Walmart just made Dunkin' the second chain on its delivery app, going straight after DoorDash and Uber Eats. Pizza Hut has new owners, Uber is cutting a tenth of its staff, and Chick-fil-A is closing out a five-year kitchen experiment. Here's what each move means for foodservice operators watching who's really in control this week.
Tariffs eased just as beef prices hit records, a two-week takeover bid for Wendy's quietly died, and Starbucks baristas picked the worst possible week for a boycott. Independent restaurants, meanwhile, are quietly outgrowing the chains that were supposed to squeeze them out. Here's what mattered in foodservice this week.
July restaurant sales rose for a fourth straight month, and the industry used the week to redo its math. New IRS overtime rules landed squarely on employers, Pizza Hut’s global CEO stepped aside before a private equity close, and Denny’s opened a national catering channel with ezCater. Wonder put delivery robots on Grubhub, and Panera handed 70 million members a points system.
Restaurants shed jobs for a second straight month, and the week's biggest moves all point the same direction: take it in-house. Nelson Peltz is assembling a bid to pull Wendy's off the public market. Cava grew traffic 5.3%, c-stores launched their own soda and coffee brands, and a St. Louis salad shop is growing lettuce next to the dining room.
Guest counts are falling, and the industry is placing very different bets on how to win them back. Dutch Bros is buying the drive-thrus a bankrupt salad chain left behind, Bain Capital is buying bubble tea, and McDonald’s just changed U.S. leadership. Five stories, five strategies, one shared problem.
Earnings season hit the restaurant industry hard this week, and the numbers show who's built to withstand a shock. Starbucks and Chipotle both delivered, Jersey Mike's finally went public, and KFC Canada bet big on a new drink brand. Here's what operators need to know.
This week brought a run of industry firsts: the biggest restaurant IPO in 20 years, a hot dog chain's debut on a military base, and a new deadline threatening the THC drink boom. We break down what each means for operators and brands watching from the sidelines.
The winners and the strugglers pulled further apart this week. Wonder raised $650 million to expand its robot-run kitchens, while MTY moved to close up to 50 Papa Murphy’s and a 60-store Hardee’s operator filed for bankruptcy. Rising costs and Panera’s new Sip Club cap fill in the rest of the picture.
The June jobs report wiped out the industry’s summer hiring, and fast-food traffic kept sliding. So what did the smart operators do? They automated the drive-thru, hired a tech chief, cut store-build costs, and let a perfect peach do the upselling.
America’s 250th birthday and the restaurant industry are colliding in a week of record cookout costs, nostalgia plays, and some of the most distinctly American LTOs in recent memory. From McDonald’s fried apple pie to Portillo’s Char’diniera Dog to Sonic’s $2.50 everything, the industry is leaning hard into the moment. Here’s what operators need to know heading into the holiday weekend.
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