This is from the weekly restaurant finance newsletter The Bottom Line. To get this in your inbox every Monday morning, click here.
The first quarter earnings season has begun in earnest and good luck trying to find a pattern so far.
Taco Bell did great. Chipotle squeezed through some surprise transaction growth. Starbucks is coming back. Chili’s comped positive over a 31% number from a year ago. The Cheesecake Factory surprised. But Domino’s disappointed. And Wingstop was a disaster.
(Actually, we can point to one trend: Protein. Both Starbucks and Chipotle did well by pushing protein-infused items, so the industry’s current obsession with it will be unlikely to end anytime soon.)
The economy, as it has done for a long time now, is not treating everybody fairly. And lower-income consumers are choosier than ever, because they are eating out less often, so they want something good when they do.
Taco Bell has been able to get those folks to its restaurants with such consistency that it’s scary. Starbucks tapped into that group for its strong quarter. Wingstop, on the other hand appears to be losing them.
Wide gaps in performance have been commonplace over the past couple of years as consumers have cut back. And that has apparently not changed in 2026.
This week’s financial news
Every Fat Brands concept has been sold, though most of them were bought by lenders, and we don’t know who those lenders are yet.
Well, one concept didn’t get sold and has been shut down.
I did an interview with the CEO of Sysco who said he has no plans to destroy Restaurant Depot.
Refreshers are a $2 billion brand for Starbucks so it’s not all that worried that 6,000 or so restaurant chains have started serving them.They helped drive Starbucks’ big quarter.
Will Subway’s newest value offer work? Franchisee views are mixed.
Hooters has officially kicked off its comeback.
Can Chili’s keep it up? Kevin Hochman has plans.
Good luck finding same-store sales for KFC U.S., because Yum Brands doesn’t break them out anymore.
Maybe Yum should sell Pizza Hut.
Number of the week
Pizza Hut has the lowest average-unit volumes among the major pizza chains, which is why the brand is having problems. Or maybe its problems have created that AUV issue. Regardless, this chart explains why the chain is for sale.
Quote of the week
“We will absolutely not be raising prices at Restaurant Depot.” -Sysco CEO Kevin Hourican, to me.
On the blog
I wrote about Smokey Bones, Pizza Hut, KFC U.S. and Subway’s latest value offer. Check out all my blog posts on The Bottom Line.
On the podcasts
On A Deeper Dive I spoke with Austin Titus about franchising. On The Week in Restaurants we talked Subway, Starbucks and Chili’s.
For questions, comments or story ideas, send me an email at jonathan.maze@informa.com. And follow me on Twitter at @jonathanmaze. And also LinkedIn. And TikTok.