On this week’s episode of Extra Serving, a product of Nation’s Restaurant News, NRN editors Holly Petre, Sam Oches and Alicia Kelso talked about Cava’s IPO.

A full week after the brand’s initial public offering, where does Cava stand? What does this first IPO of the year portend for the several other brands that have made it clear they will be filing soon?

Next, the NRN editors talked about the future of gaming in the restaurant space. Marketing is getting smarter, and the latest marketing trend is proprietary games. Chick-fil-A came out with the brand’s own game just this week. Is this the next frontier for restaurant marketing?

Then the editors talked about virtual brands and their future. The hosts talked last week about the downfall of Nextbite and virtual brands, but this week, news broke that MrBeast may be stepping away from his namesake virtual brand due to lack of quality control. Does this mean virtual brands don’t have a future now that the golden child is stepping down?

Plus, the NRN editors talked about the Top 500! NRN launched its signature annual report on Thursday. Hear exclusive insights from the NRN editors here.

This week’s guest is Tom Krouse, CEO of Donatos.