The chain’s new “From Wisconsin With Love” ads come along with a 17-city food truck tour with cheese curds and frozen custard . . . .

Culver’s is taking  Wisconsin on the road through its new campaign

Craig Culver likes to believe that his burger chain Culver’s has exported a piece of Wisconsin around the country as it has expanded over the years. Now the company is making that clear in its new ad campaign.

The Prairie Du Sac, Wis.-based chain is kicking off a new campaign this week called “From Wisconsin With Love.” It features several new television spots and a 17-city food truck tour, some of which will involve Culver himself. The theme is about bringing some of what’s good about Wisconsin to other parts of the country.

“We’re taking Wisconsin on the road, so to speak,” Culver said in an interview. “We’ve exported a lot of people out of Wisconsin—especially when we decide to go to Florida and Arizona.”

The idea behind the television spots is to highlight the chain’s hospitality. The first ad features scenes of farm fields with customers getting together for made-to-order items from Culver’s menu. Craig Culver narrates the commercial and is seen scooping frozen custard in 1984. Culver co-founded the chain nearly 40 years ago.

“I’m a Wisconsinite,” Culver said. “When I think of Wisconsin I think of cheese. I think of dairy. That’s our custard. I think of high-quality things. That’s what we’ve been for years and years.”

But what gets Culver most excited is the food truck, which will give out free cheese curds and frozen custard. “I wanted a food truck for a long time,” he said. “We just never got it done. It’s so cool to see this thing. It’s a great piece of marketing for us.

“It’s like the old Wienermobile from Oscar Meyer.”

The plan is to take the food truck to 17 cities total, 16 of which are planned. It starts this week in Indianapolis and then features several cities where the chain has expanded in recent years, including Tampa, Phoenix, and Atlanta—though, Culver notes, “we don’t have a great presence there yet.” Customers can vote on the 17th city for the food truck tour in the “From Wisconsin With Love Sweepstakes.” The contest runs from now through June 5.

For Culver’s, it’s an opportunity to build on a strong couple of years. System sales at the chain have grown 39% over the past two years, somewhat surprising given that the chain has long had a strong dine-in presence. But its drive-thrus grew more popular during the pandemic and customers frequently lined up at them for a Butterburger or frozen custard. Culver’s has more than 850 restaurants in 25 states.

“Fortunately we had a drive-thru,” Culver said. “They had to learn a new way to do business. And we did a lot of business. We had a record year in 2020. We opened 50 restaurants. We finished with comp sales up 6%. That carried over into 2021.”

That has carried over into 2022, he said, though “I do see things slowing down right now. It concerns me. Like the pandemic, you’ve got so many things going against you,” he said. “Inflation is terrible. The supply chain is a struggle. I worry about this year a little bit.”

Still, Culver is enthusiastic about the food truck tour and the new ad campaign, which will take hold all year on television, social media, digital, radio and billboards.

“It’s expanding on our brand, but we’ll also have fun doing it,” said Culver, who will be on nine of the 17 food truck stops. “It’ll be a fun thing for me, as well as our team members in the support center. We hope to have a lot of those people visit.” – Source: Restaurant Business.

Featuring music from the stars of “Bridgerton: The Musical” and starring Dolly Parton, this TikTok performance debuts on May 26 . . . .

Everyone Get Ready for Taco Bell’s “Mexican Pizza: The Musical”

Following in the steps of “Ratatouille: The Musical,” Taco Bell will be debuting its own musical on TikTok, this time featuring its own Mexican Pizza … and Dolly Parton. “Mexican Pizza: The Musical” was inspired by fan’s reactions to Doja Cat — the rapper who was able to bring the pizza back to Taco Bell’s menu through a TikTok rap — and TikTok star Victor Kunda, who went viral for his comic interpretation of what a Taco Bell Mexican Pizza musical rehearsal would look like. This led the quick-service Mexican chain to produce a real musical for TikTok set to go live on May 26 at 8 p.m. ET starring country music legend Dolly Parton. Written by Hannah Friedman, the music will be written by Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear, the Grammy-award-winning songwriting duo responsible for “Bridgerton: The Musical” on TikTok.

Taco Bell’s musical is a satire about the “harrowing” story of those who fought to bring back the Mexican Pizza, including Doja Cat herself.

Mexican Pizza will be returning to menus nationwide on May 19 with rewards members gaining early access starting May 17.  – Source: NRN.

1,000 locations within the next few months . . . .

