Extra Serving: Recent Episodes
Nation's Restaurant News
This podcast will share ideas from restaurant innovators on leadership, food trends, technology and how to thrive in this tough industry that we can’t get enough of.
This week on the Extra Serving podcast, a Nation’s Restaurant News podcast, NRN editors Holly Petre, Sam Oches and Leigh Anne Zinsmeister talked about Subway’s potential bidders.
Subway has a list of potential suitors including Goldman Sachs and Bain Capital. Who are these players and what could they have in store for the chain with the most units in the U.S.?
Plus, what’s going on with catering? Chains from Sweetgreen to Cracker Barrel seem to be introducing catering programs and they’re wildly successful. Are consumers returning to their offices? Are people having more parties? The editors discussed.
And finally, the editors discussed women in foodservice. From new programs for women in the workforce to restaurant concepts highlighting women, this Women’s History Month seems to be full of people honoring women, but will it stick?
This week’s guest is Charlie Morrison, CEO of Salad and Go.
This week on the award-winning Extra Serving podcast, NRN editors Holly Petre, Sam Oches, and Leigh Anne Zinsmeister spoke about the recent State of the Industry report from the National Restaurant Association.
The State of the Industry report predicted that foodservice sales will almost hit $1 trillion in 2023. That’s up 6.4% from the year prior, which exceeded predictions largely due to menu price increases.
Next, what happens when you ban unaccompanied children from restaurants? One Chick-fil-A unit in Pennsylvania is doing just that — banning children under 16 from dining in without their parents, due to raucous behavior. Will other chains follow?
And celebrities are back in the food game. No, they’re not franchising, but they are the stars of ad campaigns in what feels like a season with more celebrities than ever before. After a few years of silence on the marketing front due to COVID, brands are back and swinging hard with new celebrity ad campaigns.
This week’s guest is Local Kitchens COO and co-founder Andrew Munday.
This week on the Extra Serving podcast, NRN editors Holly Petre, Sam Oches, and Leigh Anne Zinsmeister spoke about Texas Roadhouse’s latest quarter earnings.
Texas Roadhouse reported its Q4 earnings recently and, during that call, revealed that January and February saw the highest traffic numbers in the chain’s history. Is this an outlier, or a sign that people aren’t trading down? The editors discussed this and more.
Next, the editors discussed Panera’s latest subscription program updates and its benefits. Are subscriptions the future of loyalty programs? The editors discussed that and whether or not customers have subscription fatigue.
Finally, the editors discussed Starbucks’ new olive oil drink that was introduced in Italy. The team talked about the future of this novelty drink and whether it could take off in the U.S.
This week’s guest is Carl Bachmann, president of Smashburger, who spoke to Joanna Fantozzi about the chain’s technology.
This week on the Extra Serving podcast, a product of Nation’s Restaurant News, NRN editors Holly Petre, Sam Oches, and Leigh Anne Zinsmeister spoke about the future of robots and AI in restaurants.
After a few high-profile mistakes, robots and AI are up for discussion in the restaurant industry. Long the darling of the industry for reducing the need for human labor, there have been some recent cases of AI and robots messing up. The team discussed the future of AI and robots in the industry and what these high-profile cases mean.
Also, the team discussed Chipotle’s new concept. Farmesa is opening in a Kitchen United unit in California and is an offshoot of Chipotle. This isn’t Chipotle’s first foray into other concepts and the team discussed what this means and what the future of Farmesa holds.
Finally, the team discussed McDonald’s newest Famous Order meal. The meal, featuring Cardi B and Offset, is the fifth iteration of the brand’s marketing campaign since it relaunched in 2020. The team talked about what this marketing campaign has done for McDonald’s.
This week’s interview is Ray Kees, director of culinary for Krystal. He spoke with Bret Thorn about his heritage, future innovations at Krystal, and sticking to the basics.
Panda Express head chef Jimmy Wang came to the NAFEM (North American Association of Food Equipment Manufacturers) conference in Orlando with one major goal in mind: to find kitchen equipment that will help the company be more efficient and consistent as they grow.
The Chinese-American chain already began rolling out automated woks that do most of the stir frying for you to select restaurants where it’s most needed. Not only does this type of equipment help create consistency food quality across their store portfolio, but it also makes the job a lot easier for kitchen workers. In turn, automation equipment will hopefully slow down labor turnover rates, which have been a thorn in the industry’s side for years.
Wang discussed his opinions on investing in automated kitchen equipment, as well as new menu categories like tea and refreshers in this exclusive interview on the NAFEM show floor.
This week on the Extra Serving podcast, NRN editors Holly Petre, Sam Oches, and Leigh Anne Zinsmeister spoke about the latest in restaurant earnings.
This week saw several more companies report including Starbucks, Yum Brands, and Chipotle Mexican Grill. The team discussed their main takeaways from the earnings reports and what they have in common.
Next, the team discussed Chick-fil-A’s new plant-based protein. The proprietary menu item is made of cauliflower and was in the test phase for four years. The team discussed what that means for the industry and whether or not plant-based proteins’ time has passed.
Finally, the team discussed our Chicken Showdown. The latest in our showdown series focuses on chicken chains of all kinds, from rotisserie to tenders to fried chicken sandwiches. We picked nine chains that have something to say, and now readers get to pick their favorite.
This week’s guest is Nick Chavez, the chief marketing officer for KFC.
This week on the Extra Serving podcast, an award-winning product from Nation’s Restaurant News, NRN editors Holly Petre, Alicia Kelso, and Bret Thorn discussed KFC’s new wraps.
Earlier in the week, Kelso had the chance to tour the KFC headquarters and brought back some stories, including the launch of KFC wraps. Fried chicken wraps were, in fact, one of Thorn’s predictions for the new year. The editors discussed wraps in the restaurant industry and what this means for a KFC trying to skew younger.
Next, the team discussed McDonald’s earnings. The quick-service chain reported over 10% same-store sales growth for the quarter, mostly due to marketing. The team discussed what operational complexity looks like at McDonald’s when it comes to LTOs and what its “marketing war chest” has done so far.
Finally, the team discussed TikTok. Petre wrote a piece earlier this week about TikTok’s growth in the restaurant sector and how the app is impacting sales. The team discussed what the app stands for and how it attracts restaurant workers.
This week’s interview is with Alessandro Biggi, co-founder of New York City-based chain Avocaderia. The brand has four locations and is opening another two this year.
This week on the Extra Serving podcast, a production of Nation’s Restaurant News, NRN editors Holly Petre, Joanna Fantozzi, and Leigh Anne Zinsmeister spoke about cell-cultured meats.
Is the future cell-cultured meat? That’s something Fantozzi explored this week in a feature for NRN.com. With the FDA giving the green light to Upside Foods, a cell-cultured meat company, it opens up the market for others. The team discussed what it means for the industry and how it will impact menus.
Next, the team discussed union efforts by restaurants ranging from Peet’s to Chipotle. Peet’s first store just unionized while Chipotle is being accused of union busting at one store after closing the first unionized store. The team talked about unionization efforts across the industry.
Finally, the team talked about recent workforce benefits and hiring patterns. Chipotle decided this week to add more workers – 15,000 to be exact – as it begins to expand its footprint while KFC offered college tuition to workers. The editors discussed if these benefits could impact the tight labor market.
This week on the Extra Serving podcast, a product of Nation’s Restaurant News, NRN editors Holly Petre, Sam Oches, and Bret Thorn spoke about the new report from the New York Times detailing the National Restaurant Association’s alleged lobbying efforts using ServSafe money.
Earlier this week, there was a report from the New York Times that accused the NRA of using the $15 ServSafe fee required to take the food-safety training – which the publication alleged all servers were paying for themselves — for lobbying efforts against minimum wage increases. The next day, One Fair Wage released its own version of ServSafe after being a key piece of the New York Times report. The team discussed what this means for the industry and why the report was bad journalism.
Next, the team discussed loyalty programs. It seems like with the new year comes new loyalty programs (along with salads), with six chains announcing new or revamped loyalty programs and some even joining the metaverse. The editors discussed what this means in the podcast.
And finally, the team discussed the financial situations of Subway and Wendy’s. The former disclosed it would be open to a sale, and with a $10 billion valuation, the NRN editors discussed who would possibly buy the brand and what they would have to do to turn it around
This week on the Extra Serving podcast, an award-winning product of Nation’s Restaurant News, NRN editors Holly Petre, Sam Oches, and Leigh Anne Zinsmeister spoke about John Cywinski’s departure from Applebee’s and his new job at Modern Restaurant Concepts.
Last week, John Cywinski left his position as president of Applebee’s, and this week he announced he would be taking on a new role as CEO of Modern Restaurant Concepts, parent to Qdoba, Modern Market Eatery and Lemonade. The team discussed what this move could mean and what’s up next for Modern Restaurant Concepts with Cywinski at the helm.
Next, the team discussed In-N-Out’s possible move to the east coast. After announcing that it would be opening a new territory office in Tennessee this week along with approximate dates for the chain’s openings in that state, the world went wild thinking there could be In-N-Out on the east coast. The group discussed if this is indeed a bridge to the east coast for In-N-Out and the possible oversaturation of the brand if it does come east.
Finally, the editors wrapped up the ICR Conference. The annual conference usually produces some interesting news from big chains, and this year was no different. The editors discussed their takeaways.
This week on the Extra Serving podcast, an award-winning product of Nation’s Restaurant News, NRN editors Holly Petre, Sam Oches, Leigh Anne Zinsmeister, and Alicia Kelso talked about the trend of healthy eating post-New Year’s.
Chains like Sweetgreen and Chipotle have already come out with New Year's deals and new products to encourage customers to eat healthily. Are consumers tired of this marketing or is it here to stay? The team discussed.
Also, the team discussed the latest rent delinquency numbers which showed that 52% of independent restaurants couldn’t pay rent in the month of December, a traditionally lucrative month for restaurants. What does this mean for the future of independent restaurants, and will this lead to more closures? Hear more on the pod.
And finally, the team discussed the flurry of C-suite changes in the first week of the year. While this time of year typically sees a lot of C-suite changes, this year appears to have more in store. The team discussed what this could portend for the year and how it compares to years past.
This week’s interview is James and Johanna Windon, the co-owners of Buena Papa, a French fry concept operating out of Raleigh, N.C.
A note to our lovely listeners, the NRN staff is off between Christmas and New Year which means that there will be no team intros for the podcast. However, we wanted to bring you content over the holiday season, so we’re dropping two interview-only episodes.
This week, on the Extra Serving podcast, we speak to Michael McGill, the president of Bobby’s Burgers. McGill spoke with Joanna Fantozzi about scaling with a small footprint, labor efficiencies and how Bobby Flay's brand is evolving.
Enjoy the episode and don’t forget to subscribe on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
This week on a special episode of the Extra Serving podcast, a production of Nation’s Restaurant News, NRN editors Holly Petre, Sam Oches and Leigh Anne Zinsmeister discuss their predictions for the restaurant industry heading into 2023.
For weeks, industry organizations have been releasing their reports on what the future may hold, but now it’s time for our editors to share their own ideas. From fully off-premises casual-dining chains to the disappearance of the sad lunch salad to fast-casual conglomerates, the three have big ideas for next year.
Then, senior food and beverage editor Bret Thorn is joined by Smokey Bones’ chief food & beverage innovation officer Peter Farrand. They talk about holiday cocktails, invented nostalgia, and more.
Stick around to the end of the episode to hear even more 2023 predictions from Thorn, executive editor Alicia Kelso and senior editor Joanna Fantozzi.
This week on the Extra Serving podcast, a production of Nation’s Restaurant News, NRN editors Holly Petre, Sam Oches and Leigh Anne Zinsmeister discussed the FAST Act in California.
Signed on Labor Day, the FAST Act was set to be a new California law requiring restaurants with over 100 units and at least one unit in California to follow a set of guidelines including a possible $22 per hour minimum wage. The National Restaurant Association, along with other business leaders, organized a petition with over one million signatures, forcing a vote on the law in 2024. The editors discuss what this will mean during a presidential election year and what it could mean for the future of restaurants both big and small.
Next, the team discussed the purchase of Fuzzy’s Taco Shop by Dine Brands earlier in the week. The three editors talked about what the year in acquisitions has looked like and how this fit into the bunch.
Finally, the team talked about the first of the pandemic-era lawsuits to come to financial fruition. Uber Eats was ordered to pay the city of Chicago and restaurants $10 million in damages for listing restaurants without their permission. The team discussed what this means for the delivery segment and what it could mean if there are more lawsuits that have similar results.
This week’s interview is the president of Applebee’s, John Cywinski. He spoke with Ron Ruggless about the brand’s recent earnings and the future of the casual-dining giant.
This week on the Extra Serving podcast, an award-winning product of Nation’s Restaurant News, NRN editors Holly Petre, Sam Oches and Joanna Fantozzi spoke about McDonald’s latest marketing efforts.
In the past week, McDonald’s both stepped up its marketing efforts when it comes to SMS texts as well as amped up its efforts around the McGold card, a special rewards card mostly known amongst celebrities prior to this campaign. The team discussed what this new investment in both technology and marketing means for the largest chain in the U.S. by same-store sales.
Also, the team discussed Amanda Cohen’s new plant-based concept Lekka Burger. The chef and owner of Michelin-award-winning Dirt Candy in New York City just opened the second location of her burger concept that she and her partner are calling “the Shake Shack of vegan burgers.” The team discussed if this is true and if plant-based burgers have hit a point of oversaturation.
Finally, the team talked about how restaurant sales are strong after a rough few months. A recent study showed that the past two months have shown the strongest sales for restaurants since March, largely due to inflation. The team discussed what that means and the future of the industry in an environment of inflation and a recession.
This week, there are two interviews. One with Mugshots Grill owner Ron Savell and another with Ralph Bower, CEO of The Melt.
This week on the Extra Serving podcast, an award-winning production of Nation’s Restaurant News, NRN editors Holly Petre, Sam Oches and Leigh Anne Zinsmeister talked about loyalty programs at restaurant chains.
Fast-casual chains Just Salad and Sweetgreen have both recently talked about their loyalty programs. Just Salad launched a whole new system, “Race to Rewards,” a gamified program to create new perks for customers like freebies or order discounts in the form of “Salad Bucks.” Sweetgreen, meanwhile, mentioned its loyalty tests on its third-quarter earnings call. It tested several programs in 2022, including Sweetpass. Why are chains suddenly so enthusiastic about this marketing tactic?
The editors also talked about new prototypes across the industry, from Subway vending machines to To-Go Panera stores to pick-up windows at Chili’s. The team agrees that the off-premises trend is here to stay as chains figure out how to meet consumers where they are.
