Business Beat for Monday, Nov. 3, 2014

The struggling chain is planning another revamped menu that removes dishes including Spicy Tortilla Soup and a Wood-Grilled Pork Chop.

The Hoffman Estates retailer will open its stores at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving day, two hours earlier than last year.

The Millennium Park store will be the David’s Tea chain’s four store in Chicago.

Burger 21 plans to open by fall 2015. The restaurants feature 21 burger creations including Angus beef, chicken, turkey, vegetarian, shrimp and tuna.

Bswift could strengthen Aetna’s push into a small but growing area of private insurance exchanges that let workers choose their own plans.

CNA Financial Corp. has offered lump-sum payments to 11,000 former employees to encourage them to give up their pensions. [Bloomberg]

Stocks closed mostly lower Monday, bringing major indexes slightly below the record highs reached last week.

Analyst Sucharita Mulpuru expects 3.4 million Americans will try holiday shopping online for the first time this year.

The Oak Brook hamburger giant might turn to a loyalty program to bring in more customers more often. [Bloomberg Businessweek]

New programs are helping speed up the check-in process for busy travelers, sometimes by using their smartphone to unlock doors.

Southwest Airlines will offer the Beats Music streaming service to passengers at no charge. [CNet]

The lawsuit alleges a pattern of sexual harassment and discrimination at the Chicago Assembly plant that spans more than two decades, [Crain’s]

GM, Toyota, Chrysler, Nissan, Volkswagen and Honda reported sales gains. Ford’s sales fell 2 percent as it gets ready to launch its new F-150.

The civil penalty ends a two-year U.S. investigation into overstated gas mileage figures on window stickers of 13 models.

Carnival announced Monday it will offer a long-range, broadband wireless Internet network on all of its 101 ships across nine cruise line brands.

British drinks company Diageo is selling its Bushmills whiskey brand to tequila king Jose Cuervo and gaining sole ownership of the Don Julio brand.

French advertising group Publicis says it is to buy Boston-based marketing, communications and consulting firm Sapient for $3.7 billion.

Ryanair sharply raised its profit outlook on surprisingly strong first-half profits, sending shares in Europe’s biggest budget airline higher.

LabCorp will pay about $6.1 billion in cash and stock to buy Covance in a tie-up that aims to improve clinical trial research for pharmaceuticals.

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