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Emerging Brands

New brands and soon-to-open concepts worth watching

Emerging Brands

Bubbakoo's acquired by private-equity firm Thompson Street Capital Partners

 By Lisa Jennings on Jun. 18, 2025

The fast-casual franchised burrito chain has 130 units in 15 states and the new owners plan to invest in technology and infrastructure to expand.

Emerging Brands

Forget coffee. Salad is rising as the next drive-thru concept

 By Lisa Jennings on Jun. 17, 2025

The fast-casual Greenlane is plotting growth across Florida with investor and NFL star Rob Gronkowski working the drive-thru window.

Emerging Brands

Denny's-owned Keke's Breakfast Cafe begins national expansion push

By Joe Guszkowski on Jun. 13, 2025

Three years after it was acquired by Denny’s, the 74-unit family-dining chain is ramping up new openings with plans to grow its footprint by 25% to 30% annually.

Emerging Brands

Pepper Lunch carves a niche in the Panda Express-dominated world of Asian fast casual

By Lisa Jennings on Jun. 11, 2025

The Japan-born franchise brand has 540 units globally, but only nine in the U.S. CEO Troy Hooper expects to see 20 to 25 open across the country in the next 12 months.

Emerging Brands

The new concept Ballers hopes to capture the cross-court consumer

By Lisa Jennings on Jun. 06, 2025

The latest food-and-games concept focuses on pickleball, padel and other racquet sports. With $30M raised by a powerful group of investors, it is scheduled to debut in Philadelphia next month.

Emerging Brands

Bonrue Bakery acquired by Savory Fund

By Lisa Jennings on Jun. 04, 2025

The three-unit Utah-based bakery-cafe chain brings fine-dining-level talent into a scalable concept known for speed of service.

Emerging Brands

This Caribbean comfort food wants to be America's next great hand-held meal

By Lisa Jennings on Jun. 03, 2025

Move over tacos. Juici Patties is bringing a taste of Jamaica to the U.S. as a franchise brand after four decades of growth on the islands.

Emerging Brands

A fine-dining chef launches SuperNormal as the Tokyo love child of Whataburger and In-N-Out

By Lisa Jennings on May 28, 2025

Robbie Wilson and wife Emily Perry Wilson are taking on the fast-casual segment with a new burger concept, even as they prepare to open the high-end Lion's Share in Nashville.

Emerging Brands

Hilton to roll out fully baked restaurant concept exclusively for DoubleTree

By Lisa Jennings on May 28, 2025

The upcoming full-service Piebird will be part of a stable of scalable restaurants developed by an in-house creative team for its hotel operators.

Emerging Brands

This New Jersey startup wants to disrupt the ice cream truck business

By Joe Guszkowski on May 15, 2025

Scream Truck allows customers to summon its ice cream trucks via text. The high-tech concept plans to expand nationwide, and into other cuisines like pizza.

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