Who is winning the chicken wars? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features a discussion on recent earnings with RB Executive Editor Lisa Jennings. A huge number of earnings have come in and many of them are head-scratchers. While a lot of chains have done really well, like Wingstop and its 22% same-store sales number, others have not, such as KFC and its sales decline. We discuss that issue, and what the first quarter means for the chicken market in general, i...
May 08, 2024•31 min
What’s coming to this year’s National Restaurant Association Show? More seats, for one thing. This special episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Tom Cindric, the president of exhibitions for Informa Connect Foodservice, which operates the show and is also a sister company of Restaurant Business. We will be attending the Show this year, and will do a few podcasts from the event, which runs from May 18 through May 21. But we wanted to talk with Cindric to get a better i...
May 07, 2024•14 min
Convenience stores are upping their food game and one concept is taking advantage of it. This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Jim Norberg, the CEO of the convenience-store chicken concept Krispy Krunchy Chicken. We had Jim on largely because convenience stores are getting a lot of foodservice business right now. Traffic at convenience stores is up 17% since before the pandemic, compared with 5% at quick-service restaurants—meaning that some of the lost tr...
May 01, 2024•27 min
How do you tailor your real estate strategies to an uncertain market? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Stephen Cohen, an attorney who specializes in real estate for restaurants and retailers. A lot of restaurants want to expand right now and are doing everything they can to do so. But the cost of expansion is higher than ever. Construction costs are up. Interest rates are high. And lease rates are also high because of intense competition. Cohen discus...
Apr 24, 2024•26 min
What is the future of virtual restaurants? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Robbie Earl, the co-founder of Virtual Dining Concepts. The company is now the largest operator of digital-only brands, which operate inside other restaurants, ghost kitchens and other facilities. They typically do not have a traditional storefront. Virtual brands were all the rage during the pandemic but for various reasons they have slowed coming out of it. Some of them have...
Apr 17, 2024•32 min
What happens when you combine high-tech miniature golf and food? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Joe Vrankin, the CEO of the fast-growing eatertainment concept Puttshack. Puttshack is an 18-unit chain that combines a full-service restaurant with an indoor game of minigolf—neither of which is all that standard. The minigolf features innovative games featuring a high-tech ball and the food is much better than traditional eatertainment fare. We talk wit...
Apr 10, 2024•27 min
What is happening at the Restaurant Leadership Conference this year? We decided to demand that Chris Keating, the EVP of Conferences for Informa Connect, RB’s parent company, talk about the conference, which runs April 14-17. And he was happy to oblige. We ask about what’s happening at the event and the strategy behind it. We also chat about Martha Stewart, and Chris tells us some of his sports interview stories. And we also talk about whether the conference itself reflects the state of the rest...
Apr 05, 2024•20 min
How did Wingstop fix its cost problem? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Michael Skipworth, the chicken chain's CEO. Wingstop is hitting on all cylinders right now, thanks to the popularity of chicken wings and takeout but also because of its new line of chicken sandwiches, which have helped lure new customers in during different times of day. But it has also helped the chain with food costs. Chicken wings are the most volatile commodity, certainly amo...
Apr 03, 2024•29 min
How is Happy Joe’s modernizing its brand? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Tom Sacco, the CEO of Happy Joe’s. The 52-unit, Iowa-based chain has been around for 50 years. It was sold just before the pandemic. Sacco was brought in as CEO after a career with BJ’s, Ponderosa, Red Robin and Ghiradelli. The pandemic forced the brand to rethink how it does business, and so Sacco talks about how Happy Joe’s modernized its operations coming out of that period....
Mar 27, 2024•28 min
How are restaurants making their C-suites more diverse? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Therese Gearhart, the president and CEO of the Women’s Foodservice Forum. WFF’s leadership conference is coming up next week, and we figured it’d be a great time to check in on the industry’s track record of hiring women into leadership roles. The answer is that it’s doing better. Several restaurant chains, including Denny’s and Dutch Bros, have recently hired wom...
