A Deeper Dive

This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast “A Deeper Dive” features Lorn Davis, who leads corporate and product strategy at the financial data firm Facteus. Davis discusses some of the sectors performing particularly well, such as chicken wings, and those that have a longer runway for improvement, like coffee.

Private equity groups may be hurting U.S. restaurants. This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast  “A Deeper Dive” features Joel Silverstein, the founder and CEO of East West Hospitality Group, who speaks on private equity in the restaurant business as well as international development.

Franchising can be a bigger risk than many expect. This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast "A Deeper Dive" delves into that risk with one of the country’s foremost experts on the topic of franchising: Bob Purvin, the CEO of the American Association of Franchisees and Dealers.

This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast “A Deeper Dive” features Stephen Cohen, a solo practice attorney who works with a wide range of restaurants on real estate issues, including Dunkin’, Famous Dave’s, Caribou Coffee and many others. Cohen discusses the pandemic’s impact on leases, and why relations between operators and landlords have been relatively good thus far. But he worries that a second wave of the virus and corresponding sales challenges could cause problems, potentially leading more severe real estate problems for operators.

Restaurant design is adapting quickly to meet changing consumer needs. This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast “A Deeper Dive” features Rapha Abreu, global head of design for Restaurant Brands International, to discuss the intersection of restaurant design and new technology and how it’s all being adapted in a post-COVID era.

Reef Kitchens has a unique business. But its model is more traditional than you think. This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast “A Deeper Dive” features Alan Philips, the chief creative officer for Reef Kitchens. Ghost kitchens are expanding quickly around the country, and investors have poured a ton of money into these companies, banking on a new business model that takes advantage of the growth in delivery demand. Yet there are a lot of these providers, and delivery itself still has long-term questions. Reef takes a unique approach to ghost kitchens. The company builds its “neighborhood kitchens” using modular units on parking lots in urban areas, enabling it to build them quickly. But it is the operator of the kitchens, so the chains and independents that locate in the kitchens license their brands to Reef.

The recovery in full-service dining likely hit a big speed bump last week, when the U.S. Centers for Disease Control cited in-restaurant dining as factor in the spread of the coronavirus. This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast “A Deeper Dive” focuses on that topic, and features former Red Robin CEO Denny Marie Post.

Mark Wasilefsky, head of franchise finance for TD Bank, joins the RB podcast “A Deeper Dive” to discuss COVID-19’s impact on financing.

It’s almost as if there are two restaurant industries, with one struggling to survive the pandemic, and the other flourishing. This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast “A Deeper Dive” discusses that dichotomy. Dennis Monroe, chairman of the Minneapolis law firm of Monroe Moxness and Berg, joins the podcast to talk about these issues.

Virtual brands are all over the place. But the trend is riskier than it appears. This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast “A Deeper Dive” features Robert Byrne, the director of consumer and industry insights with RB sister company Technomic, to talk about what has suddenly become one of the biggest trends in the restaurant space.