QSR #306 August 2023

INSPIRE AND INNOVATE

DEPARTMENTS

22

FRANCHISE FORWARD

Coffee Chains

Bring the Intensity

Several brands are finding success with energy drink lineups. BY SATYNE DONER

101

INNOVATE

Navigating the Stars

Celebrities often help restaurants promote products, but how do those relationships work exactly? BY SAM DANLEY

INSIGHT

15

FRESH IDEAS

The Great Chicken Debate

Wings and tenders are beloved by most, but is there a preference among operators?

BY SAM DANLEY

20

ONES TO WATCH

Foxtail Coffee

This rising chain wants to be different than the typical drive-thru concept.

BY

SATYNE

97

Innovation that Inspires

BY DANNY KLEIN

Inspire Brands might just be the fastest-growing restaurant group on record. But that doesn’t mean the Dunkin’ and Arby’s owner

DONER

OPERATIONS

A Robotic Pizza Party

Automation has arrived, and pizza seems to be the go-to dish.

BY SATYNE DONER

104

START TO FINISH

Mary Jane Riva

Learn how the restaurateur joined the industry and became a CEO and franchisee of Pizza Factory.

Inspire Brands CEO Paul Brown leads growth for several successful chains. PHOTOGRAPHY:

up to better food, retaining customers, and helping out the bottom line.” Is staff skimming oil enough? Are they switching oil out on a designated day at a designated time rather than when oil no longer has any fry life left? These are questions Stratas helps address with its offering of products, as well as exper-

tise in the field. For example, the company sells high performing high-oleic oils that typically have a longer fry life when compared to commodity oils. Stratas Foods also offers a Fry Test

Kit, a tool that helps operators and team members follow certain protocols to ensure fry life is maximized. Each kit comes with bilingual instructions that outline best practices when it comes to filtering and skimming oil. The kit is part of Stratas Foods’ ongoing efforts to educate its client partners on how to extend fry life and ultimately lower costs.

“We try to educate the operator and their entire staff,” Guentz says. “That could be a single one-off operator, a local chain, a regional chain, or a national chain. We will commit to go in and train the staff and train the people in the trenches. Because the people who work

EDITORIAL

EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

Danny Klein dklein@wtwhmedia.com

QSR EDITOR

Ben Coley bcoley@wtwhmedia.com

FSR EDITOR Callie Evergreen cevergreen@wtwhmedia.com

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Sam Danley sdanley@wtwhmedia.com

BRANDED CONTENT STUDIO DIRECTOR OF THE BRANDED CONTENT STUDIO, FOOD AND HOSPITALITY Peggy Carouthers pcarouthers@wtwhmedia.com

ASSOCIATE EDITOR, BRANDED CONTENT

Charlie Pogacar cpogacar@wtwhmedia.com

ASSOCIATE EDITOR, BRANDED CONTENT Kara Phelps kphelps@wtwhmedia.com

ART & PRODUCTION

ART DIRECTOR

Tory Bartelt tbartelt@wtwhmedia.com

GRAPHIC DESIGNER Erica Naftolowitz enaftolowitz@wtwhmedia.com

SALES & BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

GROUP PUBLISHER

Greg Sanders gsanders@wtwhmedia.com

NATIONAL SALES DIRECTOR Eugene Drezner edrezner@wtwhmedia.com

919-945-0705

NATIONAL SALES MANAGER

Edward Richards erichards@wtwhmedia.com

919-945-0714

NATIONAL SALES MANAGER

Amber Dobsovic adobsovic@wtwhmedia.com

919-945-0712

NATIONAL SALES MANAGER John Krueger jkrueger@wtwhmedia.com

919-945-0728

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE Mitch Avery mavery@wtwhmedia.com

919-945-0722

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE Tracy Doubts tdoubts@wtwhmedia.com

919-945-0704

FOUNDER Webb C. Howell

ADMINISTRATION

919-945-0704 / www.qsrmagazine.com/subscribe

QSR is provided without charge upon request to individuals residing in the U.S. who meet subscription criteria as set forth by the publisher.

REPRINTS

The YGS Group 800-290-5460

FAX : 717-825-2150 qsrmagazine@theygsgroup.com www.qsrmagazine.com/reprints

Sponsored content in this magazine is provided to the represented company for a fee. Such content is written to be informational and non-promotional. Comments welcomed at sponsoredcontent@qsrmagazine.com.

