Weekly Global News Wrap: Panera’s fast casual supergroup; McDonald’s mask mandate; Quiznos parent acquires Church’s Chicken

Here is a summary of the most interesting news stories of the week from around the world.

Church’s Chicken, which operates as Texas Chicken outside of the U.S, has agreed to be purchased by the parent company of Quiznos. As Restaurant Business reported, the deal is expected to be completed during the third quarter. Read more here.

Panera Bread’s parent company is combining the brand with Caribou Coffee and Einstein Bros into one unit, Reuters first reported. The new group, called Panera Brands, will have nearly 4,000 locations in 10 countries combined. Read more here.

McDonald’s is facing tight supplies of some of its paper to-go bags, affecting restaurants in the United States. The Wall Street Journal reported that the chain recently told restaurant owners via an internal message that they needed to limit orders of bags from suppliers as usage is "running ahead of already high numbers last year." Read more here.

McDonald's also said that all its customers and staff would need to start wearing masks again inside its U.S. restaurants in areas with high or substantial COVID-19 transmission, Business Insider reported. Read more here.

Starbucks said its U.S. workers are getting a raise in October, rather than waiting until January, Nation’s Restaurant News reported. Part of an ongoing push to bring the chain’s minimum wage to at least US$15 per hour within the next two or three years, the coffee giant said it will raise the starting wage for baristas to at least $12 in all stores in the said month. Read more here.