Eatery Pulse Team 
Black Box Intelligence reported September industry comp(arable) sales were down just 8.1 percent from last year. Restaurants continue to recover, improving 4.1 percentage-points from where they were in August. Amid the COVID-19 health crisis, the average of comp sales decline for the last three months has been 3.7 percentage-points. Comp restaurant traffic dropped 14.6 percent.
Rave Restaurant Group hired two new executives to support the growth of Pizza Inn and fast-casual Pie Five Pizza. The company named Darren Webb director of development for Rave, working with both pizza chains, while it appointed Dion Firooznia franchise business consultant for Pizza Inn. The move supports expansion in the Carolinas.
Krystal announced the return of its Country Fried Steak in a new promotion that starts October 12. The fried, all-beef steak with spices comes topped with Southern-style gravy and nestled in a Krystal bun. What’s more, the limited-time Country Fried Steak Krystal can be paired with small tots as part of a $4.99 meal.
A partnership between Kroger and ClusterTruck will bring restaurant-style meals and ghost kitchens to two additional grocery stores in the Midwest. Kroger stores in Fishers, Ind. and Dublin, Ohio will host ClusterTruck kitchens, providing customers hot meals with no service charges or delivery fees. ClusterTruck operates technology-equipped ghost kitchens that deliver food in a radius of seven miles and mostly under 30 minutes.
A significant number of consumers are returning to restaurants despite a well-documented reticence to do so. A total of 63 percent of respondents to a survey conducted by Manifest indicated they had dined out at a restaurant at least once during the month of July. Twenty-two percent reported they had dined out five or more times. This, despite 58 percent of consumers saying they would be uncomfortable/very uncomfortable eating at a restaurant because of COVID-19.
Del Taco Restaurants added a new $1 Crispy Chicken Cholula Taco and $5 Epic Cholula Crispy Chicken Burrito. These new options—available October 8—expand the Crispy Chicken Taco lineup and feature Cholula Hot Sauce, a condiment with name-brand recognition. Additional menu items will incorporate the popular hot sauce and debut this month.
Frozen yogurt chain Yogurtland launched a new, more upscale, fast-casual concept, known as Holsom, which will have an expanded menu and offer signature items that include made-to-order grain bowls and toasts. The first restaurant will debut in Huntington Beach, Calif. Grain bowls come in Classic, Thai Peanut, Greek, and Chipotle Southwest versions.
sbe continued its expansion in the virtual food hall space with a new partnership between its C3 division and Lunchbox. As part of an initiative to create a seamless direct-to-consumer ordering experience, C3—Creating Culinary Communities—tapped Lunchbox to create a digital ordering platform using its patent-pending technology to manage orders from various concepts.
Just Salad partnered with Barcelona-style tapas bar Boqueria to launch The Catalan, a new Spanish-inspired salad, which is available through October 23. The new, limited-time offer (LTO) menu item helps raise funds for RAICES, the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services. The non-profit agency promotes justice through free- and low-cost services to underserved immigrants.
Papa John’s named Ann Gugino chief financial officer. She assumes the critical role for the pizza chain from Steve Coke, interim CFO. He will remain in his permanent post as VP, Investor Relations & Strategy. Gugino arrives as the chain seeks new corporate offices in Greater Atlanta—a search that should be completed by year’s end.
