Pizza Hut, KFC and Subway are some of the fast food chains that plan to invest in opening new restaurants during 2020.
The Pizza Hut chain plans to invest close to $1.8 million in the opening of six new stores this year. The points of sale could be located in the areas of Aserrí, Paraíso de Cartago and San Ramón de Alajuela.
Arguing that there were problems of profitability, the Applebee's chain decided to close the three service centers it was operating in the country.
The restaurant franchise was operated in Costa Rica by the company Dine Equity, and the premises that were closed were located in Terrazas de Lindora, San Pedro and Cariari.
The U.S. restaurant chain Olive Garden plans to open its first restaurant in the country in July 2020, and for 2021 and 2022 it plans to open two more points of attention.
The first location to be opened by the investment group AR Holdings, a member of Grupo Promerica, will be 450 square meters and will be in Escazu, and the estimated investment for this restaurant is $1.3 million.
In Costa Rica, the Pizza Hut chain expects to invest about $1.6 million in the next few months in the opening of six new sales points outside the Greater Metropolitan Area.
Representatives of the company informed that the new premises will be located in Nicoya, Orotina, Quepos, San Rafael de Alajuela, Turrialba and San Ramón. In the case of the sales point in Nicoya, it was inaugurated last September 17.
During the rest of the year, the Papa John's pizza restaurant chain plans to open seven new points in the Greater Metropolitan Area.
The company said in a statement that the first of the seven locations that are planned to open, is located in Barva de Heredia and began operating last August 24.
The McDonald's chain will invest $5 million this year in launching three new restaurants, completing 70 points of sale in the country.
The company reported that one of the new restaurants is currently being built in Concepción de La Union, Cartago, but regarding the location of the other two establishments, preferred not to give details.
KFC chain will invest $3 million to open three new restaurants and $1 million to remodel other locations already operating in the country.
The company reported that the new restaurants, which will begin operations in 2019, will be located in Escazú, Limón and Heredia, and those that will be remodeled are located in downtown San José, Alajuela and in Multicentro de Desamparados.
In Costa Rica, fast food restaurant chains plan to open at least 14 new sales points in different areas of the country next year.
Some of the companies planning to expand their restaurant chain in 2019 include: Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, McDonald's, Subway, KFC and QSR International, and their key commitment to further expansion will be to move into smaller locations.
From September 5 to 7 products will be exhibited and meetings held in Guatemala City by representatives of food companies, restaurants and other entities linked to the sector.
The event is being organized by the Union of Restaurants in Guatemala and will be held at the Grand Tikal Futura Hotel in Guatemala City.
Taking part in the fair will be companies producing food and drinks, restaurants, hotels and other companies related to the industry.
The FDA now requires calorie information to be included on menus of restaurants, chain, similar retail food establishments and vending machines with 20 or more locations.
From a statement issued by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) US:
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the United States has finalized two regulations requiring the inclusion of calorie information on menus and menu boards in chain restaurants, similar retail food establishments and vending machines with 20 or more locations, in order to offer consumers greater nutritional information on food eaten outside of the home. The regulations are a requirement of the law on Affordable Health Care and Patient Protection 2010.
Fast food chains have announced investments of $13 million in the opening of nine chicken restaurants and improvements in other infrastructure.
In order to meet the growing the demand for chicken meals, the chains KFC, Rostipollos, Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen and As will make investments in 2013 which together total $12.7 million.
According to Juan Carlos Rodriguez, manager of the KFC brand (represented by the firm QRS International), the chain has 30 stores in the country and opened its first restaurant in Limon. In addition it will have branches in Tibás, Desamparados and Juan Santamaria International Airport, for which it is designating $8 million.