Quick programming note: there will be no Restaurant Weekly next week. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
3 NUMBERS
Hour-long waits experienced by some customers at In-N-Out’s first Idaho location, which opened in the city of Meridian last Tuesday. Hundreds of customers were already in line when the store — In-N-Out’s 400th nationwide — opened early at 9 a.m. (For anyone currently designing a Chick-fil-A, here’s some useful drone footage from the Meridian opening day, showing how you can fit a 300-car drive-thru stack in a parking lot.)
Percentage of Gen Zers who say they struggle with “menu anxiety,” according to a new survey by noted analytics firm, erm, Prezzo Italian Restaurant. What triggers this most debilitating of anxieties? The cost of a meal, as well as fear that they’ll not find something they want to eat, or that they’ll regret ordering the wrong thing. Also— in a major blow for the Cheesecake Factory — “having too many options on a menu.”
Number of coffee shops now open in China, which just unseated the U.S. for the title of “most branded coffee outlets in the world.” China added over 18,000 new coffee shops in the past 12 months — representing a 58% increase. The expansion has been led by two companies that make Crumbl’s development team look like slackers: Cotti Coffee, which added 6,004 new stores in the past year, and Luckin Coffee, which added 5,059. (Luckin, which is just three years removed from a fraudulent accounting scandal, has made a dramatic comeback, overtaking Starbucks last quarter to become China’s highest-grossing coffee chain.)
Quick Hits
- Darden Restaurants reported a strong fiscal second quarter last week: Overall same-store-sales rose 2.8%, and the company beat the consensus earnings estimates thanks to what CEO Rick Cardenas called a “resilient, but more selective consumer.” Perhaps in a confusing economic time, people are taking comfort in the certainty of endless breadsticks — Olive Garden was Darden’s top performer, with year-over-year sales increasing by 4.1%.
- Whataburger unveiled “Whatawings,” becoming the latest QSR to begin serving wings via drive-thru. The wings (which, unlike Popeyes’ permanent menu addition, is being advertised as a limited-time-offer) come in buffalo, sweet-and-sour, and honey barbecue flavors, and will hit stores in January.
- Newk’s Eatery has been purchased by FSC Franchising, the parent company of Beef O’ Brady’s and The Brass Tap. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but FSC did give some details on its investment rationale, saying that it sees Newks’ Southeastern footprint as complementary to its other brands. The franchisor also plans on giving its current franchisees the opportunity to become multi-concept operators by adding Newk’s to their portfolio.
- Speaking of M&A: Chuck E. Cheese may be up for grabs. According to a report by Reuters, CEC Entertainment, the parent company of Chuck E. Cheese, is working with Goldman Sachs on a potential sale that could fetch over $1 billion. Chuck E. Cheese has recovered from its 2020 Covid-related bankruptcy to hit 2023 revenue and EBITDA numbers of $1.2 billion and $195 million, respectively. (Perhaps as an enticement to potential suitors, the company unveiled its first-ever “Grown-Up Menu” this week, featuring the pretty delicious-sounding “Homestyle BBQ Chicken Pizza.”)
- New York lawmakers “introduced a bill last week that would require restaurants operating in a travel plaza along the state’s Thruway system to be open seven days a week.” Chick-fil-A, which operates in nine travel plazas along the Thruway, is somewhat well-known for not being open seven days a week, and would be the only chain restaurant impacted by the law. (Note: according to a story by ABC’s Albany affiliate News 10, the bill pertains to future restaurant contracts, and Chick-fil-A recently signed a 33-year contract.)
- Do you have a resolution to gain more muscle in the new year? Perhaps you should supplement your workouts with “Dunkin’ Glazed Donut-flavored protein powder,” available now on Amazon and other fine retailers. (Not an ad. Just wanted to make everyone aware.)
- Underground lunch delivery trains began serving sandwiches this week to customers in the Atlanta suburbs, thanks to a system created by the logistics startup Pipedream Labs (great name, btw). Pipedream uses small, battery-powered autonomous vehicles to deliver meals that travel on underground tracks, ultimately ending up in a drawer for customer pickup. (Interestingly, the entire infrastructure took eight months to build, which seems pretty quick for a project that involves digging under streets?)
- McDonalds’ Investor Day earlier this month was an action-packed affair — the company formally introduced CosMc’s, an AI chatbot, and plans to open 9,000 restaurants in the next three years. We’re all forgiven then for missing this crazy stat: McDonald’s now generates $16 billion in global delivery sales, which is more than any other QSR chain, including, as Restaurant Business points out, delivery stalwart Domino’s.
Name That Chain!
You get three guesses to name this week’s mystery chain:
- This chain was the first American casual-dining to open in Moscow, Russia
- It began as a popular singles bar in NYC
- In 2013, it gave its logo a more “contemporary feel” by dropping the apostrophe from its name
Stay tuned… the answer will be in the next issue of the newsletter.
Last issue’s answer: Jersey Mike’s
#Content Recs
- Ignore Keith Lee at your own peril: The former MMA fighter is probably the most influential food critic in America. His reviews — which are sent to 15 million TikTok followers — have the power to make or break a restaurant, and his recent tours of Atlanta and NYC put both cities’ food scenes on high alert. Eater has more in this excellent deep dive into the Keith Lee phenomenon.
- The WSJ zooms out on the CosMc’s phenomenon to break down the broader QSR shift toward cold brew and energy drinks, driven partly by changing consumer tastes, and certainly not hurt by custom drinks’ attractive profit margins.
- Speaking of which, soda concept Swig is now projecting 500 committed franchise units and 70 corporately-owned stores by the end of the year. QSR has more details on the chain’s growth plans.
- Frankenmuth, Michigan is a town of 5,000 that boasts two of the highest-volume restaurants in the country. Learn more about Zehnder’s and the Bavarian Inn in this illuminating story by Restaurant Business’s Lisa Jennings.
- This is an interesting podcast interview with Sweetgreen co-founder Nicolas Jammet, touching on the automated Infinite Kitchens and why the chain decided to eliminate seed oils.
- Wendy’s took a cue from Spotify to release “Wendy’s Unwrapped,” a list of the most ordered items from 2023.
- Absolutely fascinating WSJ obituary on George Cohon, the man who spent 14 years bringing McDonald’s to the Soviet Union. (My favorite part: “In 1993, Russian President Boris Yeltsin visited McDonald’s and asked Cohon how much one of the Russian managers of the restaurant earned. Yeltsin was stunned to learn it was more than he did. ‘She’s got a very tough job,’ Cohon explained.)
International Corner!
In an attempt to spur the imaginations of fast-food R&D departments across America, each week I’ll highlight an international item that should warrant menu consideration in the States.
This week: HOT DOG SNACK WRAP
If you ever find yourself hungry in Seoul, and you’re willing to part with 2400 South Korean won (about $1.85), you can probably do worse than buying this, via The Daily Meal:
“McDonalds’ hot dog snack wrap consists of a hot dog sausage,?bacon, lettuce, and smoky bacon sauce, all wrapped tightly inside a tortilla. The sauce has been described as a cross between mustard and mayonnaise?and lightly spiced with a touch of sourness, while the sausage is said to be tender and chewy.
“The intriguing hot dog snack wrap in South Korea was introduced [in early 2022] as part of a ‘Happy Snack’ menu.”
Don’t see many chains creatively using hot dogs these days. Poised for a comeback?
Director of Leadership Development at Chick-fil-A Franchise
1 年That drive thru stack is inspiring, and a little terrifying.