With the premiere of The Founder, the story of the humble beginnings of McDonald's, Dan and Adam wonder what makes a great brand story. If your customers were asked, would they be able to conjure a tale about your brand? If so, are you sure you'd want to hear it?

00:27: The Founder

02:20: All American Burger

02:53: McDonald’s history

05:07: Founder’s story mythology

05:11: Hewlett-Packard founding

05:40: Denny’s

07:20: Pei Wei Asian Diner

07:51: Shared brand knowledge

08:40: McCafe

10:44: Ruby Tuesday’s

11:39: Do people understand your brand?

11:59: Buffalo Wild Wings

13:20: Quizno’s, Subway and toasters

14:49: The Ringer’s excellent piece on Ray Kroc and McDonald’s

15:39: The 80’s.

16:35: McRib

18:30: Applebee’s

19:14: Social media intelligence and daypart pattern recognition

20:30: The Cheesecake Factory

21:45: Occasions

23:24: Chili’s changing menu

24:13: P.F. Chang’s

25:40: Media penetration

26:30: Martin Scorcese and Bobby Deniro

Today, consumers expect brands to be wherever they are online. And not just be there, but to be delivering amazing experiences at every touchpoint. What is considered table stakes and what is considered a leading edge digital restaurant brand? We look at examples of who's doing it well and what can be learned. Let's dive in!

1:10 Digital agencies

2:51 Email marketing

4:53 Death of reach in social media

6:52 Mobile first vs. dedicated apps

8:10 Denny's social community management

10:06 Where is the line?

11:10 Innovation for PR sake

14:02 App saturation

16:20 An app is a product that need support

19:30 Data vs. analytics

21:47 Campaign measurement and attribution

23:21 On premise digital experience (Ziosk)

25:22 The goal of digital for restaurants

If 2016 has taught us anything, it is that no brand is invulnerable to restaurant traffic cutting off at some point in time. Every brand faces change in different ways. What makes an unstoppable brand lose the flow of customers? And more importantly, what can head off those changes? Let's discuss!

1:19 Oversaturation

2:15 Quizno’s

3:10 Restaurant shakeout

4:12 Fine tune media plan

6:56 Catasrophe and domino effect

8:20 Domino’s

11:30 Understand core customer

13:10 Menu updates

16:30 Menu testing

17:52 Service and experience

20:20 Cleanliness

Every restaurant brand discounts to drive traffic or sales. We look at the ways consumers understand discounting and couponing and how they react to each. Hint: It's not always good. Dan Santy and Adam Pierno dive in to LTOs, FSIs, dayparting strategies and some behavioral economics. Ready to join us? Let's go.

02:10: Discounting cycle:

04:15: Traffic

05:07: Offers

07:03: QSR magic number offers

08:05: LTOs

10:12: Context

12:40: Penetration and attribution

14:35: Upsell

18:19: McRib

20:14: Frequency

Customers love free things. Or discounted things. Does that make restaurant loyalty programs contingent on giving freebies a great idea for every concept? Not necessarily. This week, Dan Santy and Adam Pierno look at the strategic work that goes into deciding on a program and compares brands doing it well, and not so well.

1:18 Fishbowl

3:59 Big data and the myth

6:02 Starbucks loyalty program

6:25 Removing friction

9:26 Red Robin Royalty

11:30 Chili’s Rewards

13:35 McDonald’s Loyalty?

15:03 QSR loyalty strategies and challenges

18:04 Cadence of reward redemption (Dunkin’ Donuts)

19:45 Cannibalization

21:47 Training

On this episode of the Food & Restaurant Marketing Podcast - we look at the pullback by Red Robin and Jamba Juice from problematic attempts at brand extensions and try to understand what went wrong. Of course, Dan and Adam examine some success stories and the challenges inside brands that lead to flawed decisions.

2:05 Jamba Juice cancels Jamba Go

5:02 Slush machines

5:31 Red Robin closes Burger Works

8:25 CEO and C-suite management team changes

12:15 Arby’s turnaround

12:35 Arby’s venison test

16:22 McDonald’s Create Your Taste kiosks

19:00 Subway LTOs

22:11 Subway toasts Quizno’s

This time on the Food & Restaurant Marketing Podcast, Dan Santy lays out the signs that another recession is upon us, and discusses with Adam Pierno how restaurants can plan and prepare to overcome the down market. Can restaurants thrive in a bear market? Let's dive in together.

1:15: Soft market

1:43: Stock market at 18,000

2:46: Downward trend in restaurant revenues

4:02: Consistent spend during recession

7:16: Menu audit

8:42: Sriracha

9:21: LTOs

15:29: Labor pressure

16:21: Staff training

18:20: Loyalty programs

18:56: Audience assessment

This time on the Food & Restaurant Marketing Podcast, Mr. Pierno and Mr. Santy investigate the ways that the improvements made in the grocery prepared offering have hurt restaurants and the four ways restaurants can fight back. With so much cost pressure on restaurants, how can they win this battle? We explore, join us.

Commodity costs down: 7:01

On this episode of the Food & Restaurant Marketing podcast, we have a lively discussion on the newest marketing moves at Chipotle putting much more focus on food safety in their trade and content marketing.

Chipotle's troubles1:21

Scarecrow Video: 5:43

Kantar: 9:20

Chipotle's share price: 10:40

1990's Jack in the Box E. coli outbreak: 12:42

This American Life 569, Put A Bow On It: 13:11

loyalty program: 16:40

hamburgers, better burgers: 20:24

Sonoran hot dogs: 21:40