IHOP Ramps Up Expansion of Virtual Brands

As IHOP exits the pandemic, it remains focused on delivering multiple restaurant formats that drive significant, incremental revenue with lower capital commitments.

Last year, the breakfast chain achieved this goal through the long-awaited debut of Flip’d by IHOP, its fast-casual spinoff. The rising concept currently has two stores in Lawrence, Kansas, and New York City. The company is also testing a smaller prototype, investing in ghost kitchens, and diving further into economically priced conversions.

But in terms of scale and pace of growth, there may not be a better opportunity than the expansion of virtual brands Thrilled Cheese and Super Mega Dilla. The digital-only concepts are available in 280 restaurants, up from 80 stores at the end of the first quarter. IHOP is on track to implement the virtual concepts in roughly 1,000 locations in the next several months, which is about 60 percent of the chain’s U.S. footprint.

In the first round of tests, Thrilled Cheese and Super Mega Dilla earned around $1,000 per week per restaurant.

“On our virtual brands, we’re really excited about the way this has begun,” IHOP President Jay Johns said during the company’s Q1 earnings call. “It’s a little soon to be able to predict what’s going to happen as we expand in more and more restaurants. But we’re still very bullish on the way this looks.”

Both brands were crafted in partnership with Nextbite, a company that supplies delivery-only concepts to restaurants nationwide. Thrilled Cheese and Super Mega Dilla are available through Uber Eats and DoorDash.

Johns believes virtual concepts could be the key to most of IHOP’s domestic footprint returning to 24/7 operations. Sales from these brands mostly come in the evening, and those incremental dollars could give franchisees more of a reason to stay open later.

“Franchisees have to make a P&L decision on, is it worth being open overnight in a market,” Johns said. ” … To get [a cook] to work overnight, you may pay [$25 per hour]. … Well, if I can get a virtual brand going, now it makes much more sense to also open up the IHOP business and do both of them at once. So the more [virtual brands] we can get that out there, I think the more that will also help our overnight business.”

IHOP’s same-store sales increased 18.1 percent in Q1, driven by positive comps in all-dayparts, especially late-night and breakfast. January’s comps grew 24.9 percent and February’s lifted 28 percent. March’s same-store sales increased only 7.5 percent as IHOP lapped the strongest month of Q1 2021.

“We’ve got opportunities, I think, across the board to continue to work on our comp sales as we move forward,” Johns said. “Breakfast has actually recovered more than any other daypart for us right now, though. So breakfast is strong. And as you think about it, that’s what we’re most known for. It’s probably what our guests were missing the most about IHOP if they hadn’t been in a long time.”

Average weekly sales in Q1 were $36,000 per week per restaurant ($1.87 million annualized AUV), up 19 percent year-over-year. The metric reached a weekly high of $41,000 ($2.13 million annualized AUV) in March, which is more than what IHOP saw in any week during the month last year.

Dine-in accounted for 75.4 percent of sales, while off-premises mixed 24.6 percent. Of the latter number, 15.3 percent was delivery and 9.3 percent was takeout. Off-premises average weekly sales per restaurant were roughly $8,900, still more than double pre-pandemic levels. The business was recently boosted by the implementation of Flybuy, a company that allows curbside customers to notify restaurants when they’re in the parking lot.

Also in Q1, IHOP rolled out its first loyalty program, International Bank of Pancakes. Customers can buy food and earn PanCoins, a digital currency used to redeem exclusive rewards and prizes.

“This is a true earn-and-burn program, designed to enhance our direct relationship with our guests and ultimately drive additional visits to IHOP,” Johns said. “The program is a one-of-a-kind and first in our category.”

IHOP franchisees opened 10 stores in Q1, including eight in the U.S. The company finished the quarter with 1,661 U.S. restaurants and 95 units internationally. – Source: FSR.

This plant-based chain is positioned as the less-processed alternative protein. With celebrity backing and plans to disrupt the already disrupted world of plant-based proteins . . . .

U.K.-based Neat Burger arrives in New York City with backing from Leonardo DiCaprio.

U.K.-based Neat Food Co. has arrived in New York City to plot rapid growth across the U.S. If old-fashioned veggie burgers were the first generation of the plant-based movement, the arrival of the truly meat-like Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat was the 2.0 version. Now Neat Burger — as the restaurant concept is named — aims to bring a 3.0 iteration, said Tommaso Chiabra, co-founder and chair of Neat Food Co., which operates 11 fast-casual restaurants in the U.K. The first U.S. location of Neat Burger opened as a popup in Manhattan in April, and at least three brick-and-mortar units are scheduled to open there this year, with another 10 to 15 outlets operating out of ghost kitchens for delivery or pickup only. Globally, the company is gunning to reach 42 units by the end of the year, 436 by the end of 2026, and 1,000 by 2030, primarily company-owned.

