSafe program; he’ll focus on sales strategies for diversifying that portfolio, leveraging partner products, and expanding restaurant- chain programs. Walters also will be responsible for creating the strategic direction and executing a comprehensive sales program for non-traditional channels, including grocery stores, convenience stores, and hotel and lodging operations. Previously, Walters was client services manager/food…

Based in the Midwest and hoping to enhance your professional qualifications or those of your employees? Minneapolis-based

Several appointments have been announced at

We’re very excited to announce that Foodservice Equipment Reports will bestow both some new and some “old” awards on dealers. We’ll present the awards at a new event Friday, Feb. 8, 2013 during The NAFEM Show in Orlando. NAFEM gave us permission for the event on Friday evening, as the association is moving its All-Industry…