Welcome to Restaurant Business’ Week in Review for the week of January 27, 2025.
You’ve heard the joke about a Starbucks opening inside a Starbucks? That just might be CEO Brian Niccol’s game plan as he looks to potentially double the coffee chain’s company-owned store count. In reporting earnings this week, Niccol said Starbucks sees the opportunity to add more than 11,000 coffee shops to the 18,000 already in operation. If successful, that would be a record number of locations for any chain in U.S. history.
In other Starbucks’ news, a federal filing revealed that the chain paid more than $117.3 million in pay, stock awards and bonuses to Niccol and his fired predecessor, Laxman Narasimhan, last year. Niccol alone received a pay package worth $95.8 million, nearly all of which came from sign-on bonuses and stock awards. Narasimhan will get an additional $4.2 million 18 months following his termination.
There aren’t enough superlatives to describe Chili’s performance last quarter. Same-store sales at the bar and grill chain surged more than 31% from October to December. Much has already been written about these eye-popping results, including from Senior Editor Joe Guszkowski, who called it “one of the greatest comebacks in restaurant history” and Editor-in-Chief (and data nerd) Jonathan Maze who noted that “no publicly traded, full-service chain has done anything close to what Chili’s just did,” according to his data, which goes back to 2007.
Casual-dining competitor Red Robin, meanwhile, is also experiencing a comeback—albeit a smaller one. The chain’s North Star improvement plan drove its best performance since early 2023. The burger chain has undergone a transformation over the past couple of years under CEO G.J. Hart, including an overhaul of its burgers, a revamped labor model, performance-based pay for managers and more.
Restaurant operators around the country are quietly expressing concern about immigration sweeps planned by the new Trump administration. RB spoke with experts for tips on dealing with the situation, which include making a plan and ensuring compliance with all documentation. It’s also important to educate everyone on staff on the procedures to follow if U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) shows up, the experts said. As one immigration attorney said, “This is just the beginning.”
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