Exploring the Quick-Service Powerhouses

Working at a restaurant-focused trade publication fills you with pretty interesting facts.

For instance, being in the space for a few years now, it seems common knowledge that Subway has the largest U.S. footprint among any restaurant chain. But outside of my career, when quizzing friends and family, it’s not quite as wellknown. Typical answers are Starbucks or McDonald’s ( No. 2 and No. 3 in U.S. store count, respectively), and that makes complete sense. It just goes to show that this job does provide you with a certain level of awareness. And our main objective every day is to spread that awareness to our readership. There may not be a better example of that than the annual QSR 50, a list of the top 50 quick-service chains in America, ranked by U.S. systemwide sales.

The report is such a wealth of information. It’s a great way to look at the bigger picture and see where everyone stands after another year passes. Granted, for the most part, there aren’t a lot of changes at the top. McDonald’s— no surprise here—still earns the most sales out of any chain. But I think there are some notable shifts, and I’ll start by shining a light on newcomers. Crumbl, founded in 2017, made its debut on the QSR 50 at No. 38. The cookie company earned $1 billion in sales last year for the first time, with an AUV of $1.8 million. That’s not even the most impressive part. The brand opened a net of 363 shops in 2022 to reach 688 locations. Meaning, its unit count grew by more than 100 percent in one year. No one else of Crumbl’s

scale in the U.S. can make that claim.

Another first-timer is Dutch Bros at No. 33. The chain gathered more than $1.1 billion in sales in 2022 and reached 671 units after opening a record 133 locations. In terms of the snack category, the coffee chain ranks fourth in sales, following Starbucks, Dunkin’, and Dairy Queen. Not too bad for a brand that started as a pushcart in Oregon 30 years ago.

Other facts to note: Chick-fil-A once again dominated when it came to AUV. The chicken chain hauled in $6.7 million per store on average. The next closest was Raising Cane’s at $5.4 million. Also, McDonald’s opened a net of six U.S. locations in 2022—the first time it’s seen positive unit growth in eight years. In 2021, it shut down a net of 244 units domestically.

I would be remiss not to mention our annual Contenders list, which features a group of restaurants outside the top 50, but still making plenty of noise. There are many familiar names among them, like Potbelly, Captain D’s, Krystal, Smashburger, and Hungry Howie’s. More emerging concepts are highlighted as well, such as Smalls Sliders, Pepper Lunch, and Wing Snob.

My advice is to pore through this data. It has so many stories to tell.

Ben Coley, Editor

The annual QSR 50 is back, and it’ll give you plenty to think about.

Packaging That Delivers Repeat Business

Protecting Meal Quality Brings Customers Back for More

PROTECT TEMPERATURE & TEXTURE TO DELIVER THE BEST TASTE

Cross-flow ventilation protects taste by maintaining temperature and texture for up to 30 Minutes.

SERVE APPEALING PRESENTATION, EVEN OFF-PREMISE

Durable & stackable single and multi-compartment table-ready designs, so meals arrive looking great.

INCREASE PROFIT BY REDUCING ORDER ERRORS

Clear, anti-fog lids help the kitchen avoid order errors without opening the packages and releasing heat.

PROTECT FOOD, SERVE SUSTAINABLY

Protecting food quality reduces food waste. Reusable, microwave & dishwasher safe, and recyclable after use.

TEST & TASTE THE CRISP FOOD DIFFERENCE FOR YOURSELF

REQUEST FREE SAMPLES

Raising a Flagship

The 740-unit chicken tender concept wowed customers with its latest restaurant in New York City.

SHORT ORDER

IN

LATE

JUNE, RAISING CANE’S officially opened its Global Flagship in Times Square, New York. The 8,000-plus-square-foot restaurant features exclusive merchandise, a custom mural by artist Timothy Goodman, and unique design elements paying homage to its mascot, Cane the yellow lab. Situated at 1501 Broadway, the location aims to provide an immersive “Chicken Finger state of mind” experience with notable attractions like a Lady Liberty-themed statue and oversized replicas of menu items.

Ordering kiosks cater to busy visitors, and the prime Times Square location aligns with the brand’s ambition to be a top U.S. restaurant.

“The Times Square Global Flagship marks a monumental moment for our brand,” says Raising Cane’s founder Todd Graves. “Not only is this our first within New York City, but it provides yet another opportunity to serve our craveable chicken finger meals to those who love us and those who have yet to try. “

Raising Cane’s founder Todd Graves prepares to cut the ribbon at the chain’s new store in Times Square.