Finally, Oches and Petre talk about their recent trip to White Castle headquarters in Columbus, Ohio. The 101-year-old restaurant was named NRN’s first-ever Brand Icon this week; Oches explains why, and what other chains can learn.
Then, hear a conversation between senior food & beverage editor Bret Thorn and Firebirds Wood Fired Grill executives Steve Sturm and Stephen Loftis.
On this very special episode of Extra Serving, we go behind the scenes of NRN’s first-ever Brand Icon: White Castle. This 101-year-old slider chain continues to push the envelope on innovation even as it protects its century-long legacy.
In this exclusive audio feature, you’ll hear from CEO Lisa Ingram and other White Castle executives about how the brand continues to modernize while honoring its rich history, how its unique culture has led to industry-leading retention rates, and how its irreverent attitude and quirky spirit have created a cult following of Cravers.
Want to learn more? To read our Brand Icon feature and take an exclusive video tour of White Castle headquarters, head to nrn.com/whitecastle.
This week on the Extra Serving podcast, an award-winning production of Nation’s Restaurant News, NRN editors Holly Petre, Sam Oches and Leigh Anne Zinsmeister spoke about the recent midterm elections.
During the midterm elections, there were several restaurant-related initiatives on the ballot including eliminating the tip credit in two cities, raising the minimum wage to $15 in a few states, and some worker protections while other states decided to strike worker protections down. The three discussed what these could all mean for the industry.
Next, the team discussed the recent trend of companies focusing on their urban units or moving new units to urban centers once again. Earlier in the pandemic, restaurant companies focused all their energy on the suburbs while the cities were empty but with a return to the office, restaurants are seeing the urban crowd come back and a return to their business. The team discussed what this means and some new prototypes that are in the works surrounding this theory put out by executive editor Alicia Kelso.
Finally, this week’s interview is an episode of DrinkedIn Live, our monthly LinkedIn Live series featuring senior editor Ron Ruggless and a guest to discuss restaurant business over cocktails. This month’s guests were Snow Vo and Austin Hoaege of Snowbird in Frisco, Texas.
This week on the Extra Serving podcast, a product of Nation’s Restaurant News, NRN editors Holly Petre, Sam Oches and Leigh Anne Zinsmeister spoke about the earnings palooza that occurred this week and the end of last week.
Several brands reported this week and last, including but not limited to Shake Shack, McDonald’s, Brinker International, Bloomin’ Brands, Restaurant Brands International, Noodles & Company, Chipotle Mexican Grill, and Inspire Brands. There were some themes that stood out to the editors, and they discussed them on the pod along with some learnings from the earnings calls.
Then, senior editor Joanna Fantozzi joined the podcast fresh off writing a piece about Papa Johns’ earnings to discuss the brand’s Q3 report. The quick-service chain was negative in both same-store sales and revenue for the first time in 12 quarters, and the four discussed what this means for the pizza giant that looked as though it was beginning to overtake Domino’s.
Finally, the four discussed Fantozzi’s recent feature on ghost kitchens and the new players in the game. The editors discussed the future of ghost kitchens and the tools that they need to be both nimble and necessary in the current environment.
This week’s interview is Amir Mostafavi, founder and CEO of South Block. The growing juice bar chain’s CEO discussed his eight tips for restaurateurs in business today and how he’s been able to grow his own business to 12 units.
This week on the Extra Serving Podcast, a product of Nation’s Restaurant News, NRN editors Holly Petre, Sam Oches, and Leigh Anne Zinsmeister talked about TikTok and its role in the restaurant ecosystem.
Earlier in the week, Petre wrote a piece about TikTok’s new role in the restaurant industry and how it’s a place for discoverability — which is good — and sensationalized restaurant reviews — which are bad. The editors discussed what these two trends mean for the industry at large and how overall, TikTok is a meaningful tool for restaurants to use.
Next, the three discussed the return of the McRib at McDonald’s. The quick-service chain announced it would be the McRib’s “farewell tour.” A marketing stunt or the real deal? The team discussed this question.
Finally, the team talked about Chipotle’s Q3 earnings. The fast-casual chain was up in same-store sales, largely due to price increases. Chipotle’s menu prices are up 13% year-over-year and 20% over 2020 prices. The team discussed what this means for the chain’s customer base amid an impending recession and what it could mean for the restaurant industry as we enter earnings season.
This week’s interview is Michael Pereira, the new (and first) chief operating officer at Velvet Taco. He spoke with senior editor Joanna Fantozzi about his goals for the brand, how he went from Snooze an a.m. Eatery to Velvet Taco, and general operations strategies.
This week on the Extra Serving podcast, a product of Nation’s Restaurant News, NRN editors Holly Petre, Sam Oches, and Joanna Fantozzi spoke about the rise in menu customization.
On nrn.com, we published an article about the recent rise in menu customization at chains like Panera and IHOP, where customization hadn’t been on the menu before. The team discussed why some brands are embracing the trend today, while other chains like Subway are moving away from customization.
The three editors also discussed the latest in the Starbucks union saga, notably the fact that employees at the quick-service chain are suing it over false police claims. The three discussed what this latest tiff means for Starbucks and how this battle will impact the future of unions in the restaurant industry.
Finally, the editors discussed McDonald’s introduction of Krispy Kreme donuts at select locations across Louisville, Ky. They discussed the idea of McDonald’s cobranding with other JAB concepts, as well as what it could mean for McDonald’s breakfast business moving forward.
In our latest CREATE Conversation, Nation’s Restaurant News spoke with Mike Lenard, CEO and founder of TaKorean; Alex Wu, founder of Bao’d Up; and Yong Zhao, founder of Junzi. In this conversation filmed in Denver during CREATE, the three discussed why Chinese food is so cheap, the opportunities in Asian food, how to begin franchising, the cost of labor and more.
Be sure to check out our other CREATE conversations:
- Figuring out a 4-day workweek at Asian Box
- 4 restaurant leaders discuss their struggles with labor, supply chain and more
- Hear a CREATE conversation between 3 industry CEOs
- How Maria Empanada’s founder Lorena Cantarovici took on the restaurant industry
If you’re in Washington D.C. join us for our CREATE Roadshow Oct. 17 from 6-9 p.m. at Chaia Tacos’ Chinatown location for free drinks and an educational panel as well as a chance to network with industry peers. RSVP here!
This week on the extra Serving podcast, a product of Nation’s Restaurant News, NRN editors Holly Petre, Sam Oches and Leigh Anne Zinsmeister spoke about the possibility of a three-day workweek.
One Chick-fil-A operator in the Miami area has been successfully running a three-day workweek in his store since the store opened in February 2022 – and it’s helped with labor. The team discussed what this could mean for the industry, which is in the middle of a labor crisis, and the future of restaurant operations.
Also, the team discussed McDonald’s latest promotion selling out within days, beating the Travis Scott merchandise line in 2020. The Cactus Plant Flea Market Box Adult Happy Meal was sold out quickly, prompting employees to beg customers not to order it. This brought up questions of labor with executive editor Alicia Kelso, who joined the podcast to discuss the story she wrote and the implications of the promotion on the labor market alongside Petre, Oches and Zinsmeister.
Finally, the four discussed the possibility of a tech or restaurant acquisition by Yum Brands. In a recent call, the chain’s chief financial officer indicated that there might be a possibility of the multi-brand company acquiring a Mediterranean brand. The team discussed what it could mean for Yum and made their guesses as to what the brand could be.
This week’s interview is Wan Kim, CEO of Smoothie King. He spoke with Oches about what it’s like 10 years into his job and ownership of the company.
In our latest CREATE Conversation, Nation’s Restaurant News spoke with Frank Klein, CEO and co-founder of Asian Box; Adam Schlegel, founder of Chook Charcoal Kitchen; and Elizabeth Nicholson, chief operating officer of Chook Charcoal Kitchen. In this conversation filmed in Denver during CREATE, the three restaurateurs spoke about the logistics of running a restaurant, including tipped wages, the difficulty of operating in California, expansion possibilities, a four-day work week, and much more.
Be sure to check out our other CREATE conversations:
- 4 restaurant leaders discuss their struggles with labor, supply chain and more
- Hear a CREATE conversation between 3 industry CEOs
- How Maria Empanada’s founder Lorena Cantarovici took on the restaurant industry
If you’re in Washington D.C. join us for our CREATE Roadshow Oct. 17 from 6-9 p.m. at Chaia Tacos Chinatown location for free drinks and an educational panel as well as a chance to network with industry peers. RSVP here!
When Argentinian former banker Lorena Cantarovici arrived in the United States, she had $300 and opened her first location of Maria Empanada with $4000 in loans.
“It was super challenging. That door didn’t open enough for me to survive. Maria Empanada almost died two years in,” she said. “But something told me I was going in the right direction.”
Her customers were coming back, even though there weren’t many of them, and buying a lot of empanadas.
“The versatility of the product was adaptable to the United States,” she said.
Customers would buy over a dozen and bring them back home to the freezer.
Despite this, Cantarovici was told she “wasn’t bankable” when trying to get a loan. She got funding through the Colorado Enterprise Fund, after which she was able to move to a bigger location on Broadway Ave in Denver.
“That’s when I learned location, location, location is everything,” she said. Then she got a bank loan for her second unit.
Listen to the full podcast to hear Lorena Cantarovici, founder of Maria Empanada, describe the highs and lows of operating a small business.
This week on Extra Serving, an award-winning podcast from Nation’s Restaurant News, NRN editors Holly Petre, Sam Oches and Leigh Anne Zinsmeister spoke about the recent wave of nostalgia in restaurant ad campaigns and marketing stunts.
Burger King this week released a nostalgic ad campaign bringing back their “Have it Your Way” ad campaign but with a new twist. This is in addition to McDonald’s which re-released Boo Buckets, a nostalgic Trick-or-Treating bucket for children during Halloween. In addition, last week, the team spoke about the nostalgia of Taco Bell’s marketing move to bring one menu item back from the past. The team discussed what nostalgia means for the industry and how it’s impacting customers.
Next, the team discussed menu price increases. This week, two studies came out that showed consumers’ limit on menu price increases which hovers around 10-13%. The team discussed what this means for the industry and how you can react to inflation while still pleasing customers.
Finally, the team discussed our own Consumer Picks report where we share information compiled by Datassential from you, the reader. We recently shared a gallery on the brands with the highest perceived value. The team discussed what value means and why consumer sentiment is down in general across all categories.
This week’s interview is Sahil Rahman and Rahul Vinod, co-founders of RASA, an Indian fast-casual eatery in Washington D.C. The two discuss what it’s like being an emerging operator serving Indian food in the D.C. area with Oches.
This week on Extra Serving, a Nation’s Restaurant News award-winning podcast, NRN editors Holly Petre, Sam Oches and Leigh Anne Zinsmeister talked about the newest merchandise craze in the restaurant industry: candles.
Last week, Texas Roadhouse introduced new Honey Cinnamon Butter Candles to the market, a first for the casual-dining concept that claims fans have been asking for merchandise for years. The team discussed what this means on a broader scale and how this trend could impact marketing across the industry.
Also, the team discussed Taco Bell’s latest menu stunt: pitting two former menu items against each other to see which fans would vote back onto the menu. The team talked about Taco Bell’s menu strategy and how its impactful marketing gets the job done.
Finally, the team talked about The National Restaurant Association’s attest plea to the Small Business Administration for relief on loan repayments for the economic disaster relief loans that were issued to some independent restaurants at the beginning of the pandemic as an alternative to PPP loans. The team discussed the possibility of the government responding to the NRA’s plea and more.
This week’s interview is George Felix, CMO of Chili’s, who spoke with Ron Ruggless on an episode of his show, DrinkedIn Live, a live show on LinkedIn that happens at the end of every month on NRN’s LinkedIn page. Be sure to check it out next month if you missed the previous episodes.
This week on Extra Serving, an award-winning podcast by Nation’s Restaurant News, NRN editors Holly Petre and Sam Oches discussed the acquisition of Tokyo Joe’s by Salad Collective.
Salad Collective, which owns Mad Greens and Snappy Salads, acquired the 27-unit Japanese concept on Monday. The Tokyo Joe’s acquisition brings Salad Collective’s holdings to 65 company-owned restaurants in Arizona, Colorado and Texas. The two editors discussed what this acquisition means for the brands as well as the industry at large.
Also, the two discussed the newest menu item at Taco Bell made with a brand-new product, Beyond Steak. Oches and Petre discussed what this means for the plant-based movement and Taco Bell’s standing as a vegetarian-forward restaurant.
Plus, hear from Bryan Tublin, CEO of Kitava, Hanson Li, CEO of Lazy Susan, and Elliot Schiffer, CEO of Mici Handcrafted on what it’s like to be in the restaurant industry during one of our CREATE conversations that occurred during CREATE: The Future of Foodservice last week in Denver.
This week on the award-winning Extra Serving podcast, a product of Nation’s Restaurant News, NRN editors Holly Petre, Sam Oches and Leigh Anne Zinsmeister spoke about Starbucks entering the metaverse.
The quick-service chain made its debut in the metaverse this past week with a design that was worth the wait. In something NRN senior editor Joanna Fantozzi called “Loyalty 2.0” on First Bite, our daily morning podcast, Starbucks is giving users the chance to use tokens they earn in the metaverse for real-world treats like Espresso Martini Tastings. The team discussed what this means for the brand and the industry at large.
Next, the team talked about Chipotle’s new menu item which debuted both in the real world and in the metaverse, the first menu item to do so. Users can play a game and earn the chance to receive a free burrito or bowl with the chain’s new Garlic Guajillo Steak. The team discussed what Chipotle’s latest gamification of the metaverse means and what it holds for the future of the brand.
Finally, the team talked about Burger King’s $400 million refresh by Restaurant Brands International. The chain’s parent company announced this week it would invest $400 million into the quick-service burger chain for “updates.” The team broke this down and discussed what the marketing words really mean.
This week’s guest is Sanjiv Razdan, CEO of The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, who spoke with Bret Thorn about inflation, supply chain and the chain’s signature drinks.
This week on Extra Serving, a Nation’s Restaurant News podcast, NRN editors Holly Petre, Sam Oches, and Leigh Anne Zinsmeister discussed the new CEO at Starbucks.
After much speculation, Starbucks’ interim CEO Howard Schultz named a successor in Laxman Narasimhan, a former PepsiCo executive who most recently served as CEO of consumer health and wellness brand Reckitt. The team discussed what the timing of this appointment means as well as their own predictions for what this could hold for the future of Starbucks which has faced its own series of challenges of late including the wave of unionization.
