Dave Shula Returns as President of Shula's Restaurant Group
Dave Shula rejoins Shula's Restaurant Group as president, leading growth into Palm Beach Gardens and a 2027 Thomasville, Georgia expansion.
Sep 23, 2026
Dave Shula rejoins Shula's Restaurant Group as president, leading growth into Palm Beach Gardens and a 2027 Thomasville, Georgia expansion.
Sep 23, 2026
McDonald's commits $8.5 billion through 2036 to modernize restaurants, boost cash flow by $100,000 per store, and grow chicken and beverage sales.
Sep 23, 2026
WKS Restaurant Group promotes Jay Spongberg to president and COO after he helped grow the company from 65 to 382 restaurants over 16 years.
Sep 23, 2026
Smokey Mo's BBQ names Von Dawson, a Dine Brands veteran, as VP of Franchise Development to lead its Texas expansion strategy.
Sep 23, 2026
Meritage Hospitality's Chapter 11 filing pulls 5% of Wendy's U.S. stores into bankruptcy, exposing cracks in franchising's bigger-is-safer bet.
Sep 21, 2026
Jack in the Box names Rachel Ruggeri to its board as Michael Murphy retires, amid a CEO transition and deal with investor GreenWood.
Sep 21, 2026
Improve restaurant Google Maps rankings by optimizing your business profile, selecting accurate categories, gathering reviews, adding photos, and strengthening local relevance signals.
Sep 21, 2026
Restaurant inventory tracking helps owners monitor stock, control food costs, reduce waste, improve purchasing, and make informed operational decisions.
Sep 21, 2026
Restaurant owners can significantly reduce restaurant costs by leveraging technology across inventory, labor, procurement, forecasting, and administrative operations for better profit margins.
Sep 18, 2026
Understand how to forecast restaurant revenue and expenses with methods for sales projection, cost scaling, fixed-cost planning, and risk buffering.
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Chipotle tests two cobot systems in California to boost throughput while preserving hospitality, backed by the Cultivate Next fund and a plan toward 7,000 restaurants.

Chipotle stands at a gentle crossroads between warmth and wires on a sun-dusted afternoon in Southern California. Two cobotic systems have slipped into real kitchens, Autocado and Makeline, each a patient, humming partner in a quiet quest for speed and steadiness. In Huntington Beach, Autocado begins its avocado choreography; in Corona del Mar, Makeline threads bowls and salads with a measured rhythm. The scene isn’t a sterile lab, but a dining room where the scent of fresh lime and roasted corn mingles with the assurance that a meal will arrive with welcome ease. This isn’t a stunt; it’s a carefully staged step toward scale.
Autocado and Makeline are not merely prop pieces; they are tuned partners in a broader plan. Chipotle announced in a September 16, 2024 release that Autocado processes an avocado in about 26 seconds, while Makeline is designed to support bowls and salads, parts of the menu that now define a major share of digital orders, reflected in the figure that 65% of digital orders come from those categories. The two California pilots, Huntington Beach and Corona del Mar, mark the first live demonstrations in real dining rooms. The rollout aligns with a goal of operating 7,000 North American restaurants and with a Cultivate Next fund that has grown into a $100 million pool, a signal of patient intention rather than a rush to replace crews. “designed to complement frontline staff rather than replace them,” the company notes, anchoring a philosophy that hospitality remains the heart of the kitchen.