In May, Delaget—a restaurant data solutions firm— released its 2022 QSR Operational Index, which included key trends in sales, delivery channel growth, losses, staffing, customer experience, and other areas. The goal of this annual report is to give operators the requisite data they need to benchmark and improve performance, according to CEO Jason Tober. Here are some of the highlights:

SALES

• Delaget found that overall transactions per store were down 2.35 percent year-over-year, but revenue and average check lifted 3.57 percent and 7.5 percent respectively, versus 2021.

This is primarily due to franchisors increasing pricing to mitigate the impacts of higher labor and commodity expenses.

• The average number of beverages per transaction decreased 10 percent year-over-year to 0.63.

The top 10 percent came in at 0.85 and the bottom 10 percent was 0.41. Also, on average, drinks mixed 9.53 percent, a drop of just 0.63 percent compared to 2021. For the top 10 percent, beverages accounted for 12.96 percent of sales. For the bottom 10 percent, it was 2.73 percent.

• Drive-thru continuously dominated sales across quick service.

It accounted for 65.53 percent of sales in 2022, after reaching 82.38 percent in 2020 and 76.34 percent in 2021. The next-highest is counter sales, which mixed 14.44 percent in 2022.

DELIVERY

• The delivery channel has grown 1,343 percent since 2019, according to Delaget’s data.

It went from mixing 0.72 percent on average four years ago to 10.39 percent in 2022.

COSTS

• The average food cost as a percentage of sales was 28.44 percent in 2022, with the top 10 percent at 24.77 percent and the bottom 10 percent at 31.95 percent.

In terms of labor costs, the average was 21.70 percent, with the top 10 percent at 16.67 percent and the bottom 10 percent at 28.37 percent.

• Quick-service menu prices rose by an average of 8 percent last year to help with growing expenses.

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

• Scores for Voice of Customer—a method for collecting guest feedback— have declined in recent years as delivery sales mix has increased. This is because operators have less control over the customer experience when third-party delivery aggregators are involved.

To resolve this, Delaget recommends operators shift their mindset around delivery drivers by treating them as customers instead of middlemen. This means calling their name, confirming their final order, and educating them on any details before handing over the meal.

• These orders come with higher average checks because of upselling and markups to offset third-party delivery fees.

Delaget found that delivery customers paid $20.37 per order on average, compared to $13.59 at kiosks, $13.30 via web/mobile, $12.48 at the counter, and $12.47 at the drive-thru.

• Customer satisfaction was at 78.79 percent on average in 2022, down from 79.63 percent in 2021 and 80.64 percent in 2020.

For the top 10 percent, it was 89.84 percent, and for the bottom 10 percent, it was 58.36 percent.

Why Operators Should Think of Oil Management As a Controllable Expense

Costs have inflated. Are operators thinking about their deep-fryer oil enough?

BY CHARLIE POGACAR

tise in the field. For example, the company sells high performing high-oleic oils that typically have a longer fry life when compared to commodity oils.

Stratas Foods also offers a Fry Test Kit, a tool that helps operators and team members follow certain protocols to ensure fry life is maximized. Each kit comes with bilingual instructions that outline best practices when it comes to filtering and skimming oil. The kit is part of Stratas Foods’ ongoing efforts to educate its client partners on how to extend fry life and ultimately lower costs.

According to recent data from the National Restaurant Association, 94 percent of operators said their operating costs—including supplies—were higher in 2022 than they were in 2019. The National Restaurant Association found that operating costs were up an average of 16.7 percent since 2019 across the entire foodservice industry.

This has left operators grasping at straws, looking to cut costs in any possible place. There’s one area that John Guentz, director of sales at Stratas Foods, believes hasn’t received enough attention: deepfryer oil management. There is no shortage of ways the average oil management program could be improved, Guentz says, to help cut operating costs and improve overall profitability. In the process, food will have better flavor, and oil will need to be changed less often.

“There are so many ways that could

help save them money in the long run, but it would also help them develop that operational excellence they’re all striving toward,” Guentz says. “It all adds up to better food, retaining customers, and helping out the bottom line.”

Is staff skimming oil enough? Are they switching oil out on a designated day at a designated time rather than when oil no longer has any fry life left? These are questions Stratas helps address with its offering of products, as well as exper-

“We try to educate the operator and their entire staff,” Guentz says. “That could be a single one-off operator, a local chain, a regional chain, or a national chain. We will commit to go in and train the staff and train the people in the trenches. Because the people who work with the food ultimately are the ones who are going to maintain oil.”

