Weekly Franchise Recap

U.S. Adds 48,600 Franchise Jobs in December

This past December, the franchise industry added 48,600 franchise jobs. This is nearly twice as many jobs added in November. Accounting for 17 percent of the total gains were restaurant jobs and auto parts and dealers—they added 32,770 and 8,400 jobs, respectively.

After the avian flu outbreak that hit the upper Midwest in 2015, egg prices are expected to ease in 2016. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is forecasting an average price for large eggs of $1.66 a dozen in 2016, which is $0.18 less than the 2015 average of $1.84 a dozen. This is impacted by the return to normal production.

The new $5 Flavor Menu is now available at Pizza Hut. Customers can enjoy a medium one-topping pizza, eight bone-out WingStreet Wings, the Ultimate Hershey’s Chocolate Chip Cookie, Hershey’s Triple Chocolate Brownie, Tuscani Pasta, a double order of breadsticks or flavor sticks, and four 20-ounce Pepsi beverages for $5 each when ordering two or more items. The company has not set a timeframe for how long the menu will be available.

As of this week, Panera Bread has announced that the brand’s soups will no longer contain artificial colors, flavors, sweeteners and preservatives on the company’s No No List. Currently, the brand sells about 200 million servings of soup a year. This menu change comes after a year of recipe testing by Panera chefs. Panera’s packages refrigerated soups will be free of all the No No List additives by the end of 2016.

Bottle & Bottega has named James Franks, with the Franks Group, to lead the art and wine studio’s Franchising Department. In his new role, Franks will be tasked with leading the brand’s franchising plans, which includes tripling the number of locations over the next two and a half years.