The company has launched a Series B fundraise primarily with U.S. investors following a $70 million funding round last year led by SoftBank’s Rajeev Misra. Strategic investors include actor/environmentalist Leonardo DiCaprio and race car driver Lewis Hamilton, who both serve as ambassadors to raise brand awareness.

Chiabra, who was also an early investor in Los Angeles-based Beyond Meat, said Neat Foods is positioning as less-processed alternative meat that returns to the use of more natural ingredients, targeting an audience that sees Impossible and Beyond as more the product of a lab than a kitchen.

Still, when Neat Burger first launched in the U.K. in 2019, the burger was developed in collaboration with Beyond Meat. Last year, however, the company’s in-house food scientists transitioned to a proprietary patty that was lower in fat and has a manufacturing process that “gives remarkably life-like consistency and texture,” according to press materials. Neat’s in-house team also developed the fish filet and other products on the menu.

Neat’s products are built around pea protein, quinoa, and fruit extracts, said Chiabra. “We definitely don’t use the more chemical ingredients,” he said. “That’s not saying what the others are doing is wrong, but it’s about what we do right.”

Neat is also plotting growth as a hybrid restaurant/CPG brand, creating awareness with its brick-and-mortar and delivery-only outlets that will pave the way for a  lineup of consumer products soon to appear in grocery stores.

“What we’re doing is engaging with consumers, creating an experience where we help people transition to a flexitarian lifestyle,” said Chiabra. “We are huge believers that there will be a strong shift in consumption, and, in my opinion, there’s not enough product.”

On the menu are not only plant-based burgers, but meat-free versions of chicken, nuggets, hot dogs, and a fish filet. Chiabra said a shellfish alternative is coming later this year.

The core plant-based Smashburger is priced at $11.99, with fries at $3.99 and a hot dog at $9.99, he said.

The company has also brought in former Le Pain Quotidien CEO Vincent Herbert as CEO of Neat Burger USA.

In a statement, Herbert said, “Neat is leading the way in developing and creating award-winning food to appeal to all tastes; vegetarian, vegan or flexitarian. I am excited to help Neat become the dominant global player in this nascent but hugely important new market.”

Chiabra said growth in the U.S. will be company-owned, though Neat is looking at some strategic joint partnerships, including one in the Middle East. Franchising could come later, but there are no immediate plans.

Meanwhile, Neat Burger joins a space that is becoming increasingly crowded with meat-free offerings, from Spike Mendelsohn’s PLNT, to the Canada-based Odd Burger, which also has sights set on U.S. growth. – Source: NRN.

Starbucks touts vitamin C-infused Baya energy drink as ‘energy that’s good’ . .  .  .

Starbucks Aims to Vibe with a Younger Audience in its Latest ad Campaign

Starbucks is commemorating its entrance into the competitive energy drink category with a new ad campaign called ‘Energy that’s good.’ Launching today, the campaign “celebrates the feel-good energy of Starbucks Baya Energy drink,” per a statement from the brand.

By combining a sizable dose of caffeine (160 mg) with vitamin C, Starbucks’s new energy drink is positioned to appeal to a younger consumer base that’s increasingly concerned about health and wellness – especially in the aftermath of the pandemic, when immune health is very much on people’s minds.

The new campaign, created by BBDO, shows a young woman who, after taking a sip of Starbucks Baya Energy, proceeds to groove and rollerskate her way through a metropolitan area, surrounded by similarly young and fashion-forward pedestrians. An upbeat song – fittingly called Happy All The Time – blares in the background, catchy enough that even the protagonist’s pineapple-shaped earrings come to life and start singing.

The new campaign was derived “from the insight that when you are full of good energy, it comes through in all you do,” BBDO said in a statement. It’s being rolled out in phases throughout the spring and summer of this year, and in addition to the TV, the spot will include pushes on social and digital, as well as influencer partnerships.

Starbucks will also be promoting its new energy drink with a “nationwide sampling tour,” which kicked off in April.

“When introducing the new Starbucks Baya Energy to customers we wanted a creative campaign that highlights the refreshing, fruit-flavored boost of feel-good energy – as well as the uplifting vibe that only Starbucks can deliver from caffeine naturally found in coffee fruit,” Jenn Wong, vice-president of channel development at Starbucks, said in a statement. “We’re thrilled with how the campaign turned out and can’t wait to see our customers’ response.”  — The Drum.