With everything continuing to inflate, it makes sense why operators are hesitant to spend more on goods right now, Guentz says. But thinking of it as spending more is the wrong way to look at it, he adds. The way a customer should view it, is not cost per case—but cost per day.

“We provide a valuable service,” Guentz says. “We tailor our solutions to what each client’s biggest pain points are. This isn’t a one-size-fits-all oil program. If we sell an operator an oil program, we look after your food quality and your bottom line.”

“It all adds up to better food, retaining customers, and helping out the bottom line.”

ADOBE STOCK

The Great Chicken Debate

BY SAM DANLEY

Wing It On! calls itself the wing joint for wing fanatics, but a better description might be the chicken joint for chicken fanatics. Tenders have been on the menu since day one.

“I always saw them as table stakes for getting into the chicken game,” says founder and president Matt Ensero. “There’s a certain percentage of consumers out there who just do not eat bone-in chicken products like wings, so tenders are the perfect magnet to avoid that menu veto.”

Originally, the product was listed on the menu as boneless

wings. They’re still covered in the brand’s award-winning sauce, but today, they’re simply called tenders.

“It was a point of differentiation for us at first,” Ensero says. “When you’d go to a competitor and order boneless wings, they’d serve you those tiny little nuggets, while we’d serve you a full-sized tender. Over time, we noticed that the phrase ‘boneless wings’ was getting some pushback from wing fanatics, so we decided to get ahead of that and switch the name.”

From Wing It On!’s perspective, those diehard wing fanatics are concentrated in the South, where the sales mix skews heavily

Chicken tenders are a popular menu item among quick-service consumers.

Three chains weigh in on which item reigns supreme— wings or tenders.

toward bone-in wings. Further north, the sales mix is pretty even. Regardless of the regional preferences, diversity within the menu mix has helped Wing It On! hedge against volatile wing prices.

“For wings, the big advantage over tenders is simplicity in terms of kitchen operations, while the major disadvantage is the supply chain,” Ensero says. “We’ve seen several major shortages and sharp price fluctuations over the years, which makes it incredibly difficult to forecast long-term profitability.”

Wings typically carry higher costs than tenders, which helps explain the broad-scale push toward boneless options over the past decade. And while the price trend has inverted coming out

of the pandemic, with costs for tenders significantly outpacing costs for bone-in wings, boneless products still have a more consistent supply chain.

“If I’ve learned anything these past 12 years, it’s that the chicken wing market is a roller coaster,” Ensero says. “You never really hear about chicken tender shortages, so that’s one major advantage. The other advantage is on the consumer side. They tend to hold up really well in a takeout and delivery environment, where it can be hard to maintain that perfect crisp on the wings. The disadvantage is that they’re a little more involved in terms of processes in the kitchen because we batter every tender fresh to order.”

Operational complexity has prevented Cowboy Chicken from adding tenders to its menu in the past. At one point, the fast-casual, wood-fired rotisserie chicken chain developed and tested a tender product called Rotissafried, where employees would batter and fry meat that was taken off the rotisserie chicken.

“Although it was delicious, it was super laborious from a kitchen perspective, so we shelved it,” says CMO Kim Jensen-Pitts. “We always kept our eye on a great tender product. They were the top items people requested when we did research with our customers.”

Cowboy Chicken revisited tenders last fall when it launched Smackbird, a virtual brand offering Nashville hot chicken tenders and sandwiches for delivery and pickup only. The concept was developed to help restaurants weather the pandemic and proved to be a hit with customers.

“Since we were already bringing this really high-quality chicken tender product into the building for Smackbird, we figured we’d leverage it for Cowboy Chicken, too,” Jensen-Pitts says. “We launched the platform in March, and it’s just been gangbusters ever since.”

COWBOY CHICKEN REVISITED TENDERS

FALL WHEN IT LAUNCHED VIRTUAL BRAND SMACKBIRD.

LOADED TURKEY BURGER

Tenders already account for half of the brand’s kids meal sales and a “very high percentage” of its adult entree category, she says. They’re outperforming previous efforts to diversify the menu beyond rotisserie chicken, including a brisket offering that launched last summer to strong results.

Cowboy Chicken hasn’t ruled out the possibility of adding wings down the road. It’s a common request from customers, but something the brand isn’t pursuing too seriously yet.