Also, the team discussed California’s new fast-food workers’ bill. The bill, which was signed into law on Labor Day by Governor Gavin Newsom, will create standardized practices for restaurants with over 100 units nationally. It has been met with pushback from organizations like the National Restaurant Association. The team discussed what this bill’s passage could mean and how a bipartisan council could possibly work when it comes to foodservice and worker rights.
This week’s interview is from this week’s episode of Take-Away, featuring the brothers who cofounded Via 313. For the whole interview with take-aways from Sam, go to this feed and listen.
This week on Extra Serving, a Nation’s Restaurant News podcast, NRN editors Holly Petre, Sam Oches, and Leigh Anne Zinsmeister spoke about Chipotle’s first union.
The first Chipotle store unionized late last week in Lansing, Mich. This was after the first store that voted to unionize was closed by Chipotle due to a lack of employees last month. The NRN team discussed what this means for Chipotle and what it means for the industry that another top 10 chain is seeing union efforts by employees.
Also, the team discussed Panera’s new drive-thru AI technology. At two locations in upstate New York, Panera Bread is testing AI technology at its drive-thru locations to enhance drive-thru capabilities. The team discussed what this means for the drive-thru worker and the beleaguered drive-thru.
This week’s interview is Matthew de Gruyter, co-founder and CEO of Next Level Burger, an Oregon-based chain focusing on plant-based burgers and environmental sustainability. If you want to hear even more from Matthew, come and see him speak at CREATE this September in Denver where the newest Next Level Burger just opened.
This week on Extra Serving, a podcast by Nation’s Restaurant News, NRN editors Holly Petre, Sam Oches and Leigh Anne Zinsmeister spoke about how robots are elevating the pizza industry, Wendy’s possible E. coli outbreak and plant-based proteins at Taco Bell and Burger King.
While robots have become a critical part of restaurant technology, nowhere is it more prevalent than in the pizzeria, as senior editor Joanna Fantozzi broke down on NRN this week. Petre, Oches and Zinsmeister talk about why this is and what they think may be ahead for restaurant tech.
Then, attention turned to a more serious topic: E. coli. Wendy’s this week removed romaine from its sandwiches in three states because of a possible outbreak, so the editors talked about why that is and the lasting impact of Chipotle’s infamous E. coli outbreak in 2015.
Finally, the team talked about new plant-based proteins at two quick-service giants: Taco Bell and Burger King. Burger King is expanding its Impossible lineup with a chicken sandwich, and Taco Bell — already a haven for vegetarians — is testing a proprietary protein. The team talks about the ongoing plant-based trend and these different approaches.
Plus, hear from Mark Brandau of Datassential, who spoke with Oches about this year’s Top 500 report.
This week on Extra Serving, a podcast by Nation’s Restaurant News, NRN editors Holly Petre, Sam Oches and Leigh Anne Zinsmeister spoke about Kevin Hart’s foray into the restaurant world and the future of plant-based restaurants.
Hart’s restaurant, Hart House, is set to open in late August in Southern California and will be plant-based, joining many other restaurants in the plant-based restaurant wars. But how does Hart House stack up against its competitors? The team discussed that along with the entire plant-based movement in comparison to the restaurant industry at large.
Also, the team discussed Starbucks’ latest scuffle with its union. This time, it was Starbucks accusing the National Labor Relations Board of tampering with union elections. The team discussed what this means for the union movement as a whole and the future of the movement at Starbucks.
Lastly, the team talked about hiring practices at places like Denny’s where a hiring push involving a referral program is causing a stir. The returning program is successful with its “bring your bestie” premise at the all-day breakfast chain. The team talked about other hiring practices, including at Chick-fil-A, and how this is helping to solve the labor crunch.
Plus, hear from Scott Rodriguez, SVP menu strategy & product innovation at Papa Johns. He spoke with Bret Thorn about packaging for the chain’s new Papa Bowls, menu development and much more.
This week on Extra Serving, a Nation’s Restaurant News podcast, NRN editors Holly Petre, Sam Oches and Leigh Anne Zinsmeister spoke about the latest in restaurant earnings, including Sweetgreen and Wendy’s latest quarterly reports.
It’s been another week of earnings over here at NRN and the editors have prepared remarks on the second quarterly earnings, focusing on two brands with the biggest news: Wendy’s and Sweetgreen. Wendy’s announced that it would be downsizing its partnership with Reef after last year proclaiming it would be opening 700 new ghost kitchens with the brand. On the other hand, Sweetgreen, much like companies in the tech sector, laid off 5% of its corporate staff. The team discussed these bits of news and how they impact the industry.
Plus, the team talked about Chipotle’s latest workplace saga. After a months-long investigation, New Yor City Mayor Eric Adams and city officials came to an agreement with Chipotle to give 13,000 workers $20 million over scheduling and labor violations. This is the largest settlement of this nature in New York City’s history. The team discusses how this news could impact the whole industry.
This week’s interview is Matt Harding, executive chef of Piada Italian Street Food, who spoke with Joanna Fantozzi about the future of the brand.
On this week’s episode of Extra Serving, a Nation’s Restaurant News podcast, NRN editors Holly Petre and Sam Oches talk about the “earnings palooza” of the past week.
Several more brands reported over the last week including Papa Johns, Noodles & Company, Portillo’s, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, KFC, Burger King, Tim Horton’s, Popeyes, Firehouse Subs, The Habit Burger Grill, Starbucks, and Denny’s. Oches and Petre talked about the themes consistent throughout the second week of earnings, including menu price increases, inflation, and labor woes.
The two also discussed the return of Taco Bell’s Mexican Pizza, the shining star of the Yum Brand’s second-quarter results. The LTO is returning to the menu fulltime beginning Sept. 15 and the two talked about what it means both for the brand and for consumers.
This week’s interview is with Green District, a healthful chain in Kentucky that’s attempting to bring healthier food to the middle of the country.
This week on Extra Serving, a Nation’s Restaurant News podcast, NRN editors Holly Petre, Sam Oches and Bret Thorn discussed the news that the Small Business Administration had $180 million in undistributed Restaurant Revitalization Fund money left.
The National Restaurant Association revealed this money in a letter to the SBA asking for it to be distributed to restaurants after a June report released in July showed that the government agency still had money left to distribute. The team discussed what this could mean for restaurants.
Also, the team discussed menu price hikes. Two of the largest chains — McDonald’s and Chipotle — announced they would be raising menu prices as part of their Q2 earnings. With inflation still on the rise, the team discussed what this impact could have on customers and how this will impact sales.
This week’s interview is Anita Adams, CEO of Black Bear Diner, who spoke with Ron Ruggless about the chain’s growth plans.
This week on Extra Serving, a Nation’s Restaurant News podcast, NRN editors Holly Petre, Sam Oches and Leigh Anne Zinsmeister discuss the leaked video of Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz saying that he would close “many more stores.”
The video, which was leaked by a conservative Canadian blog, shows Schultz getting progressively angrier as he speaks about closing stores and the state of homelessness in the country, blaming city governments for inaction. The team discussed what the store closures mean in the wake of Starbucks’ unionization efforts, with almost 200 stores now unionized.
Also, the team discussed Chipotle’s closure of its first store to vote on unionization. The first Chipotle store set to vote to unionize was closed due to a lack of staff, according to Chipotle, but workers are accusing the company of union-busting. The team talked about what it means for the future of unions at the fast-casual giant.
Finally, the team spoke about Domino’s lagging quarterly results. While they were not terrible, they were a dip for the company that saw double-digit increases throughout the COVID pandemic. While a negative 2.9% decline in domestic same-store sales may not look too bad, it reflects a wider pattern and the team discussed what that means and why it could possibly impact the whole industry.
This week’s interview is David Birzon, CEO of Snooze, an A.M. Eatery. He sat down with Bret Thorn as part of our Snapshots of Success series where the two discussed the brand’s new virtual brand, Bodegga.
Welcome to another episode of Extra Serving, a Nation’s Restaurant News podcast featuring Holly Petre, Joanna Fantozzi, Leigh Anne Zinsmeister and Bret Thorn.
In this episode, we’ll cover:
Dave & Buster’s new C-suite;
McDonald’s buying out one of its franchisees; and
Starbucks closing stores due to health and safety concerns.
Plus, hear an interview with Brett Schulman, CEO of Cava, on the chain’s new menu offerings and growth plans.
If you’re a franchisee, feel free to contact Joanna at Joanna.fantozzi@informa.com or Holly at holly.petre@informa.com. We’d love to have you on the pod or featured in Joanna’s franchise column.
This week on the Extra Serving podcast, a product of Nation’s Restaurant News, NRN editors Holly Petre, Sam Oches, Leigh Anne Zinsmeister and Bret Thorn discussed Subway’s biggest menu overhaul in the chain’s history.
The editors decided to discuss the news on everyone’s minds: Subway’s menu overhaul, our most-read story of the week. The largest menu overhaul in 60 years of Subway’s existence changed up the way customers can order from Subway. The update focuses on predesigned sandwiches and moves away from the unlimited customization that Subway became known for. The editors discussed what it means for the customization movement that Subway first started, and that Chipotle took the reins on in recent years.
Next, the team discussed Amazon’s minority stake in Grubhub. The tech giant took over a 2% stake in delivery company Grubhub this week. With the possibility of a sale in the future, what does this mean for the two companies? The team discussed.
This week’s interview is with Roberto DeAngelis, chief experience officer for Friendly’s, who spoke about the family-dining chain’s new menu offerings, including fig jam and frico.
This week on the Extra Serving podcast, a production of Nation’s Restaurant News, NRN editors Holly Petre, Leigh Anne Zinsmeister, Sam Oches and Joanna Fantozzi discussed former Red Robin CEO Denny Marie Post’s new job at Nextbite, the virtual-dining company.
Earlier this week, Post signed on to become co-president of Nextbite alongside Paul Allen, reporting to CEO Alex Canter. The former large-chain exec will help the growing virtual brand company in her field of expertise: marketing. The team discussed what this means for the brand and also the future of marketing for all brands, how important it is to market a brand and how it should be done.
Next, the team discussed value promotions. Recently, chains have been coming out with value promotions amid the rising cost of goods and surging menu prices. For a while, chain executives said customers were ok with price hikes, yet it seems the tables have turned, the team observed, as places like White Castle are releasing value promotions with lowered prices.
This week’s interview is Robert Maynard, CEO of Famous Toastery, who spoke with Fantozzi about inflation and how it’s impacted his business.
This week on the Extra Serving podcast, a production of Nation’s Restaurant News, NRN editors Holly Petre, Leigh Anne Zinsmeister and Sam Oches discussed the possible union at Chipotle.
On Wednesday, Chipotle followed in the footsteps of Starbucks when one store in Augusta, Maine filed for union recognition. The NRN editors discussed what this could mean for the brand and why this was not a surprising move considering recent labor challenges.
Next, the team discussed Chick-fil-A’s new drive-thru idea: mobile order lanes. While not anything revolutionary, it does speed up the Chick-fil-A drive-thru time, something the team comments is already impressively fast. The team talked about how this could impact future units and how Chick-fil-A is able to remain a Top 5 brand while only staying open six days a week.
Lastly, the team discussed the revolving door of restaurant CEOs. This week, Red Robin CEO Paul Murphy announced he will retire at the end of the year. While an expected move, it brought up questions about The Great Resignation among restaurant CEOs and whether now is a good or bad time to find a new job in the C-suite.
This week’s interview is with Applebee’s president John Cywinski, who spoke to NRN editor Ron Ruggless about the chain’s recent foray into music with songs such as “Fancy Like.”
This week on the Extra Serving podcast, a product of Nation’s Restaurant News, NRN editors Holly Petre, Sam Oches, Leigh Anne Zinsmeister and Bret Thorn spoke about the cult of celebrity chefs.
Last week, on In the Kitchen with Bret Thorn, Thorn spoke with celebrity chef Rocco DiSpirito and the team went into what it means to be a celebrity chef and how it impacts your restaurant and your world.
The team also discussed Panera’s new prototype in Chicago that’s to-go only. The fast-casual restaurant known for soups and salads and a more sit-down friendly atmosphere is following the trends and where its consumers are – 80% of the chain’s orders in 2021 were made through off-premises channels.
Also, the team talked about Chipotle’s new walk-up windows. The chain is creating “human lanes” instead of drive-thru lanes in urban environments where drive-thru lanes are not possible. The team, mostly based in urban areas, discussed how they like the idea.
Finally, the team discussed the new addition to the Wendyverse, Sunrise City. The new element in the metaverse for the quick-service chain allows the user to play games based on the breakfast daypart. The team discussed how Wendy’s is far ahead of other companies when it comes to the metaverse.
This week’s guest is Owen Klein, head of menu development for CKE, parent to Carl’s Jr and Hardee’s, who spoke with Thorn about menu development for the chains’ new Jurassic Park-themed menus.
This week on the Extra Serving podcast, a production of Nation’s Restaurant News, NRN editors Holly Petre, Sam Oches and Leigh Anne Zinsmeister spoke about Taco Bell’s new drive-thru that opened on Tuesday.
Taco Bell, along with a slew of other restaurant chains, introduced this “restaurant of the future” prototype in 2020 during the height of the pandemic, sensing consumer needs would be changing in the long term. The new design is a drive-thru only unit, like the prototypes many others created but have yet to materialize during 2020 and 2021.
The team also discussed Starbucks’ new search for a CEO, which the company announced would be an outside hire who would be named in the fall, starting in Q1. The team speculates who it could be and what industry the potential hire could come from, plus whether or not they will be a restaurant veteran gaining this highly coveted job.
Finally, for this week’s interview, Oches sat down with Aaron Noveshen, founder and CEO of San Francisco-based Starbird, at the National Restaurant Association Show where they discussed trends in the industry and what’s up next.
Mark Rosati has been culinary director of Shake Shack since it was a single hotdog stand in New York City’s Madison Square Park.
He wasn’t sure he should take the job. He’d been cooking at Danny Meyer’s and Tom Colicchio’s fine-dining restaurant Gramercy Tavern, and running a takeout kiosk seemed like a step down. Would his chef friends even speak to him anymore?
But Rosati said that he appreciated that Shake Shack used the same ingredients and cooking techniques that Meyer’s fine-dining restaurant used — in fact, prep for “The Shack” initially took place across the street at Eleven Madison Park, which was part of Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group at the time.
Shake Shack has come a long way since then, with around 330 locations worldwide and its own test kitchen, and Rosati has relocated to Los Angeles for ease in travel as more shacks open in East Asia. His chef friends still speak with him.
