Franchising's Weekly Rewind

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DQ Celebrates 75^th Birthday Dairy Queen* has kicked off a year-long “Fanniversary” celebration with a partnership with OREO. The company has announced the new Birthday Cake OREO Blizzard Treat as the Blizzard of the Month for January. The ice cream treat consists of OREO cookie pieces, confetti frosting with sprinkles and the brand’s signature vanilla soft serve. The DQ brand was founded on June 22, 1940 in Joliet, Illinois. (From QSR Magazine) Shake Shack Introduces New Burger For the first time since 2012, Shake Shack has introduced a new burger to their menu. On January 1, the brand will add the ShackMeister Burger to the menu for a limited-time option. The burger features 100-percent all-natural Angus beef cheeseburger topped with crispy marinated shallots and ShackSauce. The ShackMeister won the Judge’s Choice award for “Best Burger” at the 2014 Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival Burger Bash. (From FastCasual.com) NRA Announces BAR event The National Restaurant Association is including the newly-named BAR event at the NRA Show in the spring. The BAR event which stands for the Beverage Alcohol for Restaurants program. The event will be co-located with the 2015 National Restaurant Association Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show, to be held May 16 to 19 in Chicago. (From PizzaMarketPlace.com) Planet Fitness Announces National New Year’s Sake The health club franchise, Planet Fitness, is offering a nationwide deal for New Year’s memberships. The brand will be offering a $1 down and $10 a month membership. The sale is running now until January 8, 2015 to encourage new gym-goers to sign up. (From Franchising.com) Easygates acquires Easyhome’s U.S. Franchising Business Easygates, a Wichita, Kan.-based business run by former Rent-A-Center CEO Bug Gates, has acquired the U.S. franchise business of Easyhomes, a Canadian rent-to-own merchant. Easygates has agreed to pay $4.9 million for the rights to receive royalties from the 50 U.S. Easyhomes franchises, with $500,000 paid at closing and another $3.8 million to be paid within the first 60 days. (From Furniture Today)