Mar 20, 2024•28 min
What is Corner Bakery doing to right its ship? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Chris Dharod, the CEO of Corner Bakery. Dharod is with SSCP Management, a franchisee of Applebee’s and Sonic and owner of Cici’s Pizza and Roy’s. The company bought Corner Bakery out of bankruptcy last year. We had him on the podcast to talk about Corner Bakery and chat about the way in which the acquisition was made. SSCP acquired the brand by buying the debt on the secon...
Mar 13, 2024•28 min
Never compromise on your unit economics. This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Justin Rosenberg, the founder of the fast-casual chain Honeygrow. Rosenberg founded the bowl chain in 2012 and it was going quite well until 2018. He talks about why the company stopped growing that year and what the it did to get back on the growth track. Hint: Honeygrow stopped making compromises on its unit economics. We also talk about where the chain is growing and why smal...
Mar 06, 2024•29 min
How important is value right now? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Robert Byrne, the director of consumer and industry insights at RB sister company Technomic. We talk extensively about value. There’s a lot of concern about traffic in the fast-food world, with McDonald’s and Wendy’s saying that lower-income consumers are cutting back. McDonald’s specifically said that people are more likely to stay at home. Byrne discusses whether this is a broad prob...
Feb 29, 2024•35 min
What will the restaurant industry do in 2024? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Hudson Riehle, the senior vice president of the research and knowledge group with the National Restaurant Association. Riehle joined the podcast to talk about the association’s annual State of the Industry Report and what it says about restaurants in the coming year. Restaurants and bars are expected to generate $1.1 trillion in sales this year, crossing the trillion mark f...
Feb 21, 2024•31 min
How does an emerging brand break into a new market? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Otto Othman, the cofounder of Pincho, who discusses a wide range of topics. Pincho is based in Miami and specializes in two things: kebabs, or pinchos, and burgers. The company received an investment from the Salt Lake City-based private-equity group Savory Fund. Savory has injected some operations expertise, not to mention investment, into the fast-casual brand, and ...
Feb 14, 2024•29 min
How do you get an 87-year-old brand ready for expansion? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Flynn Dekker, the CEO of the 352-unit donut and kolache chain Shipley Do-Nuts. Shipley is an institution in its hometown of Houston, something Dekker discovered after he took over as CEO last year. But it is also an old brand. It’s been around for nearly 90 years. The longtime family-owned chain was sold to Peak Rock Capital in 2021 and since then has taken numer...
Feb 07, 2024•28 min
How is Cici’s becoming more like Chuck E. Cheese? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast “A Deeper Dive” features Jeff Hetsel, the president and COO of Cici’s Pizza. Hetsel discusses the chain’s rapid shift into something of an eatertainment concept. Many of the brand’s locations have been adding larger and larger game rooms, complete with tickets and prizes, much like the aforementioned classic pizza-and-games concept. We talk about what games is doing for its business and why f...
Jan 31, 2024•28 min
How is private equity impacting food costs? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast “A Deeper Dive” features John Davie, the CEO of Buyer’s Edge Platform. Buyer’s Edge is a digital procurement platform that helps restaurants use data and other tools to source food and other supplies. It operates numerous technology brands, including Consolidated Concepts. As much as the restaurant industry focuses on front-of-house technology like mobile ordering and kiosks, back-of-house tech is ...
Jan 24, 2024•22 min
Subway could avoid some problems if it consulted more with its franchisees. Or so says the head of its biggest association. This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast “A Deeper Dive” features Bill Mathis, a Subway operator out of Minnesota and chairman of the North American Association of Subway Franchisees, or NAASF. Subway remains the largest restaurant chain in the U.S. by unit count, with some 20,000 stores domestically. But thousands of those locations have closed over the past ...
Jan 17, 2024•32 min
Starbucks is the most complicated simple business on the planet. This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast is all about Starbucks. I’m joined this week by RB Editor-at-Large Peter Romeo. Peter and I toured headquarters and have a series coming up on restaurantbusinessonline.com. We talk about how Starbucks has evolved over the years, from a simple coffee shop chain into a global behemoth selling customizable beverages through numerous ordering channels. And we talk about the impact ...
