First Bite

A  recent CNN study  of earnings calls and analyst notes finds that the word of the summer – on Wall Street, at least – is “bifurcation,” or the division of something into two parts. In this specific instance, bifurcation means that high-income consumers are plugging along just fine, while low-income consumers are really starting to struggle. Indeed, 80% of American households have less...

The fast-casual category first became a thing in the 1990s (about the time Chipotle emerged) and came of age in the 2010s following the Great Recession, when consumers wanted more bang for their buck in the form of value, speed, and quality. The category came to be defined as a sort of elevated QSR but without the full-service component of casual dining. Fast forward to this post-pandemic environm...

No matter how it’s defined, growth in any capacity requires capital and capital remains expensive; the Fed raised interest rates 11 times between March 2022 and July 2023 to combat relentlessly high inflation. A cooldown has yet to happen, which has kept a lot of investors on the sidelines. Of course, there’s an ironic twist at play here. Those rates remain high because demand remains high. Drivin...

The most popular technology tool on display at the 2024 National Restaurant Association Show in Chicago was mostly invisible. What do the robotic arms, POS systems, back of house analytics tools, and more booth gadgets have in common? Most of them are powered by and supported by data. Data — whether it’s collected by machine learning or AI — has proven to be the universal currency of restaurant te...

The restaurant industry has a labor shortage problem. That is certainly not breaking news. Employee engagement is at an 11-year low. That might surprise some folks. Gusto founder/CEO Nate Hybl said this conversation about employees is long overdue. The bigger companies are already focusing more on the employee proposition, but smaller brands need to make people development a part of their budget,...

There have been many iterations of eatertainment over the years. It began with stalwart chains like Chuck E. Cheese and Dave & Buster’s, places to play arcade games and win tokens that would lead to prizes. Over the past 10 years, that idea has been flipped. Eatertainment had moved onto larger-scale games like bowling and pool. Chains like Punch Bowl Social, founded in 2012, were also focused...

Restaurant value used to be a much simpler calculation: Discount-driven customers would seek out dollar meals at quick-service restaurants, call for pizza delivery on Friday nights (sans delivery fees), and then splurge on full-service meals on rarer occasions. But in 2024, with dollar menus all but extinct, and newer variables like convenience pricing, service fees, shrinkflation, and dynamic pri...

Red Lobster abruptly closed some 87 restaurants on Monday as the chain faces apparent cash-flow issues and loss of confidence from its largest owner. USA Today compiled a list of all of the shuttered restaurants listed on the chain’s web site.  The closed locations are in 28 states, with the largest number, 16, in its home state of Florida, including three in Orlando. Auction site ...

Since we’re officially more than halfway through Q1 earnings reports, it’s fair game to derive some of the winners from the start of 2024. Unquestionably among them is Chipotle, which experienced a 7% increase in same-store sales driven in large part by a 5.4% increase in traffic. To understand the secret of Chipotle’s momentum of late, it’s important to understand its sharpened focus on throughpu...

TikToker “MiriTheSiren” was known for posting her creative Chick-fil-A meals, videos that were meant to inspire consumers to think of innovative ways to eat fast food. The TikToker, whose real name is Miri, was a Chick-fil-A employee, sharing how she mixed items at the store for her free meal every day. Quickly, Miri gained a following with her videos going viral, garnering tens of millions of vie...

Los Angeles-based Sweetgreen is besting many of its restaurant competitors in the first quarter. The fast-casual chain reported 5% same-store sales increases and a 26% revenue increase year-over-year. Sweetgreen CEO Jonathan Neman stated that while January was tough with weather, the benefit of two holidays in the first quarter was a boon to business. The quarter, ended March 31, saw most of its s...

Papa Johns’ customers are spending less than they had previously, and when they do spend money on pizza, they are more likely to choose third-party aggregators over the company’s first-party delivery channels. This shift in mix balance was a primary driver behind the Atlanta-based pizza chain’s 2% decline in North America same-store sales, as well as revenue and overall sales deflation for th...

