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Case Study: Which Customers Should This Restaurant Listen To?

• Sandeep Puri,
• Kirti Khanzode,
• Alison Beard

Half want something new, but half don’t want it to change.

Rohit was juggling eggs. Smooth, brown ovals—in one hand or the other for a split second, and then up, up, up in the air. First there were three, then four, then five— Where are they coming from? he wondered—but he kept his arms moving and the loops going, and the crowd in front of him cheered. Where am I? Who are these people? He wanted to look around but knew he couldn’t take his eyes off the eggs. Then, suddenly, they changed into different things: a chicken leg, a courgette, a tomato, a potato, and a bag of lentils. He tried to keep juggling, but his fingers slipped on the slick chicken skin, he tossed the lentils too low and the potato too high, and everything came crashing to the ground. He looked down, but the mess wasn’t what he expected. All around him were broken eggs—dozens of them—whites and yolks oozing out through splintered shells.

• SP Sandeep Puri is an associate professor at the Asian Institute of Management, in the Philippines.
• Kirti Khanzode is an associate professor at the Institute of Management Technology in Dubai.
• Alison Beard is an executive editor at Harvard Business Review and previously worked as a reporter and editor at the Financial Times. A mom of two, she tries—and sometimes succeeds—to apply management best practices to her household. alisonwbeard

Partner Center

Restaurant Revolution: How the Industry Is Fighting to Stay Alive

It’s never been easy to make money in the restaurant industry. A highly fragmented sector dominated by 70 percent independent owners and operators, the average restaurant’s annual revenue hovers around $1 million and generates an operating profit of just 4-5 percent. A financially sustainable business model for small independents is often elusive.

So when a crisis of the magnitude of the COVID-19 global pandemic forces restaurants to close, and their revenue drops to zero overnight, things get particularly dire. Unlike the oligopolistic airline industry, where a few large firms can easily band together to lobby for government support, the concerns of restaurant owners and the unique realities and concerns of their industry remain largely unaddressed by government programs designed to help small businesses.

Two months into the pandemic, 40 percent of America’s restaurants were shuttered and 8 million employees out of work—three times the job losses seen by any other industry. While some restaurants began reopening in May and June, most featured only takeout, delivery, or outdoor dining options due to local restrictions. The number of diners in June remained down more than 65 percent year over year, and the National Restaurant Association projected an industry revenue shortfall of $240 billion for the year.

Second-order effects of restaurant closures ripple through the American economy, bringing economic pain to farmers, fishermen, foragers, ranchers, manufacturers, and other producers who supply the industry. Equally hit are supply chain partners who move goods across the country.

"It’s going to take some time to retool operating models to be able to succeed in this new environment.”

Coming into 2020, the restaurant industry was thriving. Within a few short months, we now see an industry back on its heels, massively disrupted by an external force so unprecedented it is almost unfathomable.

The severity of this business interruption will continue to endure and be further complicated by the mandate of many local governments that dine-in capacity be limited to 25-50 percent even after restaurants are permitted to reopen. It’s still an open question how skittish the American public will be about returning to one of its favorite pasttimes.

As a result, the restaurant industry that emerges from the global pandemic will likely look fundamentally different from the one that existed in early March. How will the COVID-19 crisis change the landscape of the industry, and what do restaurants need to do to survive? And, what should consumers, desperate to return to their favorite restaurants but wary about whether it is safe to do so, expect?

Stories from the inside

The future of the restaurant industry is especially of concern to us. We collectively share 35 years of restaurant and food industry experience, navigating our way through as waitstaff and bartenders, as managers and senior leaders of restaurant groups and the industry’s primary trade association as well as the food and beverage brands that supply them. We’ve invested in the industry and served as corporate board members and leaders of industry coalitions, and we now, as educators, prepare future founders and leaders of restaurants to operate in this unique industry. We’ve spent the last few years in deep study of the restaurant industry to create and deliver an MBA-level course at Harvard Business School called Challenges and Opportunities in the Restaurant Industry .

Leveraging this work, we virtually convened in April a diverse group of restaurateurs, chefs, investors, and industry leaders to participate in a course capstone panel discussion of the COVID-19 crisis and what it means for the future of the industry.

What we heard was that the restaurant industry was in deep economic trouble and that ill-conceived government bailout plans were not helping to shore it up. However, we also heard that restaurateurs remained steadfastly committed to their goal of nurturing and nourishing people, providing a place of succor and community in a strange new world.

Our conversations with the panel and our field research inform our vision for the future of the industry and the advice to restaurant owners, staff, investors, and patrons that we offer below.

How did it deteriorate so quickly?

Restaurants are universally labor intensive—by any productivity metric they rank among the least productive industries. Labor is required to both produce food in the kitchen and serve to consumers in the dining area. On average, restaurants spend 30 percent of their revenue on labor. With increasing focus on fair wages and legislated wage increases, restaurants may easily exceed that average.

Moreover, restaurants spend roughly equivalently for cost of goods sold (COGS). Independent restaurants typically purchase without the ability to hedge or otherwise lock in pricing, and so are at the mercy of supply-price fluctuations.

A third cost challenge for restaurants is occupancy. Locations are generally leased on a triple net fixed rent basis, occasionally with an additional percentage rent above a specified revenue threshold. Normatively, the industry seeks to spend no more than 10 percent of revenue on occupancy costs, but when entering leases, restaurateurs may well be optimistic about their projected revenue and therefore agree to a fixed rent expense that winds up exceeding that percentage of actual revenue. Other expenses—insurance, credit card processing, marketing, utilities, repairs—mount up.

Assuming adequate working capital upon opening, a restaurant’s cash from daily sales is used to pay for supplies previously purchased as well as for payroll, rent, and other expenses. As a result, restaurants typically operate with modest cash reserves. If revenue is disrupted, accrued payables as well as payroll and rent remain to be settled. When JPMorgan Chase sampled almost 600,000 businesses in 12 representative industries, restaurants had the lowest cash buffer.

Various segments of restaurants experienced the crisis differently. Those previously adept at drive-through and takeout service weathered the storm well while others, reliant on dining-in, faced total loss of revenue.

Paul Brown, CEO of Inspire Brands, which owns Buffalo Wild Wings, Arby’s, Jimmy John’s and Sonic Drive-In, explained that with 11,000 restaurants in its portfolio, Inspire is seeing very different impacts across the brands driven primarily by their business models.

“At Sonic, we are operating more or less at normal, given its drive-in and drive-through concept,” Brown said. “We’ve shut the dining rooms at Arby’s and moved to a drive-through-only format. We’re running down a little bit, but not too badly, as we can run that model quite efficiently with just drive-through business.”

At the other end of the brand spectrum, he continued, is Buffalo Wild Wings, which traditionally consists of 75 percent dine-in business. “Some of our Jimmy John’s restaurants also rely heavily on office lunches and universities. They’re down more. It’s going to take some time to retool operating models to be able to succeed in this new environment.”

At the outset of the crisis, most restaurants had only two to three weeks of operating reserves and those reserves were quickly exhausted. With no end date in sight of mandatory closures, owners moved quickly to furlough or layoff almost all staff, maintaining skeleton crews. Thomas Keller, whose restaurant group includes the French Laundry in Napa Valley and Per Se in Manhattan, employed 1,200 staff in his 13 restaurants, but by mid-March staffing was reduced to 18 employees across all restaurants.

Panelists shared the pain they experienced as staff members, many of whom were long-term employees who felt like family, were furloughed or laid off. Some owners kept their kitchens running solely to provide meals for their staff, fearful they might find themselves unable to feed themselves. The day he had to lay off thousands of people “was one of the hardest days of my life,” said RJ Melman, president of Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises and creator and developer of more than 13 restaurant concepts. “I know a good chunk of those people, this is a family business.”

In 2012, the World Economic Forum published an assessment of plausible risks facing the industry. It assessed the risk of pandemics at 11 percent, below both a global energy shortage (19 percent) and labor shortages (17 percent).

The restaurant leaders were asked, given this risk likelihood, should restaurants have been better prepared for the global pandemic?

“Do you really think anyone could have been prepared for this?” Melman responded. “A lot of our dining rooms have zero sales. I don’t think there are many businesses in general that have a plan for zero sales. It’s not that we’re not prepared for not having business due to an emergency. We have business interruption insurance for things like fires, but no one could have planned for an entire industry being shut down for months at a time.”

