Financing

How your restaurant sales and profits compare to competitors' and what you can do to improve financial performance

Financing

In California, jobs are up, but traffic is down

The Bottom Line: Limited-service restaurants have not cut jobs in California, despite the $20 fast-food wage. But that doesn't mean it hasn't had an impact.

Financing

3 fast-casual CEOs on the high cost of fast food

There's been a lot of talk lately about high QSR pricing, and the leaders of Portillo's, Sweetgreen and Cava are pretty happy with that. It makes the fast-casual space look good.

The fast-casual chain, working its way through sales and profitability challenges, gave a board seat to an activist investor. But that’s not the only activist it has.

The Bottom Line: How has the makeup of the Top 500 restaurant chains changed over the past five years? Hint: They're a lot more fast casual, and a lot less full service.

The data firm, a sister company of Restaurant Business, has revised down its sales expectations by 1.5 percentage points. Can a value war bring some of that traffic back?

Jeff Crivello has been buying up brands like Cowboy Jack's this year. He is now turning to the two struggling fast-casual chains after acquiring their debt, giving him a good chance to buy both.

The coffee shop chain in July plans to open its app to everybody, not just Starbucks Rewards members. But it is already promoting its value there as it works to rebuild sales from occasional customers.

A six-unit operator with locations in Texas and Minnesota closed its locations and filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, citing continued losses.

Several restaurant chains, notably Starbucks, are navigating weak spending and increasing competition in the fast-growing market. But they remain bullish on its future.

The segment and its sub-sectors like the buffets market haven't had an easy time post-pandemic, prompting many members of the old guard to arm themselves with shiny new upstarts as future growth vehicles. But there's still plenty of effort being spent on helping the longtime leaders keep their footing, as this look at the Top 10 shows.

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