Restaurant Business

1 week ago | restaurantbusinessonline.com | Jonathan Maze |Lisa Jennings |Joe Guszkowski

FacebookTwitterLinkedInImage by Nico HeinsRestaurant operators have been hit with a lot over the past few years: A pandemic, inflation, regulations, supply shortages, labor shortages, frustration over high prices. You can now add tariffs to that list. President Trump earlier this year instituted new tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China and then earlier this month announced sweeping new import taxes on the bulk of world countries.

1 week ago | restaurantbusinessonline.com | Lisa Jennings

FacebookTwitterLinkedInChristine Barone (left) and Michael Osanloo at the Restaurant Leadership Conference. | Photo courtesy of W. Scott Mitchell Photography. When it comes to the roughly 900-square-foot Dutch Bros. Coffee, Portillo’s CEO and president Michael Osanloo has box-size envy. So Osanloo said to Dutch Bros CEO and president Chistine Barone in a CEO v. CEO executive exchange at the Restaurant Leadership Conference in Phoenix on Monday. The roughly 1,000-unit Dutch Bros.

1 week ago | restaurantbusinessonline.com | Joe Guszkowski

FacebookTwitterLinkedInA $6 value menu has been a big part of IHOP's new strategy. | Image courtesy of IHOPIHOP restaurants across the U.S. are on the lookout for a customer with a black hat and a black notebook. He always orders the pancake of the month and a spicy poblano omelette. And he’s constantly checking the time on his phone. This character is IHOP President Lawrence Kim, and if he’s eating in your restaurant, it had better be on point. “What I want to know is, first, how's the service?

1 week ago | restaurantbusinessonline.com | Jonathan Maze |Lisa Jennings

FacebookTwitterLinkedInAnother Burger King franchisee filed for bankruptcy. This week’s episode of The Week in Restaurants includes a discussion on the bankruptcy filing of a 57-unit Burger King operator in Florida and Georgia. In addition, we talk about Raising Cane’s surpassing KFC, and other topics from the Technomic Top 500 Chain Restaurant Report. We talk about the big takeaways from the Restaurant Leadership Conference.

1 week ago | restaurantbusinessonline.com | Jonathan Maze

FacebookTwitterLinkedInStarbucks and other major chains had a weak 2024. | Photo: Shutterstock. Chain restaurant sales grew just 3% in 2024, according to the 2025 Technomic Top 500 Chain Restaurant Report, as a consumer frustrated by high fast-food prices shifted spending from traditional, big-name players to smaller, up-and-coming names or they stayed home altogether. The 500 largest chains in the U.S. generated $437.1 billion in 2024.