Multiple entities associated with Friendly Franchisees Corporation, owner of 65 Carl's Jr. locations across California, have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, raising concerns about the future of these franchises.
Founded in 1894 by Milton Hershey, The Hershey Company owns many more brands than just its signature chocolate bar brand, and Heshey is the brand of chocolate most eaten in the United States. The chocolate and candy company began with selling a simple bar of milk chocolate, followed a few years later by foil-wrapped dollops of chocolates, and then almost two decades later came the debut of the peanut-studded Mr. Goodbar.
Kempczinski's video has kicked off a humiliation ritual. C-suite types from competing fast food chains showing that their food is not only edible, but enjoyable! It's become such a sideshow for the internet that folks are hunting down more videos of Kempczinski sitting alone and eating sandwiches.
The brand sits right at the warm, gooey center of everyone's subconscious. That's how Hershey's bars can sell on American store shelves for 125 years, in the same boring candy bar wrapper - dull gray letters on a field of brown - without much emphasis on paid media at all. So when Hershey's takes the rare step of overhauling its brand marketing creative and communications platform, it is news. And this Wednesday marks the beginning of Hershey's first major brand marketing campaign since 2018,
Think about the last time you ate a bag of Chex Mix. Out of all the different kinds of pieces in the snack mix, which ones were left at the bottom of the bag once you'd already picked through all the ones you liked? If you're like me, then Wheat Chex make up the dregs of the bag every single time, and that's because, quite simply, they taste terrible.
Kraft Heinz Co (NASDAQ: KHC) delivered mixed fourth-quarter results on February 11, 2026, beating earnings expectations while missing on revenue. However, the bigger story was CEO Steve Cahillane's decision to halt the planned separation and commit $600 million to a turnaround effort. Shares fell roughly 7% in premarket trading as investors digested the strategic pivot and weak guidance. Q4 Results: EPS Beat, Revenue Miss Kraft Heinz reported adjusted EPS of $0.67, topping consensus of $0.62 by 8.1%. However, revenue of $6.35 billion fell short of $6.44 billion expectations, a 1.4% miss. Organic sales declined 4.2% year-over-year, driven by volume and mix headwinds of 4.7 percentage points.
McDonald's ( NYSE: MCD) and Yum! Brands ( NYSE: YUM) face a punishing domestic landscape. QSR traffic from lower-income consumers declined by nearly double digits in the third quarter, a trend persisting for nearly two years. Rising labor costs, consumer pushback on pricing, market saturation, and value menu wars are eroding margins. India offers explosive growth: 1.4 billion people, median age of 29, a rapidly expanding middle class expected to reach 600 million by 2030, and massive underpenetration of Western QSR brands.