In this podcast, Rosati discusses how Shake Shack has evolved and how the research & development process as changed, including how he and his team have had to adjust during the pandemic.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the ways Chevy’s Fresh Mex parent company Xperience Restaurant Group demonstrated their priority of employees was by refusing to lay off any of their managers, Xperience Restaurant Group CEO Randy Sharpe said in this week’s episode of Extra Serving.
To find out more about how Xperience Restaurant Group is able to afford higher wages and what they’re doing to combat staffing shortages, listen to this week’s episode of Extra Serving below.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the ways Chevy’s Fresh Mex parent company Xperience Restaurant Group demonstrated their priority of employees was by refusing to lay off any of their managers, Xperience Restaurant Group CEO Randy Sharpe said in this week’s episode of Extra Serving.
To find out more about how Xperience Restaurant Group is able to afford higher wages and what they’re doing to combat staffing shortages, listen to this week’s episode of Extra Serving below.
As Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises (LEYE) marks its fiftieth year in business, president RJ Melman doesn’t see any signs of slowing down. The multiconcept operator has over 150 restaurants in several states across the country ranging from fast-casual to fine-dining and, during the pandemic, brought some closed concepts back as virtual restaurants.
Melman, however, does not think virtual restaurants are the future of the industry despite the Chicago-based company’s massive success with them over the past few years.
LEYE is a family business for Melman. His father Rich co-founded the company back in 1971 and RJ has been with the company all his life, learning from his father. It’s one of the reasons he thinks brick-and-mortar units are still the way of the future.
Earlier this week, LEYE announced it would be opening Aba, a concept already in Austin and Chicago, in South Florida – something Melman hints at in our podcast, which was recorded before the news broke. That expansion marks the company’s first Florida unit and is set to open in 2022.
“We're benefiting from the heritage of the brand,” CEO Kevin Bazner said. “During times of crisis people gravitate to brands that they know and they love well. We're one of those brands for 102 years now and so we've got that and that continues. And we've exposed a lot of new customers and a lot of lapsed users to our brand over the last 13 or 14 months that are continuing to come back.”
As consumers emerge into the vaccine era, A&W is seeing the 96 convenience store units, of 900 restaurants, begin to perform well compared to other traditional and co-brand locations, CEO Kevin Bazner said.
“We're starting to see that flip this year as people are moving around more,” he said. Many of the A&W c-store units are in travel plazas.
As the brand emerges from the pandemic, Bazner said it is keeping an eyes on development costs.
“Material cost, particularly lumber, has spiked,” he said. “Indicators today are that that's going to start to temper later in the summer as a supply catches up with demand.”
Neville Craw has been developing menu items at Arby’s for the past 17 years, including some of the quick-service segment’s only lamb items — the chain’s gyros — and certain extreme limited-time offers, including sandwiches of venison and duck that were offered at just a few restaurants until they sold out, which sometimes happened in as little as 15 minutes. Although largely marketing stunts, it turns out that using sous-vide cooking on those items helped with the development of the chicken wraps that the chain launched last year. In this podcast, Craw, Arby’s vice president and brand executive chef, discusses his sous-vide journey, the intricacies of finding the right salt to put on the chain’s new crinkle-cut fries, rolling out smoked brisket, and the new opportunities he has to work with the chefs at Arby’s sister chains within Inspire Brands — Buffalo Wild Wings, Rusty Taco, Sonic Drive-In, Jimmy John’s and Dunkin’.
Fazoli’s experienced its most successful quarter in the beginning of 2021, breaking over 200 weekly sales records. CEO Carl Howard credits the financial success to the team at the fast-casual brand.
The Lexington, Ky.-based brand saw March sales rise 85% over 2020 and 34% over March 2019. The brand is also expanding unit counts with 11 area development agreements signed in Q1 to add 36 additional locations to the pipeline.
On the menu front, Fazoli’s has continued to innovate, and part of that was a virtual brand.
The chain’s first virtual brand, Wingville, was in the works before the pandemic began, Howard explained, but the newer brands (ghost kitchens with fast-casual chain Wow Bao and Macaroniville) are a direct result of the pandemic.
Macaroniville is the newest virtual brand coming out of Fazoli’s. It’s rolled out in three of the highest delivery-volume stores in the Midwest for testing before a national rollout. Menu items include lobster mac and cheese, Buffalo mac and cheese (in various flavors of Buffalo using virtual wing sauces) and more.
The startup cost is under $500.
Howard believes virtual brands will help Fazoli’s footprint grow exponentially after a year of extreme growth for their low-cost footprints.
Listen to the podcast to hear more about how Fazoli’s achieved pandemic success from CEO Carl Howard.
From smaller footprints to cheaper real estate opportunities the president of 14-unit Mesa, Ariz.-based Angry Crab Shack reflects on pandemic-era restaurant design
Rob McColgan, CEO of Modern Restaurant Concepts, discusses how the recent joining of the two brands helped them stay open and prepare for franchising and possible acquisitions over the next few years.
The Habit Burger Grill is the latest addition to the Yum Brands family, but its arrival as a new sister concept to KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell came at an inopportune moment: The deal was closed last March, just as restaurants across the country were shutting down in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. The integration of The Habit into the rest of the company understandably took a backseat to the group’s immediate needs, as did fun projects like new product development. In this podcast, The Habit’s chief branding officer, Iwona Alter, shares how the chain, which now has close to 300 locations, adjusted its promotional schedule of new items while still keeping the research & development process moving forward with items like the Chicken Caprese on Grilled Ciabatta and — its biggest rollout during the pandemic — new fried chicken items, including a sandwich, of course, with extra ridges of crunchy batter called “cridges.” She also discusses the appeal of the new patty melt and hints at menu development we can expect to see from The Habit in the near future.
Smashburger president Carl Bachmann discusses the company’s new store designs, including smart cubbies for food pickup and virtual drive-thrus.
Del Taco president and CEO John D. Cappasola Jr. breaks down their latest earnings, including menu innovation and franchisee success.
Hooters began the rollout of its Hoots Wings fast-casual brand well before the pandemic, but a virtual version of the concept has been the brand’s saving grace throughout the past year.
As CEO of the Atlanta-based Hooters of America Restaurant Group, Sal Melilli told Nation’s Restaurant News, “When people think of Hooters, they think of Hooters girls and wings.” So, when customers could no longer visit the restaurants, the brand experience became exclusively about the wings.
Wings were a big-seller during the COVID-19 pandemic with brands known for wings, such as Wingstop Inc., seeing sales increases, and others, including casual-dining concepts, creating virtual wing brands to boost business.
Wings became a pandemic advantage for Hooters, which relied on big in-person experiences like the Super Bowl or March Madness for some of its best sales days
But there’s still the matter of the other part of Hooters, “Hooter’s girls.”
Melilli has been on a mission to focus the brand on its people since he was named CEO in 2020. Part of that was addressing the women who work at the chain. In the past few years, the “breastaurant” chain has weathered the #MeToo movement and a rise in sexual harassment of servers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
He said Hooters maintains a no-tolerance policy for any harassment, sexual or otherwise, coming from guests or employees to one another.
In this episode, Melilli explains how Hoot’s Wings has expanded during the pandemic, the future of franchising and how he, as CEO, has put people at the center of the company.
A breakfast burrito is not like a pancake. That’s an obvious statement, but it’s especially true if you’re trying to introduce it to a chain of more than 1,700 restaurants across the country, like IHOP did in January. Pancakes, and other breakfast staples like bacon, sausage and eggs, are supposed to taste the same with each bite. There’s comfort and reassurance in that consistency. Burritos, on the other hand, are supposed to be a little bit of an adventure, and a little different in every bite, according to Scott Randolph, IHOP’s vice president of culinary, who started developing the new menu line with his team before the pandemic hit. How spicy is this bite going to be? How much egg is going to be in it? How much rice? Why is there rice in this burrito but no beans? Is that chicken in a breakfast burrito? In this podcast, Randolph discusses the challenges and fun of developing the family-dining chain’s line of burritos and bowls, as well as the regional variations that he explored to create items that are operationally feasible as well as delicious for customers.
&Pizza has long been ahead of the curve on technology, but in 2020, the fast-casual chain made sure it was ahead of its competitors in terms of diversity, inclusion and political activism. The pizza chain -- helmed by founder and CEO Michael Lastoria -- held nothing back in 2020.
We named Lastoria to our 2021 Power List for steps the brand took in 2020 to rise above the pack, including their advocacy for a $15-per-hour minimum wage, diversity and inclusion, and political activism, from serving pizzas to voters waiting in line to closing shops on Election Day to allow employees the time to vote.
As part of our 2021 Power List, the chosen executives were asked to choose someone at their company who was the future and showed leadership. Lastoria chose &pizza’s youngest store manager, 20-year-old Dejah Foxx.
The following conversation between Lastoria and Foxx showcases the immense talent pool at &pizza and how investing in young employees is the future for foodservice companies.
Paul Griffin started out as a fine-dining chef, working his way through trendy restaurants with world-class chefs. But when he was working at a hip gastropub in Delray Beach, Fla., it seemed that all his customers wanted was his $20 all-natural burgers. “We were kind of shocked by the product mix,” he said. If customers weren’t interested in the lobster nachos and duck and other fun items and just wanted burgers, why not just make them? And so BurgerFi was born, serving all-natural beef and other items with clean labels. Griffin helped start the chain, where he holds the title of chief culinary officer, which has grown to around 120 units and just celebrated its 10th anniversary with a shake limited-time offer. His job changed from developing new menu items at the gastropub to training crew as new restaurants opened and handling a supply chain that has grown to $40 million worth of food & beverage annually. In this podcast he discusses how that supply chain was challenged over the past year – it turns out that buying all-natural beef shielded him from some of the supply-chain disruptions many other burger chains faced — some of the LTOs he has developed over the years, and how he and his team are adapting to drive-thrus, ghost kitchens and other necessities of the current age.
Gearhart also touches on the challenges of creating a hybrid virtual-in-person event for the WFF leadership conference in March
Many restaurants have recently found new ways to pack up their food and get it to people’s homes safely as the need for delivery has become even more important during the pandemic. Others have tested out meal kits with food that requires some preparation at home. To Carron Harris, this is all old hat. Harris is senior director for culinary and corporate chef of Papa Murphy’s International, which might be the original meal kit concept. The take-and-bake chain based in Vancouver, Wash., assembles pizza to order and then customers pick it up, or have it delivered, and then bake it themselves. That means that, unlike many research & development chefs, Harris doesn’t need a lot of specialized kitchen equipment and is in fact better off with a standard homestyle oven. It also means that her team has deep knowledge about what travels well and what doesn’t, and how to guarantee that dough, cheese and toppings can wilt in a Phoenix car trunk in the summer or freeze solid during a frigid Montana winter afternoon and still bake up into a nice meal. Harris has been working in foodservice for 39 years. Prior to joining Papa Murphy’s in 2009, she’d spent nearly 15 years at casual-dining Italian chain Bucca di Beppo. In this podcast, Harris discusses this process, and how her R&D has changed over the past year.
Famous Dave’s Barbecue, the Minnetonka, Minn.-based, 127-unit barbecue chain, was beginning to shift its focus to off-premise operations long before the pandemic began, and pre-COVID, half of their sales were from off-premise options. But since March, the barbecue chain has turned up the dial on their digital offerings by developing their first ghost kitchens and virtual concepts and introducing dual brands.
In this episode of Extra Serving, Famous Dave’s CEO Jeff Crivello explained how this works. The ghost kitchens are operated out of a shared commissary space without the Famous Dave’s name attached to them, and if those do well, then they are graduated to dual concepts with Famous Dave’s operating alongside an outside concept. They’re also trying their hand at new virtual brands like a chicken wing concept, Hayward’s Han House, which also serves chicken strips and burgers.
“The name of the game throughout the pandemic has been efficiency,” Crivello said. “[…] Food on demand is really the evolution that's happening quickly through the pandemic. People want food wherever they are, whenever they want it. Some people don't mind picking it up. But when they pick it up, they want it to be very simple and seamless, and contactless.”
Crivello explained that while they focus on smaller footprints with designated pickup areas and an expanded digital presence, the next step will be drive-thrus, which they’re currently designing.
Keep listening below for more intel on Famous Dave’s Barbecue from CEO Jeff Crivello.
Fish City Grill’s idea for a virtual kitchen rose through a franchisee in Florida and now is expanding to more units of the casual-dining brand.
Dallas-based Fish City, which has 18 units under that brand and two under the Half Shells, is bringing the second Sarah’s Hot Chicken virtual brand online in Plano, Texas, according to Bill Bayne, co-founder and president of the company.
“After COVID hit, our franchisee in Lakeland, Fla. — a gentleman named Brian Edwards — and Sarah Ceretto, his operating partner and general manager, came up with the idea of doing a virtual kitchen out of their store,” Bayne explained in an interview.
The neighborhood seafood joint is in its 25th year and operators were trying to figure out how to get more sales in the pandemic, he said.
While original discussions centered on extending the seafood brand, Bayne explained, the Lakeland team and corporate decided that might be confusing for the customer.
The franchise-corporate team decided on Nashville hot chicken, which is popular, and it complemented the menu that has its flag planted in seafood, he said, attracting customers that may have shied away from the fish-based offerings.
New York City-based Just Salad has long been a leader in sustainability amongst restaurant chains, but its latest packaging development puts it even further ahead of competitors. The fast-casual salad chain unveiled meal kits – named Housemade – in January. The kits are made from almost entirely recyclable packaging.
The perfector of the chain’s queso and creator of its cilantro lime cauliflower rice reflects on the past year of work.
The quick-service brand saw record sales in 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic and Lynch explains how they achieved that fete on this week’s episode of Extra Serving.
Following the announcement on Tuesday of SaladWorks’ acquisition of fast-casual brands Garbanzo Mediterranean Fresh and Frutta Bowls, Nation’s Restaurant News sat down with Kelly Roddy, CEO of SaladWorks to discuss the acquisition of the smaller brands.
Roddy discussed how when they decided to acquire both brands — Frutta Bowls before the pandemic, and Garbanzo after it began — it was very important to them to stay within the “DNA” of their health and wellness-focused food brand:
“It's tempting to go after those segments that have been hot during the pandemic,” Roddy said, discussing how other companies have snapped up chicken and pizza brands. “But we believe customers are definitely going to be looking for products that are good for you and that food is fuel for your body. And if your brand isn't aligned with that, then that's not a brand that we were looking to bring into the portfolio.”