Yolk’s breakfast-all-day model has served it well during the pandemic. . . .

Meet this Chicago-Based Brunch Brand Planning its Expansion for a Post-Pandemic World

Breakfast all day, what could be better? That’s the idea that the restaurant Yolk was founded on back in 2006. The breakfast concept, with 16 locations in Illinois, Florida, Texas and Indiana, is open daily from 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and serves breakfast all day. The concept got its start in downtown Chicago. The restaurant’s most popular dish is eggs benedict with a hollandaise sauce, the recipe for which has been passed down in the owner’s family for 40 years. Other favorites include the red velvet French toast and the cinnamon roll French toast, both developed in the chain’s test kitchen, located in Chicago.

It may seem strange for a chain this small to have a test kitchen, but it just works for Yolk.

“We wanted to stay relevant and grow and keep up with customer demands and the kind of trends that were happening in the industry,” said Yolk’s director of marketing and communications Gianluca Pesce. “We have locations in Texas, and Florida. Indiana and Chicago, so they’re not exactly close [to each other]. When you’re spread thin, it’s hard to implement new things without having to test them first.”

The test kitchen was developed when the chain had around a dozen locations and has been churning out recipes ever since.

“But it’s something we’re proud of, to be where we really are. We started with the idea [that] we wanted the community’s feedback, we wanted the people to come in and tell us, ‘Hey, we love this’ or ‘Hey, we hate this,’ and let them influence where we go in the future,” Pesce said.

The test kitchen also functions as a working unit, complete with Yolk’s first coffee bar. CEO and founder Taki Kastanis wanted to invest in the chain’s coffee program just before the pandemic began.

When branching out into the suburbs, this city-focused brand used ghost kitchens to test new markets first before making the leap and buying real estate. Yolk opened its newest location, in the Chicago suburb Burr Ridge, during the pandemic, despite having to close two other units.

“We were getting lots of orders [through the ghost kitchens] and that helped us stay afloat,” Pesce said.

Yolk doesn’t plan to use the ghost kitchen model to expand post-pandemic.

“Now that the pandemic is behind us, our expansion plans have kind of returned to what they were pre-pandemic, which is just opening up physical locations,” Pesce said.

The Burr Ridge location is standard at 4,500 square feet and seats about 175 people inside and 45 people outside. Unique to this location is a walk-up coffee bar accessible from both the interior and exterior of the unit.

This year, Yolk plans to open two more South Florida units and another in the Dallas-Fort Worth market. – Source: NRN.

Panera Bread on how to make your technology easy, frictionless and relevant

Be everywhere your customers want you to be, and make your technology easy enough for any guest to use, Panera chief digital officer George Hanson said

Panera Bread has quickly positioned itself as one of the premier technology leaders in the restaurant industry, pioneering such technologies as geofencing for mobile pickup orders, coffee-brewing robots, and the newest contactless dine-in features. But the bakery-café chain is very careful with what technologies it introduces: it has to be easy, frictionless, and relevant to guests, Panera senior vice president, chief digital officer George Hanson said on Wednesday during the CREATE digital deep-dive session, “New Frontiers in Restaurant Tech.”

“We’re constantly thinking about how we can increase relevance and ease for our guests as opposed to being enamored of personalization technology for its own sake,” Hanson said.

Avoiding “technology for technology’s sake” is the mantra that has carried Panera throughout the pandemic and beyond. Whether they’re updating the Panera loyalty program with personalization capabilities or introducing a mobile pickup lane to the drive-thru, Hanson said they’re always trying to focus on ease and joy of the experience.  A good benchmark he said, is to be sure that even Hanson’s 70-year-old mother could place an order via any of the Panera omnichannel options with ease and comfort.

“Optionality is really about knowing how the guests want to access us and making those access points easy and frictionless,” Hanson said. “You have to think about the full journey, from pre-order and post-order. […] We embrace full transparency and making sure that post-purchase experience is there to help if we get something wrong.”

Related: Panera Bread expands its coffee subscription program to all beverages

This is why he said it’s important to self-audit and be honest with yourself if a piece of technology is too confusing for everyday customer use or is just not relevant to customer needs.

Panera’s frame of mind also extends to tweaking its technology to fit customer needs, from larger rollouts like the geofencing technology or mobile pickup lanes, to smaller add-ons like personalized recommendations for loyalty app members so users can find their favorite menu items easily.

“We want to empower the guests to self-direct their experience,” Hanson said.

