Latest news with #fastcasual
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Benihana Express Opens Second Location in Miami
Through a franchise agreement with The ONE Group, the new concept promises guests and visitors of Bayside Marketplace the chance to enjoy Benihana's famous hibachi menu offerings in a fast casual setting DENVER, July 28, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The ONE Group Hospitality, Inc. (Nasdaq: STKS) announces the opening of its newest Benihana Express location in the Bayside Marketplace shopping center (401 Biscayne Blvd S119) in Miami. Owned and operated by franchisee Erick Passo, the restaurant is the second location in the Miami area – the first having opened earlier this year in the Brickell neighborhood – and is a new hibachi concept that features guest-favorite menu elements from Benihana in a made-to-order, fast casual format. As part of a multi-unit development deal with Passo, The ONE Group anticipates opening additional Benihana Express locations under this agreement in the coming months. "Benihana Express and franchises are key components of our overall growth strategy, both for the Benihana brand and The ONE Group as a whole," said Emanuel "Manny" Hilario, CEO of The ONE Group. "Since Benihana joined The ONE Group's VIBE dining platform, we've been looking for ways to bring the excitement and world-class flavor profiles of the Benihana dining experience to an asset-light, franchise-forward model. Erick Passo is a fantastic partner, and we are thrilled to work alongside him to introduce more people in Miami to Benihana Express. We have many additional development deals in the pipeline and should be announcing them shortly." The 770-square-foot fast casual concept reflects a modern, minimalist aesthetic with Japanese-inspired touches – from sleek, wood finishes and bold, red accents to an open kitchen concept (in a much smaller footprint) that mirrors the energy, excitement and renowned teppanyaki experience that guests have come to love from Benihana, now in a more casual, fast casual atmosphere. The Benihana Express menu features the best of Benihana from appetizers to add-ons, including: Hibachi Burritos – The newest offering from Benihana, guests can select either steak, shrimp or chicken prepared with hibachi fried rice and teriyaki sauce, all wrapped in a soft, flour tortilla Hibachi Entrees – Choose from colossal shrimp, chicken, NY strip steak, filet mignon or a combination of all four, prepared with sesame seeds and served with mushrooms and hibachi chicken rice Hibachi Yakisoba Bowls – From steak, shrimp, chicken or simply sauteed vegetables, all yakisoba bowls are prepared with sesame seeds and served with Japanese sauteed noodles and mixed vegetables in a special sauce Hibachi Bowls – Shrimp, steak or chicken are prepared with sesame seeds and served over mushrooms and hibachi chicken rice Appetizers – From pork gyoza to edamame, Benihana salad to miso soup, there's a little something for everyone to start their meal off right Add-ons – Make any dish bigger, better or bolder with a variety of add-ons, such as filet mignon, NY strip steak, chicken, shrimp or either a single or double serving of the Benihana classic hibachi chicken rice "Opening a second Benihana Express is a proud milestone for my family and me," said franchisee Passo, who is also the owner of Black Market Miami and Ben's Pizza. "We saw an opportunity to bring something fresh and exciting to the neighborhood – quality food, fast service and a brand people already love. This location reflects our commitment to growing with the community and delivering a memorable experience in a quick-service setting, and we can't wait to introduce even more people to this amazing concept when we open our third Benihana Express location in Miami later this year." The new Benihana Express will be open daily from 11 a.m. until midnight. Following the openings in Miami, Benihana Express is slated to open its first West Coast operation in San Francisco later this year. For more information on additional franchising or licensing opportunities with The ONE Group, please visit About The ONE GroupThe ONE Group Hospitality, Inc. (Nasdaq: STKS) is an international restaurant company that develops and operates upscale and polished casual, high-energy restaurants and lounges and provides hospitality management services for hotels, casinos and other high-end venues both in the U.S. and internationally. The ONE Group's focus is to be the global leader in Vibe Dining, and its primary restaurant brands and operations are: STK, a modern twist on the American steakhouse concept with restaurants in major metropolitan cities in the U.S., Europe and the Middle East, featuring premium steaks, seafood and specialty cocktails in an energetic upscale atmosphere. Benihana, an interactive dining destination with highly skilled chefs preparing food right in front of guests and served in an energetic atmosphere alongside fresh sushi and innovative cocktails. The