A Deeper Dive

Why are restaurants losing customers right now? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features R.J. Hottovy, head of analytical research with Placer.ai. Hottovy has followed the restaurant industry for years, and the foot traffic data firm has been tracking customer counts to restaurants and retailers. In November, Placer.ai noted traffic suddenly falling to Starbuck...

Why is it better for small restaurant chains to band together? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Kelly Roddy, CEO of the brand platform company Woworks. Woworks operates several restaurant concepts, including Saladworks, Garbanzo Mediterranean, Frutta Bowls, Simple Greek, Barberitos and ZEats. It is one of a growing number of platform companies that coll...

Can technology fix restaurants’ workforce issues? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast features two different discussions. First, we chat with Michelle Korsmo, the president and CEO of the National Restaurant Association. We chatted with Michelle at the National Restaurant Show in May and discussed a variety of issues, including the regulatory environment, how companies are deali...

How do brands operate in a price-sensitive restaurant market? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Juan Martinez, the principal and founder of the consulting firm Profitality. We periodically have Martinez on the podcast when we’re concerned about profits and, well, this is one of those times. Consumers are frustrated by rising restaurant prices and are cut...

What are the restaurant industry’s biggest concerns right now? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Scott Redler, the co-founder of Freddy’s Frozen Custard and Steakburgers. We spoke with Scott at the National Restaurant Show in May and we chatted on a variety of issues. We wanted to talk with him about some of the bigger concerns in the industry right now,...

How can restaurant chains survive in this market? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features longtime industry executive James Walker. At the moment, Walker has multiple titles. He is the chief culinary and concept officer for Experiential Brands, a concept creation engine that has created brands such as the Original Hot Chicken, Inked Tacos and Pinsa Roman Pizza...

What is the future of Red Lobster? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Victor Fernandez, the vice president of insights and knowledge at GuestXM. GuestXM provides industry performance metrics, notably the Black Box index of industry sales and traffic. I wanted Victor on the podcast so we could talk about the state of full-service restaurants, particularly...

How has Dutch Bros changed its real estate strategy? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Christine Barone, CEO of the drive-thru beverage chain. Dutch Bros is coming off a strong quarter under its relatively new chief executive, and we talk about a host of topics. We discuss how Dutch Bros is refining its real estate strategy and what that means. We chat a...

What does the Technomic Top 500 tell us about the restaurant industry right now? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Joe Pawlak, managing principal with Technomic. And we talk all about the report and the trends that it reveals. The Top 500 is essentially data on the chain restaurant industry, since that data makes up the vast majority of chain sales. Rest...

How is Pinstripes upgrading the bowling experience? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Dale Schwartz, the CEO of the growing eatertainment concept Pinstripes. Dale joined us at the Restaurant Leadership Conference in April. We talk about, well, Pinstripes, a concept that combines bowling and bocce with a restaurant. It is part of the fast-growing eatertai...

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 d...

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 th...

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...

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....

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 r...

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 fea...

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 in...

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...

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 bus...

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’...

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 abou...

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...

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 specifi...

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. Restaura...

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...