“When you’re doing wood-fired rotisserie chicken that’s all-natural and isn’t full of steroids, you don’t get the biggest wings,” JensenPitts says. “Our concern is always erosion of the brand, but you can never say never. We’ve done things that I would’ve never expected five years ago, like adding tenders and brisket. It’s been a pleasant surprise the way guests have gone along with us on those rides.”

Andy Howard is well-versed in the benefits that come from widening a menu to include multiple parts of the chicken, but today, he’s focused squarely on tenders as the CEO of Huey Magoo’s. The industry veteran has spent nearly three decades in the poultry game, working with restaurants that specialize in just about every part of the bird.

After focusing on the whole chicken at Kenny Rogers Roasters and chicken breast at Ranch One, his third stop was Wingstop, which only sold wings when he arrived back in 2003. He was the driving force behind the brand’s expansion into boneless tenders. The move came in response to dramatic fluctuations in prices for bone-in wings.

“When wing prices went through the roof, we had to try something rather than just waiting around for the market to drop,” Howard says. “The bottom line was that you can’t run a business

off a 40 percent cost of goods and make a profit.”

Boneless offerings drove topline sales and reduced the bottom line at Wingstop. They put the brand in front of a new segment of customers, with sales nearly equaling those of the bone-in wings.

“Knowing the success of what boneless did at Wingstop, I started looking for my next venture,” Howard says. “I thought, ‘Boy, if I could find the world’s greatest chicken tender with a Wingstop business model, that’d be the chain I want to buy.’”

That quest led him to Huey Magoo’s, a Florida-based fastcasual brand founded in 2004. Howard purchased the company in 2016 alongside former Wingstop executives Michael Sutter, Wes Jablonski, and Bill Knight. At the time, it was a three-unit concept operating in Florida. Now, it’s approaching its 50th store with locations spanning 10 states.

Howard credits the growth to the flagship product, which the company bills as the “filet mignon of chicken.” Starting with a precise tenderloin cut, the chicken is prepared from scratch, battered and breaded with a proprietary recipe, and served with a secret Magoo’s sauce. The menu is simple, featuring only handbreaded, grilled, or sauced tenders. They’re served as meals and used in sandwiches, wraps, and salads.

“As far as the center of the plate, we’re very careful about not getting too far off of that beautiful tender,” Howard says. “From a customer demographic perspective, I think the product has a much wider appeal than wings. Don’t get me wrong, people still love a great wing, but I like to think that I saved the best for last with my fourth stop around the bird.”

Sam Danley is the associate editor of QSR. He can be reached at sdanley@wthwmedia.com

WING IT ON! (LEFT) AND HUEY MAGOO’S GO BIG ON FLAVOR, WHICH STARTS WITH A QUALITY PRODUCT.

Foxtail Coffee

The emerging brand wants to separate itself from the routine drive-thru chain.

BY SATYNE DONER

“I feel like there’s a missing hole in the coffee world at this moment,” Tchekmeian explains. “A lot of it has been value-engineered ... and that is the kind of result we see in that fast-food category of coffee. I feel like there is a lot to stand out on.”

Foxtail’s craft beverages are organic and sustainably sourced from farmers around the world. The Farmhouse blend, a bestseller, is a medium roast harvested from Honduras or Mexico. Other blends include Ethiopia Guji, Colombia Decaf, and Mexico Chiapas.

“We want to push the limits of craft coffee, and that means pushing the limits of the quality of coffee we continue to procure,” Tchekmeian says. “We do work directly with the farms and have a team that travels around the world to find the best quality coffee out there.”

FOUNDER: Alex Tchekmeian

HEADQUARTERS: Winter Park, Florida

YEAR STARTED: 2016

TOTAL UNITS: 54

BEFORE ALEX TCHEKMEIAN BECAME FOUNDER

and president of Foxtail Coffee, he spent over two decades in the music industry, focusing on arena merchandising. While traveling worldwide, he often worked out of local coffee shops and quickly became enamored with the industry.

He settled in his hometown of Winter Park, Florida, and began working on a fastcasual café concept. After the nearby auto body shop shuttered in 2016, Tchekmeian

used the building as his brand’s first café and roasting facility. Foxtail, which aims for a neighborly feel, is a culmination of Tchekmeian’s global experiences.

“One of our bigger goals [in the beginning] was to focus on the development of premium coffee in terms of roasting,” Tchekmeian says. “But we also wanted to have that welcoming community café atmosphere as well.”