Paul Brown agreed. “It’s one thing to talk about a pandemic. It’s quite another to talk about the government’s reaction to the pandemic, which is really what is hurting everybody in this industry. It’s less about the pandemic and more about the uniform global shutdown of the economy, which I don’t think anyone would have predicted. This is the ultimate downside scenario: What happens if the entire economy shuts down for several months?”

As governments mandated closures, many restaurateurs looked to their business interruption insurers for relief. Some were dismayed to find that they had purchased policies with virus exclusions, leaving them uncovered for any losses due to the pandemic. Others, including Keller’s group, had coverage for viruses, but their claims were still rejected by their insurers. Along with a number of well-known chefs and restaurateurs, Keller is leading a group named BIG (Business Interruption Group) to wage a legal, political, and public relations effort to mandate payment for policies with no virus exclusion and federal support for payment under policies with exclusions.

Thanks, but no thanks to bailouts

Our panelists expressed frustration with government aid programs, such as the US CARES Act and its Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) enacted in late March. Although designed to help small businesses with forgivable loans to encourage keeping employees on the payroll, the program disappointingly failed to address needs unique to the restaurant industry.

For example, eligibility for full loan forgiveness was predicated on using loan proceeds for an eight-week period ending June 30 with maintenance of both wage levels and the number of employees at the same level as the comparable 2019 period. Moreover, 75 percent of loan proceeds were required to be used for payroll, at odds with an industry norm of payroll expenses totaling approximately 30 percent of revenue. As of mid-May, restaurants that were open had reduced staffing for takeout and delivery only and the prospects for returning to full employment by June 30 were dim given the constraints imposed by capacity caps.

"I have no idea what to do with the PPP loan that I’ve been approved for; I’m not sure I will take it.”

The debt service on loans not forgiven will further constrain restaurants’ cash flow, leading some restaurants, particularly the small, independent operations most in dire economic straits and risking permanent closure, to forego use of the loans, deeming them too risky to take.

“We’re closed and will be for the foreseeable future, how long, I’m not sure,” explained Amanda Cohen, a James Beard-nominated chef and owner of Dirt Candy in New York City. “I have no idea what to do with the PPP loan that I’ve been approved for; I’m not sure I will take it. I spend all my time thinking about whether I can get it to work for me. I play with the numbers, trying to imagine ways to get up to my pre-COVID fulltime equivalency. None of it seems to work.”

After receiving a PPP loan, “it wasn’t a relief to get the money. It is a really bad catch-22,” said Annie Shi, co-founder of King in New York City. “We’re going to keep it, but not spend even one dollar of it until the final rules are hammered out so we can see if it will actually help or hurt us.”

Keller expressed frustration that some of the largest restaurant groups were taking government money while most needy restaurateurs were unable to benefit. “The smallest of restaurants, those under $2 million in revenue, are the ones that most need the help,” he said. “These are your local coffee shops, donut shops, Chinese takeouts; they are the fabric of our communities. These restaurants are not going to be able to come back unless we help them during the crisis; we must take care of them.”

In reviewing the $30 million given to publicly traded companies such as Shake Shack and Ruth’s Chris, Keller pointed out that if just $100,000 each was given to the smallest restaurants, 300 owners could have been supported. “We need to invert this from the largest getting the money first to the smallest being first in line.” (Subsequently, as a result of public criticism, Shake Shack and Ruth’s Chris returned their PPP loan proceeds.)

In early June, Congress passed and the President signed the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act of 2020 that extended the coverage period from eight weeks to 24 weeks and reduced the requirement for use for payroll from 75 percent to 60 percent, among other provisions. Whether these changes to the PPP will encourage more restaurateurs in need to accept the loans remains unclear.

Pivoting to survive

Many restaurants have pivoted during the crisis. They have shifted to takeout and delivery and enhanced their ability to accommodate curbside pickup and entryway handoff. Some developed takeout offerings of chef-prepared family style meals including wholly or partially prepared multi-meal packages complete with reheating or final cooking instructions.

But others have found pivoting difficult. “We’ve chosen not to go into delivery or pickup,” Shi said. “In the first phase after closing, we were really just concerned about our staff and their welfare. We set up a GoFundMe to raise money to ensure that they were taken care of. In the second phase, we were busy applying for loans. Then, we did consider delivery and take out but not every menu item in our restaurant is designed to be delivery-friendly. And, delivery is not that profitable given that apps like Uber Eats take 30 percent of your revenue in fees.”

Cohen faces similar choices. “We didn’t do delivery beforehand, so I didn’t think we were going to do a good job of it in the middle of a pandemic,” she said. “We weren’t prepared for it, we don’t have the containers for it, it would have taken us too long to get up and running. So many of my friends are doing it and they’re not breaking even. My biggest concern was that I couldn’t guarantee my staff’s safety. I want my staff to be safe. If my restaurant survives, but half my staff gets sick, that’s not worth it.”

Keith Pascal, former chief concept officer of Panera Bread and a founding partner of the restaurant-focused investment firm Act III Holdings, said that although sales at restaurants in his investment portfolio were initially down more than 80 percent, he’s seen incremental improvements each week as more locations implement creative ways to improve sales, such as digital access, new menu offerings, and contactless curbside pickup options.

Investors are helping shore up distribution networks by injecting cash into distributors to keep products flowing. Franchisees are being offered more generous payment terms. Every player in the fragile ecosystem is facing a threat, and the industry is pulling together to shore up each part of the system.

“Inventory is going to be a big issue for us,” said Keller. “How do we help shore up our suppliers, many of whom are also independent business people, who have been impacted by our closure? Can we use PPP money to pay our suppliers to resupply our restaurants? Like us, their revenue has dropped to zero. How can we make sure they survive?”

Amidst their own pain, restaurateurs are helping others in their communities by lending their physical spaces and staff. Keller’s ad hoc restaurant in Yountville, Calif. delivers food to homebound elderly in the area, providing inexpensive, three-course meals for those on unemployment, and uses its facility to host a small food bank.

In conjunction with the nonprofit Rethink Food, New York City’s Eleven Madison Park, a three-Michelin-starred restaurant ranked as the top restaurant in the world in 2017, transformed into a commissary kitchen preparing 3,000 meals daily for community members facing hunger. When Orange County, California’s public schools closed, Slapfish, a fast-casual seafood chain, immediately launched a carryout, kids-eat-free policy. Other restaurateurs are organizing consortiums of their suppliers to curate subscription boxes of artisanal food sold online.

Why employees don’t want to return

Barriers to rebuilding restaurant staffing begin with ensuring the safety of restaurant workers, including the need to take into account the ages and pre-existing conditions of current and prospective employees. Restaurant owners must also provide flexibility in scheduling due to childcare needs and the possibility that summer programs and schools may be closed until September or later. Some employees may be reluctant to return because the combination of state unemployment benefits and the federal supplement of $600 per week, available until at least August 1, increases their earnings beyond their pre-COVID compensation. On the other hand, given massive unemployment across the nation, if offered a return to work, many may respond positively, concerned about competition for their positions from others seeking work.

Many other restaurant employees, particularly front-of-house tipped workers, earned more while working than receiving unemployment compensation and want to return quickly, but are concerned their income will drop because of less-than-capacity restaurants. Thin industry margins make raising restaurant employee wages nearly impossible absent increased menu prices, which customers hard hit by the crisis are likely to reject.

"The most important thing we are all facing is really the confidence and comfort that our guests are going to have when they come back to our restaurants.”

More tip jars and prominent space on checks for voluntary staff appreciation contributions will likely be part of restaurants’ initial response and, as the economy recovers, menu prices will likely increase. Addressing employees’ concerns will be critical—successful restaurateurs know that treating their employees well is the best way for them to ensure that customers’ concerns about safety are front of mind in every aspect of service while maintaining high standards for hospitality.

Restaurant implementation of highly variable federal, state, local, and industry operating guidelines may provide confidence, especially to more vulnerable employees. In kitchens, many tightly designed for workers to multitask across different cooking and prep stations, close proximity of workers is of concern. In dining and restroom areas, in addition to wearing masks or face shields, vigilance will be required about cleaning and sanitizing. Management effectiveness at controlling numbers and flow of customers and enforcement of local requirements, such as requiring customers to wear masks when not eating, will impact the perception and reality of employee safety.