This method of self-direction can be seen across the Panera technology stack, from being able to choose their own loyalty rewards to seamlessly shifting from one Panera experience to another without confusion. Maybe one day they’ll want to quickly pick up their mobile order for dinner with the kids, and another day they might want to hold a meeting in-store at Panera. One of the crucial aspects of completing the brand’s omnichannel experience, Hanson said, was creating the self-direct in-store ordering technology, which allows customers to use mobile technology to place and receive their order in-store, without having to go up to the counter to pay or check on the status of their meal.

“We think about omnichannel access as expanding access to let the guest decide how they want to access us,” he said. “We had initially turned all of our attention to off-premises technology, but we realized that people were starting to crave that in-person, dine-in experience […] We took the best of that technology and brought it in-store. Now, they don’t have to stand in line or touch a paper receipt or pager.”

The final piece of the puzzle, Hanson said, is to make sure that no matter what type of technology the company adds to its repertoire, Panera never loses its sense of warm customer service. In fact, certain technologies can even make it easier for that to occur. The newest coffee-brewing robot, which was created and rolled out in partnership with Miso Robotics, is a testament to letting AI free up some menial tasks (like checking the temperature of coffee), so employees can interact more with guests.

“This [Miso Robotics coffee] technology actually allows us to add more of that Panera warmth and touch,” Hanson said. – Source: NRN.

Franchisees commit to remodeling as parent company CKE Restaurant Holdings researches new equipment and prepare for menu simplification . . . .

Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s to Undergo $500 Million Brand Transformation

CKE Restaurant Holdings, the parent company of quick-service brands Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s, has announced a systemwide plan to overhaul their restaurants, including extensive remodeling that will involve some $500 million in investments.

The Franklin, Tenn.-based company said it will spend $60 million on what it is calling a “brand transformation” that will include new digital menu boards at the drive-thrus and dining rooms, new equipment, streamlined menus, and new equipment to make the restaurants more efficient and employees’ jobs easier. The remainder of the spending will come from franchisees, whose restaurants make up 94% of the two brands’ locations.

Chief global development officer Matthew Walls said that about 95% of franchisees have committed to the renovations, which were introduced to them in December, adding that he expected to have 100% buy-in “very soon.”

“There’s this true passion around us to reimagine our brand rather than [just] remodeling our stores,” Walls said.

He said he expects renovations at 500 locations to be carried out within the next 12 months, including 80% of company-owned restaurants. That includes new signage, brand statement elements, lighting, bathrooms, subway tiling, parking lots, tables, and chairs as well as the new menu boards.

The renovations were first carried out two years ago at Hardee’s locations in Columbia, S.C., which at the time was an underperforming market. Walls said the restaurants there now outpace the rest of the system “by double digits.”

He added that Knoxville, Tenn., which finished its renovations in December 2021, is already outperforming the system average by around 5%.

Carl’s Jr. restaurants are primarily located in the West, from Colorado to California, and Hardee’s is mostly in the Midwest and Southeast.

Walls said the renovations were being done market by market, with upcoming work planned for Nashville; Greenville, N.C.; Spartanburg, S.C.; Asheville, N.C.; Jacksonville, Fla.; Bowling Green, Ky.; Los Angeles; Denver; Phoenix; Portland, Ore.; Eugene, Ore., and Bakersfield, Calif. By carrying out the changes in a diverse set of markets, “we can quickly learn what the net effect is on markets that have different concentrations of stores and different demographics, so we can be nimble, and we can change portions of the program that we think might be best for certain markets,” he said.

Remodeling will begin with the exteriors because that’s how a growing number of guests are engaging with the brand, Walls said.

“Our guests’ needs have changed dramatically over the last few years and they’re asking us to be quicker at the drive-thru,” he said. “Less of them are coming into the stores to dining with us.”

Chief brand officer Chad Crawford said changes in the buildings will include new roof and tower lines as well as new seating packages, tables, and light fixtures.

“As you can imagine with any brand that’s been around as long as ours [Hardee’s is more than 60 years old and Carl’s Jr. celebrated its 80th-anniversary last year] there are a number of different styles of buildings out there. So we’re working to bring some uniformity into the actual space design [and] the structure of the exterior with some amendments that will make them feel more similar.”

Behind the scenes, Walls said the company has also been testing new equipment that will improve efficiency and make the lives of their team members easier, such as improved oil filtration systems that would require less frequent oil changes — a task that employees dislike and are prone to forget.

He said the company is also testing equipment that will improve the speed of service, particularly in the drive-thru lanes, and also allow for simplified back-of-house operations to make both training and day-to-day work easier.

