The Bottom Line

Jonathan Maze The Bottom Line

Restaurant Business Executive Editor-in-Chief Jonathan Maze is a longtime industry journalist who writes about restaurant finance, mergers and acquisitions and the economy, with a particular focus on quick-service restaurants. He writes daily about the factors influencing the operating environment, including labor and food costs and various industry trends such as technology and delivery.

Jonathan has been widely quoted in media publications such as the New York Times and the Washington Post and has appeared on CNBC, Yahoo Finance and NPR. He writes a weekly finance-focused newsletter for Restaurant Business, The Bottom Line, and is the host of the weekly podcast “A Deeper Dive.”

Financing

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

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.

Financing

What did the Starbucks CEO expect?

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.

The Bottom Line: The salad chain’s stock rose 34% on Friday after sales and profitability were better than expected. The company’s shares are above its IPO price for the first time in two years.

The Bottom Line: Burger King is spending $550 million to get more of its restaurants remodeled, not counting its own upgraded restaurants. More brands should do this.

The Bottom Line: The coffee shop chain lost momentum quickly in November. That was too fast to be explained by consumer reaction over the prices of its beverages.

The Bottom Line: Wingstop, Raising Cane’s and Jersey Mike’s have broken free from the pack of well-established growth chains. Here’s why this trio stands out.

The Bottom Line: Early earnings from major restaurant chains suggest the consumer has taken a distinct turn for the worse so far in 2024.

The Bottom Line: The coffee shop giant’s sales struggles worsened earlier this year, despite a flurry of efforts to improve operations and employee satisfaction.

The Bottom Line: A combination of rising costs and weakening sales, and more expensive debt, has caused real problems for restaurant chains. But the industry is also really difficult.

The Bottom Line: The chain continued to be a juggernaut last quarter, with strong sales and traffic growth, despite frequent social media complaints about shrinkflation or other challenges.

  • Page 4