A Deeper Dive

No one outpizzaed the Hut in the first quarter. Can Pizza Hut keep it up? David Graves, president of Pizza Hut U.S., joined me on the “A Deeper Dive” podcast this week to discuss the state of the brand and how its efforts have won over customers. Pizza Hut struggled for years but appears to have turned a corner more recently. Its 8% same-store sales growth in the first quarter outpaced its pizza delivery competitors. Much of that is due to the brand’s innovation, including its Melts sandwiches. We talk about that product and its ability to generate a different type of sales for the brand. We also talk about the impact third-party delivery has had on Pizza Hut, and about consumers’ nostalgia for the brand. Graves discusses many other things, including technology and artificial intelligence. We’re talking Pizza Hut on this week’s A Deeper Dive so please have a listen.

How have urban markets changed since the pandemic? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast “A Deeper Dive” features Chip Wade, the CEO of Union Square Hospitality Group. Wade has a long and distinguished career in the restaurant industry. He was named CEO of Union Square last year after working with the company since 2019. Before that he worked for 17 years with Darden Restaurants and had previously worked with Legal Sea Foods and Carlson Restaurants. We talk about a wide range of issues. He provides some interesting insight on how the New York market is different now than it was in 2019 before the pandemic and how the company has adjusted. He discusses adjusting to that business while also talking about adjusting to what he calls a "new workforce dynamic" these days. We also talk about all kinds of other topics, including an update on the Union Square business, building and maintaining a strong culture inside of restaurants and how the transition has gone since he took over as CEO from Danny Meyer. It’s a great conversation with the CEO of Union Square Hospitality Group so please check it out.

Can Peter Piper go fast casual? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features David McKillips, CEO of CEC Entertainment, the parent company of Chuck E. Cheese and Peter Piper Pizza. CEC has had an almost literal roller coaster ride in the three years since David became CEO. The pandemic pushed it into bankruptcy and then the reopening helped it come back remarkably strong as fun-and-games chains proved popular among consumers who wanted to get out of the house. We talk about those issues and we also talk about Peter Piper, the regional pizza chain CEC operates. David talks about the company’s efforts to break out of its core market. Specifically, he talks about a new type of fast-casual concept based on the Peter Piper name that CEC has started to test. That could give the company a third brand it can grow with. It’s a newsy discussion on pizza and games on A Deeper Dive so please have a listen.

Where are sales and traffic going in 2023 and who will win? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features R.J. Hottovy, head of analytical research with the data firm Placer.ai. R.J. has covered the industry for more than two decades and knows a thing or two about the restaurant and retail sectors and we like having him on every so often to talk about the state of industry traffic. R.J. joined us at the recently concluded National Restaurant Association Show. We discuss the potential impact of a recession on industry sales and traffic. Consumers have been increasingly reliant on credit card debt to pay various expenses, leading many to believe that cutbacks in spending are coming. Who will win in that scenario? And who will lose? R.J. and I talk about those issues on this week’s episode of A Deeper Dive so please have a listen.

What happens when a giant brand suddenly gives you a marketing gift? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Barry Westrum, chief marketing officer for Taco John's. Westrum joined me on the podcast at the National Restaurant Association Show less than a week after taco bell asked the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to cancel Taco John’s registration for “Taco Tuesday.” Taco Bell has since then brought in NBA star LeBron James to assist in the effort. Taco Bell is many times the size of Taco John’s. Taco Bell’s campaign almost instantly gave the less-than-400-unit Taco John's a ton of attention. We talked with Westrum about how the company responds to an opportunity like that and what the company thinks about the whole thing. We also discuss how things are going at the chain and what kind of interesting things they may have coming down the pipe. We’re talking Taco Tuesday on A Deeper Dive, so please have a listen.

How long will people keep paying high delivery prices? This week’s episode of A Deeper Dive features Restaurant Business Senior Technology Editor Joe Guszkowski, who joins me on the podcast to talk about DoorDash’s push to get operators to keep delivery prices the same as regular menu prices. Joe and I discuss his recent report on the menu price markups on delivery compared with buying in the restaurant, and why operators do this. We also discuss why DoorDash’s algorithm punishes those restaurants that charge higher menu prices, and what the provider’s push on the topic means for broader delivery demand. Consumers have been shifting away from pizza delivery, perhaps in part over inflation. Is DoorDash’s move a sign they’re worried about the same thing? We talk about that on the podcast. It’s an interesting discussion on the future of delivery so check it out.

Will menu price inflation ultimately hurt restaurants? Michael Swanson, an agricultural economist and consultant with Wells Fargo, joins the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive to discuss the economy and the outlook for inflation.

How good of a year did chain restaurants have in 2022, really? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Joe Pawlak, managing principal with RB sister company Technomic, to talk about the Technomic Top 500 Chain Restaurant Report. Specifically, we discuss the performance of chain restaurants, whose sales rose just over 8% last year. But that barely kept pace with menu price inflation. We also discuss restaurants’ surprising unit growth last year, the remarkable unit volumes of certain chicken concepts, that sectors that stood out the most and why Raising Cane’s very well may be a Top 10 restaurant brand by 2030. Joe and I also talk Subway, the pizza business and delivery. It’s a loaded episode so check it out.

How is Duck Donuts evolving its prototype? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Betsy Hamm, CEO of the 115-unit chain, who joined me at the Restaurant Leadership Conference recently to discuss a wide range of issues. Duck Donuts is based in Mechanicsburg, Pa., and is known for selling made-to-order doughnuts in tourist spots. The company generated $60.6 million in system sales last year, according to data from Restaurant Business sister company Technomic. The company just released a new prototype designed to give operators more flexibility as they expand. It features kiosks, for instance, but it also designed to go into smaller spots. We talk about a wide variety of other topics on the podcast, including where the chain got its name. It’s an interesting conversation with a doughnut CEO, so please have a listen

Why is Smashburger ditching traditional drive-thrus? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Carl Bachmann, president of the fast-casual burger chain that is looking to get back on the growth path after some difficult years. The chain is operated by the Philippines-based Jollibee Corp. It operates fewer than 250 locations, down by about a third over the past five years. But Bachmann talks on the podcast about why the brand is ready for growth again and what Smashburger has been doing to prepare for that growth. And he talks a lot about the company’s new “virtual” drive-thrus, or mobile-order drive-thrus and why that will be the company’s option going forward. That goes in a different direction from many other fast-casual chains that have focused on increasing the number of traditional drive-thru lanes. It’s an interesting discussion about fast-casual drive-thrus so check it out.