The announcement of the brand transformation comes on the heels of the launch of the company’s new My Rewards loyalty program in March.

Walls said he is particularly interested in technology that will move more ordering out of the hands of employees and into those of guests.

“Customers for years now have become very accustomed to, and actually very astute at, placing their own orders,” he said. “We took the approach of saying customers can’t cook their own Carl’s Jr. burgers or Hardee’s biscuits, but they can place their own order. So if we move the ordering apparatus out to the customer, our folks can take that time they would have spent taking the order and put it into food production — making sure the products are fresh, great-tasting, and accurate.”

Additionally, both chains are in the process of streamlining their menus.

“We’re taking a look at the ways in which we can further accelerate and bring to life the consistency and that high quality every day,”  Crawford said. “Part of that means taking a look at the breadth of the items that we currently have and have adopted onto the menu over the years.”

He said some slower-moving items might be removed, as well as those that are difficult to execute, so employees can “serve and satisfy their guests more consistently.”

There are currently 47 company-owned and 1,011 franchised Carl’s Jr. locations and 198 company-owned and 1,536 franchised Hardee’s restaurants.  – Source: NRN.

Subway announces master franchise agreement in Peninsular Malaysia to drive local and international growth

Subway®, one of the world’s largest quick-service restaurant (QSR) brands, today announced a new master franchise agreement with Pegacorn Sdn Bhd to significantly expand the brand’s footprint in West Malaysia. This partnership is the third of its kind for Subway in Southeast Asia, following recent master franchise agreements in Indonesia and Thailand, and will significantly increase the total future restaurant commitment in the region.

A partner to Subway in Malaysia since 2019, Pegacorn, under this agreement, will open approximately 500 new Subway locations across Peninsular Malaysia over the next 10 years — tripling the number of Subway restaurants in the market and steadily increasing the annual restaurant count.

“The Asia Pacific and the Southeast Asia markets continue to be a huge opportunity for growth for Subway and an essential part of our international growth strategy,” said John Chidsey, Chief Executive Officer, Subway. “Pegacorn has proven to be a well-resourced, strategic, and successful local operator that has the local insight and experience needed to expand Subway’s presence in Malaysia.”

As accessibility remains a top priority for the brand, under Pegacorn’s stewardship, guests can expect to see an increase of Subway non-traditional locations across Malaysia, such as in airports, hospitals, petrol stations, and convenience stores. In addition, new – as well as updated existing restaurants – will feature Subway’s modern “Fresh Forward” design and enhance convenience for the consumer with new drive-throughs and ‘Grab & Go’ options.

“We are excited about the opportunity to lead the growth of Subway in West Malaysia and increase international awareness of the brand,” said Kin Siong Kon, Chief Executive Officer, Pegacorn. “We have seen increased demand from guests in Malaysia for Subway’s crave-able sandwiches, wraps, and salads and are committed to growing the business to make Subway even more accessible to communities across the country.”

The agreement with Pegacorn is part of Subway’s multi-year transformation journey to build a Better Subway and improve across all aspects of the brand as the business expands its presence around the world. Subway will continue to seek strong partners with expertise in local markets across APAC as it aggressively doubles its current network of restaurants in the region from about 3,300 today to over 6,000 in the next five years.
About Subway® Restaurants. As one of the world’s largest quick-service restaurant brands, Subway serves freshly made-to-order sandwiches, wraps, salads, and bowls to millions of guests, across more than 100 countries in more than 37,000 restaurants every day. Subway restaurants are owned and operated by Subway franchisees – a network that includes more than 20,000 dedicated entrepreneurs and small business owners – who are committed to delivering the best guest experience possible in their local communities. – Source: © 2022 Subway IP LLC.

Dine Brands is investing in handheld server tablets and exploring robots to help ease a nagging staffing shortage . . . .
Applebee’s Parent Bets Tech Can Make up for Fewer Workers

Restaurants have a lot of problems these days. The supply chain is a mess, costs are rising and it’s hard to find workers.

Applebee’s and IHOP have not been immune to any of those issues. But it’s that last one that keeps John Peyton up at night.

“We’re at about 90% staffing for both brands across the country,” the Dine Brands CEO said in an interview with Restaurant Business. “That number’s been stuck at 90% now for a couple of quarters.”

The staffing shortage is Dine’s No. 1 long-term problem, he said. And with no way of knowing whether those missing workers will ever come back, the company has started investing in technology designed to help its restaurants do more with fewer people.

