Financing

How restaurants can get creative to help people and survive the shutdown

Randy Dewitt, CEO of Front Burner Restaurants, joins this week’s episode of “A Deeper Dive” to talk about his company’s response to the coronavirus.

Randy Dewitt is trying to make good of a tough situation.

This week’s edition of the Restaurant Business podcast “A Deeper Dive” features the CEO of Front Burner Restaurants, operator of brands such as Whiskey Cake, Legacy Hall, Mexican Sugar, Haywire and The Ranch.

randy dewitt

Randy Dewitt

Front Burner created another concept in the midst of all this: Furlough Kitchen, a nonprofit organization that provides meals to hospitality workers who’ve lost their jobs in recent weeks. Dewitt talks about that effort and other ways his company has responded to the coronavirus shutdown.

He also talks about what he expects will change coming out of the shutdown.

Please have a listen. And subscribe to “A Deeper Dive” on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Members help make our journalism possible. Become a Restaurant Business member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.

Multimedia

Exclusive Content

Financing

Despite their complaints, customers keep flocking to Chipotle

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.

Operations

Hitting resistance elsewhere, ghost kitchens and virtual concepts find a happy home in family dining

Reality Check: Old-guard chains are finding the alternative operations to be persistently effective side hustles.

Financing

The Tijuana Flats bankruptcy highlights the dangers of menu miscues

The Bottom Line: The fast-casual chain’s problems following new menu debuts in 2021 and 2022 show that adding new items isn’t always the right idea.

Trending

More from our partners