Biography

Jonathan Maze

Editor-in-Chief

 Contact Jonathan

Restaurant Business Editor-in-Chief Jonathan Maze is a longtime industry journalist who writes about restaurant finance, mergers and acquisitions and the economy, with a particular focus on quick-service restaurants. He writes daily about the factors influencing the operating environment, including labor and food costs and various industry trends such as technology and delivery.

Jonathan has been widely quoted in media publications such as the New York Times and the Washington Post and has appeared on CNBC, Yahoo Finance and NPR. He writes a weekly finance-focused newsletter for Restaurant Business, The Bottom Line, and is the host of the weekly podcast “A Deeper Dive.”

Articles by
Jonathan Maze

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Leadership

Whataburger enters a new era

Ed Nelson guided the venerable Texas-based burger chain through its transition to new ownership and the pandemic. He now prepares to hand over control to Debbie Stroud.

Marketing

McDonald's is extending its $5 Meal Deal through December

The company said its bundled value offer will be available through December. But it is also planning more deals this fall.

Prices for food away from home have increased at a rate faster than prices for food at home for more than a year. That trend continued last month.

The food-and-games chain improved profitability last quarter, despite a sales environment executives described as “complex and challenging.”

A Deeper Dive: Mathew Focht, managing partner of the investment fund Emerging, joins the podcast to talk about the spinoff of the golf-and-food concept and what it means for the burgeoning sector.

The owner of its flagship burger brand and Anthony’s Coal-Fired Pizza has been struggling with deepening losses in recent months.

The Bottom Line: Brian Niccol’s early vision for his new company included an important comment: “We won’t let others define who we are.” That’s a key change for the coffee shop giant.

The coffee shop chain’s new CEO, on his second day in the job, is promising improvements to operations and marketing. “We’re getting back to Starbucks.”

The Bottom Line: Hostmore, the U.K. franchisee that has backed off its purchase of the casual-dining chain, cannot sell its restaurants for their debt. Welcome to the modern market for restaurant mergers and acquisitions.

An attorney for the sandwich giant’s franchise association told the company to stop threatening operators with termination over the company’s new Pepsi contract.

Nearly 90% of operators said in the International Franchise Association’s annual franchisee survey that inflation continues to impact their operations. And more say customers are reacting to higher prices.

The U.K.-based operator backed off after the casual-dining chain lost control of its assets. The news sent Hostmore's shares down 91%.

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