A Deeper Dive

How to tell whether an emerging restaurant chain will be a long-term success


Listen Later

How can you tell if an emerging brand will be a long-term success?

It’s not an easy question to answer. A lot of private-equity firms, restaurant executives, real estate companies, consultants, vendors and others all spend hundreds of millions of dollars to try and answer that question.

This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive does its best to answer that question and features David Henkes, senior principal with RB sister company Technomic. 

Thousands of entrepreneurs start new restaurants every year. Many of them yearn to grow those restaurants into major chains. The vast majority of them fail. 

This year has demonstrated just how hard it is to tell whether a brand will ultimately fulfill whatever promise it once had. Companies such as MOD Pizza, Uncle Julio’s, Rubio’s, Tijuana Flats and many others, all of which had major backing at one point, either filed for bankruptcy or came close to it after their once-promising futures did not come to fruition.

And we recently told you the story of Baja Fresh, which 20 years ago was considered a pioneer of fast-casual Mexican only to quickly lose its place to the younger Chipotle Mexican Grill, which has gone on to become the biggest such concept in the world. 

The result is a fascinating discussion on emerging chains and what it takes to make them work, and why it’s so difficult to tell winners from losers, at least early on. So check it out. 

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

A Deeper DiveBy Restaurant Business Magazine

  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8

4.8

68 ratings


More shows like A Deeper Dive

View all
Motley Fool Money by The Motley Fool

Motley Fool Money

3,181 Listeners

Masters in Business by Bloomberg

Masters in Business

2,162 Listeners

We Study Billionaires - The Investor’s Podcast Network by The Investor's Podcast Network

We Study Billionaires - The Investor’s Podcast Network

3,375 Listeners

How I Built This with Guy Raz by Guy Raz | Wondery

How I Built This with Guy Raz

30,293 Listeners

How Leaders Lead with David Novak by David Novak

How Leaders Lead with David Novak

565 Listeners

Masters of Scale by WaitWhat

Masters of Scale

3,986 Listeners

QSR Uncut by QSR magazine

QSR Uncut

41 Listeners

Extra Serving: A restaurant industry podcast by Nation's Restaurant News

Extra Serving: A restaurant industry podcast

29 Listeners

Morning Brew Daily by Morning Brew

Morning Brew Daily

2,932 Listeners

Menu Talk by Restaurant Business Online

Menu Talk

6 Listeners

All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg by All-In Podcast, LLC

All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg

8,385 Listeners

Restaurant Daily by Restaurant Business Online

Restaurant Daily

18 Listeners

Winsight by Winsight

Winsight

0 Listeners

At Your Convenience by At Your Convenience

At Your Convenience

5 Listeners

Business Breakdowns by Colossus | Investing & Business Podcasts

Business Breakdowns

337 Listeners

Acquiring Minds by Will Smith

Acquiring Minds

234 Listeners

Restaurant Rewind by Restaurant Business Online

Restaurant Rewind

8 Listeners

Bloomberg Talks by Bloomberg

Bloomberg Talks

14 Listeners

Glue Guys by Colossus

Glue Guys

66 Listeners