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Leadership

Restaurant aid failure exposes a growing lobbying rift

 By Peter Romeo and Heather Lalley on Mar. 25, 2022

The National Restaurant Association and the Independent Restaurant Coalition both pushed for more aid to help the industry during the pandemic. But differing styles and disagreements between the two may have hampered the effort.

Operations

Are fast casuals going through a mid-life crisis?

 By Heather Lalley on Feb. 04, 2022

They’re adding drive-thrus, taking away dining rooms, letting customers order at the table and more; blurring the lines between their segment, quick service, and even casual dining.

Operations

Portillo’s gets ready to debut its first dining room-less restaurant

By Heather Lalley on Jan. 10, 2022

The first Portillo’s Pick Up location, with a triple drive-thru, is slated to open Feb. 1 in Joliet, at a time in which the newly public fast casual is looking for ways to trim its labor usage and its geographic footprint.

Operations

Starbucks will require workers to get vaccinated or tested by February

By Jonathan Maze on Jan. 04, 2022

The coffee giant will “strongly encourage” its employees to get vaccinated by Feb. 9. Those that don’t will have to pay for their own tests.

Financing

Vaccine mandates are causing ‘significant challenges’ for Sweetgreen

By Heather Lalley on Oct. 27, 2021

The fast casual, which submitted its go-public plans this week, said it is having trouble getting workers to submit proof of vaccination, which could lead to layoffs, staffing shortages and potential restaurant closures.

Operations

Freddy’s Frozen Custard is trying to find ways to get faster

By Heather Lalley on Oct. 14, 2021

The fast-casual chain said it plans to expand a test of deploying workers with tablets to its drive-thrus to take orders and payments as it looks to move cars through the line more quickly.

Operations

Dave & Buster’s posts a record-breaking quarter

By Heather Lalley on Sep. 10, 2021

“Our brand is back and we are stronger than ever,” the eatertainment chain’s CEO said Thursday, noting the company has emerged from the pandemic hitting new high watermarks on nearly all financial metrics.

Leadership

Sweetgreen co-founder and CEO apologizes for comments on COVID and obesity

By Heather Lalley on Sep. 08, 2021

Jonathan Neman, whose fast-casual salad chain filed to go public in June, said his earlier statement that called for a tax on processed foods, among other things, was “insensitive and oversimplified.”

Workforce

Shake Shack pauses its 4-day work week test

By Heather Lalley on Sep. 07, 2021

The fast casual had lauded the experiment as a valuable recruitment and retention tool, but blamed COVID for the need to put the program on hold.

Leadership

Sweetgreen co-founder faces backlash after comments linking COVID to poor diet

By Heather Lalley on Sep. 01, 2021

In a now-deleted LinkedIn post, Jonathan Neman, whose salad chain filed to go public in June, linked the pandemic to obesity and called for a ban on “food that is making us sick.”

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