When planning to reopen dine-in locations, operators are identifying new staff positions, including “concierges” to manage entry and employees assigned to sanitize tables, chairs, and restrooms.

Anecdotally, early experiences from states opening up show some people crowding in and refusing to wear masks. Employees who are returning to work have found working conditions, including wearing masks, to be difficult. On Cape Cod in Massachusetts, an ice cream store shut down after one day after teenage staff members were verbally harassed by customers frustrated by long lines and wait-times due to new safety protocols.

What does reopening look like and can we afford it?

Throughout the crisis, restaurants and regulatory authorities have discussed game plans for reopening. Prominent features of these plans include reconfiguring floor plans to enable physical distancing while acknowledging that the oft-cited six-foot rule may not be practical for restaurant dining, utilizing transparent screens or other physical barriers to demarcate table separation, limiting the number of individuals at each table, expanding outdoor seating, health and safety training and staggered shifts for employees, more flexible sick day policies, frequent and more rigorous sanitation of all surfaces, touch-free interactions between customers and waitstaff, scanning QR codes, single-use menus or contactless, mobile-device ordering and payment, waitstaff screening and gloving, and many more.

Guidelines coming from local municipalities and state governments rankle some restaurant operators. While important, Paul Brown said, “it would be nice if those guidelines were a bit more consistently applied. It’s a real challenge. We maintain a 32-page document for each of our restaurant chains that contains different parameters for every local municipality. We have to update it nearly every day as things change. It’s almost impossible to operate a restaurant like that, and consumers are confused—they don’t know how to behave.”

Adoption of specific reopening protocols and rigorous and consistent adherence to those protocols will signal restaurants’ commitment to customer and employee safety. Although necessary, protocols alone will likely not be sufficient to enable restaurants to meet the most important prerequisite of successful reopening—restoration of customer confidence and trust while maintaining the hospitality that is an essential part of the restaurant experience.

Rebuilding that confidence and trust needs to begin with empathy and respect for restaurant employees who will be a new contingent of frontline workers in the fight against COVID-19 as well as the culture carriers and custodians of the restaurant experience. Notes Keller: “The most important thing we are all facing is really the confidence and comfort that our guests are going to have when they come back to our restaurants. That’s going to be our biggest hurdle, regardless of the guidelines that the government is giving us. Are you really going to want to go to a restaurant? Until people get comfortable with that, nothing’s going to happen.”

And reopening won’t be easy, particularly for independent operators like Cohen. “My biggest goal right now is to get people back into restaurants,” she said. “I will probably be operating at a loss for many, many months if I need to stay at 50 percent capacity.”

If we open, will they come?

Until COVID-19 struck, Americans spent more for away-from-home food than for at-home consumption. Restaurants had been the space, in addition to home and the workplace, where relationships have been formed, incubated, and maintained.

What is clear, however, is that for the industry to recover, restaurants must incorporate health and safety measures into a hospitable environment, staffed by well-trained and appropriately incentivized employees whose interactions with customers induce them to return.

Consumer polls, conducted in May by The Washington Post , researchers at the University of Maryland, and Morning Consult, revealed that only 26 percent of Americans believe restaurants should reopen, and merely 18 percent felt comfortable returning to restaurants to eat. In a consumer survey undertaken by Datassential also in May, 75 percent of consumers said safety was more important than visiting their favorite restaurant and 64 percent said they will definitely avoid eating out. Customers with higher risk tolerances have patronized restaurants in states that have begun to reopen but in numbers below those necessary for restaurants to return to profitability. Takeout business continues to grow, but more slowly than hoped.

Yet, there is cause for optimism, said Pascal. Consumers are growing weary of cooking all of their own meals. “People are resilient in their desire to eat out, and perhaps a bit bored with what’s in their refrigerators, so eager to enjoy some of their dining occasions prepared by someone outside their own homes.”

Paul Brown noted restaurants must consider all visual cues that will signal a safe environment to consumers. “A lot of these are already in place in restaurants because cleanliness has always been at the very top of the list of priorities of any well-run restaurant. But a lot of the work that we do to keep restaurants clean has not been as visual or evident to consumers and the consumers of the future may need to see more of it. It puts a lot of emphasis on the quality of the space itself. An old building looks dirty, no matter how clean it is. Design is going to be a big focus going forward; how can we use our tables or restroom design in ways that make them visibly clean?”

Changes in consumer needs and habits will also affect restaurant usage. Restaurants located in or near office complexes suffered as office occupancy reduced, and will continue to feel the negative impact. Consumers heading to offices may have now grown accustomed to coffee or breakfast at home and in the future may be working increasingly from home. Previously, site selection strategies for restaurants focused on density of both working and residential population—depending on the concept, the relative density of each provided key input for predictive models. For those concepts that placed more weight on the density of working population, such as in urban areas, those selection projections may now be compromised.

Another critical factor that will impact the industry is the sheer number of unemployed Americans overall and the cadence of their return to employment across all parts of the economy. With their real disposable income severely impacted, discretionary purchases from restaurants may be reduced. Moreover, when employed, consumers have less time for meal preparation and turn to away-from-home solutions; when unemployed, free time enables more home cooking.

Kevin Brown, CEO of Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises, commented, “People are getting very comfortable with social distancing. But we’re going to be fighting to break even at 50 percent capacity. We don’t know how this will play out. I know the economics of restaurants will have to change, including pricing, but in the near term, that’s going to be impossible.”

E Pluribus Unum

As a result of their shared challenges, restaurateurs are banding together to educate officials about the unique aspects of their industry that make it difficult to survive a global pandemic and to uncover solutions to solve the industry’s short-term pain and ensure longer-term survival. Grassroots efforts organized by the National Restaurant Association, the Independent Restaurant Coalition, and others have brought visibility at both national and local levels to members of Congress and the White House.

Keller and Paul Brown are both members of the Food and Beverage group of the White House Great American Economic Revival, a 200-person task force of representatives across 17 industries who have been meeting with White House staff during the crisis to help chart a path for economic recovery. Keller, other restaurateurs, and industry representatives have met with the President and Cabinet members more than once to describe the impact of the pandemic on restaurants, as well as on those who supply or work in restaurants. Lobbying efforts in Washington have resulted in the virtually unanimous adoption of changes to the PPP legislation by the House of Representatives and the Senate and approval by the White House.

“There have been a lot of coalitions coming together,” said Cohen. “What we’re all realizing is that all of these small restaurants coming together collectively have power. We want to harness that power and come together as a group. But it’s not going to help us if we all can’t open, if none of us continue to exist.”

"I think there’s been a disconnect between what people are willing to pay for a dinner out and what it’s actually costing restaurants to make and serve it.”

Added Keller, “Having a unified voice is the most important thing we can do today. We all have to come together. We’re all faced with the same catastrophe. The only way we’re going to solve any issues we face is through unification.”

Out of crisis comes opportunity

It is too soon to know when and how the industry and the economy will emerge from the pandemic. But sometimes a major crisis becomes a turning point where industries emerge stronger than before. Companies that focus on the health of their employees and customers, that deliver the meals and dining experience that consumers crave, that manage their capital wisely and look after the corporate health of their business, these are the companies that will uncover opportunities amidst the carnage that this crisis has brought.

“I’m a contrarian,” said Pascal. “I actually think it’s a wonderful time now to be thinking about getting into the industry. While it may come off someone else’s misfortune—and that’s sad—there’s going to be a lot of opportunities. While there will be some misfortune, there’s going to be a lot of new capacity. There’s going to be a lot of cheap assets lying around. We’re looking at investing in some things that are close to bankruptcy. There are some real nice opportunities to keep some businesses alive that deserve to stay that way. We’re also seeing larger, high-quality organizations that have been wounded by this and need capital or want a little bit of a financial cushion to weather this.”

Interestingly, during the Great Recession of 2007-2009, the number of eating and drinking locations did not decrease. Why? A large number of newly unemployed people, lacking other employment options, opened their own restaurant businesses. Whether the nature of this crisis has similar effects remains to be seen.

Intensive focus on restaurant and food handling safety will no doubt yield product innovation in packaging, no-touch technology for ordering, paying, restrooms, and even entry and exit from restaurants, and cleaning and sanitizing protocols and products. Air circulation within restaurants will also be examined. This process has already begun. For example, MASS Design Group, a non-profit collective founded a decade ago in response to epidemic outbreaks, is currently working with restaurateurs Jody Adams, Jaime Bissonnette, and Ken Oringer on case studies developing spatial strategies for their Boston and Cambridge restaurants, taking into account, among other things, entry and exit points, delivery and takeout, traffic patterns, physical barriers, and air flow. MASS has made its case studies and guidelines available as open source documents.

