"qdoba mexican grill" news and stories

Whether you're rooting for the Steelers or Green Bay (or just the commercials), it's likely you'll tune into the Super Bowl this Sunday. (More than 106 million Americans watched the game last year.) Restaurant owners know the big game equals big business, so you can find all sorts of deals this weekend in honor of Sunday's big showdown.

Hosting a game-day party? You might want to consider serving pizza, since Papa John's, the "official pizza" partner for Super Bowl XLV, is conducting a sweepstakes for anyone who places an online order between 10am and 9:59 pm EST. As reported in Nation's Restaurant News, the chain is giving away $45 gift cards every 45 seconds, and offering $10 large pizzas all day. In addition, registering for "Papa Points" will win you a free large pizza if the game goes into overtime. Pizza Hut, too, is introducing a party option with its "Big Dipper" pizza, $12 for 24 strips of pizza and 4 cups of tomato sauce for dipping.

A judge in Worcester, Massachusetts has ruled that a burrito is not the same thing as a sandwich.

Why is this important? Well, Panera Bread tried to keep a Qdoba Mexican Grill out of the White City Shopping Center in Shrewsbury because it would violate an agreement the shopping center owner made to keep another sandwich shop out of the mall. They not only got a USDA official to testify, they called Boston chef Chris Schlesinger, who said, "I know of no chef or culinary historian who would call a burrito a sandwich...the notion would be absurd to any credible chef or culinary historian."

Other things that aren't sandwiches:

• Tacos
• Quesadillias
• Tortillas
• Price Is Right host Bob Barker