Morrison is no stranger to the restaurant industry, with 36 years of experience at well-known companies such as Pizza Hut and Wingstop. While Jersey Mike's is doing just fine, Morrison wants to keep it that way and has slowly been bringing in people he can trust to keep the company moving in a positive direction, enhancing and optimizing what already exists.
When a business succeeds, it isn't necessarily because of some intricate business plan or elaborately devised model. Such is the case with Texas Roadhouse, a concept that was initially written down on a cocktail napkin before it blossomed into the enterprise we know today. As soon as founder Kent Taylor found investors for his dream, he quickly sketched out his vision using the resources available to him.
However, in spite of these issues, some once-struggling restaurants are coming back from near extinction - and, often, changing how their businesses are run in the process. We're going to take a closer look at several different chains that, until recently, were not doing well but have managed to pull back from the brink (at least for now). It's not clear what the future holds for your favorite chain restaurants, but for the time being, it looks like these spots are making a comeback.
Amid calls for a national shutdown on 30 January, Anton Kinloch displayed a sign on the sidewalk outside Lone Wolf, his craft cocktail bar and restaurant in Kingston, New York. In large block letters he wrote: WE LOVE ICE IN DRINKS. WE DON'T LOVE ICE IN REAL LIFE. SOLIDARITY ALWAYS. Along with his wife and business partner Lisa Dy, he'd made the difficult decision to stay open, electing instead to donate a portion of the night's proceeds to a local immigrant advocacy group.
The restaurant industry is grappling with big questions this year. Diners these days are more value-conscious, more selective, and more willing to stay home; and costs, along with competition, continue to rise for operators. As big chains and local independents try to protect sales or regain their footing, analysts who spoke to Business Insider said the year ahead will come down to whether restaurants can do more with less, without losing what made people want to dine out in the first place.
Anthony Bourdain has always had a way with words, but his writing didn't always surround cooking. Before he was giving his unfiltered opinions on all things food and the restaurant industry, Anthony Bourdain was penning mysteries. In 1995, five years before his iconic debut of " Kitchen Confidential," Bourdain published his very first crime-fiction novel. Titled "Bone in the Throat," the suspenseful novel takes readers into the mafia world via stereotypical kitchen mayhem.
Drive-thrus will open in Lebanon and Antioch on Wednesday, Dec. 10 and Murfreesboro on Friday, Dec. 12, according to a news release. News agencies in Tennessee are not yet reporting what kinds of crowds are expected, but In-N-Out's debut in the Southeast has been eagerly anticipated. The expansion will bring the total number of In-N-Out restaurants to 431 and officially put the chain in 10 states: California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Texas, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Tennessee.
City Council Member Shahana Hanif, New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, Deputy Public Advocate for Education and Opportunity Elizabeth Kennedy, and the Workers' Justice Project stood alongside affected workers at a press conference on Dec. 2 outside Indian Spice on Seventh Avenue. They demanded that the restaurant's owner, Mariam Khandakar, finally comply with the order now that her appeal period ended on Nov. 24, making the ruling enforceable.
I was tired of making $15 per hour and having no benefits, no time off, and no future after 20 years of experience. I wanted kids someday and wanted the kids to be able to see a doctor before they were old enough to get a job themselves. Restaurants simply cannot provide that. COVID-19 just really drove it home how owners would VASTLY prefer their employees to all die than take a slight hit on profits.
Momofuku founder David Chang says America's youth isn't drinking alcohol in the same way as earlier generations, and it has become the "real existential threat" to the restaurant industry. "Kids just don't drink anymore," Chang said in an interview with TBPN talk-show hosts John Coogan and Jordi Hays this week. "They are never going to know what it is like to wake up at 3 p.m. in the afternoon and be like: 'Shit, I left my credit card in that bar.'"
It's a dog-eat-dog world out there in the restaurant industry, and many chains are doing whatever it takes to ensure that their doors remain open. Whether that's places like Denny's reviving its "$2, $4, $6, and $8 menu" to stave off defeat or Red Lobster introducing the "Ultimate SpendLESS Shrimp" deal to bring customers back into the booths, nothing is off the table. Thriving restaurant chains are few and far between in this post-pandemic food landscape,
There are more than 52,000 Mexican and Tex-Mex restaurants in the entire U.S., per IBIS World. Further data from the Pew Research Center, conducted in 2024, found that 11% of American restaurants serve Mexican-style dishes, and a whopping 85% of counties in the U.S. are home to at least one Mexican restaurant. All of this is to say: Mexican food is a big deal in America.
"We had signed the lease in 2007... quite an expensive lease, which was a regular lease at the time," the chef tells Katie Byrne on the latest episode of the Money Talks podcast. "It was about €125,000 a year rent for the space. We signed that with personal guarantees - we were a bit naive going in, we kind of said, 'ah yeah, sure we'll just sign whatever we need to sign'. And then the crash happened and it was... yeah, it was difficult."
McDonald's, Burger King, and Olive Garden have all recently unveiled discounted menu offerings as low- and middle-class consumers have been more loudly signaling that they are feeling pinched by inflation and anxiety about a weakening jobs market. IHOP's new nationwide, everyday $6 value offering ($7 in some pricier markets) features four breakfast meals, ranging from a ham-and-cheese omelet that's paired with buttermilk pancakes to scrambled eggs with cheese and hickory-smoked bacon and served with hash browns.
I come from a restaurant family. My grandparents opened Henry's Hunan-the only Hunanese restaurant in the city at the time. Chinese food in San Francisco was largely American Chinese or Cantonese-inflected, so it was unusual to have this different region represented. I spent childhood Saturdays at the restaurant, making Shirley Temples, and helping seat people. I waited tables in college but never saw a career in the restaurant industry. I then worked in documentary film for many years.
After seven years as a senior leader at Taco Bell, Julia Stewart joined Applebee's as president in 1998. She left after three years when she was denied a promotion to CEO, she says, despite being promised and earning the role - during her tenure, company and franchise sales skyrocketed, and so did the stock price, per Fortune. Soon after the snub, she joined IHOP as chair and CEO in 2001, per LinkedIn.
I know how damaging it can be when new regulations target one industry while leaving others untouched. It's especially disheartening because the majority of owners are immigrants who already live with the daily fear of raids and growing hostility toward our communities. As someone who's lived the journey from dishwasher to business owner, I'm urging the board to recognize that further targeting local restaurants is unjustified, and to reject this proposal.