Company franchises Benihanas in the U.S., Caribbean, Central America, and South America. Benihana Express, a small footprint casual concept showcasing the best of Benihana without teppanyaki tables. Kona Grill, a polished casual, bar-centric grill concept with restaurants in the U.S., featuring American favorites, award-winning sushi, and specialty cocktails in an upscale casual atmosphere. RA Sushi, a Japanese cuisine concept that offers a fun-filled, bar-forward, upbeat, and vibrant dining atmosphere with restaurants in the U.S. anchored by creative sushi, inventive drinks, and outstanding service. Salt Water Social is your gateway to the seven seas, featuring an array of signature and unique fresh seafood items, complemented by the highest quality beef dishes and elegant, delicious cocktails. Samurai, an interactive dining experience located in sunny Miami, FL provides a distinctive dining experience where skilled personal chefs masterfully perform the ancient art of teppanyaki right before your eyes. ONE Hospitality, The ONE Group's food and beverage hospitality services business develops, manages and operates premier restaurants and turnkey food and beverage services within high-end hotels and casinos currently operating venues in the U.S. and Europe. Additional information about The ONE Group can be found at View source version on Contacts Media:ICRSeth Investors:ICRMichelle
Globe and Mail
2 days ago
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Can Cava Become the Next Chipotle?
Key Points Cava plans to expand its store presence from less than 400 locations today to 1,000 in 2032. Bullish investors would love for the up-and-coming fast-casual concept to become as big as Chipotle. Chipotle not only has 10 times as many stores as Cava, but the Tex-Mex chain is still growing. 10 stocks we like better than Cava Group › Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE: CMG) brought innovation to the restaurant sector, pioneering the fast-casual dining concept and scaling it across the U.S. and beyond. The Tex-Mex chain is a leader in the industry, with strong growth and impressive profitability. Its success has spawned copycats. Cava (NYSE: CAVA) is a Mediterranean-inspired fast-casual restaurant chain that's expanding rapidly itself. But it's much smaller today. That hasn't prevented investors from asking what the business might look like down the road. Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Continue » Does Cava have what it takes to one day become the next Chipotle? Here's what investors must know. Opening new stores rapidly Cava is finding success thanks to some key factors. It's betting on consumers' rising interest in healthy food choices. The Mediterranean diet is considered one of the healthiest in the world. What's more, Cava is trying to copy what has worked so well for Chipotle: The fast-casual dining concept. This combines the speed, convenience, and accessibility people appreciate with fast-food restaurants, but it does so with higher-quality ingredients. By benefiting from these two trends, Cava has seen tremendous growth. The company opened 15 net new stores in the fiscal 2025 first quarter (ended April 20), bringing the total to 382. This supported a 28.2% year-over-year gain in revenue, which was boosted by impressive same-store sales (SSS) growth of 10.8%. That figure is noteworthy because it happened during a time when consumer sentiment has been under pressure. Cava's profitability is getting better. Last fiscal quarter, the operating margin came in at 4.7%. This was a meaningful improvement from the 3.6% operating margin from the year-ago period. Looking ahead, the leadership team has plans to get to 1,000 stores by 2032. Expanding the physical footprint by about three-fold would unquestionably lead to much higher revenue and earnings down the road. Cava's biggest bulls hope this happens, and it would get the business closer to Chipotle's size. Don't question Chipotle's dominance To be clear, Chipotle is experiencing a slowdown, as people prioritize getting more value from the money they spend. The company's same-store sales dipped in each of the last two quarters, a very unusual occurrence for the industry leader. Nonetheless, Chipotle is still a top-notch performer in the restaurant market. The business has developed durable competitive advantages, thanks to its scale. Chipotle has 3,839 stores right now, and it raked in $3.1 billion in revenue in the second quarter, both numbers that are light years ahead of Cava. Chipotle has a more visible brand, and its huge sales base allows it to better leverage marketing, product, and technological investments. At its current size, it's easy to argue that Cava hasn't built an economic moat. Its brand is becoming more well-known, and as it scales, there could be some cost advantages. However, I don't see there being any strengths today. I believe there's a very low probability that Cava will get to Chipotle's store count or market cap. Chipotle isn't sitting still. It