The Daily Dish: March 15, 2016

Today's first course?

7-Eleven Invites Customers to BYOC for Slurpee's 50th Birthday Celebration

7-Eleven is celebrating the 50th Birthday of its iconic Slurpee with the return of Bring Your Own Cup Day this weekend, March 18 and 19, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. For the promotion, Slurpee fans bring in a qualifying "cup" of their choice and can fill it up for $1.50. Qualifying Slurpee vessels must fit through a 10” hole and be food-safe and watertight. Customers are allowed one cup per person on BYOCup Day. Fans are invited to show off their cups by tagging their photos with #BYOCupDay, and a BYOCup Day geo-filter will be available at 7-Eleven stores.

Great Harvest Bread Co. Sues Panera Over Similar Slogan

Bakery chain Great Harvest Bread Co. is suing Panera Bread for a similar slogan that is a little too close for comfort. Great Harvest received a trademark in October 2014 for the phrase "Bread. The way it ought to be." Only eight months later in June 2015, Panera debuted an advertising campaign with the slogan "Food as it should be." According to Great Harvest, "The Panera campaign intentionally causes confusion." The suit was filed in federal court in Charlotte, North Carolina. Great Harvest asked Panera to suspend any advertising and promotion using the phrase, and since then Panera has sought to trademark its "Food as it should be" slogan. Panera Bread did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Daily Meal.

IHOP Employee Arrested for Giving Out $3,000 Worth of Free Drinks

He's the Robin Hood of root beer. An  ex-IHOP employee in Brooklyn is facing criminal charges after he was arrested for giving out $3,000-worth of free drinks to customers. Twenty-seven-year-old William Powell has been charged with multiple counts of grand larceny, criminal possession of stolen property, and petit larceny after being caught giving out free soft drinks. Powell was caught after his boss found that his total beverage sales were around six percent, compared with the 17 to 20 percent beverage sales that were present on other employees' customer receipts. After reviewing security footage and questioning Powell — who never denied his involvement in the crime — it was found that the ex-IHOP server would often bring drinks to a table, but the drinks would never appear on their bills.

That's today's Daily Dish, thanks for watching. Stop by tomorrow for another helping.