The Los Angeles-based company has signed a franchise agreement with Mumbai-based JMS Corporation Pvt. Ltd., a franchise group that also operates other U.S. brands, such as California Pizza Kitchen, Trader Vic’s and Hard Rock Café in India. The franchise group will open its first Pinkberry in Mumbai later this year.

Ron Graves, Pinkberry’s chief executive, said India offers the chain “a sizeable opportunity over time.” He added, “India is an attractive market given there are over a billion people there.” The company is not releasing details about the structure of the deal or JMS’s plans for growing the brand Graves said.

Pinkberry has been aggressively growing overseas during the past few years, and India is the 18th country in which it will be present. The 180-unit chain saw the opening of about 70 locations in 2011, about half of which were domestic and half international.

The first international location for Pinkberry opened in Kuwait in 2009, and the franchise group there operates eight locations. Most of the chain’s international growth has been across the Middle East, but Peru is also a hot market for Pinkberry, Graves said. The franchisee there has eight locations open after moving into that country just last year.

Some analysts contend that India will soon surpass China as a potential growth market for restaurants companies.

Starbucks is another company with sights set on India. The Seattle-based coffeehouse giant plans to have units open in Mumbai and Delhi before the end of the year in a joint-venture partnership with Tata Global Beverages.

Howard Schultz, Starbucks Corp.’s chair, president and chief executive, serves on Pinkberry’s board, and he co-founded the Seattle-based venture capital firm Maveron LLC, which made a $27.5 million investment in Pinkberry in 2007.

Graves, however, said Starbucks’ plan for India was not a factor for Pinkberry. The key was finding the right franchise partner for the yogurt brand, Graves said — particularly in a complex market like India.

Pinkberry has yet to find the right franchise partner for China, another attractive market that can be tricky, Graves said. “I think that will be a stumbling block for many companies planning to move into China,” he noted. “It’s all about who you partner with.”

Domestic growth for Pinkberry will also continue, according to Graves. The chain has units in 19 states, and franchise growth across the U.S. will focus on both filling existing markets and moving into new cities.

Graves declined to project how many locations are planned in the U.S. this year, but he said a “small fraction” of them would be company-operated locations in Southern California.

Chipotle Mexican Grill reported a 35-percent increase in profit and double-digit same-store sales for the first quarter, noting that its focus on ingredients “raised with respect for animals, the environment and farmers” is resonating with consumers.

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The Denver-based company said net income for the quarter ended March 31 was $62.7 million, or $1.97 per share, compared with $46.4 million, or $1.46 per share, for the year-earlier quarter.

Same-store sales increased 12.7 percent for the quarter, primarily as a result of increased traffic, though the company said price increases implemented last year also helped.

Revenue grew by 25.8 percent to $640.6 million.

“We’re delighted that our continuing efforts to serve the very best food made from high-quality ingredients raised with respect for the animals, the environment and the farmers are resonating with our customers, allowing us to deliver double-digit comps and record earnings during the quarter,” said Steve Ells, Chipotle’s founder, chairman and co-chief executive.

During the quarter, Chipotle opened 32 restaurants, including one in Toronto, Canada. The company ended the quarter with a total of 1,262 locations in the U.S., Canada and Europe.

In its outlook for the year, Chipotle said it expects to open between 155 and 165 new locations. The chain is also expecting that same-store sales to grow in the mid-single-digit range.

 

John Maguire has resigned as chief operating officer of Panera Bread Co. to become chief executive of Friendly’s Ice Cream LLC, which emerged earlier this year from bankruptcy, the bakery-café chain said Tuesday.

Panera Bread said Charles Chapman III, currently executive vice president of development and licensing for the St. Louis-based company, would succeed Maguire. The changes will be effective May 31.

At Wilbraham, Mass.-based Friendly’s, Maguire will succeed Harsha Agadi, who stepped down in early February as CEO but remained on the board of the 387-unit family-dining chain. Friendly’s COO Jim Parrish has filled the CEO spot on an interim basis.

Friendly’s filed for bankruptcy protection in October 2011 and emerged in January after closing 100 restaurants and shedding much of its debt.

Chapman joined Panera’s board in January 2008 and became chief operating officer in 2011. Previously, he served as chief operating officer at International Dairy Queen and held executive positions at Bruegger’s Bagels and Darden Restaurants Inc.

In March, Panera founder Ron Shaich returned to the chief executive suite in a title-sharing position with Bill Moreton, who remained as president and became co-CEO.

Panera Bread Co. owns and franchises 1,541 bakery-cafes under the Panera, St. Louis Bread Co. and Paradise Bakery & Café brands.

