Here at Wisetail we’re proud to partner with innovative, forward-thinking companies. We keep up with their notable accomplishments and want to share their efforts to adapt and improve their businesses with the wider world. Partially it’s to love and brag on our clients a little more than usual, but we also feel there’s value in following what’s happening on the ground within our client community as we all work to get ahead.

Club Pilates

Club Pilates is gearing up to open 21 new studios as states begin to reopen, the Los Angeles Business Journal reports. Club Pilates noted that its reformers are more than six feet apart, allowing for proper social distancing during classes. Read More

Taco John’s

Taco John’s Brooks Spiers, Vice President of Franchising, appeared on the QSR.com podcast to talk about how Taco John’s is sticking to the quick-service model and plans to open more than 75 stores in the near future. Read More

Taco John’s

Taco John’s raised nearly $21,000 for suicide prevention organizations over the month of May in its fourth annual month-long suicide prevention campaign with Jonah Bank of Wyoming. Money raised was donated to nonprofits such as Grace For 2 Brothers and similar organizations in Colorado and Wyoming. Read More

Chopt and Dos Toros

Chopt and Dos Toros are beginning to reopen select stores around New York City and Washington, D.C. Among efforts to make the stores safer and more convenient, they’ve introduced contactless ordering options for in-store orders. Read More

Veggie Grill

Veggie Grill is working with Support + Feed to donate meals to LGBTQIA+ shelters and centers, reports VegNews.com. The vegan restaurant is also matching donations to the Equal Justice Initiatives. Read More

Jazzercise

Jazzercise instructor Pamela Bobrow celebrated her 40-year anniversary as an instructor with a somewhat impromptu drive-by car parade. Bobrow started teaching in 1980, ran her own studio for 26 years, and currently teaches low-impact classes three times a week, reports the Mission Times Courier. Read More

Peet’s

Peet’s Coffee is bracing for a second wave… of reopenings. Seventeen more cafes will open with limited operations. All reopened locations require face masks for employees, pre-shift symptom checks, and more stringent cleaning and sanitation protocols. Read More

Equinox

Equinox Chief Operating Officer, Judy Turchin, spoke with Vogue about re-opening protocols. Equinox created a task force, which included infectious-disease experts, to determine best practices. Read More

Y7

Y7 Studio CEO Sarah Larson Levey also spoke with Vogue about reopening. She decided on several steps, such as staff must wear either face masks or shields, and even renovating some studios to install a fresh air intake system. Read More

Urban Plates

Urban Plates was recently patronized by Eddie Rivera, an editor for PasadenaNow.com, who described the post-COVID changes. In summary, Eddie found the uncrowded table service, pickup and delivery options were all “pretty excellent”. Read More

Nando’s

Nando’s launched a promotion in Australia where a meal is donated to Australians in need for every $15 spent. The goal is to provide a million meals to vulnerable Aussies, determined by Nando’s after it realized “one in five people in Australia have experienced food insecurity as a result” of the pandemic. Read More

Smashburger

Smashburger is in the midst of a major expansion in Chicago, reports the Chicago Tribune. President Carl Bachmann told the newspaper that Smashburger has signed one lease and is negotiating six others. Still no word on whether Smashburger will open a Bozeman location. Read More

Creighton University

Creighton University rolled out the Campus Clear App, “an app to help students with a safe return to campus later this summer,” reports NewsChannelNebraska.com. The app is for self-screening and basically asks students, faculty, and staff how they feel that day. Read More

Union Square Hospitality Group

Union Square Hospitality Group CEO Danny Meyer spoke to about 1,000 Trinity College alumni via Zoom about the challenges restaurants face post-COVID. Meyer said the restaurant industry “is broken, period” and needs to be “highly sustainable” moving forward. Read More

Chicken Salad Chick

Chicken Salad Chick continues to expand in Virginia, as the commonwealth reopens with capacity and social distancing guidelines in place. The company now has 160 restaurants open in 17 states, reports Franchising.com. Read More

Torchy’s Tacos

Torchy’s Tacos founder Mike Rypka allowed the Wall Street Journal to tour his Austin, TX home, which includes a professional kitchen and a ‘chill room’ with a walk-in humidor. Read More

Sanitkos

Sanitkos joined with seven other local San Antonio businesses to celebrate recent graduates who had graduation ceremonies impacted by the global pandemic, reports the San Antonio Current. Read More

Just Salad

Just Salad is set to become the first U.S. restaurant chain to add a carbon label to its menu, reports LiveKindly.co. The salad slingers teamed up with NYU Stern School of Business MBA students to calculate carbon footprints of each menu item, and expected the new carbon labels to be ready by Climate Week, beginning Sept. 21. Read More

Yoshinoya America

Yoshinoya America hired Kim Freer as Chief Marketing Officer as the company grows its digital infrastructure, according to QSRweb.com. Freer previously served as Vice President of Brand Marketing at Blaze Pizza and brings a depth of experience in digital marketing, new product development, and Gen Z outreach. Read More