Jan 10, 2024•28 min
Can a slider concept use modular buildings to get big? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast “A Deeper Dive” features Maria Rivera, the CEO of the rapidly growing slider chain, to talk about its unique method of growth. Smalls is a rapidly growing quick-service slider chain. The company has been quickly adding locations throughout the South over the past year, using its “cans,” or 750-square-foot facilities that are manufactured off site and placed onto the restaurant site. Mari...
Jan 03, 2024•30 min
The last episode of the Restaurant Business podcast “A Deeper Dive” is, perhaps unsurprisingly, a look back at some of the year’s best episodes. The episode features clips from some key guests, including marketing expert and author Chip Klose, speaking about, well, marketing. We speak with executives from Dave’s Hot Chicken on its fascinating start. CapitalSpring’s Jim Balis gives us some news on delivery demand. Technomic’s Lori Rakoczy talks about inflation. And our own Peter Romeo and I rant ...
Dec 26, 2023•40 min
How did Potbelly turn its business around? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast “A Deeper Dive” features Bob Wright, the CEO of the Chicago-based sandwich chain. Potbelly struggled going into the pandemic, which hammered its core business in urban markets. Wright took over as CEO three years ago. On the podcast, he talks about what it’s like to take on a struggling concept during that time. Wright discusses the changes Potbelly has made during those three years. The company clo...
Dec 20, 2023•31 min
Are restaurants becoming like Taylor Swift? Well, sort of. This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Matt Tucker. He is the senior vice president with Squarespace and is head of the reservation platform Tock. Tock was cofounded by restaurateur Nick Kokonas and was sold in 2021 to Squarespace. The company sells prepaid restaurant reservations to customers. Those reservations act like tickets, which customers can resell. And that could create a market that opera...
Dec 13, 2023•28 min
Why is the FTC looking into Subway? This episode of the Restaurant Business podcast “A Deeper Dive” features John Gordon, a restaurant consultant out of San Diego, who discusses the apparent investigation of the sale of Subway to Roark Capital. The investigation is apparently examining whether the acquisition of the sandwich giant would give the private equity firm Roark too much power. We discuss that issue, and how much of the restaurant market Roark really would have if the sale were to go th...
Dec 06, 2023•27 min
Customers are increasingly questioning the value of their restaurant visits. This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast “A Deeper Dive” features Lisa Miller, a consumer strategist and author of the book “The Business of Joy.” And we talk about consumer attitudes on the value of restaurants right now. Miller surveys consumers every month and she has had some interesting insights on how diners view the restaurant industry, in particular their views on the price-value equation. We talk ...
Nov 29, 2023•28 min
How do you dust off a brand that has been dead for 15 years? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast “A Deeper Dive” features Paul Mangiamele, the CEO and chairman of Legendary Restaurant Brands, the owner of Bennigan’s. Mangiamele discusses his decision to open Steak & Ale, which is scheduled for next spring. Bennigan’s and Steak & Ale were in the same group that filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2008, which shed a light on problems with the casual dining sector. Bennigan...
Nov 21, 2023•31 min
What do you do with Pollo Tropical? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast “A Deeper Dive” features Alex Macedo, the chairman of Authentic Restaurant Brands, to talk about that company’s recent acquisition of Pollo Tropical. Authentic Restaurant Brands, or ARB, is owned by the private equity firm Garnett Station Partners. Macedo is a former executive with Burger King and Tim Hortons and is overseeing the multi-concept operator, which also owns Primanti Brothers, PJ Whelihan's and...
Nov 15, 2023•28 min
What is the state of the labor market right now? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Brian Miller, the CEO of management recruiting firm Patrice & Associates. Miller works with hospitality companies to recruit executives and managers. We talk a lot about the labor market, which has been resilient—surprisingly so, at least if you ask economists. We talk about why that market has been so resilient, and what impact that could have on restaurants’ abilit...
Nov 08, 2023•28 min
Loyalty programs are all over the place. But are they really necessary? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast “A Deeper Dive” features Stephanie Meltzer-Paul, the EVP of global loyalty for MasterCard, to talk about loyalty programs. We asked Meltzer-Paul to join the podcast given how popular these programs have become. Just about every major fast-food chain, and many casual-dining concepts, have one of these programs, many of which were added only recently. But there have been s...
Nov 01, 2023•27 min
