What’s the appeal of limited-time offers? Where are operators investing in their businesses? What are the key ingredients to Chili’s renaissance? Answers to these questions and more This Week in Foodservice.

Why do foodservice operators spend so much time and effort on limited-time offers? Why not stick with the tried and true menu? The answer is simple: customers demand it.

Specifically, 61% of consumers are interested in purchasing a limited-time offer or another seasonal retail offering, per a data from Chicago-based Datassential. And during a time when generating customer traffic remains a challenge, operators expect operators to continue to do everything in their power to entice customers to visit their businesses.

Fall is a time when the LTOs are particularly plentiful. In fact, in the fall of 2024, there were 1,202 LTOs on restaurant menus, which accounted for 26% of the year’s total, per Datassential. In 2024, November represented the month which restaurant chains released the most LTOs. In 2023, September was the most popular month.

Why the switch? The continued popularity of pumpkin-spiced menu items. In fact, major chains offered 30 LTOs in August of 2024, per Datassential. That may have prompted operators to push back any other seasonal LTOs they have planned.

Foodservice News

• Where are operators investing in their businesses? Readers of restaurant development + design magazine were split, with 35% saying renovating and upgrading existing locations is where they have seen the greatest operator investment in 2025. Interestingly, 35% also said developing new units was the area where they saw the most investment.
• Casual dining chain Chili’s continues to enjoy a renaissance. For its most recent fiscal quarter, parent company Brinker reported Chili’s same-store sales increased a stunning 23.7%. Brinker attributes Chili's strong second quarter performance to “continued increases in traffic, supported by menu innovation and advertising, per a company release. While the marketing and menu efforts certainly play a role in this revival, a more simplified approach to the kitchen also helps with consistency and throughput, as Slate Magazine explains. This ranges from deciding which shaker to use when seasoning fries to the strategic use of rapid cook ovens and more.
• Noodles & Company plans to shrink its footprint. Despite providing some positive same-store sales for its second fiscal quarter, the fast-casual pasta chain plans to close up to 32 units this year and up to 17 more in 2025, per various published reports, including this one from The Street. The chain’s CEO cited lower than expected foot traffic and “an unexpected decline in guest value perception,” the story added.
• Can a coffee shop prepare a custom order in four minutes or less? Starbucks says yes and doing so will take a combination of crew and technology, per this WGN News story. The popularity of mobile ordering surged during the pandemic and continued for quite some time afterward. It was common to walk into a place like a Starbucks, or any other chain that was offering mobile ordering, which may not have seemed busy on the surface and place an order at the register only to have to wait an extended period to get what seemed to be the simplest of orders fulfilled. Now, through its Green Apron plan, Starbucks feels it has unlocked the code to balancing mobile and on-premises orders.
• Cava has invested $10 million in Hyphen, per a Restaurant Dive story. If the Hyphen name sounds familiar, that’s because it is the company behind Chipotle’s automated makeline prototype. Just last year, Chipotle invested $15 million in Hyphen. A Cava spokesperson said the fast-casual chain plans to “explore the relationship with Hyphen, the functionality of the equipment, the timeliness and the pricing.” This includes using the makeline to process digital orders in the back of the house.
• Habit Burger & Grill was selected as the best fast-casual restaurant by USA Today’s 10BEST study. Biscuitville was deemed to have the best breakfast. The USA Today editors and a panel of “quick-service aficionados” made their top picks for fast-food and fast-casual restaurants across 11 categories. USA Today readers then cast the votes that determined the winners in a study that goes from breakfast to burgers and all points in between.
• Here they grow again: Middleby has added another line to its food processing business. The Elgin, Ill.-based company acquired Oka-Spezialmaschinenfabrik GmbH & Co. KG, a designer and manufacturer of industrial extrusion, molding, depositing and cutting industrial production equipment in bakery, confectionery and pet-food markets. Earlier this month, Middleby acquired Frigomeccanica S.p.A, an Italian company that manufactures solutions for drying, defrosting, fermentation, and refrigeration in the food processing industry. Earlier this year, Middleby announced it was exploring the sale of its food processing business. These moves are seen as a way to further fortify its food processing unit, thus making it more attractive to potential buyers, per various published reports, including this one from AI Invest.

Economic News

• U.S. retail sales increased 0.5% in July compared to the previous month, per data from the U.S. Census Bureau. Economists had expected retail sales to rise 0.6% from the prior month in July, according to data from Bloomberg shared via Yahoo! Finance. Excluding automobiles and gas, retail sales rose 0.2% last month. Sales were up 3.9% compared to July of 2024. Sales at eating and drinking places came in at $98.34 million for the month, which is down from June’s total of $98.68 million.
• The Producer Price Index for final demand came in hotter than expected in July. It increased 0.9%, per data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Economists polled by Dow Jones had projected a 0.2% increase, per a CNBC story. This comes on the heels of the PPI being flat in June and increasing 0.4% in May. Excluding food and energy prices, the core PPI rose 0.9% against the forecast for 0.3%. Excluding food, energy and trade services, the index was up 0.6%, the biggest gain since March 2022.
• Industrial production ticked down 0.1% in July, per data from the U.S. Federal Reserve. Manufacturing output was unchanged after increasing 0.3% in June. The index for utilities decreased 0.2%. At 104.0% of its 2017 average, total IP in July was 1.4% greater than its year-earlier level. Capacity utilization moved down to 77.5% in July, a rate that is 2.1 percentage points less than its long-run (1972–2024) average.
• Initial jobless claims declined 3,000 for a total of 224,000 for the week ending August 9, 2025, per data from the U.S. Department of Labor. The 4-week moving average totaled 221,750, an increase of 750 from the previous week. The decline was attributed to lower layoffs, but businesses’ reluctance to hire could still drive the unemployment rate to 4.3% in August, per a Reuters report shared by Yahoo! Finance.