The foundational model for restaurant operations will also be examined. How will the future value proposition for consumers reconcile with the financial sustainability of restaurants and the well-being of employees? Will consumers be willing to pay more to help ensure fair wages and restaurant viability overall?

“We have believed that prices have needed to go up for a long time now if you want to pay your staff a living wage,” Shi said. “I think there’s been a disconnect between what people are willing to pay for a dinner out and what it’s actually costing restaurants to make and serve it.”

At the same time, restaurants may turn increasingly to technology, including the use of robotics, to improve labor efficiency.

Restaurants will need to address every aspect of fixed costs. Will restaurants be able to structure or restructure leases to make rent a variable expense linked to sales performance?

Will consumers’ use of takeout, curbside pickup, and delivery during the pandemic carry over to a post-pandemic time? If so, opportunities abound for restaurant operators to reduce brick and mortar dine-in access in favor of ghost or virtual kitchen capability that reduces significantly both capital investment and occupancy costs.

During the crisis, many localities adjusted regulations to permit restaurants to include alcoholic beverages with takeout, curbside, and delivery orders. Consumers have appreciated that convenience, which, if continued, provides an enhanced revenue source for restaurants.

The cost of third-party delivery commissions has been the bane of restaurants pre-COVID. Some localities, including New York City, have sought to cap those fees. The viability of the economics of third-party delivery for both restaurants and the delivery providers post-COVID will continue to be addressed, with opportunities for lower-cost entrants to emerge.

Prior to COVID-19, the number of restaurants per capita had reached a record high; the industry would likely have seen a culling of locations even in the absence of the crisis. “I think you’re going to see a lot of restaurants close and not come back, particularly those chains that don’t have strong differentiation in the marketplace,” said Pascal. “There’s been a lot of capacity and many businesses hanging around for the last decade that probably shouldn’t have survived.” The elimination of excess capacity could improve profitability and growth potential of those remaining and create white space for new restaurant concepts to emerge.

During the crisis, many restaurants, while closed, have linked their supply chain to their patrons in order to help mitigate the impact of the crisis on their vendors, distributors, farmers, and other suppliers. If that continues post-pandemic, it may help provide more stable demand and pricing for both restaurants and the supply chain.

Voices of hope

The restaurant industry has been long marked by creativity and resiliency, intrinsic to restaurant operators’ DNA. Consumers long for a return to restaurants. In a Datassential consumer survey, when asked what activities they wish to resume, “dining at my favorite sit-down restaurant” topped a list that included visiting movie theaters, shopping centers, meeting friends and family at restaurants, and attending events at stadiums or arenas.

"What restaurants provide—bringing people together—it’s been an honor to be in this business.”

“The quarantine has made everyone realize how much they appreciate being with other people,” Shi said. “I think that’s the thing that people miss the most, and I’m really hopeful that when we are allowed to get back together then people will realize how much they prize that social interaction and look forward to dining with their loved ones more than ever before.”

Without restaurants, cities seem broken, said Cohen. “I now realize how important restaurants are to the fabric of our cities, as I walk down the streets and see them boarded up. I don’t see people out having a good time. It’s like the city is broken. Without restaurants, we are lacking a fundamental piece of what makes living in a society not just tolerable but enjoyable.”

Kevin Brown commented, “It just makes me reflect on the value of relationships. Now we’re all disconnected. What restaurants provide—bringing people together—it’s been an honor to be in this business.”

[Image: iStock Photo ]

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Case study: researching experiences in a restaurant

How is the customer experience in a newly opened restaurant? This article shows how our guest author Anna slipped into the guests' shoes and helped the restaurant managers to improve the service.

In the 5th semester of my bachelor’s degree program in Tourism and Leisure Management at the IMC University of applied Sciences Krems, I was looking for a research topic for my bachelor thesis. It was important that my thesis had a strong practical focus and included an innovative way of doing research. Also, I wanted to keep it interesting for the readers and to provide me with something new to learn and enjoy.

The challenge

During that time, I was working next to my school in a bistro style restaurant as a waitress. Before the restaurant even opened its doors for the first time, I was involved in the tasks and planning for the opening.

The restaurant had recently opened when I was deciding on a topic for my thesis. I personally, as well as the owner and manager of the restaurant, were eager to understand what the overall customer experience looks like and what the favorable and negative attributes of the restaurant are, in order to implement changes. Hence, I decided to design a research project that gives some real feedback about how guests perceive the offered services and feel during their visit at the restaurant.

My main research question was:

• How is the overall customer experience in the restaurant?

Plus two sub questions:

• What do customers rate as positive and negative influences during their visit?
• How do customers evaluate the restaurant on the four main components of restaurant experiences?

After doing research on how I could address this issue to get valuable feedback based on real customer experiences, my attention was drawn to mobile ethnography because it’s able to capture those moments while they are occurring. I decided to choose this as my research method and implemented the mobile ethnography app ExperienceFellow .

Data collection

To invite participants to the study, I designed a flyer – which also provided some guidance and explanation for the participants – and put it on every table of the restaurant. I included a raffle to make it more attractive for the restaurant guests to participate. Additionally, I personally approached the guests in the restaurant and asked them if they wanted to participate. I showed them the flyer and gave some extra explanation, if necessary. I also provided an iPad, where the application was preinstalled, as some guests did not want to download the app to their own devices.

The first thing participants needed to do was complete a little survey to create their profile – only gender, age group and their email address – to keep it short and simple for the attendees.

Afterwards, they could start reporting their experiences whenever a specific moment stuck out for them. These touchpoint reports included satisfaction scores, descriptions, photos and videos.

Data analysis and insights

In total 50 guests joined the project and I collected 196 touchpoints.

I created different perspectives on the ExperienceFellow web application to analyze the different aspects of my project and answer my research question. I applied filters and created tags to sort and group the touchpoints. Comments and attached pictures by the participants helped me to get a better understanding exactly what they were referring to.

In order to answer my research question, I did an analysis of the emotional values of all the touchpoints I had collected. I took a closer look at every emotional stage ranging from very negative to very positive.

The result of my study showed that customers have a positive experience in the restaurant: Over 80% of the total touchpoints were related to positive aspects. The categories food , ambience and service stuck out with the most positive touchpoints.

On the other hand, 6% showed a negative reaction, and I took a closer look at the bad experiences in order to make valuable changes. Those touchpoints were related to, for example, the categories beverage , music and waiting time .

My bachelor paper included a section of recommendations to the restaurant management. For example, having an eye on details like little cracks on glasses to avoid safety issues, or a consistent portion size to deliver the same standards to the guests.

For my project, mobile ethnography was a useful method to explore authentic customer experiences, because it allowed me to capture the moments the participants experience at the time they occured, where other research methods do the evaluation afterwards. Another advantage of this method is that it supports researchers to see the world through the eyes of the participants, as they are empowered to speak for themselves.

It’s important to note that, as this is a new way of doing research, many people are not familiar with it and so it is necessary to provide an explanation before participants can work with it independently.

In general, I can recommend working with mobile ethnography when exploring immediate experiences, not only limited to the tourism sector.

Anna Katharina Reisenberger

This case study has been contributed by Anna Katharina Reisenberger, BA. Currently she’s a master student of International Business and Export Management at IMC University of Applied Sciences Krems, Austria. Feel free to directly get in touch with Anna via [email protected] or via LinkedIn.

Reference to the original paper: Reisenberger, A.K. (2019). Measuring Customer Experience in a Restaurant by applying Mobile Ethnography. Bachelor Paper, IMC University of Applied Sciences  Krems. Available on https://www.fh-krems.ac.at/fileadmin/public/stories/bachelor-paper-reisenberger-measuring-customer-experience.pdf

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Case Study: honeygrow and its Tech for New Restaurant Openings

Since its first fast-casual restaurant opened in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 2012, honeygrow has been known for its customizable stir-fry and salad dishes made with fresh, locally sourced, wholesome ingredients. The company currently has over 40 restaurant locations from Boston to DC and utilizes 100% digital ordering.