So what’s next for the newly formed restaurant company, Woworks if they’re not looking to acquire brands known for indulgent foods? Look for more expansion of Garbanzo and Frutta Bowls in new markets, as well as new SaladWorks locations too:
“We're definitely very focused on non-traditional locations [for Garbanzo and Frutta Bowls],” Roddy said. “We’re looking at digital-based units, so a lot of ghost kitchens, food halls, etc. There’s a huge opportunity to get the brand out much quicker through some of these more non-traditional venues.”
When John Fuller was named president and CEO of casual-dining chain Wahlburgers over the summer, he knew what he was getting into and had some big plans for the Boston-based brand, which has a TV following.
Fuller, formerly the CEO of The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf and Johnny Rockets, had experience mostly in what he calls “transactional” meals, a direction he says he can’t imagine Wahlburger’s going at this moment. But, Fuller’s experience with growth was one of the reasons he was hired for this role, which sat vacant for almost a year following the promotion of Patrick Renna to president of Wahlburgers Holding Co. LLC.
“When I started, I thought oh [Wahlburgers] must have 300 or 400 units and was shocked when I saw there were only 50,” Fuller says in the podcast. He knew that with the name recognition the brand held, there was extreme growth potential. Wahlburgers expects to have over 80 units by the end of 2021. When Fuller started, there were 37 units.
In this episode, Fuller discusses why he can’t see drive-thrus as a viable option at this point and the daily collaboration with the Wahlburger brothers on everything from menu development to in-house marketing.
Teriyaki Madness CEO Michael Haith on how pairing franchisees with their own in-house Restaurant Sherpas changed the way they do business.
For years, Piada Italian Street Food has operated a handful of stores with pick up windows, a feature that has turned out to be serendipitous during the prolonged pandemic. “It's proven invaluable,” said Matt Harding, senior vice president of culinary and menu Innovation at Piada. Roughly seven of the brand’s 38 restaurants have pickup windows. This month, the Columbus, Ohio-based chain is adding a new level of convenience for customers with the opening a restaurant with a drive-thru lane. But unlike other fast-casual restaurants like Chipotle Mexican Grill and Shake Shack who are experimenting with drive-thru lanes designed for mobile pick-up orders, Piada is sticking to the old-school approach.
During the COVID-19-era of dining, when reusable menus are a thing of the past and individually wrapped plastic utensils have become more common, talks of sustainability have stalled. But despite the challenges, BurgerFi is still committed to being a leader in the green space. The Palm Beach, Fla.-based 120+-unit, fast-casual burger chain already uses recycled Coke bottles as materials for their dining room chairs and their walls are made from renewable natural wood.
“When we started that first BurgerFi restaurant, the whole premise of constructing the restaurant was to create an environment centered around sustainability,” BurgerFi president Charlie Guzzetta told Nation’s Restaurant News on the latest episode of Extra Serving. “Our DNA built inside the brand was all around sustainability, eco-friendly, and fresh, clean, transparent and organic foods.”
On this episode of Extra Serving, Guzzetta discusses the company’s history of commitment to sustainability and what they’re doing now, even in the midst of the pandemic, including installing energy efficient fans, energy efficient Eddison bulbs, and patio furniture made of recycled water bottles and milk jugs. The company is also looking for ways to combat food waste, including recycling their used cooking oil into diesel fuel.
Listen below for more COVID-era sustainability initiatives from BurgerFi.
Thanksgiving is the family-dining chain’s busiest time of year, and the VP of menu development has new things in store.
The last time I talked to Michelle Bythewood, president of Houston-based Salata Salad Kitchen, we were attending a technology conference in Austin, Texas.
That was about 13 months ago, but we both agreed it feels much longer than that. During that time, Houston-based Salata was escalating its digital strategy that included finding the right partners to executive delivery without hurting profits.
It was no easy task. But having made that investment upfront put Salata in a much better position when COVID-19 forced restaurants to rely solely on off-premise ordering channels at the onset of the crisis.
“It's really kept us alive during all of this,” Bythewood said during our latest Extra Serving podcast.
During our chat, she talks about the 15-year-old brand’s winning digital strategies, future growth for the near 90-unit chain and how stores are adapting designs to meet on-demand consumer behaviors accelerated by the pandemic.
Hint: It involves drive-thru lanes.
Eggs Up Grill, a breakfast-lunch concept, is slowly adding in adult beverages and tailoring its menu as it continues to expand in the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Ricky Richardson, CEO of the brand.
Spartanburg, S.C.-based Eggs Up Grill has 43 units in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina. It plans to have nine new unit open by the end of this year and the company expects to enter Georgia next year and has plans for Alabama and Tennessee.
Richardson joined the company in July 2018 after it had been purchased by the Spartanburg-based WJ Partners private-equity firm.
Average unit volumes for the brand were just under $1 million before the pandemic, Richardson said, and the brand is 100% franchised generally in shopping areas anchored by supermarkets.
“We consider ourselves in the ‘better breakfast category,’” Richardson said, emphasizing that the brand has approachable ingredients.
In late February, before the pandemic was declared, a franchisee in Columbia, S.C., proposed adding mimosas to the menu. That started March 4 and will be expanding to eight units soon. By November, Eggs Up Grill expects to have adult beverages in about 30 of its 43 units by the end of November, Richardson said.
Those adult beverages make up between 4% to 8% of sales in the seven units, he added, and the brand expects them to make up an average 5% when fully rolled out.
Being an entirely franchised brand has been a challenge in the COVID-19 era, Richardson said, “communication has been absolutely critical.”
Outside of the pizza and chicken wings sector, Del Taco is among a few publicly traded chains that has logged positive same-store sales during the pandemic. Del Taco saw a 4.1% increase in its latest quarterly comps, a boost primarily driven by the brand’s drive-thru and delivery operations. Chains with strong off-premise channels have been well positioned during the pandemic. But most are still posting negative comps. So, what’s the secret to Del Taco’s faster COVID-19 recovery? Chief Marketing Officer Tim Hackbardt, who started just before the pandemic hit, explains the secret to Del Taco’s success during NRN’s latest Extra Serving podcast. He also reveals Del Taco’s latest menu move, a collaboration with Cholula Hot Sauce. How will Del Taco take advantage of the fastest growing hot sauce in America? Listen to our latest podcast to find out.
Roy Rogers, originally founded in 1968, at one point had over 600 locations nationwide. The brand now has 49 units across the U.S., but co-owner Jim Plamondon says the smaller unit size is an advantage.
Plamondon co-owns the restaurant with his brother, Pete Plamondon Jr.; their father, Pete Plamondon Sr., was one of the original Roy Rogers franchisees. Twenty years ago, Pete Sr. sold his franchises to his two sons who, in turn, bought the entire company and franchising rights after company units had been drastically reduced.
Plamondon is familiar with crisis at Frederick, Md.-based Roy Rogers, and tackling the pandemic head-on was the brand’s only choice. This included revolutionizing its toppings bar, one of the pillars of the brand, and relying on drive-thru more than ever before.
New menu items, an expansion of delivery partners, a reliance on team and a supportive customer base led Roy Rogers to see positive same-store-sales increases over the past four months and, eventually, massive growth.
Roy Rogers has continued to expand during the pandemic, and Plamondon isn’t ruling out becoming a 600-unit operation again.
A Red Robin Gourmet Burgers with Donatos pizza on the menu typically outperform other restaurants, recording higher sales.
That’s good news for Red Robin, whose turnaround plan called for adding Donatos’ iconic edge-to-edge topping pizzas at up to 425 restaurants by 2022.
The partnership started off with a bang in early January but briefly paused during the pandemic. Now, Red Robin will soon be adding Donatos to 31 restaurants in Seattle and Tacoma, Wash. That would bring the total to about 80 Red Robin restaurants by the end of October.
But what does Donatos, which sports about 165 traditional locations, get from this new partnership? Tom Krouse, chief executive of Donatos, tells the Extra Serving podcast exactly what the partnership is doing for the Columbus, Ohio-based chain.
And, his answer might surprise you.
“The Red Robin experience taught us that we can operate and produce a tremendous amount of product in a very small space,” Krouse said. Does that mean a ghost kitchen operation is in their future? Tune in to our podcast to find out. Krouse will talk about the company’s strategic partnership with Red Robin, as well as the brand’s challenges with hiring delivery drivers, gains made in the pizza space, and new growth – both virtual and brick and mortar.
Listen to our Podcast.
Focus Brands is trying to bring more collaboration to their seven brands as part of a consumer engagement strategy. On September 3, the company announced the unification of their seven brands into two groups: specialty brands (including the “mall” brands like Auntie Anne’s, Jamba, Cinnabon and Carvel) and restaurant brands (including the company’s sandwich and fast-casual brands, McAlister’s Deli, Moe’s Southwest Grill, Schlotzsky’s), along with new presidents for both groups.
But that isn’t the only strategy Focus is implementing to organize and cross-promote their brands. Chief commercial officer Dan Gertsacov sees plenty of opportunity to have these seven brands collaborate and play off of each other, like the newly announced “Mix it Up” Focus Brands gift cards which can be cashed in at any of the seven brands.
There are plenty of other ways that the focus Brands have been working together more often recently.
“We have some Cinnabons operating within a Scholotzsy’s and we have also worked with some of our storefronts like Jamba would be partnering with Auntie Anne’s and Cinnabon,” Gertsacov said. “We find that these cross-brand or tri-brand concepts are great not only for college campuses but also for off-premise when people want to have multiple things they can order from.”
From a franchisee perspective, having multiple brands in one storefront is beneficial too.
Learn more about Focus Brands collaboration in the podcast below.
Charles Watson began as CEO of Tropical Smoothie Cafe in January 2019, and the world has changed wildly in his first year and a half. One thing remains the same: Tropical Smoothie Cafe is gunning to become a household name, with or without a pandemic.
“We make no bones about the fact that we are trying to be a household name,” said Watson.
The Atlanta-based healthful smoothie concept is certainly on the way, having increased comp sales by 25.5% in July – while other brands saw sales drop – and opening new units throughout the pandemic.
That is largely due to having a robust pipeline of franchisees, and being specific about locations. Don’t expect to see a unit on every corner just yet; that doesn’t fit in with Watson’s goals for the next 5 to 10 years.
Right now, he’s focused on what he calls “hospitology,” hospitality enabled by technology at all 850 units.
The brand maintains a mix between hospitality and technology by focusing on contactless transactions, delivery, leaning into digital and mobile channels and point-of-sale improvements while also maintaining a warm environment, something Watson says is often lost in the automation of restaurants, especially during COVID.
Without safety and sanitation, “you have nothing,” according to Watson.
Listen to the full episode and be sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
There have been many stories about the breakfast segment’s decline during COVID-19. Traditional breakfast-segment leaders from Starbucks to Dunkin’ to McDonald’s have seen downturns in sales, but family-dining chain First Watch wants the industry to know there’s more to the story.
“There are two narratives here and I wish people would show our side,” said Chris Tomasso, CEO of First Watch.
The University Park, Fla.-based chain is suburban-heavy in its franchise locations, giving it an advantage over quick-service chains that customers normally frequent on their morning commute or in major cities with public transportation, reasoned Tomasso.
Plus, Tomasso stressed that First Watch is an all-day restaurant chain, and one of the fastest growing, according to Nation’s Restaurant News’ Top 200 data.
The brand has seen steady sales, and 18 new units open, since the pandemic hit the U.S. in March of this year. That can be attributed to loyal customers and an investment in technology said Tomasso.
Before the pandemic, customers had to order for curbside pickup via the restaurant phone. The brand was in the process of rolling out the mobile app for months, but it just so happened to coincide with a virus that forced everyone to rely on technology which was already a leg up over prior business at First Watch.
First Watch grew its off-premise sales by 500%, but the main source of revenue was and still is dine-in. Around 70% of First Watch’s business remains dine-in revenue to this day.
Listen to our conversation and learn why Tomasso thinks First Watch will survive and continue to grow.
Nation's Restaurant News, the leading source for the b2b food and restaurant industry, has its own podcast. Now, with over a year of backlogged episodes, you can listen to CEO interviews, conversations with leaders in the industry and advice for restaurant leaders from the ones who make it happen all helmed by NRN's accomplished team of journalists. Stay tuned for new episodes every Friday.
Sweetgreen was founded by a group of Georgetown University students looking for food options that didn’t have to sacrifice quality, health, taste or convenience. Co-founder and Chief Concept Officer Nicolas Jammet said he and his friends wanted a restaurant that fit into their lifestyle – and one that also evolve right alongside them. The first 560-square foot Sweetgreen opened 13 years ago on the Georgetown campus in a former burger shack. Now at 110 units, the elevated bowl and salad brand has been evolving ever since. “Along our whole, 13-year journey we've really tried to reimagine the whole experience in getting food and trying to remove a lot of the friction that existed and make it more convenient,” Jammet said in our latest Extra Serving podcast. That journey has involved building different formats, finding new ways to bring Sweetgreen to customers via its Outpost program and testing the emerging ghost kitchen space. But over the last few months -- Sweetgreen is evolving faster than even the founders had ever imagined due to the coronavirus pandemic. While other chains have trimmed their menu during the crisis, Sweetgreen broadened its food selection. The Culver City, Calif.-based company accelerated the rollout of an entire new category, Plates, on its menu to meet the demand for heartier, dinner meals during the pandemic. These dishes, which feature center of the plate entrees like roasted steelhead trout and chicken chimichurri, landed on the menu in April -- the peak of stay at home orders across the country. “It's really pushed us to stretch how fast we thought about broadening our menu,”Jammet said. What other pandemic-fueled changes did the brand make? Jammet tells us how Sweetgreen transitioned its office-centric Outpost program, what future restaurants might look in a post-pandemic world, and the role ghost kitchens might play in the chain’s future. Listen to our podcast.
Bloomin’ Brand Inc. during the height of coronavirus lockdowns and restrictions made the decision to maintain its payrolls and not furlough or lay off workers amid the numerous lockdowns.
David Deno, CEO of Tampa, Fla.-based Bloomin’ Brands, said the decision paid off in helping sales normalize when restaurant dining rooms were allowed to open some of their dining rooms.
“When this first happened in mid-March, we wanted to do two things. One, we wanted to take care of our employees. And two, we wanted to serve great food in a safe environment — either in the restaurant or in peoples’ homes.”
Because of state and local coronavirus restrictions, that soon became exclusively off-premise Bloomin’s brands, which include Outback Steakhouse, Carrabba’s Italian Grill, Bonefish Grill, Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar and the newer stand-alone, drive-thru Aussie Grill by Outback.
“We knew that if we could retain our people and pay them, even if they weren’t working, and not let them go, it would improve employee engagement [and] that would enable us to bring people back right away when the restaurants reopened,” Deno said. “We wouldn’t have to recruit people. And we wouldn’t have to train people. That is exactly what happened.”
