A Deeper Dive

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...

How do you get an 87-year-old brand ready for expansion? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Flynn Dekker, the CEO of the 352-unit donut and kolache chain Shipley Do-Nuts. Shipley is an institution in its hometown of Houston, something Dekker discovered after he took over as CEO last year. But it is also an old brand. It’s been around for nearly 90 years....

How is Cici’s becoming more like Chuck E. Cheese? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast “A Deeper Dive” features Jeff Hetsel, the president and COO of Cici’s Pizza. Hetsel discusses the chain’s rapid shift into something of an eatertainment concept. Many of the brand’s locations have been adding larger and larger game rooms, complete with tickets and prizes, much like the aforemen...

How is private equity impacting food costs? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast “A Deeper Dive” features John Davie, the CEO of Buyer’s Edge Platform. Buyer’s Edge is a digital procurement platform that helps restaurants use data and other tools to source food and other supplies. It operates numerous technology brands, including Consolidated Concepts. As much as the restaurant i...

Subway could avoid some problems if it consulted more with its franchisees. Or so says the head of its biggest association. This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast “A Deeper Dive” features Bill Mathis, a Subway operator out of Minnesota and chairman of the North American Association of Subway Franchisees, or NAASF. Subway remains the largest restaurant chain in the U.S. by unit coun...

Starbucks is the most complicated simple business on the planet. This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast is all about Starbucks. I’m joined this week by RB Editor-at-Large Peter Romeo. Peter and I toured headquarters and have a series coming up on restaurantbusinessonline.com. We talk about how Starbucks has evolved over the years, from a simple coffee shop chain into a global behem...

Can a slider concept use modular buildings to get big? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast “A Deeper Dive” features Maria Rivera, the CEO of the rapidly growing slider chain, to talk about its unique method of growth. Smalls is a rapidly growing quick-service slider chain. The company has been quickly adding locations throughout the South over the past year, using its “cans,” or...

The last episode of the Restaurant Business podcast “A Deeper Dive” is, perhaps unsurprisingly, a look back at some of the year’s best episodes. The episode features clips from some key guests, including marketing expert and author Chip Klose, speaking about, well, marketing. We speak with executives from Dave’s Hot Chicken on its fascinating start. CapitalSpring’s Jim Balis gives us some news on...

How did Potbelly turn its business around? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast “A Deeper Dive” features Bob Wright, the CEO of the Chicago-based sandwich chain. Potbelly struggled going into the pandemic, which hammered its core business in urban markets. Wright took over as CEO three years ago. On the podcast, he talks about what it’s like to take on a struggling concept during...

Are restaurants becoming like Taylor Swift? Well, sort of. This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Matt Tucker. He is the senior vice president with Squarespace and is head of the reservation platform Tock. Tock was cofounded by restaurateur Nick Kokonas and was sold in 2021 to Squarespace. The company sells prepaid restaurant reservations to customers. Those...

Why is the FTC looking into Subway? This episode of the Restaurant Business podcast “A Deeper Dive” features John Gordon, a restaurant consultant out of San Diego, who discusses the apparent investigation of the sale of Subway to Roark Capital. The investigation is apparently examining whether the acquisition of the sandwich giant would give the private equity firm Roark too much power. We discuss...