In a decision that many hope will bring clarity to state break requirements and reduce the number of lawsuits that have plagued the restaurant industry, the court said employers across the state need not ensure that workers actually take mandated 30-minute breaks during their shifts.

Employers, however, must make meal and rest breaks available within a certain time during shifts, and they must also keep records of such breaks, the ruling said.

Attorneys for Brinker said they were glad to finally have a decision, which was handed down from the Brinker Restaurant Corp. et al v. The Superior Court for the State of California for the County of San Diego.

The court’s action was seen as a victory for Brinker, though aspects of the case will return to the lower court to play out in light of Thursday’s ruling.

“We’re very pleased that our team members and employees have the flexibility to take or not take their meal breaks,” said Roger Thomson, Dallas-based Brinker’s executive vice president and general counsel.

Steven Katz, an attorney with Reed Smith in Los Angeles, said the ruling was “a clear victory for common sense.”

By allowing employees an opportunity for a meal break, but not forcing them to take a break they may not want, “the court declared the law to be precisely what employees and employers have always thought: it is the employee’s choice to take a meal break, not something forced on employees by the government.”

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Steve Hirschfeld, founder and chief executive of the San Francisco-based labor and employment attorney network Employment Law Alliance, agreed, adding, “What this ruling says, in essence, is that employers don’t have to babysit employees.

“As long as they make available meal and rest periods and encourage their usage, they are not liable for claims brought by employees that they did not receive them,” Hirschfeld said. “Employers are not going to be in a situation where they have to act like ‘big brother’ and constantly monitor employees.”

McDonald’s Corp. has confirmed that Mike Andres, president of Oak Brook, Ill.-based McDonald’s USA’s central division, will retire on Sept. 1.

According to a report, McDonald’s USA’s chief restaurant officer, Lee Renz, will succeed Andres this fall.

During his 30 years with the company, Andres also served as president and chief executive of the Boston Market chicken chain from 2000 to 2007, when McDonald’s sold the brand. Prior to that post, Andres had been senior vice president and restaurant support officer of McDonald’s Midwest division.

As president of the central division, Andres oversaw 4,400 restaurants in seven geographic regions encompassing 24 states.

“We thank Mike for his unwavering dedication and commitment to brand McDonald’s for more than three decades,” the company said in a statement. “We wish him and his family the very best as he pursues the next phase of his life. Today’s announcement reinforces McDonald’s commitment to developing people and showcases the deep bench of talent at this level who are ready to move into these leadership roles.”

McDonald’s Corp. operates or franchises more than 33,000 restaurants in 119 countries, including more than 14,000 locations in the United States.

In the past week, Wendy’s, Domino’s Pizza, Dairy Queen and Fazoli’s have introduced new television commercials showing a fresh take on sales-building initiatives that the brands have been brewing for months.

Each of the four brands is tying the new spots to the promotion of certain menu items, but each commercial also represents a new step in the brands’ marketing strategies, including a new tagline for Wendy’s, moving from “yes” to “no” at Domino’s, extending the “So good it’s RiDQlous” campaign for Dairy Queen, and unveiling “A Whole New Fazoli’s.”

Wendy’s, Domino’s and Dairy Queen began airing their commercials this week, and Fazoli’s will start broadcasting its new spots Monday.

Wendy’s gets ‘Better’ tagline

Wendy’s latest commercial for its Spicy Guacamole Chicken Club carries the brand’s new tagline, “Now That’s Better.” Brand spokesman Denny Lynch confirmed the slogan will be Wendy’s tagline going forward, though Wendy’s has not yet announced when a new marketing campaign will run.

At an investor conference in January, chief executive Emil Brolick first hinted that Wendy’s would debut a new marketing campaign in the second quarter. Brolick disclosed that the brand had run more than 55 commercials with the “You Know When It’s Real” tagline since October 2009, making it the most successful campaign since the passing of chain founder and spokesman Dave Thomas.

Up to his death in 2002, Thomas filmed more than 700 commercials for Wendy’s, and the chain struggled to find a coherent marketing voice after losing him. One attempt with a new spokesman, Mr. Wendy, lasted only nine commercials, and Brolick called the 24 “red wig” commercials from the middle of last decade “embarrassing.”

New commercials will advertise Wendy’s product quality, which Brolick said during the chain’s fourth-quarter earnings call would position Wendy’s to compete with fast-casual competitors and fend off McDonald’s attempts to outflank the brand with commercials focused on their suppliers.

Watch a commercial featuring the new tagline; story continues below

“We have to be in that space, sharing what makes us different and what makes us better,” Brolick said during the call, “and there will be a component of that in our new advertising campaign that is designed to deal specifically with that, along with the traditional need to drive sales through product innovation.”

Dublin, Ohio-based Wendy’s also recently hired Craig Bahner as its chief marketing officer.