Australia

Never before have we seen the huge disparity in consumer spending habits that we are currently experiencing.

Magee was hired earlier this year to spice up the franchise’s stores with the vibrancy and edginess of Mexican inspired street art.

And it has served 2 million meals to customers in 2011.

Mad Mex Fresh Mexican Grill is offering a free bottle of water with their popular Naked Burritos throughout the month of January.

Shane Heal who only took over the master franchise recently, declared personal bankruptcy just before Christmas.There are current discussions underway with a new owner who is in the process of doing their due diligence on the group. According to sources this sale process started well before Heal declared bankruptcy. Heal's current involvement is limited to a consultant for the group and franchisor of a couple of Urban Burger outlets. QSR Media was surprised at this development as we had only just published an interview we did with Shane where he talked about his plans for the burger chain. 

Starting January 30, Krispy Kreme will be supplying fresh doughnuts to 7-Eleven's 600 stores.

QSR Media will be adding new sections to our regular newsletter in 2012 including industry surveys, a job bulletin board and much much more. We want to hear from you, send through your ideas, who would you like interviewed, what questions would you like asked? Send all your ideas to [email protected].

Expert Steve Champion, whose specialist employee relations consulting firm ER Strategies has a number of Fast Food clients on board, is very worried that the industry will fluff the fast approaching chances to impact its industrial relations environment.

The calendar is on sale for $5 until the end of January and features $170 worth of Cold Rock coupons.

This is part of its new national summer campaign known as ‘Unlock the Gold Rock’.

New menu, new store design are just some of the recent changes at Alibaba. Find what else is happening with the brand in this interview with their CEO, Robert Marjan

Ho ho ho!

Blends from RFG’s Michel’s Patisserie, bb’s cafe and Barista’s Choice brands bested some of the top notch coffee roasters in Australia.

Jamaica Blue has upstaged more than 60 competitor coffee-chains, winning Gold and Bronze medals in the 2011/12 CSR Sugar Golden Bean awards.

Guess how many Australians aged 11-24 prioritize getting a job rather than having long term financial security?

From comments we received about our labour laws story it would seem that this is the biggest issue in the industry today. Responses such as the below were fairly typical: