A Deeper Dive

Can Peter Piper go fast casual? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features David McKillips, CEO of CEC Entertainment, the parent company of Chuck E. Cheese and Peter Piper Pizza. CEC has had an almost literal roller coaster ride in the three years since David became CEO. The pandemic pushed it into bankruptcy and then the reopening helped it come back remarkably...

Where are sales and traffic going in 2023 and who will win? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features R.J. Hottovy, head of analytical research with the data firm Placer.ai. R.J. has covered the industry for more than two decades and knows a thing or two about the restaurant and retail sectors and we like having him on every so often to talk about the state of i...

What happens when a giant brand suddenly gives you a marketing gift? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Barry Westrum, chief marketing officer for Taco John's. Westrum joined me on the podcast at the National Restaurant Association Show less than a week after taco bell asked the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to cancel Taco John’s registration for “...

How long will people keep paying high delivery prices? This week’s episode of A Deeper Dive features Restaurant Business Senior Technology Editor Joe Guszkowski, who joins me on the podcast to talk about DoorDash’s push to get operators to keep delivery prices the same as regular menu prices. Joe and I discuss his recent report on the menu price markups on delivery compared with buying in the rest...

Will menu price inflation ultimately hurt restaurants? Michael Swanson, an agricultural economist and consultant with Wells Fargo, joins the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive to discuss the economy and the outlook for inflation.

How good of a year did chain restaurants have in 2022, really? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Joe Pawlak, managing principal with RB sister company Technomic, to talk about the Technomic Top 500 Chain Restaurant Report. Specifically, we discuss the performance of chain restaurants, whose sales rose just over 8% last year. But that barely kept pace wit...

How is Duck Donuts evolving its prototype? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Betsy Hamm, CEO of the 115-unit chain, who joined me at the Restaurant Leadership Conference recently to discuss a wide range of issues. Duck Donuts is based in Mechanicsburg, Pa., and is known for selling made-to-order doughnuts in tourist spots. The company generated $60.6 mil...

Why is Smashburger ditching traditional drive-thrus? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Carl Bachmann, president of the fast-casual burger chain that is looking to get back on the growth path after some difficult years. The chain is operated by the Philippines-based Jollibee Corp. It operates fewer than 250 locations, down by about a third over the past f...

What are we to make of the situations at major burger chains these days? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Michael Halen, senior restaurant and foodservice analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence, to discuss what’s going on with McDonald’s and Burger King, in particular. McDonald’s recently laid off hundreds of employees around the world, closing its U.S. fi...

Who is Mike Hancock? We find out in this week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive. Hancock recently took over as president of Firehouse Subs for longtime CEO Don Fox. Hancock has worked for Firehouse Subs parent company Restaurant Brands International. He started with the chain as chief operating officer last year after serving in a similar role at the Canadian chain Tim Hor...

What happens when you mix ice cream and cinnamon rolls? We’re about to find out. This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast Deeper Dive features Jim Holthouser, CEO of the Atlanta-based brand operator Focus Brands, which operates Cinnabon, Auntie Anne’s, Carvel, McAlister’s Deli, Schlotzski’s, Jamba and Moe’s. He discusses the status of these brands and the company’s plans for them. He...

How important is tipping to a restaurant employee? In this week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive, Associate Editor Reyna Estrada joins me to discuss tipping. Estrada is a former restaurant worker herself, having spent years as a server at Steak n Shake (before it went limited service) and then as a Panera Bread employee. She relied on tips the entire time. We discuss the...

What is the future of third-party delivery? How about virtual brands or ghost kitchens? In this week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive, Senior Editor Joe Guszkowski joins me to talk about the state of some of the biggest trends during the pandemic. We talk about delivery. Some data is suggesting that third-party delivery demand is growing. But other data suggests the oppos...

Who is going to buy Subway? In case you haven’t heard, the fast-food sandwich chain is on the market. In this week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive, I speak with John Gordon, a restaurant consultant out of San Diego, to discuss the chain. Subway has hired JP Morgan to help find a buyer. Reports suggest a host of large private equity firms, including Goldman Sachs and Bain...

What is the future of Bojangles? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Jose Armario, the CEO of the 800-unit chicken chain. Armario took over the chain after it was sold in 2018 to Durational Capital Management, and he takes time to discuss how the chain did last year. He also discusses the brand’s future, including plans to expand well beyond its Southeaste...

What is the future of restaurant automation? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Matt Newberg, the founder of the media platform Hngry. Hngry is a subscription media platform that examines how technology is reshaping our food system through trends like ghost kitchens, microfulfillment, fungi-based proteins, personalized nutrition and other things. We talk...

Why are chocolate milkshakes so important to Cameron Mitchell? This week's episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Mitchell, founder of Cameron Mitchell Restaurants and one of the country's most successful restaurant creators. Mitchell's company operates 64 restaurants in 20 brands, including the fine dining brand Ocean Prime. He talks about his reasons for starting a res...

The plant-based meat trend is dead. Or maybe it isn’t. This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast “A Deeper Dive” is about plant-based meat, and specifically, why fake meat hasn’t quite taken off at fast-food restaurants the way many predicted three years ago. Nancy Kruse, RB’s menu trends columnist, joins me on the podcast to discuss the topic. While products like Impossible Foods and...

What happens when you combine chicken wings and sandwiches? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features David Bloom, chief operating and development officer for Capriotti’s, a Las Vegas chain of sandwich shops. Capriotti’s acquired Wing Zone in 2021. Capriotti’s operates 175 locations. Wing Zone now operates 61. Bloom talks about that combination and what the comp...

How are younger consumers reacting to inflation? This week’s episode of A Deeper Dive features Lori Rakoczy, associate principal with Restaurant Business sister company Technomic and one of the co-authors of the blog Technomic’s Take. And we’re talking about inflation. Specifically, we’re talking about how younger consumers are dealing with high prices. Menu prices have taken off over the past yea...

What is Killer Burger and where is it going? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features John Dikos, CEO of the 20-unit Killer Burger, along with VP of Financial Planning Adam Sanders. The episode was recorded at the ICR Conference, where we spoke with the two about the burger chain and its overall growth strategy. Killer Burger operates 20 company and franchised...

How is Cava Group’s integration of Zoe’s Kitchen restaurants going? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Brett Schulman, the CEO of Cava Group, who talks about a wide variety of topics, but particularly his company's integration of Zoe’s Kitchen. Cava acquired Zoe’s in 2018 in one of the more interesting deals of recent vintage. Both were fast-casual Medite...

What is the story behind Dave’s Hot Chicken? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features two people behind one of the hottest chains in the country: Bill Phelps, Dave’s CEO, and Arman Oganesyan, one of the company’s cofounders. Dave’s is the fastest-growing restaurant chain in the U.S. right now. The chain, which sells a menu of spicy chicken tenders or sandwiches...

Restaurants are in a stronger financial position now than they were before the pandemic. This week’s episode of A Deeper Dive features Michael Swanson, an agricultural economist and consultant for Wells Fargo. Swanson has been on the podcast before and talks about the current and future state of food costs. Commodity price inflation hammered the industry last year. Those costs have started to ease...

Is tipping out of hand at fast-food restaurants? This week’s episode of A Deeper Dive I speak features Robert Byrne, director of consumer and industry insights with our sister company Technomic, who talks about convenience, value and tipping. Byrne oversees consumer surveys with Technomic talks extensively about consumers’ views on a host of issues related to restaurants. He discusses why consumer...