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This week, the biggest news in the country was the recall election in California. It was the first real test of how the country felt about vaccine mandates, and it proved that around 65% of voting Californians believe in both vaccination mandates and COVID safety measures by keeping Gov. Gavin Newsom in power. What does this mean for restaurants? The NRN team discusses what could possibly be ahead for California restaurants.
Also, the team discusses the recent uptick in subscription programs such as the new coffee subscription service from Pret a Manger and the new subscription service Taco Bell is testing. These programs announced this week follow in the steps of Panera Bread’s subscription service, which launched in February 2020. The team reveals what they think about subscriptions and what they mean for the industry.
For this week’s interview, Ron Ruggless interviewed Shaquille O’Neal, famed basketball star and franchisee of a new restaurant brand, Big Chicken. They, along with Big Chicken CEO Josh Halpern, spoke about the brand’s trajectory and maintaining Shaq’s legacy.
After spending more than a year as Pizza Hut’s first chief equity officer, Chequan Lewis said he is bringing the brand’s values around diversity and inclusion to the next level by creating a model in which workers are encouraged to see all of the career potential that a job in the restaurant industry can provide. ...
In 2015 when Pokeworks opened its first location in Manhattan, the team never imagined how popular poke, a little-known Hawaiian dish traditionally made with raw fish and rice, would soon become. That first Pokeworks location happened to be next to the city’s first Chick-fil-A, and in the early days, the lines outside were for chicken sandwiches not poke bowls. The location was a blessing in disguise, though, recalled Kevin Hsu, the CMO of Pokeworks, on the NRN Extra Serving Podcast. Chick-fil-A consumers soon started familiarize themselves with poke. Then came the lines and the press. Soon after a video featuring their sushi burrito went viral. This sort of attention could easily make a for a food fad, and one that might fade fast. But, Hsu argues, poke is something people can eat all the time, and Pokeworks, specifically, has staying power thanks to its focus on educating consumers and bringing unusual ingredients and flavors to the masses. “Even though it hits a very strong trend, a lot of our guests tell us, and also it shows in our results, [poke is] really something that they can see eating every day.” And more and more consumers are eating poke regularly. Today Pokeworks has about 40 locations with 100 new stores in the works. ...
After starting as CEO of Checkers & Rally’s Restaurants in mid-February, Frances Allen quickly began implementing her “first 100 days” plan for the Tampa, Fla.-based quick-service chain. The former leader of Boston Market was in a “listen and learn” mode, getting to know the brand by working at restaurants cooking burgers and traveling around to different markets to meet operators, she said during NRN’s Extra Serving podcast. But by day 11 on the job, she tossed her playbook aside as she saw a crisis in the making. It was Feb. 28, around the same time the Centers for Disease Control had identified the first case of suspected local transmission in the United States. ...