Dine Brands’ first quarter results included same-store sales declines at both Applebee’s (-4.6%) and, for the first time in 11 quarters, IHOP (-1.7%), highlighting a continuing narrative across the industry about increasing consumer sensitivity. Despite a few exceptions, that narrative has impacted concepts across segments, from  McDonald’s  and  KFC  to First Watch and Starbuc...

At a time when many restaurant companies are struggling to get customers in the door, Dutch Bros is one of the better success stories for the first quarter of 2024. In Q1, the Oregon-based coffee chain saw 10% same-store sales growth, attributable mostly to menu pricing increases, discounting, and positive traffic trends. Traffic will likely continue an upward growth trajectory after Dutch Bros st...

Whataburger is upgrading its coffee offerings with new hot and iced coffee, a new sweet cream, and a limited-time shake to promote the change. They’re being rolled out on May 7. The same blend of Arabica coffee beans from Colombia, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Honduras are being used for both hot and iced coffees, but the roast is different.

Squash doesn’t seem like the most charismatic of vegetables. Even the name sounds like a failure. But many chefs are into them. They say each one has its own unique qualities, with summer varieties offering fresh, clean tastes and winter ones providing sweetness and a sort of implied richness, despite their low fat content, that can help lighter dishes seem more satisfying. The difference between...

Starbucks reported a same-store sales decline for the second quarter of 2024, for the first time in almost three years since the peak of the pandemic, as shares of the Seattle-based coffee chain plummeted 16% over the past day. According to CEO Laxman Narasimhan, the global same-store sales drop of 4% was driven by declining traffic in North America, issues in China and the Middle East, bad weathe...

During Yum Brands’ earnings call Wednesday morning, executives were somewhat upbeat, touting the resiliency of the company’s brands in a challenging operating environment and pointing to core operating profit gains and digital sales increases as reasons for their optimism. Additionally, executives cited sequential improvements from January’s weather impacts, as well as easing headwinds from tensio...

Domino’s Pizza is starting the fiscal year off strong with Q1 earnings highlights that include 5.6% same-store sales growth driven by transaction growth from the company’s  new loyalty program . In a Q1 earnings call, Domino’s CEO Russell Weiner discussed how the loyalty program is synergistic with other elements of the company’s previously announced “Hungry for More” strategy for 2024, inclu...

Chipotle reported first quarter results after market close Wednesday and the company once again bucked the industry’s declining traffic trends, turning in a plus-5% increase in transactions. Credit Chicken Al Pastor, barbacoa, and improved throughput to meet demand for both. The company also generated 7% comp sales growth, while system sales grew 15% to reach $2.7 billion. CEO Brian Niccol said in...

As food delivery becomes synonymous with the restaurant experience —  data from McKinsey and Company  shows that the value of the food delivery industry has more than tripled since 2017 — the need for guardrails around the still-budding segment of the restaurant industry has grown.  The amount of both regional legislation and individual litigation attempting to regulate and mit...

While restaurant operators continue to struggle with both labor costs and employee retention, the foodservice industry may very well have deeper employee-side problems. According to a study of Glassdoor reviews just released  from BBADegree.org  (an organization that provides resources for prospective business professionals seeking higher education), workers in the restaurant and foodser...

Starbucks and the National Labor Relations Board faced off Tuesday at the U.S. Supreme Court hearing of Starbucks vs. McKinney,  which will determine  the scope of the National Labor Relations Board’s power in stepping in to resolve labor disputes. Starbucks argued before the Supreme Court against a previous district court order that had ordered the coffee chain to reinstate seven previo...

Bankruptcy filings, no matter the industry, are the result of a thousand cuts. This month has produced filings and rumors of more to come in the pandemic-shaken restaurant industry. Maitland, Fla.-based Tijuana Flats Restaurants filed for Chapter 11 protection in the Florida Middle District Bankruptcy Court after closing a total of 40 restaurants this year,  11 of them last week. And, while T...

Who has power in the restaurant industry? What does power really mean when it relates to one of the largest industries in the country, one that employs more than 12 million Americans this year and will achieve roughly $1 trillion in annual sales? The answer is always shifting, and Nation’s Restaurant News’ annual Power List has evolved alongside it, recognizing everyone from  chief executives...