Chipotle Mexican Grill

Shares of P.F. Chang's soared nearly 30% Tuesday after the restaurant chain agreed to be acquired by private equity firm Centerbridge Partners in a $1.1 billion deal. Here's what it all means for the rest of the dynamic casual dining industry.

If your New Year's resolution was to pinch more pennies, Starbucks has some bad news. The coffee king is raising prices due to rising costs of coffee and milk. And they aren't the only restaurant chain getting ready to pass higher expenses on to their customers.

If you're finding it a bit easier to snag a table at your favorite restaurant lately, don't go crediting your debonair charm or your glowing Yelp review. Eateries really are less crowded these days.

The market wasn't overly impressed with Yum! Brands' quarterly report on Tuesday night. The company that watches over Taco Bell, KFC, and Pizza Hut has seen domestic business fall by 2% to 3% at each of its three chains. But Yum! fared substantially better in China, with its popular KFC scoring a whopping 19% spike in comps.

The hugely successful Chipotle Mexican Grill is branching out, at least tentatively: ShopHouse Southeast Asian Kitchen has just opened in Washington D.C.'s Dupont Circle. Our reporter scouts the location, sampling lunch and taking in the already impressive crowd.

Legendary investor Peter Lynch espoused the philosophy "Buy what you know." Well, who doesn't know restaurants? We know where the crowds are, and we know what we like to eat. Here are five chains that managed to grow during the market lull, positioning themselves perfectly for the future.

Do you get a warm fuzzy feeling when you open your cupboards? If you use products made by companies like Method, King Arthur Flour Company, and Seventh Generation, you're supporting businesses officially certified as do-good corporations by the nonprofit B Lab -- where the "B" stands for "benefit."

While Chipotle's fresh Mexican fare has many fans in the U.S., the company has also been adding new restaurants in Europe and is looking at further expansion worldwide. It reported impressive first quarter numbers -- but will higher food costs put the brakes on its expansion plans?

Asian food is growing in popularity, but casual dining is on a downward slide. Caught in the middle, chain restaurant P.F. Chang's could go either way. Here's a look at a stock that seems promising, but may be a bad bet.

Among today's top online stories for investors: Why holiday spending will surprise; two stocks hotter than AAPL; and are insiders trying to tell us something with all this selling?