A Deeper Dive

How does Velvet Taco come up with its recipes?This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Clay Dover, CEO of the fast-casual taco chain.This is the latest in a series of podcasts we recorded at the National Restaurant Show. Velvet Taco is a rapidly growing chain of taco shops. It finished 2024 with 49 locations and grew sales nearly 22%, according to data from Restaurant Business sister company Technomic.The chain’s menu is more unique than a simple taco shop. You might go to one of the restaurants and be greeted with a Bacon Smashburger Taco or a Paneer Taco. And there are the WTF tacos, or weekly taco feature. We wanted to know how the brand develops these tacos and why that has helped the brand do things that perhaps other concepts cannot do.We also talk about other issues, including the chain’s growth and its plans for international development and what Dover sees as the biggest barriers to growth right now.We’re talking tacos on A Deeper Dive so please check it out.

Kyle Drenon, CEO and co-owner of Supper Co., shares insights on how AI is revolutionizing restaurant marketing. He discusses the urgent need for restaurants to adapt their strategies, particularly through engaging short-form video content on platforms like TikTok. Drenon highlights how AI influences consumer behavior and brand discovery, pushing traditional marketing to the sidelines. He also explores successful viral marketing strategies and emphasizes the importance of concise messaging to capture audience attention in this rapidly evolving digital landscape.

Katie Belflower, Manager of Menu Research and Insights at Technomic, dives into the restaurant industry's surge of limited-time offers (LTOs). With a 200% increase in five years, she reveals how social media, especially TikTok, is reshaping dining experiences and brand strategies. They discuss the popularity of trends like 'dirty soda' and the need for restaurants to innovate to attract customers. Belflower also touches on the challenges of pricing and traffic in a competitive market, underscoring the risks and rewards of frequent menu changes.

Michelle Korsmo, CEO of the National Restaurant Association, advocates for the restaurant industry on key issues like tariffs and immigration. She discusses how rising tariffs are impacting costs for operators and the potential consequences of immigration restrictions on labor availability. Surprisingly, she shares positive perspectives on immigration reform discussions. Korsmo also emphasizes the importance of operational efficiency and innovation for restaurants navigating economic challenges in a competitive landscape.

What does Culver’s new CEO have in mind for the chain?This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Julie Fussner, who was recently named chief executive of the 1,000-unit, Wisconsin-based burger chain. Culver’s is quietly one of the most consistent restaurant chains in the country and is one of a generation of high-growth burger concepts. Its system sales grew 16% last year. By contrast, fast-food burger chain sales last year grew just 1%.Fussner came to the brand in 2017 and was later named chief marketing officer, the first CMO in that chain’s history. In April she was named just the fifth CEO in Culver’s history and the brand’s first woman CEO.So we thought we’d bring her on and ask her a bunch of questions about plans for the company.

Neal Sherman, the founder of TagX Brands, shares insights into how rising tariffs are reshaping the restaurant equipment industry. With tariffs hitting an average of 27%, restaurants are forced to consider used equipment as a cost-effective alternative. Sherman discusses the increasing demand for his company's offerings amid economic uncertainty, shedding light on the challenges like labor shortages and shifts in consumer preferences towards budget-friendly dining. His expertise brings clarity to navigating this evolving landscape.

How does Chili’s keep doing this?This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business finance podcast A Deeper Dive features George Felix, the chief marketing officer for Chili’s parent company Brinker International.We spoke with Felix at the Restaurant Leadership Conference. We wanted to talk about Chili’s marketing, and how it’s taken advantage of social media to draw attention to the brand. The chain’s same-store sales have increased more than 31% each of the past two quarters despite a brutal market for full-service chains.Felix talks about the way Chili’s took advantage of consumer frustration over high fast-food prices and he details the company’s thinking as it elevated one of its long-time offers. He also talks about social media in general and how the company recognized consumer affinity for cheese pulls. And he talks about the company’s Lifetime movie.We’re talking Chili’s and marketing on A Deeper Dive so check it out.

How do you teach an old pizza chain new tricks?This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features David Karam, the CEO of the pizza chain Sbarro.The pizza chain was founded in 1956 and for years thrived inside mall locations. But the company took on too much debt and filed for bankruptcy twice after the Great Recession. We wanted to talk with Karam to understand what Sbarro did to survive those two bankruptcies. Karam took over the chain between the two filings and has led the it ever since and now owns the concept. Sbarro just opened its 800th restaurant and has found new life in places like convenience stores and airports as well as international markets.Karam discusses these plans and provides insight into how the company was able to find a life past bankruptcy. 

How did restaurants do in 2024?This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive is all about the Technomic Top 500 Chain Restaurant Report.Kevin Schimpf, senior director of industry research at Restaurant Business sister company Technomic, joins the episode to talk about the ranking. The restaurant industry did not have a great year in 2024 if you look at the overall numbers. Kevin and I talk about that and why restaurants didn’t do as well.We also talk about what sectors did well and what did not. Hint: It’s more menu based than anything else. We talk about the shift from some concepts to others and from some menu types to others and what it means for the future of the industry. We talk about Texas Roadhouse, McDonald’s, Starbucks, KFC, Raising Cane’s, Chick-fil-A and others. And also what sector should not exist.We’re talking Top 500 on A Deeper Dive, so please check it out.

How will the bankruptcy filings of TGI Fridays and Hooters affect the market for securitizations?This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Ed Cerullo, a credit analyst with Octus, to talk about whole business securitizations and the potential impact those bankruptcies can have on the market. Whole business securitizations use a company’s cash-generating assets to back bonds. Cerullo helps explain how they work, and why they’ve been so popular in the restaurant industry over the past 15-plus years. TGI Fridays was the first bankruptcy of a restaurant chain that used a whole business securitization, and Hooters was the second. Fridays also has the distinction of having lost control of its assets, the first time that had happened in any industry in 15 years. Both were risky investments, however, at the time they went to the securitization market. Cerullo and I talk about that, and whether the investments properly denoted the risks those companies presented at the time. We talk about whether the securitizations promoted this risk, and what the impact will be on the market going forward.