Before the coronavirus pandemic swept the nation, the CEO of Jersey Mike’s Subs announced plans to spend $150 million to help franchisees remodel their restaurants -- the first major makeover of stores in a decade.
The company’s mission is to make a difference in someone's life. And, CEO Peter Cancro thought it was only right to “pay for all the retrofits” to help franchisees with the cost of remodels, which average about $75,000 per store.
Some stores in Southern California were among the first units to get refreshed before the pandemic forced restaurants to close dining rooms in March.
Many brands, at the onset of the crisis, put remodeling on pause.
But not Jersey Mike’s.
“We just kept going,” Cancro said during NRN’s latest Extra Serving podcast. “We're doing about 30 [store remodels] a week now.”
During the podcast, Cancro discusses why he kept construction going and how the quick service chain is helping franchisees during one of the worst economic downturns to hit the restaurant industry.
Learn more by listening to our latest Extra Serving podcast.
Competition among third-party delivery companies is growing stronger by the day. Grubhub was recently gobbled up by Just Eat Takeaway from the Netherlands. Uber Technologies, snubbed by Grubhub, is instead buying Postmates. What does that mean for the No. 1 delivery player in the U.S., DoorDash? “I think it's exciting times in the delivery space,” Tom Pickett, DoorDash’s new Chief Revenue Officer, told Nation’s Restaurant News during the latest edition of the Extra Serving podcast. “What you've seen over the last month or so have really validated that [delivery] is a big and growing important part of the restaurant business going forward,” he said shortly after those business mergers were announced. Pickett started in late March just as dine-in closures began sweeping the nation to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. https://www.nrn.com/delivery-takeout-solutions/doordashs-new-chief-revenue-officer-tom-pickett-will-work-directly The former YouTube executive oversees DoorDash’s effort to innovate on ways to better serve restaurants. Once dine-in was halted, his mission quickly turned into producing several relief programs aimed at helping restaurant partners, especially hard-hit independents. Over the last few months, Pickett said DoorDash has helped restaurants save over $120 million dollars with part of that savings coming from “commission reductions” for some partners. During our conversation, Pickett addressed the controversy over third-party delivery fees and how restaurants are starting to use premium pricing to counter the high costs. He also addressed the rise of temporary commission caps imposed by cities trying to reduce the economic strain restaurants are enduring amid the COVID-19 crisis. “We just don't think that arbitrary caps are the right way to go,” Pickett said. Listen to our podcast to learn more about DoorDash’s plan to remain the No. 1 delivery player in the U.S. (Editor’s note: This podcast was taped prior to news that DoorDash had mistakenly overcharged a handful of San Francisco restaurants the wrong commission fee. You can read that story at Restaurant Hospitality.)
FAT Brands — the Beverly Hills, Calif.-based global franchising company known for its flagship brand, Fat Burger, along with five other brands — has fared relatively well in pivoting to off-premise during the COVID-19 lockdowns.
But some of the biggest challenges for their company, CEO Andy Wiederhorn tells us, are in creating different strategies for their wide range of brands. Panderosa Steakhouse features buffet-style dining that turned into cafeteria-style, with employees instead of guests serving the food. For Fat Burger, to-go sales rose from 40% to almost 70% over the past few months as the company pivoted to off-premise.
Now, as dining rooms begin to reopen, FAT Brands casual-dining brands are performing better than many of their industry counterparts. That relative success, Wiederhorn said, has many causes:
“We’re fortunate that the design of our casual dining restaurants incorporated outdoor features and some of the menu items are grab and go items like chicken wings and you don’t need a lot of attended service,” Wiederhorn said. “I also think the alcohol component is real. People want a break and want to get out, sit outside and they can have finger food themselves that’s not being passed around by other people. And we’re right now at least 25% alcohol [sales] right now.”
In our podcast, Wiederhorn continues to discuss the added challenges of reopening in states where the number of COVID-19 cases is going back up, as well as how he aided franchisees during the nation’s time of political unrest in June.
When the governor of California ordered indoor dining to stop in 19 counties, Chris Simms’ mobile phone began buzzing like crazy. The founder and CEO of Lazy Dog Restaurant & Bar said the rollback, tied to a spike in coronavirus cases in those counties, impacts 21 of his casual dining restaurants in California – the brand’s home turf. Simms said he and his team have learned how to be nimble during the coronavirus pandemic so adjusting to the July 1 order is no different. “Unfortunately, you know, we can pivot a little faster when shutting down a dining room, but it’s still not ideal,” he said during the latest NRN Extra Serving podcast. Since launching the first Lazy Dog restaurant in 2003 in Southern California, Simms has grown the brand to 39 restaurants in seven states. The casual dining chain is among the Top 10 fastest growing chains in America, in both sales and units, according to NRN’s 2020 Top 200 census. Despite the crisis, Lazy Dog still has plans to grow. Some markets are on pause, but the chain recently opened its second restaurant in Northern Virginia. In our podcast, Simms talks about the challenges of launching a new location during a pandemic, the controversy over mask wearing in restaurants, how the company deals with different reopening rules in each state, and how he manages to sustain the business with occupancy caps.
Dennis Pfaff, chief operating officer for FIC Restaurants Inc., parent to the full-service Friendly’s chain, and Gillian Begin, its brand and research manager, spoke with Nation’s Restaurant News about the Wilbraham, Mass.-based system’s makeover of its kids’ offerings and the investigations that led to it, including playful interrogations of summer campers.
Also touched on along the way: the impetus for the changes, marketing moves supporting them, kid-centric server training, early guest responses and initial business results, including those around delivery.
Kids and families are important business for restaurants, as they not only bring higher numbers to any order, but also present an opportunity for brands to resonate with the little ones in ways that can translate into traffic-building loyalty.
This podcast was originally recorded just days before the nationwide closure of restaurant dining rooms by governmental jurisdictions looking to slow the spread of novel coronavirus. NRN decided to hold its release until dining rooms began to reopen and operators would welcome ideas and examples of how to appeal to and serve children and their families both on-premise and, with some adaptation, off-premise.
Field Failing founded Field’s Good Kitchen in 2014 as a way to provide healthy and filling food at the speed of a quick-service restaurant. An athlete himself, he wanted to ensure the meal had oritein and nutrition at a reasonable price.
As the brand expanded to its current six units across the New York metropolitan area, business shifted. Many locations were in office hubs in Manhattan, benefitting from the lunch rush and catering of large gatherings at the many high-rises dotting the skyline.
Coronavirus hit that booming business and halted Field’s Good Chicken in its tracks. The emerging brand was forced to close all locations and it’s growing catering business, but that didn’t stop the team from thinking.
“At the end of the day, people need to eat, and the population in the United States is growing. So, I think it’s safe to say there will be growth in the restaurant space over the next 2-3 years…restaurants will grow, and the show will go on,” said Failing.
Beginning with family packs (Failing and his wife actually had their second child in the early weeks of the pandemic), the business soon pivoted to selling whole chickens with sides in the style of supermarkets to feed the entire family.
And while rent on six NYC restaurants is a lot, it doesn’t seem like it will be the case for much longer as Fields is looking to expand into ghost kitchens.
But the pandemic has brought out a side of the industry that he’s grateful for. “It’s been cool to see the heart and the soul of the industry come out. It’s a gritty, gutsy industry and it’s a gritty, gutsy group of people, which is part of why I fell in love with it in the first place, and it is definitely showing that right now,” said Failing.
Listen to how this emerging chain in a large market has managed to survive and develop plans for the future all while staying optimistic about the industry.
Brinker International Inc., parent to Chili’s Grill & Bar and Maggiano’s, prepared itself long and well to begin reopening dining rooms after two months of coronavirus restrictions, according to Rick Badgley, the company’s chief people and administrative officer.
The Dallas-based casual-dining company has been adding capacity for dine-in guests as restrictions ease across the nation, and Badgley said it has gone well.
“From a systems perspective – and credit to the team that has done this – it has been almost seamless,” Badgley said in this Extra Serving podcast.
The reopening was based on crisis team planning that had begun in the month before COVID-19 was declared a pandemic in March.
“We started our crisis calls in February,” Badgley said. “We had a team that met two times a day, both at 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., seven days a week, trying to understand and anticipate the unknown.”
As Chili’s and Maggiano’s began to prepare for reopening dining rooms, Badgley said that crisis team transitioned into preparing for dine-in guests after relying on off-premise sales for two months. But that pivot to curbside and delivery, worked well, he said.
“We had a new mantra: The parking lot was the new dining room and safety was the new hospitality,” Badgley said.
“It helped us build new muscles,” he said. ”We were already good at off-premise, to-go, delivery, etc., but we really fine-tuned that model.”
In this podcast, Badgley explains Brinker is working to keep its team members safe as dining rooms open and also how the company supported them with mental health services during the lockdown.
The company offered all workers and their household family members free, unlimited and confidential consultations with its employee assistant program, Magellan, which included digital resources such as self-care smartphone apps to improve wellness habits and online programs to help with emotional well-being including depression or anxiety.
Prior to the COVID-19 crisis, Southern California-based casual dining company Xperience Restaurant Group was among several casual dining companies on an upward movement. The Cypress, Calif.-based company, which owns some of the most popular Mexican casual dining brands in California including Chevys Fresh Mex and El Torito, was remodeling restaurants and had just purchased two upscale brands, Sol Cocina and Solita Tacos & Margaritas. A handful of the company’s 64 restaurants have started to open dining rooms in Florida and California. The capital investments the company made in each brand prior to COVID-19 is helping Xperience as it enters the reopening phase. Still reopening is challenging. In Xperience’s home state, the guidelines are both tough and flexible, CEO Randy Sharpe said during our latest NRN Extra Serving podcast. The company’s brands are known for tableside guacamole preparation and Sunday buffet breakfast. Bit most states, including California, want restaurants to discontinue such practices. “That [tableside prep] will pose a little bit of a challenge,” Sharpe said. California is also not letting restaurants open their bars, another challenge for Xperience whose tequila bars and lounges are popular with happy hour crowds. But workarounds are part of reopening, and Xperience is ready to adapt and serve guests safely as restaurants are allowed to reopen for dine-in service. Sharpe discusses Xperience’s playbook in our podcast. Listen to our conversation.
Over the past couple of months during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, while many pizza chains were seeing the benefit of their delivery-focused business, Boston Pizza — the Canada-based pizzeria/sports restaurant with 21 locations in 15 states across the U.S. — struggled and had to close nearly half of their locations.
“We have gourmet pizza and it’s not the most inexpensive pizza, so we’re faring more like typical casual dining restaurant than some of the pizza delivery companies that have been wining in this situation,” Boston Pizza president Jeff Melnick said.
For the Boston Pizza restaurants that stayed open, the company implemented operational changes across their franchise system in order to transition to a temporary off-premise business model, from scaling down their 80-item menu for delivery to customizing “touchless labels” to ensure customers that their food had been sealed.
But, as Melnick said, as many states are now allowing restaurants to reopen their dining rooms, Boston Pizza is undergoing the process of recovery and slowly opening up their restaurants again. Currently, six Boston Pizza restaurants are available for dine-in and in the weeks that they have been open have seen 75% of their usual sales.
“We’re still seeing positive sales trends,” Melnick said. “ [This is] going to be a challenge but that will be short lived.”
Listen to his story in this week’s episode of our Extra Serving podcast.
From compensating employees’ public transportation costs to paying for their Netflix subscriptions, &pizza does not back down on benefits, and that’s their industry advantage. Listen to the full interview.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Taziki’s Mediterranean Café spent a year beta testing how two types of delivery programs: do it yourself, or third-party. CEO Dan Simpson tested both ways and came to the conclusion that both proved valuable depending on the scenario. But, now the delivery landscape has completely changed under shelter-at-home orders across the U.S. That has forced brands like Taziki’s to re-think their off premise playbook to survive what will certainly be a months long recovery -- where only the most nimble and cash rich restaurants will survive. At Birmingham, Ala.-based Taziki’s, that means expanding third-party operators, who he’s found are easier to negotiate during the pandemic. That wasn’t the case before, and he’ll explain why in our podcast. He’s also seeing a new business model emerge for the fast-casual brand of 93 units: Curbside pickup. Will consumers demand more contactless ordering systems like curbside and delivery as they maintain social distancing practices in a post COVID-19 world? “That's a big crystal ball question,” Simpson said. “The same guests are out there. It's just about meeting them where they are and adjusting our business models to where [if] that means more curbside or more delivery, we can do that.” As we spoke, Simpson and franchisees were preparing to reopen dining rooms at some restaurants in Georgia, Tennessee and South Carolina. Listen to what Simpson has to say on how that new normal might look.
Todd Graves, founder, chairman and CEO of Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers, has faced large-scale crises before the coronavirus pandemic.
The Baton Rouge, La.-based brand weathered the massive impact of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
“At that point, we only had 28 restaurants,” Graves recalled in this Extra Serving podcast. “Twenty-one of them went down because of the storm. You can imagine the cash-flow crisis. Customers literally fled from the cities.”
Fifteen years later, as a much larger restaurant company, Raising Cane’s is weathering COVID-19 crisis. At around 500 units, only 40 closed under state and city restrictions to stem the spread of the coronavirus.
Sales a few weeks into the coronavirus crisis were down 30%, he said, but those have clawed back to down 5% now. Most Raising Cane’s units have the benefit of drive-thru service.
“Those are the ones in mall food courts and in-line locations, where there is no business anymore,” Graves said.
The company did not furlough or lay off any employees. To keep busy, some crew members in Baton Rouge began making masks for medical facilities.
“We watched a few YouTube videos and learned how to make own medical masks,” Graves said. “Our teams started out making 20 and now, I think, they are up to 100 a day. … That’s just one small way of helping out.”
Graves, who appears in Hot Schedule videos about every third day for his restaurant teams, said communication and training are crucial during the pandemic.
Raising Cane’s has two major mantras, Graves said. “One, keep our customers and crew members safe as we continue to serve our customers through our drive-thru. And then two is: No crew member left behind. We’re working very hard to keep the crew that we went into this pandemic with the same as the crew we come out with.”
Listen to Graves outline his approach toward leadership and his expectations for how restaurants will emerge from the COVID-19 restrictions in this Extra Serving podcast.
After starting as CEO of Checkers & Rally’s Restaurants in mid-February, Frances Allen quickly began implementing her “first 100 days” plan for the Tampa, Fla.-based quick-service chain. The former leader of Boston Market was in a “listen and learn” mode, getting to know the brand by working at restaurants cooking burgers and traveling around to different markets to meet operators, she said during NRN’s Extra Serving podcast. But by day 11 on the job, she tossed her playbook aside as she saw a crisis in the making. It was Feb. 28, around the same time the Centers for Disease Control had identified the first case of suspected local transmission in the United States.