John Paul Thomas, honeygrow’s Vice President of Operations Services, said that the restaurant leans heavily into its use of technology—even by today’s standards. Every customer who orders from the restaurant places their order digitally, whether through a kiosk in the restaurant, the mobile app, the honeygrow web ordering site, or a third-party platform like DoorDash, UberEats or Grubhub.

“What that means is our tech needs to work,” explained Thomas. “It’s just as important as power or water—we can’t sell a stir-fry without electricity or gas, nor could we without technology.”

The collaboration with Worldlink began several years ago. Based on previous experience while working for national retail chain Five Below, a member of the honeygrow executive team initiated contact with Worldlink. At that time, honeygrow only required Worldlink’s assistance in a minor capacity, primarily helping with technology installation for a few new store openings. However, as honeygrow ramped up growth and its technology needs increased, the partnership with Worldlink expanded.

honeygrow encountered several challenges as it transitioned from a small start-up business to a flourishing multi-location company. With plans to increase expansion efforts, Thomas and his team knew securing comprehensive technology solutions and enhanced support was crucial. The company’s internal IT team was big enough to support the existing restaurants but did not have the capacity to perform installs and setups for every new restaurant opening (NRO).

Other problems honeygrow experienced with NRO included a lack of consistency in new restaurant tech setups and inadequate office space to store equipment for the new restaurants. These issues led to complications for the installers and restaurant staff, as well as delays in the tech installation process.

According to Thomas, some equipment for a new location was being shipped to the office and other equipment was going to the restaurant—all on different days and times.

As a result, items would get misplaced or lost. That meant when the tech team showed up to perform the installation, some of the equipment wouldn’t be there.

“Our internal staff didn’t have the skillset or resources to handle these NRO tasks, but it didn’t make sense to hire a new team,” said Thomas. “And that’s where Worldlink was able to step in and do our new restaurant buildout for us from a tech perspective.”

“We don’t have a warehouse and we only have a little office with about 15 desks in it. We’re on the ninth floor, so if we started receiving pallets of equipment at the office, that’s going to be a significant problem. We don’t have the bandwidth, space or the functionality to receive and stage all that equipment, we needed a partner that could do those things for us. Someone who could optimize the process.”

“We had some people cold call and reach out to us, but I didn’t take any of it too seriously. Mostly because I’ve had such positive experiences with Worldlink from a customer service and support and relationship standpoint. That means so much to me,” said Thomas.

Worldlink facilitated a uniform implementation of the technology for each new restaurant location by creating a “store in a box service.” Through this service, Worldlink orders, receives, and stores the equipment for each honeygrow new restaurant opening. Then, Worldlink palletizes and coordinates the delivery of the restaurant’s equipment to the location and sends a tech team to perform the installation, including all the programming, setup and testing of the devices.

Beyond the “store in a box service,” Worldlink has brought a higher level of support to the honeygrow team and is quick to offer solutions to problems they face. “In a recent meeting with Worldlink, we discussed how one reason it was challenging to hand everything over to their team was because we didn’t have the time to document the processes appropriately,” explained Thomas. “Soon after, Worldlink showed up at our office, sat behind our tech team, and observed how we performed the tasks locally before sending equipment to a new restaurant; then, they documented it all and wrote the book for us.”

This all-in approach from Worldlink helped honeygrow to overcome one of the biggest, most time-consuming obstacles—process documentation. “I just found that to be impressive, and we were so grateful because it’s really going to take us to the next step and took a huge load off our plate.”

The collaboration between honeygrow and Worldlink yielded several positive results, demonstrating the effectiveness of their partnership:

Cost and Time Savings:

The streamlined “store in a box service” from Worldlink meant honeygrow didn’t incur the added expense of sending technicians on multiple trips to new restaurants for installations. Because all the equipment shows up on one pallet, the tech team can perform the installation efficiently in one visit, without having to waste time locating equipment. If something is missed or delayed, Worldlink is responsible for ensuring it gets processed and shipped expeditiously.

“From a writing a check standpoint, it’s the opportunity costs—the time of our people that can then be spent on other things, which is just so hard to measure,” said Thomas. “We gained back a great deal of hours in travel, a great deal of hours working at those new restaurant openings—we’re now able to work on other projects.”

A True Business Partnership

Thomas highlighted that Worldlink is not a typical vendor but a true business partner. Rather than a transactional relationship, honeygrow and Worldlink have a win-win relationship. He explained that Worldlink is as good or better than having an entire internal tech team devoted to new restaurant openings.

Even with only 41 honeygrow locations, Thomas said honeygrow is potentially getting the same level of service from Worldlink as a company that has 3,500 locations. He called it a huge win—something that kind of feels like a service he shouldn’t be able to afford.

“We’re at the point right now—still small, but with such rapid growth—that we need partners who will be true business partners and humans that are going to look out for us and want to grow with us. And that’s been Worldlink,” said Thomas.

Enhanced Processes and Operations

According to Thomas, collaborating with Worldlink has allowed honeygrow to experience a much more uniform implementation of technology for each new location. “That uniformity makes support easier, it makes operations easier, it makes training easier. So it’s certainly been a logistics improvement. It’s been a uniformity and consistency improvement and a huge time-saver.”

Thomas explained that Worldlink has lifted the NRO processes off honeygrow’s internal tech team and expanded their capacity to focus on other things. Now, honeygrow can do what it does best.

“Even when we become large enough to afford our own internal tech team for new restaurant openings, I’m of the belief that we should be really great at making stir-fry and let those, like Worldlink, who are good at the other things help us,” said Thomas.

“Let’s have a trusted partner that does it for us, rather than trying to be a master of everything. Worldlink has allowed us to grow at the rate we’re growing and helped us to do it better than we could have done it by ourselves.”

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Auriga Restaurant by Sanjay Puri Architects: Revamping Factory Warehouse

Nestled in the heart of the dense urban fabric of Mumbai , Auriga restaurant is a 40- year old warehouse converted into a restaurant and nightclub. The thick exterior walls were stripped to allow natural light to infuse into the space, providing a view of the surrounding trees and streets.  Designed and built by Sanjay Puri Architects in 2013, Auriga restaurant has a carpet area of 3800 sqft that integrates well into its surroundings. 

Sanjay Puri, the Principal Architect of Sanjay Puri Architects with Madhavi Belsare led the design team for the project. The firm has completed over 600 projects and is known for its sustainable approach, use of technology, and integration of Indian culture and heritage into its designs. 

Sanjay Puri Architects general philosophy is to “create spaces that engage people holistically and foster social interaction”, and this project demonstrates the philosophy well, it is a dynamic space that responds well to the context and provides an immersive experience for the user. Another aspect of the design philosophy is their approach to sustainability. The inspiration for Auriga restaurant was born out of the idea to use residual plywood stips generated at interior site projects. In addition, air-conditioning also generates several leftover stips that end up in a junkyard. 

With Auriga restaurant, Sanjay Puri Architects, upon seeing large piles of waste on the interior site of a hotel, decided to “create a design that would use these leftover strips, thus reducing the material cost to a negligible amount and using waste material which would otherwise be disposed of”. A large part of the intention was to recycle old materials and find ways to make architecture more energy efficient. Metal and wood, thus comprise the dominating materials on site. In addition, the use of LED lighting , locally sourced stone floors, and glazed windows to reduce the effect of heating in the building add to its sustainability. 

The building consists of two floors, the lower opens into a generous patio that has been converted into a bar and nightclub, while the second floor consists of the restaurant. While the plan itself is a simple rectilinear form, Sanjay Puri Architects has created a unique experience by juxtaposing the simplicity of the plan with complex geometry and the innovative use of construction technology. The exterior and interior of the building consist of a “web of aluminium fins”, a series of metal strips that fold into angular planes. The galvanized metal sheets are backlit, emitting light and illuminating the space in an array of colours. 

The ground floor, consisting of the nightclub, is dominated by industrial steel, while the restaurant on the second floor uses broader wood planks that create a softer, warmer ambience. The wooden chairs around wooden tables suggest a more family-friendly place, enhanced by the warm hues of lighting on the second floor. The ground floor uses cool tones, high chairs, and luxurious couches to make the space more sophisticated. The use of contrasting materials on each floor generates different moods, yet, they complement each other well due to the continued theme of strips, which wrap the walls, ceilings, stairs, and columns throughout the building. 

