A Deeper Dive

Why have restaurant industry sales recovered so quickly? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast “A Deeper Dive” features David Henkes, senior principal with RB sister company Technomic, and Kevin Schimpf, senior research manager, to talk about where sales are and where they are headed. Technomic compiles industry sales data, including tracking the largest chains in the U.S., and al...

How long will the boom in restaurant sales last? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast features Michael Swanson, an agricultural economist and consultant with Wells Fargo. Wells is a huge lender in the restaurant industry and Swanson’s focus is on consumer demand. He discusses the surge in industry spending this year and why sales are increasing—and how much price is affecting tha...

What are the best strategies for companies to improve diversity and inclusion in their organizations? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast “A Deeper Dive” features James Pogue, CEO of JP Enterprises, a Dallas-based leadership consulting firm. Pogue discusses issues related to diversity in management teams. He says that organizations need to be focused on recruiting and developing...

Can a franchisee succeed as a franchisor? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast “A Deeper Dive” features Tabbassum Mumtaz, CEO of Ampex Brands, and Ericka Garza, brand president for its latest acquisition, Au Bon Pain. The two talk about what it takes for an operator to take over operations for an entire brand. A lot of franchisees have been buying up brands lately, taking advanta...

What makes a good fast-food burger? Or a chicken sandwich? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast “A Deeper Dive” features Bill Oakley, a writer and producer best known for The Simpsons, as well as shows like Portlandia and The Cleveland Show. He is also a prolific food reviewer on Instagram. Oakley’s reviews , which are frequently done from his car and often feature major restaura...

So much for the idea of real estate availability. This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast “A Deeper Dive” features Barry Wolfe, senior managing director of investments with Marcus & Millichap, who talks about the real estate market in the aftermath of the pandemic. That market is hot. Wolfe works with investors, franchisees and retailers on real estate issues and he’s been busy....

In this week’s episode of the RB podcast “A Deeper Dive,” senior editors Pat Cobe and Heather Lalley join me to discuss the state of plant-based meat at restaurants. A lot is happening in that segment. Chains continue to experiment with plant-based meats, hoping to catch onto a segment of consumers who say they would like to order such items. Much of the focus is on pioneering companies like Impos...

What happens with the Restaurant Revitalization Fund now? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast “A Deeper Dive” features Sean Kennedy, executive vice president of public affairs for the National Restaurant Association, to talk about the status of that fund and some other issues. Congress allocated $28.6 billion in funds for grants to restaurants. They were quickly snapped up, but...

Donatos is expanding using any method it can. This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast “A Deeper Dive” features Tom Krouse, the chain’s CEO, in a conversation about its various growth strategies. Donatos was one of the country’s fastest growing chains last year, with system sales up more than 14%. Krouse talks about the chain’s interesting history, including the impact of its ye...

This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast “A Deeper Dive” features Helen Lao, the founder and CEO of executive recruitment firm ClearPath Solutions. Lao discusses the company’s recent move into franchise matchmaking with ClearPath Franchise. She also talks about the market for industry executives.

The track record of international concepts expanding in the U.S. is not great. Jollibee Foods plans to change that. Maribeth Cruz, president of Jollibee Foods North America, joins this week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast “A Deeper Dive” to talk about the chain’s plans to change that. Dela Cruz talks about the company’s aggressive plans to expand that number, and how the pandemic intr...

Jimmy John’s has shifted its marketing under Inspire Brands. In this week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast “A Deeper Dive,” the chain’s chief marketing officer Darin Dugan discusses those changes, the chain’s thinking behind the changes and some of the impact. Jimmy John’s has made a number of changes in recent months. That includes the menu, something that had rarely changed at the sa...

How are restaurant companies finding and keeping workers right now? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast “A Deeper Dive” features Editor-at-Large Peter Romeo, who joins Editor-in-Chief Jonathan Maze to discuss the labor shortage and how restaurants are combating the problem. Restaurants of all kinds have reported difficulties hiring employees, to the point that many locations are...

The three biggest franchise brands in the world are all embroiled in disputes with their U.S. franchisees. This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast “A Deeper Dive” features John Gordon, a restaurant consultant out of San Diego, who talks about these disputes and why they’re happening. The three brands are McDonald’s, Subway and 7-Eleven. At McDonald’s, franchisees have been pushing b...

Virtual brands are all the rage right now. But how do they work? And how can they succeed with so many of them out there? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast “A Deeper Dive” focuses on this topic and features Alex Canter, the founder of Ordermark, who provides advice and insight into the creation of these concepts. Canter’s company includes Nextbite, a creator and operator of vi...

How did Domino’s become a tech company? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast “A Deeper Dive” features Dennis Maloney, the Ann Arbor, Mich.-based pizza chain’s chief innovation officer who discusses the company’s effective use of technology. Maloney talks about what it takes for a pizza chain to become a tech company. He also talks about robots, including Domino’s partnership with...

The restaurant industry has enjoyed some remarkably strong sales so far this year. The Restaurant Business team of editors want to know how long this will last. Senior Editor Heather Lalley, along with Editor-at-Large Peter Romeo, discuss the recent spate of strong sales numbers.

How was Jersey Mike’s able to outperform all of its competitors, and most of the restaurant industry, in 2020? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Busines s podcast “A Deeper Dive” features Peter Cancro, owner and CEO of the sandwich chain, to talk about the company’s performance. Jersey Mike’s last year was the 10th fastest growing chain among the Technomic top 500 even as most of its competito...

Consumers are changing again coming out of the pandemic, and that is expected to change the market for restaurant chains. This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast “A Deeper Dive” features Dave Bagley, the managing director of Carl Marks Advisors, to provide an outlook for acquisitions coming out of the pandemic. Bagley leads the restaurant group at the New York-based investment bank...

The Technomic Top 500 Chain Restaurant Report, released earlier this month, has provided a clear picture of just how much the pandemic has influenced the restaurant industry. Joe Pawlak, managing principal with Restaurant Business sister company Technomic, joins this week’s episode of the podcast “A Deeper Dive” to talk about the ranking, including what chains won and what chains lost.

Why are there so few Black and women CEOs? Activist investors. Or so says James White, the former CEO of Jamba, and Thomas Lynch, senior managing director of the private equity firm Mill Road Capital. White recently joined Lynch’s firm to be part of its newly created Progressive Governance Fund, which seeks to improve diversity at smaller companies through targeted investments. White and Lynch arg...

The latest acquisition in Flynn Restaurant Group’s history was its biggest. This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast features Greg Flynn, the giant franchisee’s founder and CEO, who discusses the company’s recent acquisition of most of NPC International’s restaurants. Flynn Restaurant Group has grown over the past couple of decades largely through a series of increasingly large acqui...

Fast-food chains are gung-ho for chicken sandwiches these days. This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast “A Deeper Dive” explores why. Patricia Cobe, RB’s menu editor, discusses the industry’s sudden fascination with upgraded chicken sandwiches and why.

How will an upscale casual chain prepare for a potential flood of post-pandemic customers? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast “A Deeper Dive” features Tim McEnery, CEO and founder of Cooper’s Hawk Winery & Restaurants, to talk about the chain’s strategies coming out of quarantine.

Why have SPACs suddenly become so popular among investors? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast “A Deeper Dive” features Andy Pforzheimer, the longtime industry executive who helped create the Tastemaker SPAC with former Jamba CEO Dave Pace.