Good, Bad, and Other News! – October 2021

Welcome back to our monthly news roundup. Feeling whipsawed by the pandemic? After summer’s optimism was dampened by the tidal wave of delta variant cases, there now is a feeling that the worst is behind us (except for the unvaccinated, who continue to clog the nation’s hospitals, especially in the South).

But as we always say, and history has shown: franchising carries on with growth and expansion, despite all. Here’s your chance to follow the leaders, every third Tuesday of the month! And if you’re not doing it already, send us your good (and other) news here!

POST-COVID – REOPENING & RECOVERY Big Hotel Brands Bet on All-Inclusive Resorts To Counter Covid-19 Slump House Republicans Target SBA Direct Lending, Including EIDL Dollar Stores Hit a Pandemic Downturn The Co-Working Industry Is About to Experience a $13 Billion Boom WeWork To Report $1.5B Yearly Loss Weeks Before $9B IPO HIRING & EMPLOYMENT Weds, Oct. 20: IFA Labor & Hiring Webinar Focuses on the Data 4 Reasons Employee Retention Is Critical To Long-Term Success Study: Increased Pay Alone Won’t Attract Employees Fast Food Customers Return, But Workers Don’t, Triggering Major Changes 5 Reasons People Quit, and 10 Things You Can Do To Make Them Stay Leveraging Marketing Tech To Recruit the Best Restaurant Employees Raising Cane’s Corporate Staff To Work Inside Stores, Recruit Talent Amid Labor Shortage COMPANY NEWS BurgerFi To Acquire Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza & Wings for $161 Million Papa John’s Signs 100-Unit Deal with Sun Holdings, Brand’s Largest U.

S. Deal Kitchen United Acquires Ghost Kitchen Developer Zuul Franklin Junction Adds Dickey’s Barbecue Pit to Roster of Host Kitchen Brand Partners Little Caesars Pursues New England Expansion, Targets 50 Units by 2026 10-Unit Thai Concept Rooster & Rice Launches Franchise Model LEGAL 7-Eleven National Coalition Files Petition with FTC To Investigate Franchising To Better Protect Franchisees FRANCHISING CARES Hungry Howie’s 12th Love, Hope & Pizza Campaign Partners with National Breast Cancer Foundation Panera Bread Partners with Susan G. Komen Foundation To Fight Breast Cancer Dutch Bros Raises More than $695,000 for Local Youth Organizations MARKETING/CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE What the Pandemic Continues To Teach Us About Customer Wants and Needs Consumer Assumptions Based on Age No Longer Apply Email Is the Preferred Marketing Channel for Hungry Millennials Restaurants Spend Big for Upgraded Wintertime Outdoor Dining How To Take Charge of Your Brand with a Balanced Marketing Strategy What Marketers Need To Know About the IAB’s Latest Ad Fraud Takedown Burger King Tests Plant-Based Nuggets in 4 U.

S. Cities as of Oct. 11 McDonald’s To Test McPlant Meatless Burger at 8 U.

S. Restaurants Starting Nov.