Kitchen United, the ghost kitchen operator, started with the objective of meeting the changing needs of restaurants and their diners. Of course, they could not have predicted how fast these needs would change. The coronavirus pandemic has sped up consumers’ move to off-premise, but the company, and it’s CEO Jim Collins, are determined to help restaurants meet these needs, now and in the future.
“One of the things we knew about consumer behavior coming into this was that consumers who tried getting food delivered at home, liked it and tended to adopt it and reuse it,” he said on NRN’s podcast Extra Serving.
Now, many consumers must order delivery or takeaway as restaurants across the country have shut down dine-in operations due to social distancing guidelines. He predicts the adoption rate of online ordering and delivery will increase, and it’ll become normal behavior.
But what about right now when restaurants are facing hardships and wondering if they’ll survive? It might not be the right time to overhaul your restaurant concept or join a ghost kitchen facility, but a few small changes can keep a business relevant, said Collins.
He breaks them down like this:
- Refine your menus: Right now, your customers are likely reading your menu on their phone, and your staff might be limited. Cut menu items accordingly.
- Consider family meals: Kitchen United has seen an uptick in sales of larger portions. A hot and ready to serve meal plus a meal kit option for another day is an excellent way to go, said Collins.
- Open your sales channels: This isn’t the time for exclusive partnerships with third-party marketplaces, like Grubhub or DoorDash. Make your restaurant findable.
Above all else, he said: “Don’t give up!”
Hear more from Kitchen United’s Jim Collins on NRN’s Extra Serving Podcast.
Coronavirus has forced many restaurants to move to off-premise. States are changing regulations for restaurants, making them close dine-in operations and pivot to delivery, takeout or drive-thru. This has prompted third-party delivery companies like GrubHub, Postmates, Seamless, DoorDash and UberEats to taking remove delivery fees for consumers, but what does it all mean for restaurants?
Nation’s Restaurant News senior editor Gloria Dawson wrote a comprehensive overview of the third-party delivery marketplaces in the midst of the coronavirus. Which fees are they waiving? Which are they still imposing? What new players have entered the game? We could only cover so much in this week’s podcast, so be sure to read her entire roundup here.
There has long been a debate between third-party delivery services and restaurants over fees, some of which can reach 30%, and earlier in the week, the National Restaurant Association mentioned third-party delivery service fees in its proposed legislation to the White House.
A bright spot was Tock, owned by Nick Kokonas, a co-founder of award-winning Alinea Chicago. Within six days of client Canalis’ request, Tock transformed from a reservation platform to a delivery service, helping fine-dining restaurants that never offered delivery before reach customers on lockdown.
So, what’s really going on with these services in the time of coronavirus? Gloria and I attempt to peel back all the layers and give a clear picture of how it all stands right now.
Coronavirus, or COVID-19, dominated the news cycle this week and its impact on restaurants and foodservice operators is beginning to show. Because of that, Nation’s Restaurant News is dedicating this week’s episode of Extra Serving to the global issue.
Independent restaurants are closing for weeks, large chains are facing the reality that hourly workers will need to be quarantined for 14 days and restaurant cleaning and safety operations need to be altered.
At Nation’s Restaurant News, the coverage has ranged from how restaurants can increase cleanliness to reporting on what chains are doing in response to the pandemic.
This week’s episode of Extra Serving is a special one. We’ve suspended our normal interviews for a week so we could give you all the information we have on the coronavirus.
I spoke with NRN editors Ron Ruggless and Nancy Luna about both the financial and worker impacts of the pandemic. We covered the stock market, paid sick leave and the largest moves from companies in the past week.
After listening to the podcast, read some of our coverage on improving restaurant safety:
• 4 tools to help restaurants combat the effects of coronavirus • How to safely deliver orders to customers with no contact • How to alert customers to health and safety measures across a big chain
Follow the rest of the coronavirus coverage at nrn.com/coronavirus.
From the writers and editors at Nation's Restaurant News, Restaurant Hospitality and Extra Serving comes a new podcast starring senior food and beverage editor Bret Thorn. In this podcast, he will have conversations with restaurant chefs and beverage innovators about leadership, trends and the culinary industry.
The first podcast is a two-part interview with French chef and restauranteur Daniel Boulud, who reflects on his 40 years in America and mentorship. Take a listen and subscribe!
From the writers and editors at Nation's Restaurant News, Restaurant Hospitality and Extra Serving comes a new podcast starring senior food and beverage editor Bret Thorn. In this podcast, he will have conversations with restaurant chefs and beverage innovators about leadership, trends and the culinary industry.
The first podcast is a two-part interview with French chef and restauranteur Daniel Boulud, who reflects on his 40 years in America and mentorship. Take a listen and subscribe!
If you know Sonic Drive-In you probably know the "two guys" commercials. Those guys, Peter Grosz and T.J. Jagodowski, gave their humorous, lightly improvised musings in the brand's advertisements for years. But in the brand's new campaign, the guys are replaced by real people, mostly families, and a heartfelt message about the power of everyday moments in the car. Lori Abou Habib, chief marketing officer at Sonic, lead the brand towards this transition and spoke to NRN's Extra Serving Podcast about the process.
"One of the things that we really attribute a lot of the success of 2019 to was getting to know our guests better than we ever have before through some extensive consumer research," Abou Habib.
"What we've uncovered in the last couple of years is there's an opportunity for us to really connect more with our fans and with prospective fans. And the best way that we landed on doing that was through launching a new advertising campaign, but also just refreshing the visual identity of the brand. It's been at least a decade since we've changed our logo, maybe more. And it was just time to signal to consumers that there was something new going on at Sonic."
Sonic hired real fans and created "authentic" storylines centered around Sonic.To keep the "realness" in a polished professional commercial, took some help from a reality TV production crew, which Sonic hired through the brand's new creative agency, Mother LA.
Hear more from Abou Habib on the process of casting fans, developing authentic storylines and creating a new identity for Sonic.
Fast-casual chain Just Salad started with a reusable bowl program when it opened in 2006. It's now expanded to a host of sustainability initiatives, and this year the company released a sustainability report resembling those produced by national brands.
New York-based Just Salad only has about 40 units. But the growing chain has an outsized positive impact—about a quarter of Just Salad customers use the company's reusable bowls.
Sandra Noonan, chief sustainability officer at Just Salad, is realistic about the motivation for consumers. It's good for the environment, and it's a good deal for customers.
A key part of the program is the incentive—"you get a free topping with every use," Noonan said on NRN's Extra Serving Podcast. "I think that the critical piece to this program is combining loyalty with waste reduction."
Beyond an extra topping, there's also the "emotional boost" one gets from using reusables, said Noonan. It's the opposite of the feeling one gets when discarding single-use products.
"There's a negative emotional tax associated with eating and then throwing away. The joy of eating is undermined by the bad feeling you get from throwing away a piece of plastic," said Noonan.
"Eating and then throwing away should be decoupled, in my opinion," she said.
Hear more from Noonan on why Just Salad goes beyond recycling and composting and how the brand gets employees and customers excited about sustainability.
Patrick Main has been working with Peet’s Coffee for more than 30 years, and he has spent most of that time inventing coffee drinks. Now he is the senior beverage innovator for the chain based in Emeryville, Calif., which operates around 250 coffeehouses in the United States. It would easier for him to say what hasn’t changed about the American coffee scene than what has: When he started, the brew was already ubiquitous, but it was a commodity that came out of a can, not a specialty item with distinctive terroirs and back stories. In this edition of the Extra Serving podcast, Main discusses how our perception of coffee has evolved, and also his own research & development process. He reminisces about the first frozen beverage that he created in the 1990s, and shares details about the development of the fior di Sicilia orange flavor that is at the heart of his holiday coffee offerings for the past couple of years. He also explains the importance of remembering the operational realities of his business: Ensuring that the thousands of baristas who work for the company can maintain consistency. “I don’t want to reinvent what the barista does every time I change a flavor,” he said.
At the start of the year, chef Stephan Pyles closed his fine-dining Flora Street Café and boutique prix-fixe Fauna in Dallas and retired from nearly 40 years of restaurant ownership and operations.
“I am proud to have hosted countless first dates, engagements, birthdays and anniversaries in 24 restaurants over those years,” Pyles said in a Facebook farewell post. “The letters and emails I have received from so many of those folks, thanking me for such special memories, has been emotional and heart-warming.”
Starting with Routh Street Café in Dallas in 1983, Pyles went on to open such restaurants as Baby Routh, Star Canyon, AquaKnox, Samar, Stampede 66 and Stephan Pyles and work with national multi-unit restaurant companies.
Pyles said he would now focus on hospitality consulting, license agreements and leaving culinary tour groups.
In this Extra Serving podcast, Pyles outlines what led to his decision to retire from restaurant operations and how he plans to pursue his passions.
Chief Development Officer Tabassum Zalotrawala talks with Nancy Luna about the brand’s next generation store, which is designed to meet the fast-casual chain’s growing billion-dollar digital business.
This year, in recognition of his influence on the industry, Nation's Restaurant News named Glass to the number one spot on our Power List.
The 2020 Power List focused on food tech and innovation, and Glass was an obvious choice. Since its inception, Olo has transformed and continues to shape restaurants and foodservice.
Firehouse subs, the sandwich chain of more than 1,100 units founded by former firefighters Chris and Robin Sorenson, has a unique approach to preparing its menu items. All of the meats and cheeses are steamed before being topped, dressed and served on sub rolls. The result is warm, succulent sandwiches that have created a far-flung fan base across the country. Heading up menu development for the chain, based in Jacksonville, Fla., is Jay Miller, an industry veteran with more than 30 years’ experience at concepts including Max & Erma’s Restaurants, Fuddruckers, IHOP, Black Angus Steakhouses and Perkins. He has been Firehouse Subs’ director of product development since May of 2017. He recently discussed his development process with Extra Serving, including his take on a Reuben, for which he replaces sauerkraut with a more accessible coleslaw, and also hinted at what we can expect in 2020.
Most New Yorkers are already familiar with Artichoke Basille — famous for their long lines of partygoers that wrap around the block late on Saturday night waiting to buy a slice of their namesake one-and-a-half-pound artichoke slice.
Artichoke Basille opened in 2008 as a gourmet slice shop with no pies and only eight varieties on the menu, and started selling slices to the hungry late-night crowd, staying open until 6:00 the next morning.
But although the Manhattan-based, 16-unit pizza chain has been expanding of late to new markets including California and Connecticut and just launched franchising in 2019, owners Sal Basille and Francis Garcia see bigger potential for the future.
“We want to make sure we’re able to support our franchisees and be able to get [to a pizza shop] by car or by train, those are the markets we’re focusing on,” Francis Garcia said. “We’re looking for markets that are similar to markets we currently operate in: markets with young people with disposable income, nightlife, things like that.”
“We have a company-owned unit opening soon in Times Square and a couple more irons in the fire. After that, hopefully we’ll be going across the globe next.”
Listen to the latest episode of Extra Serving to find out more.
After nearly 40 years deep in the hurly-burly of the restaurant business, Cameron Mitchell says he’s looking to pass the baton within his 36-unit company and focus on what he calls the two esses: strategy and stewardship.
“I’m getting old. I tell people my ‘low-fuel light’ is on,” the 57-year-old founder and CEO of Columbus, Ohio-based Cameron Mitchell Restaurants said with a laugh. “I use the term: ‘I’m in the fourth quarter of my career.’”
During a conversation at the debut of a $2 million renovation of the Dallas Ocean Prime restaurant, Mitchell reflected on this dish room-to-boardroom story.
On this episode of Extra Serving, we continue our trend predictions for 2020 with two of our senior editors, Lisa Jennings and Bret Thorn.
We’ve covered tech, food, operations and overall trends so far but never with this much detail.
They spoke earlier about what to expect for 2020 in terms of food and beverages, including some things that may just be fads. Though they’re on opposite coasts, our editors seem to have come to a consensus about what we should prepare for in the next year. In years past, they’ve been spot on so it’s worth a listen.
For the past dozen years, Philippe Sauriat has been selecting wine for some of the most particular customers in the Northeast. Starting in 2007 at Adour by Alain Ducasse in New York, where the native of the French region of Burgundy spent four years, he went on to work at Le Bec Fin in Philadelphia before returning to New York to work at The Lotos Club for three years before reworking the wine list at La Goulue. Then, in June of 2017 he joined restaurant Gabriel Kreuther where he has been managing that fine-dining restaurant’s list of 1,879 wine selections. He sat down with Extra Serving to discuss how he makes his wine list and how he decides what to charge his customers.
CEO John Miller addresses privacy concerns tied to pay-with-your-face tech and gives an update on new tweaks made to Flippy, the robot kitchen assistant by Miso Robotics in this week's Extra Serving.
As Kristofor Lofgren, founder of The Sustainable Restaurant Group, sees it, restaurants have an oversized impact on the world. But not the best reputation.
"The restaurant industry is not necessarily known well for taking care of its people. It's not necessarily well known for taking care of the environment or the animals or farms that it procures products from. And it's not necessarily well known for taking care of people's health,” said Lofgren, on the NRN Extra Serving Podcast.
To Lofgren, to be a sustainable restaurant means taking on all of these issues. At his restaurants, Bamboo Sushi and Quick Fish, sit down and fast-casual sustainable sushi restaurants, he considers everything from the farmers they source from to the financial institutions they bank with.
The Sustainable Restaurant Group stopped taking cash this year, and Lofgren said being able to bank with small, independent firms is one of many reasons being cashless is part of being a sustainable restaurant.
But being cashless is just part of the sustainability equation.
"I believe restaurants have to do the right thing and actually serve something that is not only good for the restaurant's bottom line, but also for the community that they operate in and for the people who are coming in to eat the product and for the planet as a whole," he said. "So that's really the focus of Sustainable Restaurant Group is to be a restaurant company that does good in all these different ways."
While Snooze, an AM Eatery may still be an under-the-radar restaurant chain for much of the country, the innovative breakfast and brunch brand is steadily growing. With 31% systemwide sales growth last year, Snooze was named one of NRN’s Next Gen restaurant brands to watch in 2019.
But as the Denver, Colo.-based restaurant gets ready to open its 40th location by the end of the year, Snooze is looking to sharpen its image with a restaurant rebrand. Snooze chief marketing officer Andrew Jaffe discusses the restaurant’s new campaign — “breakfast but different” — along with what makes their breakfast brand stand out from the morning meal crowd.
“It provides Snooze with a platform to talk about all the things that makes our brand experience so unique and distinct,” Jaffe says.
