A Deeper Dive

A Deeper Dive: Jim Balis, managing director with CapitalSpring, joins this week’s episode to talk about overcoming labor and commodity inflation.

How is Andy Wiederhorn doing it? In this week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast “A Deeper Dive,” the CEO of Fatburger and Johnny Rockets owner Fat Brands discusses his company’s latest deal, a $130 million acquisition of Fazoli’s. It is the fourth major deal in 14 months, starting with Johnny Rockets, then Global Franchise Group and then Twin Peaks. All told, Wiederhorn’s company has made or announced more than $900 million worth of deals in that period.

Just how bad is the labor shortage? In this episode of the RB podcast “A Deeper Dive,” I debate with Editor-at-Large Peter Romeo about that very topic. Restaurants have been dealing with one of the worst shortages of labor in history, with many locations shortening hours or reducing services because they do not have enough workers. Operators are paying much higher wage rates and they’re paying more for benefits than they ever had. Romeo in a recent column argued that these challenges will ultimately prove worse than the pandemic on the industry, citing the closures and a potential long-term loss of workers. Yet I argue that the issue will ultimately prove better for the industry by forcing it to improve efficiency and employee retention, which will improve operations in the long-term. Who is right? Check out this week’s episode and find out.

Want to grow your brand? Make sure you get your franchise relations right. This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast “A Deeper Dive” features Darin Harris, the CEO of the San Diego-based burger chain Jack in the Box, to talk about the company’s growth plans.

This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast “A Deeper Dive” features Frances Allen, CEO of Checkers and Rally’s, who talks about the chain’s growth, the industry’s current challenges and her outlook going forward. Checkers, traditionally a drive-thru-only chain, has thrived since the pandemic as consumers shifted more of their dining toward such service models. That has also given the chain the upper hand as more restaurant chains have started toying with drive-thru-only models.

Is there any positive outlook on the labor front? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast “A Deeper Dive” features Kevin Bazner, the CEO of A&W Restaurants, talking about the impact of the labor shortage on his company’s restaurants.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission appears ready to take a harder look at franchising. This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast “A Deeper Dive” features two people who are asking the agency to do just that. Eric Karp, an attorney with the law firm of Witmer Karp Warner and Ryan, and Subway operator and franchisee advocate Keith Miller, explain their recent request of the commission to investigate nine franchises. Those franchises include Subway, Dickey’s and 7-Eleven, along with IHG Hotels, Choice Hotels, the UPS Store, Experimax, Supercuts and Massage Envy.

When will independent restaurants catch a break? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast “A Deeper Dive” features a discussion on the state of independent restaurants with Senior Editor Heather Lalley. Restaurants are currently facing a major shortage of alcohol, which has made it difficult to get some specific brands—the latest in a string of shortages that have affected all kinds of businesses. Yet independents, unsurprisingly, are feeling the brunt of this. Independents are also facing a host of other challenges and have not recovered quite as well as have chain restaurants. They are at a major disadvantage on labor issues, technology adoption and food costs, among other things.

This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast “A Deeper Dive” features Mark Rossi, the CEO of Avanti Restaurant Solutions, who talks about current challenges with the supply chain. Challenges getting equipment in the door have caused all sorts of problems with restaurants. Avanti works with restaurants to design their foodservice options and has been paying close attention to the problem. While he speaks specifically about equipment challenges, many of the issues—particularly a driver shortage—are affecting all kinds of industries that supply products to restaurants.

Fast growth isn’t necessarily the best growth. This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast features Pete Pascuzzi, the CEO of MRI Heritage Brands, to discuss the best strategies for unit and franchise growth in a post-pandemic era. MRI is a Texas company that operates several chains, including Uberrito, Casa Ole, Monterey’s Little Mexico, Tortuga and Crazy Joe’s. Pascuzzi talks about why the company is more deliberative with its franchisee and site selection. A lot of mistakes are made when chains quickly get franchisees into the system and push them into bad sites. He talks generally about site availability and the cost of getting into locations these days.