Did Starbucks win its labor battle?

This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features a debate between myself and Peter Romeo, the editor at large of RB, on the success of Starbucks’ pushback against unions.

For some time, it seemed that another Starbucks store formed a union every few hours. The push, the most successful effort to unionize a restaurant chain, contributed to massive changes at the Seattle-based coffee giant, particularly in the executive team. That push has slowed in recent months. Romeo and I debate whether that’s a sign that Starbucks has won.

We also talk about a potential rail strike, which could inject yet another black swan event onto a restaurant industry that has dealt with several of them over the past three years. And we talk about the U.S. Small Business Administration’s recent decision to send out more Restaurant Revitalization Fund grants to operators.

Restaurant automation is coming rapidly. But how much of an impact will it have?

This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Juan Martinez, principal with the consulting firm Profitality, who talks about the growing use of automation.

Martinez is a periodic guest on the podcast and he works with restaurants to improve their overall profitability.

Automation has been one area that restaurants have been targeting over the past couple of years as they faced numerous challenges, including the pandemic, resulting labor shortage and now wage inflation.

But there have been doubts about the true impact of automation on labor costs. Martinez talks about this, and he provides some recommendations for operators that are looking into using machines to take over some of employees tasks.

Target is soon to offer a service that allows customers to get Starbuck drinks delivered to their cars. Stacy Peterson was named CEO of the Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream chain. And all kinds of restaurant brands have launched holiday-themed swag this week.

Can dine-in pizza still work?

This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features a trio of executives from Mountain Mike’s Pizza: co-CEO and brand owners Chris Britt and Ed St. Geme and COO Jim Metevier.

Mountain Mike’s is a California-based chain that operates about 270 locations. Britt and St. Geme bought the chain about six years ago.

The trio talk about the history of the brand and its growth since Britt and St. Geme acquired the company. They talk about the impact the pandemic has had on its takeout and delivery business, which has grown strongly over the past three years. But they also talk about the pull of the chain’s dine-in business.

Dine-in pizza has struggled over the years but there is some evidence that people are coming back to it, either for nostalgia reasons or to get out of the house. Brands with an entertainment element have done well and Mountain Mike’s may help prove that.

We also have some interesting discussions the owners’ time as Burger King operators.

What is the future of casual dining?

This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features John Cywinski, the president of the casual-dining brand Applebee’s, to discuss that very topic.

Bar and grill chains like Applebee’s had generally struggled since the Great Recession. And then the pandemic forced them to figure out takeout and delivery, and many of them did.

But the pandemic culled supply of dine-in restaurants and those concepts that made it through that era have seen a strong recovery in dine-in traffic as consumers unleashed pent-up demand. Applebee’s is coming off a particularly strong quarter, featuring the best three-year same-store sales in its history.

Cywinski talks about all of that. He discusses the future of takeout in the full-service space and where takeout and delivery stand with the company. He also talks about the company’s franchising strategy and how it affects the management of the chain. And Cywinski talks about the status of Applebee’s virtual brands.

Does the fast-casual sector exist?

In this week’s episode of a Deeper Dive I’m joined by my colleague Lisa Jennings to talk about the blurring of the lines in the restaurant industry—particularly between fast-casual and quick-service restaurants.

The fast-casual sector represented a group of higher-end limited-service concepts and until the pandemic largely dominated industry growth over the past two decades.

But since the pandemic, a lot more of these chains have added drive-thrus, such as Shake Shack, Sweetgreen and Chipotle. And a lot more quick-service chains like Chick-fil-A have raised their prices to match what is often seen at traditional fast-casuals. Add it all up and the two sectors look so much alike it makes sense to wonder whether we should do away with that differentiation altogether.

Meanwhile, Lisa and I also talk about recent earnings results from McDonald’s and Chipotle. McDonald’s is gaining low-income diners. Chipotle is losing them. We wonder whether the two industry giants are trading them with one another.

Amusements have been, quite literally, a game-changer for Cicis.

This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Jeff Hetsel, the president of the 300-unit pizza buffet chain.

Cicis has had a strong performance coming out of the pandemic, with sales up 14.5% last year, according to Technomic.

One of the big reasons is video games. The company has been convincing operators to expand their game rooms from the eight games they used to have to much larger rooms with prizes and token cards.

That has been a major sales boost for the company. Hetsel talks about just how much of a sales lift video games can have for an individual operator. What’s more, that sales lift is far more profitable than the sale of pizzas.

Hetsel touches on other topics, including other drivers behind the company’s sales increase.

How can restaurants avoid becoming a political football?

This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Joe Kefauver, the managing partner with public affairs firm Align Public Strategies and cohost of the RB-hosted Working Lunch podcast.

Kefauver discusses a variety of topics, including a backlash against corporate ESG strategies. ESG stands for environmental, social and governance. Many corporations believe that having a strong ESG framework can create shareholder value over time because it can improve their reputation.

But there’s been something of a backlash by conservative groups over these policies. He talks about this trend and how companies can avoid it, if they even can.

He also talks about the Fast Act in California and efforts by restaurant chains to get that act in front of voters in the state, and why this topic is so important. And he discusses unions and why there hasn’t been many efforts to unionize companies outside of the coffee giant Starbucks.

How can operators avoid price increases as their own costs increase?

This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Rich Shank, senior principal with RB sister company Technomic. He discusses the challenging operating environment when it comes to menu pricing.

Restaurants have been raising prices aggressively this year as higher prices for food and labor eat into margins. Menu prices are up 8% over the past year.

But there are signs that consumers are starting to reject these price increases, enough that Shank wrote in RB that operators may need to rethink their price increases. He explains the consumer environment and how operators can offset their own higher costs without hurting consumers.

We also talk about another piece of data: the decline in restaurant use by the older and bigger Baby Boom generation, and what that means to certain types of concepts.

The beverage business is rapidly changing and drive-thru coffee concepts like Scooters Coffee are right in the middle of it.

This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Joe Thornton, the president of Scooter’s.

Scooter’s has quietly been one of the fastest growing restaurant chains in the U.S. System sales and unit count have nearly tripled over the past five years, according to RB sister company Technomic.

Thornton talks about that growth and what has been key to the business. He talks about the brand’s franchising model and its focus on its drive-thru coffee kiosks, which sell a selection of beverages and food from 600-square-feet shops.

He talks about the brand’s real estate strategy and where the company fits in a rapidly changing and shifting beverage business.