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Financing

Restaurants still look expensive, and consumers are reacting

The Bottom Line: Restaurants have stepped off the pricing gas. But sales are slowing and traffic is weak, and more operators are turning to price promotions.

Operations

Does California just hate restaurants?

Reality Check: The industry's largest state market is about to hit the business, a significant part of its economy, with all sorts of changes and new burdens. What gives?

Tech Check: Grocery is one of the few industries that may be even less techy than foodservice. Instacart wants to help it catch up, and could get a boost from its IPO.

The Bottom Line: Fewer than 200 restaurant chains will be affected by the lowered threshold included in the compromise fast-food legislation.

Atul Sood sees a lot of opportunity in the company's partnerships with Kroger and Circle K, but not so much in its stand-alone ghost kitchens. “You’ll probably see less of those,” he said.

Reality Check: Five weeks of management hell was enough for this industry vet of 47 years.

The Bottom Line: Some executives of franchise chains are also franchisees. “I feel the pain when I make a decision to bring something in.”

The Bottom Line: Fast-food restaurants will have to pay $20 an hour under a compromise reached this week. How will operators pay for it?

Sauce innovation can be a magic bullet that sets a restaurant apart from the competition, especially in the crowded chicken and burger categories.

After years of steady decline, the fast-casual brand appears to be in a death spiral of unpaid bills, legal filings and angry customers. Even in a world as forgiving as restaurants, it may be impossible for the chain to come back.

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