At the core of the concept is lighting. The materials were carefully chosen and used to reflect light across the angled surfaces and create a sculptural experience. Each louvre of metal in each triangular panel is angled to allow light to reflect its edges. The backlit LEDs, with the floor lights placed along the periphery of the floor, cause light to bounce off the metal surfaces and project a varied effect on each panel. 

In the bar, the reflection of light at different angles through panels causes a changing effect of light in each part of the space.  On the second floor, the different colour lights highlight the texture of the material, adding to the warmth generated by wood.

Sanjay Puri Architects’ Auriga restaurant is a playful, undulating space, blending exterior and interior elements and creating a sense of movement within it. The partially enclosed structure integrates the folding plates that constitute the form, fusing it into an abstractly woven web. In addition, the filtering of natural light through the strips connects the restaurant with its context, giving a glimpse of the trees surrounding it. 

Whether or not you choose to taste the food, the distinctive characteristics of the restaurant themselves generate a range of experiences as you move through, making it well worth the visit. 

Zoeanna is an architecture student, currently pursuing her bachelor of architecture. In her free time, she can be found curled up in a corner with a cup of coffee and a good book. She loves travelling, sketching, doing yoga, daydreaming and exploring new ideas through writing.

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Findlay, OH

The Bistro gains valuable insights and practical next steps in order to strengthen their digital presence and attract new customer base.

Ana Canenguez

Back of House Consultant

Tight Revenue Demands a Digital Uplift

Located in Findlay, OH, The Bistro has been serving the local community, yet had a bare bones digital presence and were novices to marketing online. Recent revenue pressure suggested it may finally be time.

BACK OF HOUSE SOLUTION

Revamping brand presence in numerous ways.

When the owner of The Bistro, Jordan, and Ana connected, the two were able to explore a variety of strategies to boost The Bistro’s presence and establish a digital footprint. These included discussing social media strategies, and current website’s content, user experience, imagery, and online ordering capabilities while evaluating new website builders for easy ongoing maintenance.

Practical Next Steps to Establish a Strong Digital Presence

Jordan walked away from the initial conversation with key digestible approaches to launch a modern website, manage and grow their social media presence, and evolve the restaurant’s branding. Best of all, Jordan now has a partner in Ana to assist with vendor connections and continue to provide guidance on her digital upgrade journey!

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An Alamance Hot Dog Legend At a Crossroads

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This article  first appeared in  The Food Section,  which we have partnered with to look at the stories behind what we eat.

On a recent Thursday afternoon, a couple who looked to be on the leisure side of retirement age went to Zack’s Hotdogs in downtown Burlington, North Carolina for lunch. When a server arrived to take their order, the woman had one question.

“So,” she said in a voice seasoned with skepticism. “You have new owners?”

In the scheme of Zack’s history, businessman John Burton qualifies as a newcomer. The beloved grill, long manned by cooks said to take no more than two minutes to fulfill an order for 87 combo dogs, was open for nearly a century before Burton bought it.

But that was two years ago.

While the pace of restaurant closures has slowed slightly since the height of the pandemic, longstanding institutions across the South are still calling its quits, citing staffing challenges, increased competition, rising prices, and owner fatigue. As Kathleen Purvis reported for the Charlotte Ledger last week, Charlotte has lost three of its oldest restaurants since 2021, including Price’s Chicken Coop .

Whenever a decades-old restaurant with a loyal following announces shutdown plans, devastated fans take to Facebook to curse and mourn and float the idea that someone else ought to take over operations. Yet what the Zack’s ownership switch suggests is that at times it’s better to let classic places die a dignified death.

“I will never go there again,” one Yelper posted after a recent disappointing experience, expressing a common local opinion that the dubious diner was too polite to reference directly. “Zack’s was the place to go for a hot dog, but not anymore.”

Zack Touloupas worked in cafes throughout the Carolinas after immigrating from Greece in 1912, purchasing Alamance Hot Wienie Lunch in 1928. By the time he started adding seats, workers from City Hall, across the street, were already referring to the place as Zack’s Hot Dogs.

Zack’s moved once and was handed down twice before its deed was transferred to Burton on May 31, 2022. Otherwise, though, little ever changed at the cash-only restaurant, including the community’s affection for it. When a Durham Morning Herald columnist stopped by in 1973, she found a line formed at the counter long before noon. Waiting customers included “a young woman wearing an Afro haircut, a businessman with a vinyl bank envelope in his pocket, (and) an electrician in a blue uniform.” Gov. Kerr Scott ate there before voting, and Gov. Bob Scott ate there after physicals.

Invariably, Zack’s fans praised its swiftness and reasonable prices, but what distinguished the place from a million other hot dog joints was its secret-recipe chili, a thin blend of ground beef and onions—“we eliminated some of the high-class spices, especially garlic” at the start, Touloupas’ son told the Greensboro Daily News in 1975—and cheese dogs.

At Zack’s, and across Burlington, cheese dogs are meatless. Unless you ask for a wiener in your cheese dog, a cold block of orange cheese takes the place of the hot dog. For eaters unaccustomed to the preparation, or those who first encountered it under the new Zack’s regime, it registers as the half-formed idea of a grilled cheese sandwich. With the right sauce, though, it could pass for upside-down Cincinnati chili.

In any case, the operation was sufficiently impressive in its heyday that John Touloupas claimed a white-haired stranger once reached for his checkbook and tried to buy the business. “To this day, I think it was Colonel Sanders ,” he said in 1995.

Almost three decades later, the Touloupas family cut a deal with Burton, who told reporters in the days after taking control that he wasn’t feeling up to a celebratory hot dog. But he swore he’d get to the restaurant soon and shared his vision for opening multiple Zack’s.

His first efforts didn’t go well.

On November 25, 2022, Burton opened a Zack’s outlet at the Holly Hill Mall. It was finished by February 2023. Then, on May 18, 2023, Burton opened a Zack’s in Mebane. It lasted until autumn.

By October 2023, Burton decided to franchise his two remaining Zack’s. A drive-thru on Garden Road, which debuted between the two ill-fated locations, now belongs to Phillip Snyder. Lane Passmore owns the flagship downtown store.

“Everything is going good,” Passmore said in a phone interview. “We implemented a new chicken sandwich, which is going well.”

While Zack’s was in the throes of location experimentation, another Alamance County landmark reemerged under new ownership. Jim’s Hot Dogs and Hamburgers in Graham closed in 2021, following a 60-year run. Exactly two years later, it celebrated its grand reopening under new owner Santos Solorzano, who owns the Salvadoran restaurant across the street.

Solorzano didn’t return messages, but newspaper accounts say Jim’s son, David Covington, helped Solorzano and his son keep “everything the same—right down to the chili.”

I never ate at Jim’s before the changeover, so I can’t comment on the continuity. But the chili I tasted was terrific and served at breakneck speed by a kind staffer who worried I’d “parch” if I didn’t order a drink. (Obviously, I asked for Cheerwine .) The liveliness of the room confirmed I wasn’t the only one happy to be eating at Jim’s.

In other words, it’s not an iron-clad rule that legends shouldn’t have second lives. But based on my experiences in cheese dog territory, I believe a successor has to approach a classic restaurant in the spirit in which it was founded. Of course, a restaurant rooted in humble food and hard work is going to thrive under immigrant ownership, even if red wieners with block cheese aren’t a Latin American specialty.

As for Zack’s, Passmore says it’s regaining traction. The chain is rolled out a new food truck for the first time last month at Red Oak Brewery in Whitsett.

Hanna Raskin is editor and publisher of The Food Section , a newsletter covering food and drink across the South. You can reach her at [email protected].

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Case Study: Restaurant and Bar Review

This is a restaurant and bar that specializes in unique beer choices paired with an upscale menu. Different than other pub operators, this group has a commitment to also providing a high-level food experience.

Location/Occupancy Costs Great location on a corner of the main street in a mid-sized town environment. Excellent occupancy costs ranging at roughly 4%.

Sales: Sales have increased over the last year at a rate of about 3.6%. Interest in the concept and great marketing through industry (beer) publications have identified the restaurant as an authority on small production draft company offerings. Beer tasting for new releases and participation in draft beer events across the southland have kept the product relevant in that market.

Cost of Sales Food costs have lowered as a result of better controls in the kitchen- the amount of food prepped, portioning and orders were all areas that needed attention, and better systems implemented.

Bar costs have increased slightly due to increases in product costs but no increase to customers.

Comps are an issue as the operator needs to better define and track who and why comps are being used.

