1851 Franchising Weekly Rewind

Subway Partners with PayPal for Mobile Payments
Soon Subway customers will be able to pay for their sandwiches with PayPal from the brand’s mobile app. Subway and PayPal are working together to include PayPal’s OneTouch mobile checkout experience into the Subway app to work across the franchise’s 27,000 U.S. stores. The companies are planning on having this technology fully integrated by the end of the year.
(From TechCrunch)

GNC to focus more on Franchises
After GNC Holdings, Inc., announced that the company would shift toward having more franchise locations, the company’s shares were up midday on July 29, 2015, by 10.6 percent. GNC is planning on increasing the proportion of new stores that are franchise owned and converting company-owned stores to a franchise model.
(From NASDAQ)

IHOP Reports Highest Same-Store Sales in Decade
In Q2 IHOP reported the highest same-store sales in the last decade. For the quarter ending on June 30, system wide same-store sales rose to 6.2 percent. This has out the brand at a two-year increase of 9 percent. After this report, the company is predicting that same-store sales for the year will increase between 4 and 6 percent.
(From Nation’s Restaurant News)

Dairy Queen* Donates to the Children’s Miracle Network
On Thursday, July 30, Dairy Queen and DQ Grill & Chill locations in the U.S. donated $1 from every blizzard sold to the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals (CMN Hospitals). This will be the 10^th Annual DQ Miracle Treat Day. The donation will help raise awareness and funds for 170 children’s hospitals across the U.S. and Canada.
(From QSR Magazine)

Papa John’s Launches Two New LTOs
The pizza franchise Papa John’s is launching a new Grilled Chicken Margherita Pizza and Bruschetta Cheesesticks. Both new limited-time only menu items are part of the band’s “Better Ingredients. Better Pizza.” initiative. The Grilled Chicken Margherita Pizza is made on a crispy thin crust with both Papa John’s sauce and basil pesto, topped with grilled, all-white meat chicken, Roma tomatoes and mozzarella cheese. The Bruschetta Cheesesticks feature Roma tomatoes, mozzarella cheese and basil pesto sauce.
(From Pizza Marketplace)