Circana Reports on the Future of Dinner: Quick Meals and Invested Occasions Define Consumer Habits

Circana™, a leading advisor on the complexity of consumer behavior, today released insights from its Future of Dinner report, revealing that U.S. consumers source 81% of their dinners at home and most often enjoy dinner with others. While Gen X prefers dinners that require minimal preparation and few ingredients, Gen Z consumers increasingly invest in special occasion dinners as they hone their kitchen skills, while also seeking no-prep dinner solutions. In fact, half of all dinners are ready in 15 minutes or less...

Mintec's 2024 US Easter Index

Mintec’s US Easter Index measures price fluctuations across key food commodities that are typically consumed in the US during the Easter period. The US Easter Index compares the commodities’ prices in March 2024 against March 2023 to determine whether consumers will be hypothetically better or worse off this Easter. The Index is comprised of three sub-indices: the US Easter Protein Index represents a selection of meats, fish and eggs that will typically be eaten as part of a main Easter dinner; the US Easter Chocolate Index compares the main...

Cracker Barrel Old Country Store® Announces Return of Easter Heat n' Serve Favorites

To celebrate Easter, Cracker Barrel Old Country Store® is announcing new meal offerings to help create a delicious home-cooked meal experience. Guests can enjoy new items like the Hot n' Ready Easter Ham and Turkey Family Dinner and a Heat n' Serve French Toast Bake or traditional favorites like the Easter Heat n' Serve Ham or Prime Rib meals.

"This Easter, let Cracker Barrel do the homestyle cooking," said Cracker Barrel Vice President of Culinary Thomas Yun...

Restaurant Chains Prepare For Valentine’s Day, Ash Wednesday Mashup 

Valentine’s Day… a day of love and big spending. The National Retail Federation (NRF) predicts total spending on significant others to reach a record high this year at $14.2 billion. But this year February 14 also happens to be Ash Wednesday, the kickoff of the Lenten season.

Catholics are supposed to abstain from eating meat on not only Ash Wednesday, but the Fridays during Lent leading up to Easter Sunday. During this time many chains feature specials and limited time offerings for seafood to appeal to the crowd that observes...

That's Amoré! Maggiano's Little Italy® Celebrates Valentine's Day Signatures

Maggiano's Little Italy® has announced the return of its specially-crafted Valentine's Day dine-in and carryout menus for couples and some decadent seasonal features for the month of February. As a restaurant focused on bringing people together over the joy of delicious food and drink the Italian-American restaurant is looking forward to delivering extra-special romantic offerings to its guests this holiday!

During the month of love, Maggiano's will have mouth-watering seasonal features to indulge in including a Shrimp Parmesan appetizer, Bone-in Veal Parmesan...

White Castle Announces the Return of the Love Castle, a Valentine's Day Dinner Experience

There are plenty of ways to celebrate Valentine's Day, but few are as special and memorable as spending the holiday at White Castle. The fast-food pioneer will again be hosting its annual Valentine's Day Dinner — a beloved tradition that started in 1991 — on Feb. 14 from 4 to 9 p.m.

Reservations will be accepted at more than 300 participating Castles beginning tomorrow at OpenTable.com.

Valentine's Day is a one-of-a-kind event at White Castle. On this day, participating... 

Mintec Releases "Thanksgiving Dinner Index 2023" Report; Read It Here

Mintec enables the world's largest food and manufacturing brands to implement more efficient and sustainable procurement strategies. We do this through our cutting-edge SaaS platform, Mintec Analytics, which delivers market prices and analysis for thousands of commodities, food ingredients and associated materials. Our data and tools empower our customers to understand prices better, analyze their spend and negotiate with confidence.

Mintec’s latest report, “Thanksgiving Dinner Index 2023,” is a look at the components that make up the traditional holiday dinner...

Cost of Thanksgiving Dinner Down Slightly from Record High in 2022

Gathering around the table for a Thanksgiving dinner won’t take as much of a toll on your pocketbook this year compared to 2022, but the meal still reflects historically high costs. The American Farm Bureau Federation’s 38th annual survey provides a snapshot of the average cost of this year’s classic holiday feast for 10, which is $61.17 or less than $6.20 per person.

This is a 4.5% decrease from last year’s record-high average of $64.05, but a Thanksgiving meal is still...