Someone has to feed Indian’s growing white-collar workforce. Taking a page from competitor and Indian favorite, Pizza Hut, Sbarro aims to do just that through a joint venture announced in September 2006 that represents the company’s largest international expansion push to date. Melville, New York-based Sbarro partnered with RTC Sbarro Restaurants (India) Limited, which has committed to open 100 restaurants in India. The first restaurant is slated to open in 2007 followed by 10 new units opening over the next 10 years. Most will follow Sbarro’s American model and open inside shopping malls located in major metropolitan areas such as New Delhi and Mumbai. According to Sbarro, its stores will be the first in India to offer pizza by the slice and a full Italian menu—modified for the ethnic and religious tastes. Beef and meat-based pasta sauces will be excluded, and new vegetarian dishes will be added.

For a small, regional chain with visions of fantastic growth, exposure to pop culture creators and tastemakers is ideal. Believe it or not, the 4,000 employees who work at Microsoft Corporation’s Redmond, Washington, campus fall into that latter category. So when Garlic Jim’s Famous Gourmet Pizza was offered an opportunity to open shop in Microsoft’s corporate cafeteria, the decision to go for it was a no-brainer. Garlic Jim’s Microsoft location opened on June 20 alongside four other local vendors in the campus cafeteria. In the month that followed, area Garlic Jim’s stores began reporting an increase of Microsoft employees during the evenings and weekends. Garlic Jim’s expects the increase to not only yield better same-store sales but also an increase in national exposure for the brand. After all, he who controls the keyboards controls the culture.

We’ve been telling you for years about ethnic and exotic flavors making their way onto menus everywhere. Add one more up-and-coming taste to the mix: Hawaiian barbecue. By mid-2006, its 30th anniversary year, L&L Hawaiian Barbecue operated 92 stores in the continental United States and 50 stores in Hawaii. The chain opened 17 mainland units in the first half of the year, added another 14 over the next quarter, and expects to open another dozen or so by yearend. L&L is aiming for 200 stores systemwide in early 2007. No surprise that California has been the focus of L&L’s expansion push with efforts focused on Sacramento, San Francisco, San Jose, and Los Angeles. But the chain is also opening stores in Washington, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, Utah, and New York. “People want to try something that they have not tried before,” says President and CEO Eddie Flores, Jr. “L&L Hawaiian Barbecue gives you just that and more.”

The opening of Domino’s 8,000th unit was a dual celebration. The 5,000th U.S. store, owned by franchisee Lane Helvie, opened in Huntley, Illinois; the 3,000th international unit, owned by Mexico-based Grupe BGM, opened in Panama City, Panama. Both openings were celebrated in grand style—and both stores were symbolicly designated as Domino’s 8,000th unit. Chairman and CEO David Brandon attended the Huntley opening and marked the occasion with a donation of $8,000 to the Huntley Police Officers Benevolent Association. Panama’s First Lady, Vivian Fernandez de Torrijos, kicked off a three-week event in support of the Panama store’s opening. That celebration included the donation of 8,000 pizzas to local charities, hospitals, schools, police, fire departments, and other community groups.