A Deeper Dive

Convenience stores are upping their food game and one concept is taking advantage of it. This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Jim Norberg, the CEO of the convenience-store chicken concept Krispy Krunchy Chicken. We had Jim on largely because convenience stores are getting a lot of foodservice business right now. Traffic at convenience stores is up 17% since before the pandemic, compared with 5% at quick-service restaurants—meaning that some of the lost traffic at restaurants is heading to the local gas station. One reason is the higher quality food c-stores are putting out now. Krispy Krunchy is taking advantage of that. Norberg is a former executive with McDonald’s, and he is bringing a restaurant mentality to the concept. The brand is getting into third-party delivery and recently hired its first chief marketing officer in Alice Crowder. We talk with Jim about the company’s rapid growth and how many locations it expects to go into this year alone. We talk about how that program works and what’s driving interest in c-stores. We also talk about Krispy Krunchy’s new marketing program and how it can market a concept located in other businesses. We’re talking convenience-store chicken on A Deeper Dive, so please check it out.

How do you tailor your real estate strategies to an uncertain market? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Stephen Cohen, an attorney who specializes in real estate for restaurants and retailers. A lot of restaurants want to expand right now and are doing everything they can to do so. But the cost of expansion is higher than ever. Construction costs are up. Interest rates are high. And lease rates are also high because of intense competition. Cohen discusses these issues and talks about how companies can balance the need to grow with the need to ensure that they don’t wreck their unit economics. We talk about what companies can do to remain competitive for good sites. Cohen also talks about the biggest mistakes restaurants make with their real estate strategies. It’s a real estate podcast this week so please check it out.

What is the future of virtual restaurants? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Robbie Earl, the co-founder of Virtual Dining Concepts. The company is now the largest operator of digital-only brands, which operate inside other restaurants, ghost kitchens and other facilities. They typically do not have a traditional storefront. Virtual brands were all the rage during the pandemic but for various reasons they have slowed coming out of it. Some of them have been quite successful and others not so much. We talk about how virtual brands can ensure the restaurants they work with produce quality food. We discuss whether they should open more brick-and-mortar locations. We ask about Virtual Dining Concepts’ relationship with MrBeast Burger, currently embroiled in litigation. And we talk about what makes a good virtual brand partnership and whether anything has changed more recently. This is a fascinating discussion about a fascinating topic so please check it out.

What happens when you combine high-tech miniature golf and food? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Joe Vrankin, the CEO of the fast-growing eatertainment concept Puttshack. Puttshack is an 18-unit chain that combines a full-service restaurant with an indoor game of minigolf—neither of which is all that standard. The minigolf features innovative games featuring a high-tech ball and the food is much better than traditional eatertainment fare. We talk with Vrankin about the concept, the games and the food. We chat about consumers’ higher expectations for food and why a company like Puttshack cannot overlook the menu. We talk about real estate, and an awful lot about minigolf, and where the chain is going from here. It’s a fascinating conversation about food and minigolf, so please check it out.

What is happening at the Restaurant Leadership Conference this year? We decided to demand that Chris Keating, the EVP of Conferences for Informa Connect, RB’s parent company, talk about the conference, which runs April 14-17. And he was happy to oblige. We ask about what’s happening at the event and the strategy behind it. We also chat about Martha Stewart, and Chris tells us some of his sports interview stories. And we also talk about whether the conference itself reflects the state of the restaurant business. We’re talking RLC on a special edition of A Deeper Dive.

How did Wingstop fix its cost problem? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Michael Skipworth, the chicken chain's CEO. Wingstop is hitting on all cylinders right now, thanks to the popularity of chicken wings and takeout but also because of its new line of chicken sandwiches, which have helped lure new customers in during different times of day. But it has also helped the chain with food costs. Chicken wings are the most volatile commodity, certainly among proteins. One year they could hit record prices and the next year they come down considerably. It has given plenty of executives massive headaches trying to deal with them. But Wingstop’s move into boneless options, like the chicken sandwich, has helped change things. Skipworth talks all about it. He also discusses technology, delivery and Wingstop’s plan to build its own tech stack and reach its goal of 100% digital transactions. We’re talking chicken on A Deeper Dive, so please check it out.

How is Happy Joe’s modernizing its brand? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Tom Sacco, the CEO of Happy Joe’s. The 52-unit, Iowa-based chain has been around for 50 years. It was sold just before the pandemic. Sacco was brought in as CEO after a career with BJ’s, Ponderosa, Red Robin and Ghiradelli. The pandemic forced the brand to rethink how it does business, and so Sacco talks about how Happy Joe’s modernized its operations coming out of that period. For instance, it didn’t count transactions. We discuss the 2022 bankruptcy involving the chain’s corporate units and what led to that. And we talk about the brand’s surprising recent growth. We also discuss the chain’s penchant for small towns as well as taco pizzas and pickle pizzas and how Happy Joe’s was an early developer of both.

How are restaurants making their C-suites more diverse? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Therese Gearhart, the president and CEO of the Women’s Foodservice Forum. WFF’s leadership conference is coming up next week, and we figured it’d be a great time to check in on the industry’s track record of hiring women into leadership roles. The answer is that it’s doing better. Several restaurant chains, including Denny’s and Dutch Bros, have recently hired women to be their CEOs. Three restaurant chains in just the last day hired women to be CEOs: Taco John’s (Heather Neary), Smashburger (Denise Nelsen) and Handel’s Homemade Ice Cream (Jennifer Schuler). Therese discusses these issues and talks about how restaurants are doing getting people into management roles. We talk about why it’s financially beneficial for restaurants to do these things. We talk about the upcoming conference, and Therese gives tips for up-and-coming employees to move up in the business and how companies can create more inclusive working environments. We’re talking women in restaurants on A Deeper Dive, so please check it out.

What is Corner Bakery doing to right its ship? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Chris Dharod, the CEO of Corner Bakery. Dharod is with SSCP Management, a franchisee of Applebee’s and Sonic and owner of Cici’s Pizza and Roy’s. The company bought Corner Bakery out of bankruptcy last year. We had him on the podcast to talk about Corner Bakery and chat about the way in which the acquisition was made. SSCP acquired the brand by buying the debt on the secondary market and then using that to take over the company out of bankruptcy, a process some folks call loan to own. Dharod talks about that process, its risks and what SSCP looks for in its investments, as well as how it turns them around, which it has done with Cici’s. Corner Bakery is a particularly difficult process. The brand was owned by the same owner as Boston Market and was having many of the same problems. It didn’t pay many of its bills and was burdened by lawsuits and serious issues. We talk about what the brand is doing to fix all that, what kind of people it brought in and what kind of sales the brand is generating now. We’re talking Corner Bakery on A Deeper Dive so please check it out.

Never compromise on your unit economics. This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Justin Rosenberg, the founder of the fast-casual chain Honeygrow. Rosenberg founded the bowl chain in 2012 and it was going quite well until 2018. He talks about why the company stopped growing that year and what the it did to get back on the growth track. Hint: Honeygrow stopped making compromises on its unit economics. We also talk about where the chain is growing and why smaller towns are apparently a recipe for success. Indeed, sometimes they’re too successful. And we also discuss how he started the chain. This is an interesting conversation on A Deeper Dive so please check it out.