Among those unique brand bullet points are their rigorously-adhered-to list of “Snooze-approved” ingredients, their sense of corporate social responsibility, and community outreach.
Jaffe also discusses their sustainability that goals that continue to be a major part of the fabric of their company, as outlined in Snooze’s first-ever public Changemakers Report: an ad campaign that pulls the curtain back on some of Snooze’s environmentally friendly initiatives.
“It goes back to focusing on anything we can do that makes a little bit of a difference,” Jaffe said.
To hear more about how Snooze is becoming a breakthrough brand, click on our Extra Serving podcast.
It was a tumultuous week for McDonald’s. The burger giant fired its CEO Steve Easterbrook, a man known as a “turnaround expert” for leading the chain to 11 straight positive quarters of same-store sales. In a press release on Sunday, Nov. 3, McDonald’s said Easterbrook was terminated for having a consensual affair with a subordinate, which is against McDonald’s privacy.
McDonald’s had a succession plan in place and immediately promoted Chris Kempczinskifrom president to CEO. Despite the surprising executive news, McDonald’s stock barely dropped 3% at close of business on the Monday after the announcement.
In this Extra Serving, tech editor Nancy Luna explains what this week of news for McDonald’s means and what where the new CEO Kempczinski will take the chain next.
While Fogo de Chão Inc.’s corporate headquarters occupies two stories above the restaurant in Plano, Texas, the churrascaria chain is elevating the bar experience to the “Next Level.”
McGowan talks about the “Next Level Bar” and lounge areas, which are going into remodeled locations, most recently Las Vegas, with a separate menu and elevated cocktails. The brand has found guest checks yield a higher percentage of beverage sales and appeal to Millennials.
The CEO also looks at the horizon for the brand and the industry in general.
Charlotte, N.C.-based Firebirds Wood Fired Grill characterizes itself as a “polished casual dining” concept and, in keeping with that positioning, its kids’ menu is no chicken nuggets and slice of cheese pizza affair.
Grilled steak and salmon, smoked chicken wings and Parmesan mashed potatoes are just a few of the not-so-common items on Firebirds’ bill of fare for the young set.
Stephen Loftis, vice president of marketing for Firebirds, is the prime ingredient in this Extra Serving podcast as he shares details around his chain’s current successful kids’ menu and family business-building practices, as well as some hints about how those policies, strategies and moves might look tomorrow.
Brought to you by Campbell's Foodservice.
BurgerFi, the North Palm Beach, Fla.-based better-for-you burger brand is coming to an airport and Air Force base near you.
“Non-traditional is an obvious next step for us,” said Charlie Guzzetta, chief brand development officer for BurgerFi, on the NRN Extra Serving Podcast. “It’s something that we view as a major growth vehicle for BurgerFi and the future of Burgerfi.”
BurgerFi can offer hands on help to its franchisees and partners and has the flexibility to shapeshift to the needs of different spaces and their customers, said Guzzetta. BurgerFi currently has 125 locations.
“I look at ADD in this industry as a superpower,” said Chris Cosentino, one of many people who gravitated toward kitchens after his different approach to learning led teachers to think he wasn’t very bright. With an attention deficit, Chris explains in this Extra Serving podcast, he’s a master at multitasking and could “run circles around people.” Based in San Francisco, Cosentino was an early advocate for offal (an early social media handle of his was @offalchris) in the modern food movement, researching old recipes and studying the physiology of organs to know how to work with them. In this podcast he explains how to clean a kidney, and he also discusses how he uses “antique beef” from old dairy cattle and leftover grape skins from local wineries to make a dynamic new interpretation of steak tartare. This month Cosentino’s latest venture, Rosalie, is opening at the C. Baldwin hotel in Houston, and the chef discusses how draws on the memories of his great-grandmother, Rosalie Cosentino, to inspire the new restaurant.
Sam Fox grew up in his family’s deli restaurant business and honed his restaurant chops by creating such now-stand-alone concepts as True Food Kitchen, North Italia, Flower Child and Sauce Pizza and Wine.
With the $353 million deal to sell his Phoenix-based Fox Restaurant Concepts to Calabasas Hills, Calif.-based Cheesecake Factory Inc., Fox is launching into a new phase of his career, which earned him 2019 Nation’s Restaurant News Golden Chain honors.
Cheesecake first invested in FRC’s North Italia and Flower Child concepts in 2016, partnering with the visionary Fox who, with the opening of True Food Kitchen in 2008, sealed a fantastic future for kale as a salad when the leafy green was lingering as a durable divider on salad bars.
Fox, who grew up in a restaurant family, had created and sold popular concepts before selling his entire company. Besides spinning off True Food Kitchen, he sold the fast-casual Sauce Pizza and Wine in 2015.
His first Fox Restaurant Concepts restaurant — Wildflower in Tucson, Ariz., opened in 1998 — continues to appeal to customers with its upscale American eatery format.
And he partnered with seasoned restaurant companies. He created True Food Kitchen with Dr. Andrew Weil and then teamed with P.F. Chang’s China Bistro to expand it. He partnered with Cheesecake Factory on casual-dining North Italia and fast-casual Flower Child.
Fox Restaurant Concepts, which will continue to be based in Phoenix under Fox’ direction, has more than 50 restaurants in 10 states with such concepts as The Arrogant Butcher, Blanco, Culinary Dropout, Dough Bird, The Greene House, The Henry, Olive & Ivy and Zinburger.
In this Extra Serving interview, Fox talks about his start in the foodservice business, the future of the restaurant experience and his most valuable leadership lessons.
In 2015 when Pokeworks opened its first location in Manhattan, the team never imagined how popular poke, a little-known Hawaiian dish traditionally made with raw fish and rice, would soon become.
That first Pokeworks location happened to be next to the city’s first Chick-fil-A, and in the early days, the lines outside were for chicken sandwiches not poke bowls.
The location was a blessing in disguise, though, recalled Kevin Hsu, the CMO of Pokeworks, on the NRN Extra Serving Podcast. Chick-fil-A consumers soon started familiarize themselves with poke. Then came the lines and the press. Soon after a video featuring their sushi burrito went viral.
This sort of attention could easily make a for a food fad, and one that might fade fast. But, Hsu argues, poke is something people can eat all the time, and Pokeworks, specifically, has staying power thanks to its focus on educating consumers and bringing unusual ingredients and flavors to the masses.
“Even though it hits a very strong trend, a lot of our guests tell us, and also it shows in our results, [poke is] really something that they can see eating every day.”
And more and more consumers are eating poke regularly. Today Pokeworks has about 40 locations with 100 new stores in the works.
Living on the edge of a Jimmy John’s delivery zone can be a lonely place.
But for one lucky delivery deprived superfan, Jimmy John’s is prepared to give him or her $250,000 towards the purchase of a home located within the restaurant’s tight delivery radius.
That’s the length the Champaign, Ill.-based sandwich chain is willing to go to prove one point: the brand, which employs 30,000 in-house delivery drivers, will never use third-party delivery operators.
Although Wetzel’s Pretzels — the Pasadena, Calif.-based soft pretzel chain — may have gotten its start in mall food courts, CEO Jennifer Schuler is pushing the company to new frontiers, like sports and entertainment arenas, food trucks, and military bases.
In this episode of Extra Serving, Schuler — the brand’s former president who was named CEO of Wetzel’s Pretzels in January when co-founder Bill Phelps stepped down – discusses the forward momentum of the company. From focusing on footprint growth across the country to experimenting with 15-minute pretzel delivery, Wetzel’s Pretzels is aiming to move out from the shadow of classic suburban mall.
After spending 12 years as the lead executive of the National Restaurant Association, Sweeney announced this spring she will be stepping down from her role at the end of 2019.
In an interview with NRN at the association’s DC headquarters, she said she is working harder than ever to get things ready to hand off to a new leader.
Tim McEnery, founder and CEO of Cooper’s Hawk Winery & Restaurants, is a 2019 Nation’s Restaurant News Golden Chain award winner, recognizing his leadership in forging a unique path in the upscale-casual dining sector.
The annual Golden Chain Awards celebrate the best leaders in the restaurant industry — those who are running operations at the top of their industry, mentoring talented teams, and creating opportunities for others.
For Cooper’s Hawk, what started out as a restaurant attached to a winery and tasting room in 2005 in Orland Park Ill. has evolved into a 38-unit lifestyle brand for food, wine, and travel enthusiasts that stretches the definition of what the restaurant experience can be.
In this episode of Extra Serving, Tim McEnery discusses the appeal of the company’s Wine Club (with 400,000 members and growing), the leadership lessons he has learned in the industry, and how he plans to expand the Cooper’s Hawk brand even further outside the tasting room.
Listen on to learn more about the McEnery’s vision for the future of Cooper’s Hawk Winery & Restaurants.
In this edition of our Extra Serving podcast, Klein discusses how he’s focusing on “bold innovative flavors” for West Coast oriented Carl’s Jr., with items like the Bacon Truffle Burger that was a limited-time offer earlier this year, and how at Hardee’s, with its strong presence in the Midwest and Southeast, “our focus is on hometown classics, familiar favorites with a twist,” including a line of honey-butter biscuits that were introduced last year.
In this episode of Extra Serving, senior editor Gloria Dawson interviews Stephanie Meltzer-Paul, who oversees the brand's app and delivery programs.
Delivering coffee in the most populous city in the country is a daunting task.
But Dunkin’ was up for the challenge.
“We knew that if we could scale here and make it here, we could make it anywhere,” Stephanie Meltzer-Paul, Dunkin’s vice president of digital and loyalty marketing for Dunkin’ U.S., told Extra Serving, a weekly podcast by Nation’s Restaurant News.
And Dunkin’ fans were ready.
When Dunkin’ launched delivery in stealth-mode a few months before officially announcing their partnership with Grubhub, they got a lot orders considering “we did no marketing, no emails, no marketing on Grubhub’s website, we just put us up there,” said Meltzer-Paul.
Grubhub users had been searching for Dunkin’ on the Grubhub for awhile just waiting for the company to make an appearance.
And once they started ordering, Dunkin’ fans couldn’t stop.
“We were getting quite a lot of repeat orders which was great to see because now we knew we were doing something right," Meltzer-Paul said.
In this episode of Extra Serving, senior editor Ron Ruggless speaks with CEO Robert Thompson about how he initiated the 50-year-old family-dining brand’s $140M investment.
Taco Bell is very much a lifestyle brand. The fast food chain has a rabid fanbase that lives for its wild marketing campaigns and immersive experiences — like the Taco Bell-themed hotel & resort complete with Taco Bell nail art, sauce packet floaties and new food creations — or Taco Bell clothing line. In this episode of Extra Serving, Jenna Telesca speaks with Taco Bell U.S. president Julie Masino on the DNA of the brand.
In this episode of Extra Serving, senior tech editor Nancy Luna speaks with Paul Macaluso about the launch and continuation of their All-You-Can-Eat-Deal.
When The Krystal Company launched an All-You-Can-Eat Krystals and Fries promotion for $5.99 over the Father’s Day weekend, the iconic Southeastern burger chain intended to keep the promotion around for about six weeks.
But due to overwhelming response to the deal, where one football team gobbled down up to 100 burgers in one setting, the brand has extended the deal through Aug 25.
Panera Bread Co. might already have a reputation for wholesome, healthier lunch options, but the St. Louis, Minn.-based café/bakery chain’s menu is continuously evolving. On this week’s Extra Serving Podcast, Sara Burnett, vice president of wellness and food policy at Panera Bread Co., owned by JAB Holding Co. discusses Panera’s food sustainability and nutrition leadership, and how the brand plans to tackle evening sales with a new dinner menu with Joanna Fantozzi.
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call Alice Elliot — CEO of the executive search and consulting firm The Elliot Group — a king maker.
Her search and consulting firm has deep and longstanding relationships with the most powerful people in the restaurant industry, many of which the firm placed at top spots.
And because of her leadership and mentorship over her 35-year career in hospitality, Alice is this year’s Nation’s Restaurant News Norman Award winner, following in the footsteps of Norman Award alumni like Inspire Brands CEO Paul Brown, former Popeyes’ CEO Cheryl Bachelder and former Domino’s CEO Pat Doyle.
Alice is without a doubt, a restaurant industry success story.
So it surprised me when I interviewed Alice for our Extra Serving podcast that she was so humble about what’s she has learned over her career and the challenges she has overcome.
“My first business, which I literally fell into after college, soon after I went bankrupt. So my first venture into the business world that was formal was not successful. And that was to teach me many many lessons in anticipation of starting the Elliot Group”
Alice told me about how she formed the Elliot Group by calling up fast-food restaurants in the phonebook. She talked about what it means to be a leader and how her father taught her about the dignity of work.
“I was always taken by the notion … that there is a deep connection to inspiring people who want to contribute but through that there’s a pride of work,” she said.
Alice is a person who normally works behind the scenes and supports other people, but on this podcast she shares some hard-earned insight from her successful career of building leaders.
Listen to this podcast for more. And consider coming to the MUFSO conference in Denver, Oct. 14-16, where we will be celebrating Alice and hearing from her on a panel.
In this episode of Extra Serving, NRN senior technology editor Nancy Luna talks to Chas Hermann, chief brand officer at Noodles & Co. The Colorado-based company has added a dietary lifestyle calculator to digital menus.
On this week's Extra Serving, Senior Food and Beverage Editor Bret Thorn speaks with the New York City chef John Fraser who discusses his own culinary evolution.
On this episode of Extra Serving, Senior Tech Editor Nancy Luna speaks with Sherif Mityas, chief experience officer for the Dallas-based casual dining chain TGI Fridays who said Uber Vouchers is another “cool” and relevant benefit the tech-forward brand can offer both loyal and new customers.
On this episode of Extra Serving, Editor in Chief Jenna Telesca speaks with the MFHA president on tactics for an inclusive workforce.
On Extra Serving, Senior Food and Beverage Editor Bret Thorn speaks with Jamie Carawan on how he’s trimming ‘menu bloat’.
On Extra Serving, Senior Editor Ron Ruggless speaks with KFC Global’s head of food innovation and technology on how they appeal to trends in 135 countries.
On this week’s Extra Serving, Senior Editor Lisa Jennings speaks with Caitlin Leibert, director of sustainability for Chipotle Mexican Grill, shares how the Newport Beach, Calif.-based chain cut the average waste per restaurant by 25% since 2016, a move that also saved the company $1.3 million.
Editor in Chief Jenna Telesca speaks with Bloomin’ Brands Liz Smith on why it’s important to fail fast in the inaugural episode of Extra Serving, a podcast from Nation's Restaurant News.