Payroll Payroll has improved by more than 5.6 percentage points. The operator still has too much overtime- blind scheduling and elimination of split shifts and over time have led to improvement.

Expenses A great improvement here by 4.1 percentage points. Review of credit cards, maintenance and repair issues, utility use, linen contract, and marketing coupon program discontinued. Most importantly the development of a budget for expense categories and adherence to that budget.

G&A expense still need some attention but are out of industry standards due to management fees.

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Why Red Lobster Went Bankrupt: COVID, Rising Costs—And Millions Lost On Endless Shrimp

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Red Lobster announced late Sunday it filed for bankruptcy, days after it began shuttering dozens of restaurants — after years of struggling with ownership turnover, plateauing sales and financial issues exacerbated by debt, the pandemic and an all-you-can-eat shrimp deal.

The seafood restaurant chain announced it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Sunday, less than a week ... [+] after mass closures of locations across the U.S. were reported.

Red Lobster said Sunday its restaurants will remain operational through the Chapter 11 bankruptcy process while closing some locations, which CEO Jonathan Tibus called “the best path forward” as the company reportedly hopes to use the bankruptcy process to reduce its debt load and get out of some pricey leases.

The seafood restaurant chain reported between $1 billion and $10 billion in debt in its bankruptcy filings , and CNBC reported its distributor Performance Food Group claims it owes more than $24 million alone.

Despite attempts at growth from multiple past owners, Red Lobster’s sales have largely stalled for the last decade, according to figures from the magazine Restaurant Business : Sales have sat between $2.3 billion and just over $2.5 billion every year since 2014 except for COVID-impacted 2020, when revenue dropped to $1.76 billion, in part because customers found themselves unable to dine in.

The company also has faced stiff competition from other fast-casual and fast food brands, including stalwarts like Chipotle and Chick-Fil-A as well as newer fast-growing chains like Cava and Sweetgreen.

Meanwhile, the entire restaurant industry has struggled to bounce back from the pandemic, as companies deal with rising labor costs caused by minimum wage hikes and a tight labor market, a three-year-long spike in wholesale food prices and a bout of inflation that has caused some consumers to limit how much they spend dining out.

Red Lobster’s current owner Thai Union has cited “industry headwinds” and “rising labor and material costs” for its decision to sell the chain this year.

But some of Red Lobster’s costs may be specific to the chain: The company spun off many of its real estate assets to finance an earlier owner’s acquisition of the chain in 2014, essentially turning the company into a renter, CNN notes .

The company also made its once-limited $20 “Ultimate Endless Shrimp” deal a permanent offering last year, a move it hoped would boost foot traffic—but the chain apparently underestimated how many customers would opt in, blaming the promotion for a more than $11 million operating loss in the third quarter of 2023.

Representatives for Red Lobster did not immediately respond to Forbes’ requests for comment.

Surprising Fact

In February, the seafood restaurant chain also announced it would offer an “ Endless Lobster Experience ” to 150 customers, according to CNN , though Red Lobster’s website still lists the opportunity as “ coming soon .”

What To Watch For

As part of the bankruptcy filing, the seafood restaurant chain said it plans to sell to an “entity formed and controlled by its existing term lenders.” The company also said it has received a $100 million commitment from its existing lenders.

Red Lobster began shuttering more than 50 locations across the U.S. on Tuesday.

More than 700. That’s how many locations Red Lobster has globally, according to its website . It is unclear whether Tuesday’s announcement of restaurant closures were included in this figure, but Forbes has contacted Red Lobster for more information.

Key Background

The seafood restaurant chain opened its first location in Lakeland, Florida in 1968, and began rapidly expanding in 1970 after receiving support from General Mills. General Mills eventually spun it off its restaurant division, dubbed Darden Restaurants—named after Red Lobster founder Bill Darden —in 1995. Darden Restaurants, which owns other chains like Olive Garden and Longhorn Steakhouse, sold Red Lobster to Golden Gate Capital in 2014 for $2.1 billion. In 2020, Golden Gate Capital then sold its remaining stake in the seafood restaurant chain to Thailand-based Thai Union. Thai Union announced it would divest from the chain by the end of 2024, citing the pandemic, inflation and rising costs in a Jan. 16 statement . The seafood restaurant chain has also struggled with executive turnover as of late—reportedly cycling through five CEOs since 2021—and appointed Jonathan Tibus as its most recent in late March—who has overseen the restructuring of multiple other embattled restaurant chains, including Kona Grill and Quiznos . Reports circulated that Red Lobster was eyeing bankruptcy in mid-April, and CNBC reported that it was seeking a buyer to avoid such a filing.

Further Reading

Red Lobster Mass Closings: Here's Where The Chain Is Abruptly Shutting Down Stores—And Why (Forbes)

What went wrong at Red Lobster (CNN)

How Red Lobster got in over its head (Restaurant Business)

Red Lobster’s Popular Endless Shrimp Deal Ate Into Its Profits (The New York Times)

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When the owners of a restaurant in Prospect Park, PA had issues heating their dining space, their restaurant HVAC systems provider recommended a larger unit. After the installation, the unit continued to run for short periods of time and then shut off without ever bringing the dining area to the desired temperature.

The frustrated owners resorted to sending restaurant staff up on the roof to reset the new HVAC unit. They quickly realized that this was an untenable situation both for safety and productivity, and called Oliver Mechanical to request a service call and a second opinion on how to heat the cold dining area.

When the Oliver team arrived, they noticed that the proprietors also had a portable air conditioning unit in the dining room to help cool the space during the summer months. In spite of the new unit, this critical space in the building was not conditioning properly for either hot or cold weather.

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The key recommendation by the Oliver team was to increase the size of the main supply and return ductwork to accommodate the amount of air that the new unit was designed to provide. The team also custom designed the proper amount of supply and return air needed for the dining area by increasing the size of the supply branches and adding return branches.

The proposed solution also included an option for the work to be completed outside of the customer’s dining service hours of operation.

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The customer accepted the Oliver Mechanical proposal for duct modifications. All of the new, larger ductwork was built in-house at the Oliver sheet metal workshop to the custom specifications outlined in the proposal. The installation was completed in one business day, and the Oliver Mechanical team had the dining area clean and ready for dinner service by the customer’s normal scheduled opening time.

The Oliver team retested the airflow and took another set of CPM readings. These measurements showed the proper amount of air being supplied to and returned from the dining area.

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Simulation of the sulfide phase formation in a KhN60VT alloy

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The conditions of the existence of sulfide phases in Fe–Ni–S alloys and four-component Fe–50 wt % Ni–0.001 wt % S– R ( R is an alloying or impurity element from the TCFE7 database) systems are studied using the Thermo-Calc software package and the TCFE7 database. The modification of nickel superalloys by calcium or magnesium is shown to increase their ductility due to partial desulfurization, the suppression of the formation of harmful sulfide phases, and the uniform formation of strong sulfides in the entire temperature range of metal solidification. The manufacturability of superalloys can decrease at a too high calcium or magnesium content because of the formation of intermetallics with a low melting temperature along grain boundaries.

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Modeling Thermophysical Characteristics of Nickel-Based Superalloys

Phase field modeling of solidification in multi-component alloys with a case study on the Inconel 718 alloy

Phase-Field Simulation of Microstructural Evolution in Nickel-Based Superalloys During Creep and in Low Carbon Steels During Martensite Transformation

H.-P. Chen, R. K. Kalia, E. Kaxiras, G. Lu, A. Nakano, N. Kenichi, A.C.T. van Duin, P. Vashishta, and Z. Yuan, Physical Review Letters, No. 104, 155502 (2010).

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F. Kristofory, M. Mohila, D. Mikulas, and J. Vitec, Acta Metallurgica Slovacia 10 (3), 236–241 (2004).

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J. Morscheiser, L. Thönnessen, and B. Friedrich, “Sulphur Control in Nickel-Based Superalloy Production,” in Proceedings of Conference on EMC (2011), pp. 1–15.

Software Package. Thermodynamic Calculations of Phase Diagrams for Multicomponent Systems . http://www.thermocalc.com.

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On the Centenary of Plant “Elektrostal”

Original Russian Text © I.V. Kabanov, E.V. Butskii, K.V. Grigorovich, A.M. Arsenkin, 2017, published in Elektrometallurgiya, 2017, No. 3, pp. 13–21.

