David Henkes, a senior principal at Technomic and foodservice industry expert, joins the conversation to tackle the unpredictability of emerging restaurant chains. He shares insights into why many fail and highlights the importance of strong unit economics and effective leadership. The discussion dives into the critical role of average unit volumes in sustainable growth, using cautionary tales like MOD Pizza. Henkes also contrasts the paths of Baja Fresh and Chipotle, emphasizing how strategic decisions can make or break a brand's future.

Restaurants have been loading their menus with new items lately. This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive is all about menu development, and specifically why so many restaurant chains are turning to limited-time offers to get customers in the door. RB Senior Menu Editor Pat Cobe joins me to talk about that this week.  Here’s a statistic: There were nearly 26,000 limited-time offers in the restaurant industry last year, according to Technomic. That was up 46% from 2022 and 53% from 2019. And, apparently, that hasn’t slowed down this year.  In short, restaurants have broken out of their pandemic-fueled restrictions on new menu development in a really big way.   The reason is simple: Necessity. Restaurants have struggled to generate traffic the past couple of years and were leery of going too deep into a value war.  But there is little evidence that all this development is pulling in more customers. And there are real risks when it doesn’t do that.  We’re talking about new menu items on A Deeper Dive so please check it out.

It’s impossible to kill a restaurant chain, even when it’s dead. This week’s episode of A Deeper Dive features a discussion on a fascinating phenomenon in the restaurant world lately: Operators bringing formerly dead or dying brands back to life. RB colleagues Lisa Jennings and Joe Guszkowski join me to talk about three such concepts: Steak & Ale, Souplantation and Sweet Tomatoes and Ground Round.  Steak & Ale, a Norman Brinker-created brand that was a casual-dining pioneer, recently opened a location in suburban Minneapolis, 15 years after the entire chain was shut down.  Sweet Tomatoes, a buffet concept that was killed in a 2020, pandemic-related shutdown, recently opened a location in Arizona.  And Ground Round—which still has a couple of locations open in the west—is planning a new location in Massachusetts.  Why are these brands coming back? And most importantly, can these chains survive off nostalgia alone? We’re about to find out. We’re chatting about resurrected restaurant brands this week so check it out. 

Church’s Texas Chicken has a new recipe that’s its old recipe.  This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Joe Guith, CEO of the chicken chain. He joined us for an exclusive look at the company and its growth plans.  Church’s does have some big growth plans. The company wants to get to $2 billion in system sales by 2028, up from $1.4 billion last year.  We talk about what the company plans to do to get to that, including remodels and more digital efforts.  And we talk about the company’s value proposition and its core customer, lower-income diners, and how the chain’s restaurants can profit when it focuses on value.  But we also talk about the company’s chicken recipe, which is its original recipe. Church’s went away from that recipe a decade ago, and Joe explains why the company did that and why the recipe was brought back. Church’s advertising using the term “original recipe” has led to a lawsuit from rival KFC.  We’re talking chicken on A Deeper Dive so please check it out. 

What’s the story behind the Hawaiian barbecue trend? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Elisia Flores, the CEO of the 200-plus unit franchise, L&L Hawaiian Barbecue.  L&L is rapidly growing and helped pioneer the idea of Hawaiian barbecue, though Flores explains exactly what that is. The chain’s system sales grew more than 10% last year, according to Technomic, and it has plans to continue to expand through franchising over the next several years.  We talk about the company’s story, and the challenges of taking a Hawaii-based concept to the mainland, and about teaching consumers here about Hawaiian cuisine. But we also talk about issues of family ownership. Flores took over as CEO from her father, who had owned and run the concept for decades. We talk about the challenges and opportunities of family ownership and why Flores needed to work outside the business before she came back to work for her father.  We’re talking Hawaiian barbecue on A Deeper Dive, so please check it out. 

What is happening with TGI Fridays? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features a discussion on the recent Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing by the casual-dining chain TGI Fridays. RB Senior Editor Joe Guszkowski joins me on the podcast to discuss the situation.  TGI Fridays’ filing over the weekend was hardly a surprise, given the chain’s years of decline and its apparent death spiral this year.  The company recently lost control of much of its business after the trustee on its whole business securitization terminated it as the manager of most of its assets.  TGI Fridays also failed to secure a sale to its U.K. operator, which also ended up seeking debt protection in that country. Joe and I talk about these issues and why Fridays filed for bankruptcy and what it says about the casual-dining sector. We talk about the causes of the filing and what will happen with the company from here. We also talk about the kinds of things that work in this environment. Because casual-dining chains can win in an environment like this. We’re talking Fridays on A Deeper Dive so please check it out. 

What do we make of McDonald’s E. coli outbreak? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Bill Marler, the country’s leading attorney on food safety issues and foodborne illness outbreaks.  Marler is with the law firm Marler Clark. He has represented victims of outbreaks and consulted with companies on foodborne-illness issues for more than 30 years. We wanted to talk with him about the situation at McDonald’s. As of now at least 75 people in 13 states, and likely many more, have been sickened after eating Quarter Pounders at McDonald’s. The issue appears to be linked to slivered onions. We discuss this, how rare it is for McDonald’s to be involved in an outbreak like this, proving that it can happen to anybody. Marler gives us a lot of historical context. We talk about why beef has been relatively safe for the past 30 years but why vegetables—such as onions—now appear to be frequent causes of E. coli outbreaks. And we talk about what companies can do to ensure that their food supply is safe. We’re talking McDonald’s E. coli on A Deeper Dive so please check it out. 

What are we to make of the weird year in restaurants? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Kenny Kraft, a managing director with Houlihan Lokey, and Tyler Martinez, a vice president with the investment firm. The three of us talk about the state of the restaurant industry, and there’s a lot to talk about. This year has been an odd one.  Consumers have cut back on dining out at fast-food chains and casual dining concepts but appear to be spending more at restaurants overall. Some chains are filing for bankruptcy and others like Wingstop are generating record high sales.  And many concepts are grabbing share, such as Chili’s, Popeyes and Domino’s. We talk about what’s driving these share gains and these differences. We talk extensively about consumers’ perception of value, and how brands can get on the right side of consumer perception of quality.  We also talk a bit about the eatertainment sector and what’s driving challenges there this year.  We’re talking about the state of the restaurant industry on A Deeper Dive so please check it out. 

Can your restaurant use customer reviews to manage their business? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Avi Goren, the cofounder and CEO of the hospitality technology company Marqii.  Marqii does a few things, such as automating updates on menus and location data. But it also has a product that helps operators manage and track reviews. We spoke with Avi at the recent FSTEC conference in Dallas about this because we’re fascinated by the impact reviews can have on restaurants, both good and bad.  Avi and I talked about reviews, their impact on restaurants, and how operators can use them to help manage their business. We talk about best practices and how a bad review isn’t necessarily a death knell. We’re talking restaurant reviews on A Deeper Dive so please check it out. 

What are the benefits and drawbacks of artificial intelligence? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Richard Del Valle, the chief information officer with the Charlotte, North Carolina-based chicken chain Bojangles.  We spoke with Richard at the FSTEC restaurant technology conference in September.  We were interested in the efforts Bojangles was making in adding consumer-facing technology into its restaurants. In particular, Del Valle discussed the company’s use of voice-activated AI in the drive-thru.  AI is taking over much of the restaurant business. Bojangles has been adding the technology to its restaurant drive-thrus. Del Valle talked about this effort and its impact on both customers and employees. He also talked about whether the technology can help restaurants save on labor. His answer may surprise you.  We’re talking AI on A Deeper Dive so please check it out.