First Bite

Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear  Starbucks’ appeal  of one of many labor-related lawsuits filed against the Seattle-based coffee chain. This appeal is Starbucks’ response to an  Aug. 2022 U.S. district court decision , which ordered the coffee chain to reinstate seven previously fired workers in Memphis, Tenn., who were terminated earlier that year during an attemp...

Chipotle’s Q4 2023 results far exceeded expectations, as well as the industry at large, with Tuesday’s report showing a same-store sales increase of 8.4%. Revenue increased 15.4% to $2.5 billion, while restaurant level operating margin increased to 25.4%, or about 140 basis points. The company also opened a record 121 new restaurants during the quarter, 110 of those in the Chipotlane model. The hi...

The National Restaurant Association released its annual 2024 State of the Industry report, and unsurprisingly, technology is one of the top concerns both for consumers and operators. In fact, according to the report, more than three-quarters of operators believe that technology gives them a competitive edge. But they still believe they have a long way to go, as only 13% of operators said that thei...

McDonald’s reported mixed results from its Q4 and full-year earnings report Monday morning. The company’s quarterly same-store sales, at 3.4%, fell short of expectations and were weighed down by the war in the Middle East. Domestically, same-store sales were up 4.3%, mostly in line with expectations but well below the company’s performance in its most recent quarters. U.S. same-store sales in Q4 2...

A U.S. District Court judge  has granted  food supplier US Foods default judgment in  its July lawsuit  against Boston Market for unpaid bills, starting in 2022. Although Judge Manish Shah explained that default judgment is a “harsh sanction,” in this case both the court and plaintiffs had no choice because Boston Market had “intentionally dodged their obligations to the court”...

Chipotle founder Steve Ells’ semi-automated, plant-based restaurant, Kernel — which raised $36 million in Series A  funding last summer  — has received some superstar investors and an official opening date. New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones and Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields (the latter is a known strict vegetarian) have received equity stakes in Kernel in exchange for th...

Although the first quarter is usually one of the highest-performing times of the year for Starbucks — including both pumpkin spice and red cup season — Starbucks saw a traffic downturn for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2023, with North America comparable sales up only 5%, driven mostly by menu price increases. During the Starbucks earnings call on Tuesday, CEO Laxman Narasimhan pointed to the Israel-...

As January ends, fourth-quarter earnings for the restaurant industry begin. This quarter laps the last quarter of 2022 where winter storm Elliot ravaged the country with blistering cold and snow. That’s compared to the fourth quarter of 2023 where restaurants were able to celebrate that Christmas landed on a Monday and overall favorable weather through the end of the year. That means the editors a...

New York City mayor Eric Adams announced last week in his annual State of the City address that the city would be creating a watchdog agency to regulate the booming delivery industry. The Department of Sustainable Delivery would be the first of its kind of the nation and would be designated to protect both delivery drivers and consumers.

What makes people really love a restaurant brand? Not just “what brand do they most frequent?” because inevitably the McDonald’s and Starbucks of the world would be at the top of the list purely as the winners of a numbers game. Rather, what makes people put  that  restaurant at the top of their mental list of favorite places to eat?

According to a  new report from Yelp , new restaurant openings surpassed pre-pandemic openings in 2023. This indicates the industry may have made a full recovery nearly four years after mandated closures were put into place to control a then-unknown and quickly spreading virus, which impacted an  estimated 110,000  restaurants.

Chipotle is preparing for its busiest time of year – March to May – by targeting 19,000 new hires throughout the next couple of months. To incentivize potential employees, the company has added several new benefits, including the addition of a student loan retirement match program.

Potbelly announced Monday the redesign of its loyalty program, Potbelly Perks, which now emphasizes faster and more custom rewards, and an easier-to-use customer interface.

Pinstripes embarked upon a pre-IPO roadshow in early 2020. We all know what happened then, however. Then Omicron happened. Then the IPO market all but froze last year. Fast forward to 2023, and Banyan entered the conversation and invested $21 million upfront as a “precursor.”

The state of Massachusetts and Grubhub have reached a settlement in the state attorney general’s 2021 lawsuit against the third-party delivery company for repeatedly violating the Massachusetts pandemic-era delivery fee caps.

Not even a month into 2024 and it’s safe to say Dutch Bros has had a busy year thus far. As the calendar turned, Christine Barone officially took over the CEO role after serving as president for  a little over a year . The company shared development guidance, aiming for 150 to 165 new units this year, including its initial entry into Florida in Q1. The long-term growth target is about 4,000 l...

As voice AI and robotics technology becomes more intelligent and widely-used, one of the more common user-end complaints is that the technology is not quite sophisticated enough to handle interactions as perfectly as a human might. For example, Presto Voice AI company recently  published an article  detailing its “Human in the Loop” approach to voice AI: people that are able to take over...

The ICR Conference, the food and retail industry's investor event, occurred earlier this month with many public companies presenting key findings and future plans. Executive editor Alicia Kelso attended the conference and was able to speak with executives. Many of those conversations will appear on our website in the upcoming days and weeks. Today, she spoke with First Bite about what she learned...

Many Americans participate in Dry January. Estimates of how many U.S. drinkers forego alcohol for the month range from 15% to 35%. And although many of you would probably prefer that Americans take a break from drinking during busier months, Dry January doesn't have to mean weak drink sales. There are now many socially acceptable options for non-drinkers that also are profitable for restaurateurs....

On Jan. 9, the U.S. Department of Labor announced a final rule on classifying workers as employees or independent contractors. Although the new six-factor guide is meant to help clarify and, in many cases, tighten standards around misclassification of workers, third-party delivery companies are confident that it is business as usual for delivery workers. As the legal landscape around third-party d...

For Domino’s Pizza, everything is on the table in 2024 and 2025: From relaunching loyalty programs to boost traffic, and trying out promotions that garner more buzz and traffic than sales, to fully embracing the new Uber partnership and looking to expand to more delivery platforms in the future. On Monday at the ICR conference in Orlando, Domino’s CEO Russell Weiner and CFO Sandeep Reddy broke dow...

Desserts can be a tricky sell. Guests love them and they’re highly profitable, but it’s not always easy to convince customers to invest in the extra time, money, or calories. One option is to make them drinkable. Beverage consumption in general is surging as consumers turn to menu items that are fast, portable, customizable, and satisfying, especially in the growing afternoon daypart. Restaurant c...

While restaurants have been selling their products in supermarkets and convenience stores for decades — from frozen White Castle sliders to TGI Fridays mozzarella sticks — recently, foodservice CPG has entered a new social media-conscious era. Recently, Starbucks collaborated with Stanley (the makers of the uber-popular insulated tumbler) to sell a $49.95 “Winter Pink” 40-ounce Starbucks cobranded...

Two major California Pizza Hut franchisees — PacPizza and Southern California Pizza Company — are laying off more than 1,200 delivery workers ahead of the new  statewide minimum wage hike  for fast food workers, from $16 an hour to $20 an hour, starting April 1. The two companies — which together own hundreds of Pizza Hut restaurants in Orange, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino and...

Undeniably one of the biggest trends of 2023 was restaurant brands leveraging influencers on social media to sell their products. These influencers resonate with the coveted Gen Z demographic and help position brands top of mind, even if just for a fleeting moment. And apparently they’re very effective at convincing others to try a menu item. Consider Chipotle’s fajita quesadilla campaign with Tik...