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Financing

Red Lobster gives private equity another black eye

 By Jonathan Maze on May 22, 2024

The Bottom Line: The role a giant sale-leaseback had in the bankruptcy filing of the seafood chain has drawn more criticism of the investment firms' financial engineering. The criticism is well-earned.

Financing

Brands need to think creatively as the industry heads into a value war

 By Jonathan Maze on May 21, 2024

The Bottom Line: Giving customers meal options they can afford will be key to generating traffic this year. But make sure those offers can generate a profit.

Financing

The Red Lobster bankruptcy is a seminal moment for the restaurant business

By Jonathan Maze on May 20, 2024

The Bottom Line: The seafood chain’s bankruptcy declaration was not surprising after months of closures and Endless Shrimp recriminations. But that doesn’t make it any less notable.

Financing

How Popeyes changed the chicken business

By Jonathan Maze on May 17, 2024

How did a once-struggling, regional bone-in chicken chain overtake KFC, the formerly dominant player in the U.S. market? With a fixation on sandwiches and many more new restaurants.

Workforce

The White House has ideas about how all that AI on the Show floor should be used

By Peter Romeo on May 17, 2024

Reality Check: President Biden issued a set of guidelines Thursday for protecting workers from the digital onslaught.

Financing

Get ready for a summertime value war

By Jonathan Maze on May 17, 2024

The Bottom Line: With more customers opting to eat at home, rather than at restaurants, more fast-food chains will start pushing value this summer.

Financing

Here's the big problem with all these $5 meal deals

By Jonathan Maze on May 15, 2024

The Bottom Line: With McDonald’s planning a $5 value meal of its own, more brands are already jumping onto the bandwagon. But not everybody will pay $5.

Food

Inside Chili's quest to craft a value-priced burger that could take on McDonald's

By Patricia Cobe on May 15, 2024

Behind the Menu: How the casual-dining chain smashes expectations with a winning combination of familiarity and price with its new Big Smasher burger.

Financing

What did the Starbucks CEO expect?

By Jonathan Maze on May 14, 2024

The Bottom Line: Howard Schultz needed just one bad quarter to make public his displeasure with the coffee shop chain. But the stage was set for that two years ago.

Financing

Here's a business tool to keep restaurant executives employed after a tough Q1

By Peter Romeo on May 10, 2024

Reality Check: The first three months of 2024 weren’t easy on restaurant chains, but spin-doctoring proved to be. Indeed, there must have been a run on shovels.

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