That includes handheld server tablets at both Applebee’s and IHOP that allow workers to cover more tables and turn them faster. About 500 Applebee’s are now using the hardware, and IHOP will be getting them as part of a new POS rollout over the next 18 months.

Dine has also begun exploring more high-tech labor aids, like robots, in an effort to make up for the shortfall, Peyton revealed.

An Applebee’s franchisee, for instance, is testing a robot that can run food and bus tables.

“The robot can deliver food from the kitchen to the table and it can take the dirty dishes and send them to the dishwasher, and that can help servers become more productive and efficient,” Peyton said.

The robot is at just one location for now, and Peyton said it’s “way too soon” to determine whether Applebee’s will add more of the machines: “We’re in the test-and-learn phase.”

The company is also looking at automated deep fryers, he said.

Restaurants’ labor challenges have fueled an increase in automation across all segments. In casual dining, Chili’s is testing server robots of its own and Texas Roadhouse is trying handheld server devices. Fast-food chains like White Castle and Jack in the Box are using robots to make food in some restaurants, while others are automating parts of the drive-thru. Meanwhile, about 1.5 million hospitality jobs remained unfilled last month.

“I haven’t concluded it’s normal,” Peyton said of the staffing shortage. “I think that the prudent thing to do is, assume it is, and plan for the event that that’s the outcome.”

Despite that and other headwinds, Applebee’s and IHOP have continued their strong comebacks from the pandemic. In the first quarter, Applebee’s same-store sales increased by 14.3% year over year, and IHOPs were up 18.1%, according to earnings results published Wednesday.

“A good quarter like last quarter didn’t happen by accident,” Peyton said. He credited the company’s investments in things like technology, off-premise, and menu innovation for driving the growth.

While staffing is Dine’s biggest long-term challenge, inflation has created the most pressure as of late. The company is expecting food costs to go up 13% to 16% this year. It’s also closely monitoring gas prices, which can account for as much as half of a restaurant’s energy expenses.

To offset the higher costs, both Applebee’s and IHOP have raised prices. Applebee’s franchisees in the first quarter raised menu prices 5% to 6% on average on top of 3% to 4% last year, executives said. IHOP franchisees have raised prices about 7.9% over the past year.

The hikes, which are roughly in line with broader food-away-from-home inflation, have not affected customer demand, executives said.

“None of our metrics at Applebee’s suggest anything other than robust growth,” brand President John Cywinski said during an earnings call Wednesday.

Peyton added that grocery prices have increased faster than restaurant prices and that within restaurants, quick-service prices have outpaced those of full-service.

“In this moment of headwinds and tailwinds, there is some compelling data from a consumer standpoint that explains, I think, our success in the first quarter and may give us momentum for the rest of the year,” he told investors. – Source: Restaurant Business.

The industry added 43,800 workers last month, continuing its gradual recovery from post-pandemic job losses. But the rate of growth is slowing . . . .

Shareholders Push Denny’s and Dine to Look at Ending Trip Credit

The restaurant industry continued its steady pace of hiring in April despite concerns about higher labor costs and slower sales, according to new government data released on Friday.

Food services and drinking places added 43,800 jobs in April, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, making it among the top job creators for the month. The overall economy added 428,000 jobs in the month and the unemployment rate remained steady at 3.6%.

The figures suggest that the industry added about one out of every 10 jobs, which is on par with restaurants’ overall employment average. Still, there are signs that the rate of restaurant job growth is slowing. The rate of monthly job growth has slowed from more than 1% per month in November and December to less than 0.4% in April, with a slowing rate of hiring each month.

Restaurants now employ just under 11.6 million workers, up 1.2 million over the past year. But the industry remains about 700,000 jobs short of where it was back in February 2020, before a global pandemic led to dine-in restaurant shutdowns and widespread layoffs that wiped out more than half of the workforce.

There were some numbers in the jobs data that should comfort the industry. For one thing, 500,000 people were kept from looking for work due to the pandemic, down from 874,000 the prior month, suggesting that COVID is leading more people back into the workforce.

In addition, 7.7 percent of employed people worked from home because of the pandemic. That’s down from 10%. That means more people are going into offices, commuting to work, and stopping for lunch or getting breakfast on their way in.

Wage rates for leisure and hospitality workers, however, continued to increase, rising another 0.6% in April. Over the past year, wage rates have increased 11% for workers in the restaurant and hotel industries as a lack of available workers has led employers to increase wages at higher rates.

By comparison, overall wage rates are up 5% over the past year.  – Source: Restaurant Business.

