Nation's Restaurant News On the Go #65

Nation's Restaurant News On the Go #65

Ron Ruggless, Senior Editor for NRN here. California on April 1 put into effect the controversial $20 minimum wage for quick-service restaurant workers employed by companies with 60 or more locations, and Nation’s Restaurant News has been following the fallout.

After undergoing multiple revisions and pushback from the restaurant industry. California Gov. Gavin Newsom introduced and got passed Assembly Bill1228, a compromise version of the FAST Act, which increased the minimum wage for fast-food workers from $16 to $20 an hour, instead of the originally proposed $22 an hour.

More recently, the legislation was clarified via AB 610, which carved out some exemptions, including workers in nontraditional restaurant locations like airports, hotels, event centers, theme parks, and corporate campus cafeterias, as colleague Joanna Fantozzi noted.

While the increase in minimum wage for California’s fast-food workers is slated to raise incomes, it also casts shadows of concern across the workforce, according to outside consultants.

Consultant Lisa W. Miller of Dallas-based Lisa W. Miller and Associates penned a Speakbox at Nation’s Restaurant News, that indicated 21% of workers in California are worried about job loss, a figure that stands five points higher than the national average.

“While it is only an early indication, the data suggests a cautious or even skeptical outlook among Californians toward the wage increase,” Miller found. “About half (52%) report they will dine out less frequently if restaurants increase their prices due to higher minimum wages.”

Here’s what else was going on in the restaurant world this week:

California's fast-food wage jump: No laughing matter for consumers

And so it begins. California’s implementation of a landmark increase in minimum wage for fast-food workers from $16 to $20 takes hold today, and it’s far from an April Fools’ jest.

This is a long-debated and highly anticipated move against a backdrop of the state's ongoing economic challenges. From Lisa W. Miller & Associates’ proprietary research, the state of California has already been outpacing economic concerns. Throughout the first quarter of this year, 66% of consumers in California reported pulling back on going out due to high prices, and 69% said getting restaurant food delivered had gotten too expensive. This is compared to 63% and 64%, respectively, of consumers across the country at large.

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Subway to introduce 4 wraps with new lavish-style flatbread

Subway will begin offering a new lineup of wraps, available at restaurants nationwide on April 11, as the brand introduces a new Middle Eastern-inspired lavash-style flatbread, the company announced Thursday.

Subway, which has headquarters divided in Shelton, Conn., and Miami, said it is returning chicken salad to its menu along with the new flatbread wraps.

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What the ASAP/Waitr bankruptcy says about the future of restaurant tech

ASAP, the food delivery service formerly known as Waitr, has shut down after the company filed for Ch. 7 bankruptcy, according to?an 8-K form ?filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on April 2.

Waitr was founded in 2013 as a boutique?delivery platform by students at McNeese University and then was officially launched in 2015 before spreading throughout Louisiana and into other regions. In 2018,?the company was acquired ?by Landry’s owner Tilman Fertitta’s blank check company, Landcadia Holdings Inc., for $308 million.

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Chipotle launches Wordle-inspired digital game for fans to win free burritos

Chipotle is continuing to lean into its digital gamification marketing strategy with the announcement of the new Burrito Vault Game, which gives customers the chance to win free burritos for a year.

The game is inspired by the popular digital word game, Wordle, and challenges fans to decipher two correct burrito order combinations, with four attempts each day on April 2 and 3. The first 50,000 players to guess the correct burrito orders will win a BOGO entrée code for April 4, and all winners will be automatically entered into Chipotle’s National Burrito Day sweepstakes on April 4, where 53 word puzzle winners will be selected to win free burritos for a year.

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22 restaurant executives on the move in March

More women than usual took on new CEO roles last month

March was a big month for the restaurant industry’s C-suites. Most notably, the head of the C-suite, the CEO.

Rob Lynch, known for his impressive turnaround of Papa Johns in the wake of the 2017 John Schnatter scandal, decided to take his talents to another brand. Lynch will be taking over for a CEO who had a 20-year tenure at his current job.

The buzz around the industry last month was the number of female CEOs appointed to new positions, all within the span of one week.

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Meet the 2024 Nation’s Restaurant News MenuMasters Award Winners

Nation’s Restaurant Intelligence has released it’s 2024 Restaurant Technology Outlook

We surveyed nearly 600 restaurant operators to find out about their current tech stack including where will they be focusing investment this year, which areas of the tech stack they find most satisfying, how they measure ROI and more. Hear what they had to say in our newly released Market Leader Report: What’s Next for Restaurant Tech.

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Christel-Silvia Fischer

DER BUNTE VOGEL ?? Internationaler Wissenstransfer - Influencerin bei Corporate Influencer Club | Wirtschaftswissenschaften

7 个月

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