First Bite

Hooters closes some struggling restaurants. A Subway franchisee files for bankruptcy. And see the brands that are doing the best at satisfying their customers.

First Bite is becoming Restaurant Daily! Don't forget to subscribe at Apple Podcasts here and Spotify here.

Uncle Julio's apparently has a potential buyer in the wings. American Express bought reservations platform Tock. And, if you've noticed a lot of steak on fast-casual menus, you may be onto something.

First Bite is becoming Restaurant Daily! Don't forget to subscribe at Apple Podcasts here and Spotify here.

A number of small restaurant chains have filed for bankruptcy recently. Pizza Hut is trying to terminate one of its largest franchisees. And another bankrupt chain gets hit with an employee lawsuit.

First Bite is becoming Restaurant Daily! Don't forget to subscribe at Apple Podcasts here and Spotify here.

Accomplished chef James Kent has died. Fast-casual pizza chain Blaze overhauled its brand. And Asian concepts were among the winners in casual dining last year.

First Bite is becoming Restaurant Daily! Don't forget to subscribe at Apple Podcasts here and Spotify here.

McDonald's is ending its AI drive-thru test. Former Red Lobster employees are suing the chain. And a TGI Fridays operator files for bankruptcy.

First Bite is becoming Restaurant Daily! Don't forget to subscribe at Apple Podcasts here and Spotify here.

The Supreme Court delivers a win for Starbucks. The economy comes for Dave & Buster's. And yet another chain launches a meal bundle.

First Bite is becoming Restaurant Daily! Don't forget to subscribe at Apple Podcasts here and Spotify here.

Alamo Drafthouse has been sold. There's good news and bad news on the menu price inflation front. And Starbucks is joining the value wars.

First Bite is becoming Restaurant Daily! Don't forget to subscribe at Apple Podcasts here and Spotify here.

Today’s episode is bittersweet, as it is the last episode of First Bite — but with an exciting twist. 

Starbucks and Grubhub announced a partnership on Thursday that would allow customers to order Starbucks delivery via the Grubhub app for the first time ever. The delivery partnership will roll out to select markets in Pennsylvania, Colorado, and Illinois in June, and expand to the rest of Grubhub’s markets across the 50 states by August. 

According to Grubhub, Starbucks is the most searched merchant on its app that is not yet available. Overall, Starbucks has been slower to partner with third-party delivery companies than many other top chains in the foodservice industry. While the company began offering third-party delivery through Uber Eats in select markets in 2018, Uber Eats delivery was not available nationally until 2020. Starbucks did not begin offering delivery with DoorDash until last January, and the partnership was not expanded nationally until March 2023. 

Grubhub is the final delivery company of the “big three” that Starbucks is now partnering with, though the company has the smallest delivery market share at 8% (as compared with DoorDash’s 67% and Uber Eats’ 23%), according to Bloomberg Second Measure.

Chipotle was one of very few winners from Q1’s financial reports and the company’s momentum certainly didn’t start there. In fact, you’d have to go back to the second quarter of 2020 – the pandemic quarter, if you will – to find a negative same-store sales number.

The company’s engine has no doubt been churning at full speed of late, as evidenced by share prices jumping by nearly 75% since October alone. There are several factors pushing the company to new heights, including a sharpened focus on throughput and a prioritization of the employee proposition. For that latter piece, Chipotle has continuously evolved its benefits to include mental healthcare, expanded parental leave, tuition reimbursement, English as a Second Language classes, pet insurance, and more. Most recently, the company added a service that provides faster access to paychecks, as well as a matching contribution to 401(k) workers’ student loan repayments. This continuous evolution of benefits is informed by town hall meetings each quarter, a “pulse survey” every other year that goes out to all the company’s 120,000 employees, and a benefits department that is highly in touch with workers’ changing demands.