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Food

Princess Cruises charts a new culinary course with Chef Rudi Sodamin at the helm

The head of culinary arts oversees menus and concepts on 17 cruise ships, managing a “United Nations of Chefs” much like a coach does with a football team.

Leadership

Here's where today's big-chain chiefs are learning to lead

Reality Check: Musicians have Julliard, engineers have MIT and doctors have Johns Hopkins. The training grounds emerging as the ideal schools for restaurant CEOs are the big consultancies.

The Bottom Line: Papa Johns, McDonald’s and KFC are so intent on growing in international markets that they’re buying out restaurants.

The Bottom Line: Yum Brands, McDonald’s and Domino’s are all making a big push to accelerate growth. Most of it will come outside the U.S. But they have domestic plans, too.

The Bottom Line: The first unit of McDonald’s opened to long lines in its first two days. The concept proves that the company can get attention. And it’s willing to take some chances.

With beef inflation expected to stick around for the next few years, steakhouses and meat-focused concepts are creating strategies to manage sourcing and the menu. It's all about being flexible.

The Bottom Line: While noting that humans will continue to drive restaurants, the McDonald’s CEO notes that the calculus on automation gets closer as labor costs soar.

The company’s chicken business is “on par” with its beef business as Americans continue to devour more poultry. It plans more chicken products in the coming years.

Chef Brandon Jew takes on the fast-casual challenge of scaling quality food at an accessible price in a Panda Express-dominated segment. But you won't find Chrysanthemum Salad at Panda Express.

The Bottom Line: While plenty of franchises like Subway still want large-scale franchisees, there is a movement to keep their sizes down.

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