Davina van Buren

Branded content for Envysion: For many quick-service restaurant operators, the drive-thru is their biggest revenue channel. But a significant portion of the customer journey happens before traditional drive-thru technology even starts tracking it.

Branded content for UPM: With the popularity of digital and off-premises business, operators need systems that keep individual items and customizations attached to the right order.

2K words on how Smithfields helps full-service restaurant operators manage prep and labor costs wih pre-cooked foods, for FSR magazine.

12K words on franchising for QSR magazine / Inspire Brands

12K words on cleaning and sanitation for FSR magazine / Ecolab. I consider this my opus LOL.

2,000-word premium report for Bojangles. I wrote the sponsored section titled "A Southern Icon Goes West."

6,000-word package for FSR magazine / American Express The Restaurant Guide to Marketing in 2024 One of the most fun packages I've ever worked on!

9,000-word package for QSR magazine/ Sunny Sky. The restaurant industry's newest profit center isn't food. It's the beverage programs' time to shine.

Watermelon may be synonymous with summer picnics, but at True Food Kitchen, the fruit has found a much bigger role.  The 46-store brand currently features watermelon in both a savory salad and a mojito, and both have become reliable seasonal performers. For Matt Padilla, senior vice president of culinary and supply chain at True Food […]

Drive-thrus are the primary revenue engine for quick-service restaurants, but many operators still lack visibility into what happens before customers reach the menu board.

Port of Subs is at a rare inflection point. Known for its baked-in-house bread and sliced-to-order premium meats, the brand has more than 50 years of operating history.

Running a restaurant in 2025 takes more than a good location and a strong work ethic. Today’s top franchisees are analyzing data, managing digital orders and supply chain shifts, making real estate plays, leveraging innovative technology, and, of course, delivering an outstanding guest experience. Across its portfolio of six powerhouse brands—Arby’s, Baskin-Robbins, Buffalo Wild Wings, […]

Inflation. Labor shortages. The ongoing challenge of doing more with less. Restaurant operators have enough on their plates without having to worry about what’s happening in stores when they aren’t on-site. Security cameras are a familiar sight at most restaurants. These video monitoring systems not only keep stores safe, but they work in tandem with […]

In the restaurant business, sales numbers don’t lie— but they also don’t tell the whole story.  For example, your fries might be a top-selling item, but that doesn’t mean that they’re driving customer retention— your sales numbers will only tell you when someone orders fries. There are still many unanswered questions: Did they like the […]

Success in the restaurant business hinges not only on serving good food, but also on having reliable human talent. Yet sourcing, screening, and selecting candidates remains a formidable challenge for quick-service restaurants. This dilemma became especially prevalent during the later stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, when millions of workers switched career paths or left the […]

Whether in the front of the house or back of the house, every restaurant has its own specific processes and procedures. Ask any restaurant worker and no doubt, they can rattle off a long list of opening and closing duties. At Slim Chickens—which serves fresh, made-to-order chicken tenders, sandwiches, wings, sides, salads—this entails everything from […]

Restaurants and those who open and manage them are resilient. How resilient? According to the National Restaurant Association, nationwide restaurant sales are expected to reach a staggering $997 billion in 2023—just a few years removed from a pandemic that turned the industry upside down.  Despite a challenging past and an uncertain future, enterprise operators’ surest […]

Eggs Up Grill in Spartanburg, South Carolina is known for its creative, made-to-order breakfast plates: Imagine stacks of fluffy waffles and pancakes, elevated egg dishes such as Coastal Crab Cakes Benedict, and delightful twists on Southern classics like the Banana Pudding French Toast and Shrimp and Grits Omelet. Named FSR magazine’s 2022 Breakout Brand of […]

Some people take decades to find their place in the restaurant industry, but Mandee Lew was born into it. Lew operates Mix Stix Asian Fusion, a small, mostly takeout restaurant in Soledad, a small town off U.S. Highway 101 in California’s Salinas Valley, two hours south of San Francisco. Lew officially opened Mix Stix in November […]

On September 5, 2022, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed the Fast Food Accountability and Standards Recovery Act (better known as the FAST Recovery Act), into law. California’s minimum wage currently sits at $15 per hour. Under the new law, the minimum wage for California fast-food workers could increase by 41 percent—to $22 per hour—by January […]