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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

When will urban markets come back?

 By Jonathan Maze on Oct. 07, 2021

People are moving back to New York City. But not necessarily its offices, says RB's The Bottom Line.

Financing

J. Alexander's shareholders win after a long, weird process

 By Jonathan Maze on Oct. 04, 2021

Shareholders ultimately got the better end of the deal, but it took years, a pandemic and some strange proposals to get there, says RB's The Bottom Line.

Financing

Why sandwich chains struggle so much

By Jonathan Maze on Oct. 01, 2021

Subway, Quiznos and Blimpie were rapidly growing before they met the sandwich curse. The reason for their problems? They depend too much on lunch, says RB’s The Bottom Line.

Financing

5 reasons to be cautious about the restaurant chain recovery

By Jonathan Maze on Sep. 29, 2021

While sales are back up over 2019 levels, even with the latest coronavirus surge, plenty of uncertainties remain about the future, says RB’s The Bottom Line.

Financing

Portillo’s restaurants did massive drive-thru sales during the pandemic

By Jonathan Maze on Sep. 28, 2021

But it also lost more than half of its dine-in sales. Its numbers are a microcosm of the fast-food business that likely is different for good, says RB’s The Bottom Line.

Financing

Even after thousands of closures, Subway still has too many locations

By Jonathan Maze on Sep. 27, 2021

Numbers the company provided last week demonstrate that it is still far off from reconciling the number of locations with demand for its sandwiches, says RB’s The Bottom Line.

Financing

Why chains should hit the pause button on aggressive growth

By Jonathan Maze on Sep. 24, 2021

Executives should consider more caution about development given soaring costs, future uncertainty and more traditional growth dangers, says RB’s The Bottom Line.

Financing

Restaurants head into fall with strong sales and big challenges

By Jonathan Maze on Sep. 20, 2021

Sales have recovered early and valuations are up. Yet the industry continues to face labor and supply challenges, which are driving prices up and could make for a long winter, says RB’s The Bottom Line.

Leadership

A look at Dan Cathy’s incredible tenure at Chick-fil-A

By Jonathan Maze on Sep. 17, 2021

The chain’s soon-to-be-former CEO stumbled into a gay marriage controversy that sticks with the chain to this day, but RB’s The Bottom Line says its devotion to culture and service has been the key to its remarkable growth.

Financing

Restaurants are still playing catchup on technology

By Jonathan Maze on Sep. 16, 2021

The robots and loyalty programs that took center stage at FSTEC have been in place in other industries for some time, says RB’s the Bottom Line.

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