The organic market continues its decades-long growth trajectory via expansion into the mainstream, making organic foods and beverages across categories more accessible than ever before . . .  .

Into the mainstream: What’s next for organic foods and beverages?

As a continuation of The Hartman Group’s long-running syndicated research on the organic market stretching back over 25 years, our newest report, Organic 2022: Then, Now, Next, explores the transformation of organic from a niche category based in a social movement to a mainstream marker of quality across food and beverage categories.

Organic 2022: Then, Now, Next finds that after a surge at the beginning of the pandemic, the organic market continues its decades-long growth trajectory via expansion into the mainstream, making organic foods and beverages across categories more accessible than ever before in terms of both availability and price.

In the early days of the pandemic, when information about COVID-19 was still scarce, many consumers turned to nutrition and supplements to assert some control over their health. Beyond remedies like elderberry and vitamin C, many chose to focus on better nutrition and exercise as proven preventative measures. Amid conflicting health information and a tumultuous economic and political climate, consumers looking for a healthier option turned to organic products due to the trust they place in the USDA certification and the ability to easily identify these products in-store.

Organic products also became more readily available and affordable with mainstream grocers and club stores offering a wider selection of organic foods and beverages from both national brands and private labels. While the initial organic boom in 2020 slowed over the course of the pandemic, growth in organic has continued to rise as wellness culture has taken on a more urgent tone in response to the ongoing pandemic. In addition, the scope of wellness culture has continued to expand into issues of social equity, labor rights, environmental justice, and community health, creating an evolving organic landscape.

Organic foods and beverages are going mainstream, and today exist to some degree in virtually every food and beverage category: 82% of consumers say they use organic foods and beverages at least sometimes with millennials leading in usage. Organic has become a household staple for many – even among Baby Boomers, the age group slowest to adopt organic products, nearly one-fifth (18%) of whom say they use them at least weekly. Organic usage has also grown in frequency, with almost half (47%) of Millennials using organic products at least weekly.

However, the expansion of organic has also fueled a paradox of choice wherein consumers are left to navigate an increasingly complex decision-making landscape around healthy and organic food options.

Highlights include:

Confronted with greater choice and a heightened degree of anxiety around health, many consumers turn to organic for healthier options, though detailed knowledge of USDA Organic certification criteria has not necessarily increased.

Organic has become much more accessible in recent years, both in terms of broad availability across all channels and in terms of declining price premiums (noted by long-term organic consumers), though price remains a barrier for many.

As organic has expanded, the category adoption pathway has remained largely consistent, with produce, dairy, and meat as the key entry points to organic along with other special categories (e.g., baby food, plant-based alternatives).

Hallmarks pointing to future growth and evolution are reflected in consumer involvement with organics as measured by the reach of organic purchasing in over 21 food and beverage categories analyzed in the report.

For example:

60% of consumers buying fresh produce say they’ve bought organic foods in that category in the past three months, followed by 55% indicating purchases of organics in plant-based meat alternatives and 49% indicating purchases of organics in plant-based dairy alternatives.

Categories of organic purchasing showing significant increases and momentum from 2020 include fresh meats and seafood, refrigerated dairy foods, packaged foods, pet food and treats packaged foods, and packaged frozen foods.

What’s next for organics?

Overall, we find that organic sales continue a decades-long growth trajectory as consumers increasingly look to take health into their own hands. The return to double-digit growth for organic food sales in 2020 was fueled by early pandemic stock-up behaviors and increased demand for foods that support resilience to illness. Industry forecasts anticipate a slower pace in 2021-22 but a sustained growth nevertheless.

As to what’s next, Organic 2022: Then, Now, Next predicts that with the organic market now mature, and continuing to expand in depth and breadth, both organic producers and retailers have an opportunity to innovate with confidence, offering branded and private label products across all categories that would appeal to both mainstream and Core-trending (e.g., highly organic-engaged) consumers and solve for needs they have but feel they cannot currently address.

Opportunities also exist in foodservice: While consumer demand for organic at a retailer and brand level continues to increase, there is also a growing desire for organic at everyday food service locations as well as at higher-end dining locations.

Key consumer motivations driving growth in plant-based foods

Health and wellness 2022: Navigating consumer aspirations, approaches

As CEO of The Hartman Group, Demeritt drives the vision, strategy, operations and results-oriented culture for the company’s associates as The Hartman Group furthers its offerings of tactical thinking, consumer and market intelligence, cultural competency and innovative intellectual capital to a global marketplace. Source: SmartBrief’s.

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