might be approaching 4,000 stores soon. But over the long term, the company wants to have 7,000 locations open in North America. I don't see Cava ever reaching that level. Chipotle plans to open 330 stores just this year, which is nearly as many as Cava has in total. Investors who are hoping that the Mediterranean chain can catch up to the purveyor of burritos and bowls must seriously temper their expectations. Chipotle has a commanding lead that Cava likely won't chip away at. Cava's valuation is also very expensive. Shares currently trade at a price-to-earnings ratio of 71.9, a whopping 78% more expensive than Chipotle. Cava isn't worthy of investment consideration. Should you invest $1,000 in Cava Group right now? Before you buy stock in Cava Group, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Cava Group wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $636,628!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,063,471!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,041% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 183% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of July 21, 2025
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Chipotle CEO says there's ‘no smoking gun' for burrito sales dip—but he wants customers to give the chain more ‘credit' for affordable prices
CEO Scott Boatwright said the burrito chain needs to work on selling itself as a bargain brand for jittery, budget-strapped consumers. The company reported on Wednesday a 4% same-store quarterly sales decline and cut its guidance for the rest of the year, citing poor consumer sentiment and economic uncertainty. As more Americans grow anxious about the economy and start pulling back on eating out, CEO Scott Boatwright wants consumers to give Chipotle some more credit for its low prices. The Newport Beach, California-based burrito-bowl chain reported sagging earnings Wednesday, including a 4% same-store sales decline and 4.9% dip in quarterly traffic. While Chipotle saw a 3% total revenue increase to $3.1 billion, the company cut its guidance, now expecting flat same-store sales growth for the year compared to its previous prediction of a low single-digit increase. Chipotle CEO Scott Boatwright attributed the rough quarter—Chipotle's second consecutive sales decline—in part to rocky economic conditions leading consumers to pull back. Chipotle's same-store sales improved in June, and that's likely to be the case for July as well, according to the company, but lackluster sales in April and May correlated with 'consumer sentiment bottoming around that time.' Boatwright added consumers have seemingly forgotten that Chipotle, compared to its fast-casual rivals, is a bargain. 'I don't think we're getting credit with the consumer today,' Boatwright told investors on Wednesday. 'So what I talked to the team about internally is, How do we better communicate our value proposition and center around the core equities of the brand?' 'I think we've got to figure out a way we can communicate value for the consumer and showcase the value we are to [quick-service restaurants] and fast-casual,' he added. Boatwright claimed in the earnings presentation Chipotle is 20% to 30% cheaper than comparable fast-casual restaurants. He told Fortune in April the chain wouldn't increase prices due to tariffs because 'it's unfair to the consumer to pass those costs off…because pricing is permanent.' Changing perceptions of value The CEO was firm in attributing Chipotle's sales slump to external macroeconomic factors, telling investors, 'There's no smoking gun here that says we've had a misstep.' However, he said low-income consumers in particular are looking for value when choosing where to dine. 'Look no further than what's going on with our competitors with snack occasions or five-dollar meals, and that's where the consumer is drifting towards…because of low consumer sentiment.' Indeed, fast-food giants like McDonald's are continuing to offer meal deals amid softening sales, particularly as these restaurants have seen more traffic from high-income consumers while those on a budget pull away. As Chipotle similarly tries to compete in an environment of cautious consumers, it will need to focus on its public perception and sell itself as an affordable option, according to Raymond James restaurant analyst Brian Vaccaro. 'Over the last two years, the industry has gotten more aggressive on value promotions and messaging,' Vaccaro told Fortune. 'There are certain brands that have a strong value proposition in the mind of the average consumer. But they didn't effectively message that, and it caused them to lose some mind share.' Olive Garden suffered this fate in 2024, Vaccaro said, when the fast-casual Italian chain's parent company Darden Restaurants reported a pull back from customers making less than $75,000. 'That could be something that's happened to Chipotle, where their value almost gets taken for granted a little bit,' Vaccaro said. In March, Olive Garden announced the return of its 'buy one, take one' promotion—essentially a buy one, get one free deal—for the first time in five years. The restaurant group attributed a modest earnings beat in June in part to the return of the offer. 'Everyone knows Olive Garden is a good value,' Vaccaro said. 'But if you're not reminding the guests of that, they could get distracted and wooed away by all of these value promotions that are floating around.' This story was originally featured on Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