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Kabanov, I.V., Butskii, E.V., Grigorovich, K.V. et al. Simulation of the sulfide phase formation in a KhN60VT alloy. Russ. Metall. 2017 , 447–453 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0036029517060106

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Study finds tiny shards of plastic in human testicles

(CNN) - Tiny pieces of plastic appear to be invading men.

Microplastics and nanoplastics are found in human testicles at levels three times higher compared to animal testes or human placentas, according to a study published this month in the journal Toxicological Sciences .

Experts say miniscule plastic particles can work their way into cells and tissues in the body.

Those particles can potentially leave chemicals that interfere with the human reproductive system, according to the Endocrine Society.

The study’s findings come from nearly two dozen preserved testes from cadavers and comparing the results to plastics found in dog testes.

Polyethylene was the most frequent polymer found in the testes of both men and dogs.

Health experts recommend people of all genders should try to reduce their exposure to plastics by using fewer plastic products.

Experts also say plastic plates and cups should not be microwaved or put in the dishwasher. That’s because heat can cause chemicals to seep out and potentially be ingested.

Copyright 2024 CNN Newsource. All rights reserved.

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Observe Memorial Day with these events in southern Maine

Tons of towns have parades and ceremonies happening Monday.

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Kids and adults gather at a Memorial Day parade to honor and celebrate veterans in South Portland. Sofia Aldinio/ Staff Photographer

BATH 10 a.m. Monday. Parade begins at 200 Congress Ave. and concludes at Library Park and will be followed by a wreath-laying service at 11 a.m.

BERWICK 11 a.m. Monday. Parade begins at Berwick Town Hall/Sullivan Square and proceeds to Lord’s Cemetery by way of Wilson and Allen streets. After a ceremony there, the parade will continue down Saw Mill Hill Street with a pause at the Somersworth-Berwick Bridge for a brief memorial service for those lost at sea. The parade ends at Sullivan Square with a memorial service honoring area veterans.

BIDDEFORD-SACO Opening ceremony at 9:55 a.m. Monday at Saco City Hall. Parade starts at 10 a.m. from Saco City Hall and proceeds along Main Street and down York Hill into Biddeford, continues along Main Street, onto Alfred Street and finishes at Veteran’s Memorial Park with a closing ceremony at 10:45 a.m.

BRUNSWICK-TOPSHAM 9 a.m. Monday. Parade proceeds from Topsham Town Hall, pauses for observances while crossing the Brunswick-Topsham bridge, and concludes at the Brunswick Mall.

CAPE ELIZABETH 9 a.m. Monday. Parade begins at the middle school parking lot, turns right on Scott Dyer Road, right onto Route 77 and ends at the village green adjacent to the town hall. A brief ceremony and laying of the wreath will be held at the Village Green after the parade.

CUMBERLAND 8 a.m. Monday. Kids run at Greely High School followed by 5K Run and Remember race at 8:30 a.m. Parade starts at 10 a.m. at Mabel I. Wilson School and ends at the veterans’ monument in Moss Side Cemetery in Cumberland Center, where a ceremony will be held at 10:30 a.m. Advertisement

FALMOUTH 10 a.m. Monday. Parade proceeds from 65 Depot Road (Falmouth American Legion) to Pine Grove Park, where a ceremony will be held.

FREEPORT 9:30 a.m. Monday. Parade proceeds from Holbrook Street, heads north on Main and makes a right onto School Street, then right onto Park Street, ending in Memorial Park. There will be a small ceremony in Memorial Park starting at 10 a.m.

GORHAM 11 a.m. Monday. Parade starts at Village School (12 Robie St.) and ends at Eastern Cemetery on Johnson Road.

GRAY 11:30 a.m. Monday. Parade leaves the Russell School (8 Gray Park), proceeds to Shaker Road and continues to the Soldiers Monument at the intersection of Routes 26 and 3 for a wreath-laying ceremony. Parade continues north to the American Legion Post (15 Lewiston Road) for a closing ceremony.

LYMAN 1 p.m. Monday. Parade starts at Waterhouse Road/Mill Pond in Goodwins Mills and ends at the Lyman Town Hall on South Waterboro Road.

NEW GLOUCESTER 9 a.m. Monday. Parade leaves from Memorial Elementary School (86 Intervale Road) and heads down Intervale Road to Route 100/202 to Veterans Park for a memorial service. The parade will reconvene and go down Peacock Hill Road, then take a left on Gilmore Road. Advertisement

OLD ORCHARD BEACH 1 p.m. Monday. Parade starts at the corner of Ballpark Way and E. Emerson Cumming Boulevard and proceeds down Saco Avenue, Old Orchard Beach Street to First Street and ends at Veteran’s Memorial Park.

PORTLAND 2 p.m. Monday. The procession starts at Longfellow School (432 Stevens Ave.) and ends at Evergreen Cemetery for a commemoration ceremony.

SANFORD 10 a.m. Monday. The parade starts at the Sanford Armory (88 William Oscar Emery Drive), proceeds up Gowen Park Drive and ends at Central Park.

SCARBOROUGH 10 a.m. Monday. Parade starts at Scarborough High School, turns onto Route 114 and then Route 1, past town offices to the Maine Veterans Home and concludes with a ceremony there.

SOUTH PORTLAND 10:30 a.m. Monday. Parade starts at Southern Maine Community College parking lot, proceeds down Broadway to the Veterans Monument for a short Memorial Day recognition service.

WELLS 9 a.m. Monday. Parade starts at Wells High School (200 Sanford Road) and proceeds to Ocean View Cemetery for a ceremony and musical performances. Advertisement

WESTBROOK 10 a.m. Monday. Parade proceeds down Main Street and will be followed by a ceremony in Riverbank Park.

WINDHAM 9 a.m. Monday. Parade starts at Windham Town Hall and proceeds onto Route 202 toward Windham High School. At 10 a.m., there will be a ceremony in front of Windham’s Veterans Memorial Flagpole at Windham High School.

YARMOUTH 10 a.m. Monday. Parade leaves from Yarmouth High School (286 West Elm St.) and proceeds to the Memorial Green at Town Hall for a ceremony.

YORK 10 a.m. Monday. Parade starts near St. Christopher’s Church (4 Barrell Lane) and proceeds down York Street to York Town Hall.

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Report says former Maine Turnpike executive threatened and intimidated employees for years

Duckfat owners, pioneers of portland’s food scene, retire and sell restaurants, top westbrook school department official charged with oui, man killed at portland ymca had a love of music, portland rent board recommends $6,000 fine against landlord accused of retaliation, daily headlines.

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Daily marijuana use outpaces daily drinking in the US, new study says

(AP) - For the first time, the number of Americans who use marijuana just about every day has surpassed the number who drink that often, a shift some 40 years in the making as recreational pot use became more mainstream and legal in nearly half of U.S. states.

In 2022, an estimated 17.7 million people reported using marijuana daily or near-daily compared to 14.7 million daily or near-daily drinkers, according to an  analysis of national survey data . In 1992, when daily pot use hit a low point, less than 1 million people said they used marijuana nearly every day.

Alcohol is still more widely used, but 2022 was the first time this intensive level of marijuana use overtook daily and near-daily drinking, said the study’s author, Jonathan Caulkins, a cannabis policy researcher at Carnegie Mellon University.

“A good 40% of current cannabis users are using it daily or near daily, a pattern that is more associated with tobacco use than typical alcohol use,” Caulkins said.

The research, based on data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, was published Wednesday in the journal Addiction. The survey is a highly regarded source of self-reported estimates of tobacco, alcohol and drug use in the United States.

From 1992 to 2022, the per capita rate of reporting daily or near-daily marijuana use increased 15-fold. Caulkins acknowledged in the study that people may be more willing to report marijuana use as public acceptance grows, which could boost the increase.

Most states now allow  medical or recreational marijuana, though it remains illegal at the federal level. In November, Florida voters will decide on a constitutional amendment allowing recreational cannabis, and the federal government is moving to  reclassify marijuana  as a less dangerous drug.

Research shows that high-frequency users are more likely to become addicted to marijuana, said Dr. David A. Gorelick, a psychiatry professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, who was not involved in the study.

The number of daily users suggests that more people are at risk for developing problematic cannabis use or addiction, Gorelick said.

“High-frequency use also increases the risk of developing cannabis-associated psychosis,” a severe condition where a person loses touch with reality, he said.

Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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