Jack in the Box

Financing

Sardar Biglari goes after the chairman of Jack in the Box

The Bottom Line: The longtime activist, the burger chain’s largest shareholder, is targeting David Goebel with a “vote no” campaign in one of the restaurant industry’s most unusual proxy fights.

Financing

Jack in the Box enters its 75th anniversary year facing a lot of questions

The Bottom Line: The fast-food burger chain just sold Del Taco after just four years. Its sales are struggling badly. And it faces an activist investor in Sardar Biglari.

Same-store sales at the fast-food burger chain declined 7.4% last quarter as customers came in less often and spent less money when they did. Higher commodities also hit profit margins.

The activist investor Sardar Biglari nominated himself and one other person to the fast-food chain’s board. But then Jack in the Box turned around and added two itself, including the former CEO of Taco Bell.

The Bottom Line: The Del Taco sale, four years after it was acquired, revealed just how much industry thinking has changed over that time. Fast-food chains were supposed to win. But these days they are not.

Jack in the Box and Wendy’s are offering new price promotions as they push back against their rival’s Extra Value Meals. Not everybody is biting, however.

The Bottom Line: By mandating a 15% discount in its combo meals, the fast-food giant will lower prices an average of 4.6 percentage points. But it will also catch up with the discounts its competitors already provide.

The fast-food chain’s same-store sales fell at their highest rate in 15 years as challenges with low-income and Hispanic consumers persist, but the company says it is seeing signs of improvement.

The fast-food chain is making a big push in the Second City. But it comes as the chain is once again closing locations and is on the verge of falling behind high-growth rivals Whataburger and Culver’s.

The investor, whose holdings own 10% of the fast-food chain’s stock, said that he had no intent on influencing Jack in the Box until the company swallowed a poison pill.

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