First Bite

Papa Johns has introduced trendy cup-and-crisp pepperoni to three of its menu items as a limited-time offer, the pizza chain said Monday.

Its new Crispy Cuppy ’Roni is a thicker version of the popular pizza topping with crispy curled edges.

The new topping is available on the NY Style Crispy Cuppy ’Roni Pizza for $13.99, in the Crispy Cuppy ’Roni Papadia folded sandwich for $6.99, and in the miniature Crispy Cuppy ’Roni Papa Bites for $4.99. They’re being offered now to Papa Rewards loyalty program members and to everyone else starting April 1.

Hear more about trends in the pizza segment with senior food and beverage editor Bret Thorn on today's episode of First Bite.

No, you’re not imagining things and there is no need to adjust your TV. There really are more ads and marketing campaigns from restaurant companies on air, on your phones, on your streaming services, on your social media feeds.

An increase in advertising/marketing spend was one of the major themes from this latest round of earnings calls, in fact, and it’s a strategy shared by brands from Brinker to BJs, and from Shake Shack to Dutch Bros. There’s a reason for this (or several). Firstly, we’ve returned to a far more normalized environment after three years of anything but. Second, several brands are growing and therefore cultivating top-of-mind awareness as they enter new markets. Third, consumers are becoming more discerning and pulling back on traffic, and it’s important to keep their attention.

Although the restaurant industry has been experimenting with dynamic pricing for years, public discourse around the topic grew last month with the news that Wendy’s would be testing dynamic pricing in 2025. Though much of the social media buzz can be attributed to the public conflation of dynamic pricing with surge pricing, there is no doubt that variable menu prices — whether they are affected by the time of day, geographic location, or changing consumer needs — are key to restaurant optimization in 2024 and beyond.

New tech capabilities, including AI, will play a crucial role in the rise of dynamic pricing across the industry. For Wendy’s, changeable pricing starts with digital menu boards, which are being rolled out across the company’s portfolio, and includes AI-enabled menu changes that allow restaurants to raise or lower prices in the moment. This type of instant gratification suggestive pricing capability is being tested out by companies like restaurant revenue management platform Juicer, which just announced a new tool that helps restaurants adjust pricing and special offers based on data from local competitors.

Rob Lynch is leaving his role as CEO of Papa Johns to take on the same position at Shake Shack, effective May 20. Lynch succeeds Randy Garutti, who announced his intentions to retire in December after leading the company for more than two decades. Garutti will transition as an advisor in May to ensure a smooth transition.

Lynch was hired at Papa Johns in August 2019 and helped drive record global systemwide sales of over $5 billion at the company. He has also led the company’s growth to approximately 5,900 units.

Earlier this week, after Starbucks’ annual shareholders’ meeting, company investors voted on several initiatives, including a new executive compensation package that would omit diversity and sustainability goals from bonus considerations for top leadership at the company. Shareholders voted overwhelmingly (90% yes votes) to approve the new compensation packages, though the vote is technically nonbinding to company policy.

This bonus initiative was first introduced in 2020 as a company-wide effort to support diversity, equity, and inclusion at Starbucks and was quickly emulated by other major foodservice chains nationally, including Chipotle, which increased the percentage of its executive bonus ties to company ESG goals from 10% to 15% in 2022.

Last year, 7.5% of Starbucks executive bonus consideration was tied to diversity, while 7.5% was based on sustainability goals. In the proposed outline for 2024, 75% of executive bonus consideration would be tied to overall financial performance and 25% would be based on individual performance. Additionally, the company replaced the word “representation” with “talent” in its PRSU (performance-related restricted stock unit grant) program “to include a broader spectrum of the workforce and provide for different representation improvement targets.”

In Sept. 2022, Starbucks officially unveiled its highly anticipated foray into the metaverse: Starbucks Odyssey. At the time, NFTs and the metaverse were the trendy tech innovation of the moment, with businesses across many sectors scrambling to figure out how to cash in on the popularity of Web3, which was promised to be a more immersive “Internet of the Future.” Eighteen months after unveiling Starbucks Odyssey, the Seattle-based coffee company has confirmed that the program — which has been in beta mode for 15 months — will officially end at the end of the month. 

While the announcement comes as no surprise — it has been a while since the metaverse and NFTs captivated audiences and motivated tech companies — Starbucks ending Odyssey in its current form signals the closing of a chapter in the history of restaurant technology.

For an emerging brand in hyper-growth mode like Dutch Bros, it can be easy to primarily focus on physical expansion into new markets. But as new Dutch Bros CEO Christine Barone said during Thursday’s J.P. Morgan forum, while the Grants Pass, Ore.-based coffee brand is keeping development front of mind — with Florida as its next target market — she wants to emphasize diverse means of growth.

For Dutch Bros, that means focusing on smart development with fanbase growth in mind, building brand awareness, and give the company’s tech stack a makeover.

A U.S. federal judge in Texas blocked the broadened National Labor Relations Board joint employer rule that was introduced in October and would have made franchisees and franchisors jointly liable for labor terms and conditions such as union contracts, pay, scheduling, and more. The rule, which was supposed to have gone into effect Monday, would have revived and updated an Obama-era rule that was limited in scope during the Trump Administration.

In his decision, U.S. District Court Judge J. Campbell Barker called the expanded joint employer rule “arbitrary and capricious,” and said that it would be “contrary to law.”

Taco Bell now seems to be adjusting its strategy for younger consumers. Starting March 21, Taco Bell will offer a new Cantina Chicken Menu.

With this menu launch, the company projects to use more than 2.5 million additional pounds of produce in 2024.

Not only is this new menu aimed at capturing younger consumers’ protein preferences, it was also created to “tackle misconceptions” about only being a late-night brand, the company said. During the company’s recent Live Mas Live event in Las Vegas, CMO Taylor Montgomery said the company is making a play for more lunch/afternoon business.

Last fall, President Biden announced a proposed crackdown on “junk fees” or misleading consumer-facing surcharges that are usually included in the fine print before a purchase is made. The Federal Trade Commission’s proposed trade regulation rule would require businesses to include all required fees in the original listed price. While media attention on this proposed crackdown had initially focused on companies and industries like Ticketmaster, airlines, hotels, and car rental agencies, the FTC rule would also include restaurant service charges in its new rule.

Most recently President Biden mentioned getting rid of junk fees again during the annual presidential State of the Union address last week.