21-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
The California Restaurant And Grill That Declared Bankruptcy Twice In Under 5 Years
For every Chipotle or Shake Shack, there are a bunch of smaller fast-casual restaurant chains that simply don't stand the test of time. Rubio's Coastal Grill might be one of them. The California chain is still kicking, serving up its Baja-style tacos, burritos, and bowls up and down the West Coast state, but if you've never heard of Rubio's, you can be forgiven. The chain simply is not as successful as it used to be, especially considering that it declared bankruptcy twice in the span of five years. Sales began declining for the chain in 2017, and the restaurant filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy for the first time in 2020 after it was further hit by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, per Reuters. At the time, the chain closed 26 restaurants and pulled its business out of Colorado and Florida. Then, in June 2024, Rubio's filed a second time after closing a third of its remaining restaurants, citing how difficult it is to afford to do business in California, where the vast majority of its remaining locations are. It wasn't the only chain restaurant to declare bankruptcy in 2024. Rubio's said it was using Chapter 11 bankruptcy this time to facilitate a sale. "Despite the company's best efforts to right-size the company, the continued challenging economic conditions have negatively impacted its ability to meet the demands of its debt burden," Nicholas Rubin, chief restructuring officer for Rubio's, said in a statement, per Restaurant Business. Read more: 15 Failed Restaurant Chains We Actually Miss How Many Rubio's Locations Are Left? If you still want to dine at a Rubio's, you can! You just have to be in California, Arizona, or Nevada. Most remaining Rubio's locations are in Southern California (which could have something to do with the prohibitive operating costs), around Orange County, the Inland Empire, and San Diego, to be exact. There are 17 Arizona locations, six in Nevada, and 60 in California. Now, 83 locations is nothing to sneeze at, but that's down from 148 in early 2024, and when you compare that to similar chains like Chipotle, with its traditional San Francisco-style burritos and near-ubiquitousness, that's small potatoes. Chipotle had about 3,200 locations in the U.S. as of March 31, 2023. But unlike at Chipotle, at Rubio's you can order their signature Baja-style fish tacos, shrimp burritos, and other Baja-inspired cuisine. In August 2024, Rubio's was sold to its lender, TREW Capital Management, which is an investment firm run by Jeff Crivello, the former CEO of Famous Dave's. Crivello owns more than a few restaurant chains, so Rubio's is one of many in his portfolio. Read the original article on Tasting Table. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
21-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
CAVA opens new restaurant in Michigan, US
CAVA, a fast-casual dining chain specialising in Mediterranean cuisine, has opened its first outlet in Canton in the US states of Michigan. The restaurant is located at 43450 Ford Road and covers an area of 3,850ft², featuring a dining area along with facilities for digital order pick-up and delivery. The new location will create between 25 and 40 local jobs. CAVA plans to enhance its presence in Michigan with additional locations later in 2025. Its menu allows for extensive customisation, offering 38 different ingredients that enable customers to create a wide variety of combinations through options such as bowls, pitas, chips, dips, juices and dressings. CAVA aims to expand its network to 1,000 restaurants by 2032. In the 2024 fiscal year, it opened 58 new locations and projects a growth rate of at least 17% for 2025. With the opening in Michigan, CAVA now operates across 28 US states and the District of Columbia. CAVA regional leader Gino Carlin stated: 'We're thrilled to join the southeast Michigan community and introduce more guests to the bold, vibrant flavours of the Mediterranean. 'Entering the state of Michigan marks our 28th state, and we're eager to welcome more guests in the Midwest and throughout the country to our table to enjoy our Mediterranean cuisine and hospitality.' In April 2025, CAVA opened its first restaurant in Florida. "CAVA opens new restaurant in Michigan, US" was originally created and published by Verdict Food Service, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site.