With revenues in the coffee segment amounting to over $495 billion in 2023 according to Statista, competition between chains is constantly brewing.

Tchekmeian says Foxtail is “going in the other direction” compared to larger corporations, which he believes are leaning further into drive-thru service and inexpensive, quick production.

The fast-casual coffee concept features an emphasis on retail. Guests can purchase mugs, shirts, and coffee beans to take home. While other brands may shrink their square footage into a smaller space, Tchekmeian encourages in-store shopping as part of the Foxtail experience.

The brand has also partnered with Kelly’s Homemade Ice Cream, another Central Florida-based company. Several Foxtail locations have successfully integrated with Kelly’s, with more on the way.

Tchekmeian has already seen a 20-25 percent uptick in revenue in stores that have both coffee and ice cream.

“Foxtail is busiest in the early morning and afternoon, while Kelly’s focuses on the later hours,” Tchekmeian says. “We’ve had a lot of fun with this partnership, and I think it is an example of things to come ... as we look at how we can continue to maximize profitability and bring other things to the community.”

Tchekmeian is always looking for ways to connect directly with

Coffee Chains Bring the Intensity

A growing number of concepts are finding success with energy drink lineups.

BY SATYNE DONER

Pruitt says. “So, you can make things like piña colada and blue raspberry. They are very vibrant and exciting.”

Since launching the Ellianos Edge drinks, sales have spiked by 22 percent. Pruitt says it’s not just the energy drinks surging in sales—it’s all of their products, from coffee to breakfast sandwiches.

Ellianos is not the only chain to experience an uptick in revenue from blending energy drinks into the menu.

Bad Ass Coffee, known for its premium Hawaiian coffees, introduced energy drink infusions to its lineup of products as well. Also powered by Lotus, the new handcrafted beverages (called Mana) add to the brand’s unique experience.

Flavors include Sunrise Swell, Reef Racer, and Pipeline Plunge. According to the company’s website, these new flavors offer customers a “natural wave of energy” that will keep them going throughout the day.

Bad Ass Coffee CMO Chris Ruszkowski shares that the new drinks are “opening up the door for cross-selling to get a better check average.”

It’s no secret that functional beverages have created quite a buzz in recent months. Brands like Ellianos Coffee, Ziggi’s Coffee, and Bad Ass Coffee of Hawaii have all revitalized their menu with energy drink infusions to boost sales, attract new consumers, and increase diversification.

According to Statista, the energy drink market hit $159 billion in 2021 and is expected to grow to $233 billion by 2027.

Ellianos, a drive-thru chain founded in 2002 by Scott and Pam Stewart, is ready to meet the demands of busy Americans in a different way.

In early April, the brand announced its new plant-based energy drink in partnership with Lotus Energy Drinks. The Ellianos Edge comes in six fruity flavors, such as Razzleberry and Mango Tango.

While Ellianos has offered a Red Bull-infused concoction for the past two years, Greg Pruitt, vice president of marketing and strategic communications, says the brand wanted to expand into different taste profiles. Red Bull’s distinct flavor prohibited this.

“The good thing about [Lotus] energy bases are that they don’t have much flavor, which allows you to create more combinations,”

The chain is also seeing an upward trend in guest visitation at various times of day. The marketing executive has noticed that while energy infusions sell from morning to close, they tend to bring in more guests during the afternoon.

For Ruszkowski, the trickle-down effect of the beverage additions will create new consumer opportunities, and he sees it playing a role in the brand’s evolution as a premium coffee shop.

“Customers want to take a break from their day to get something that’s handcrafted and going to recharge them,” Ruszkowski says. “They are finding reasons to come later in the day … There are a lot of extended benefits to that daypart growth.”

Meanwhile, Ziggi’s sees the addition of handcrafted energy drinks as a way to give back to a growing guest base.

On April 14, the brand revealed the launch of Ziggi’s Energy and Ziggi’s Energy Zero Sugar, with five flavors, such as Cosmic Blast and Shock Melon.

Ziggi’s CEO Brandon Knudsen says the goal was initially to make the beverage more approachable. Much of that is about price. At $2 a drink, the item is budget-friendly amidst

Energy drinks are proving to be a strong sales driver for coffee chains.

Preparing for the Future of Automated Order-Taking

Voice AI is helping restaurants meet demands for greater efficiency. Lay the groundwork to upgrade when you’re ready.

/ BY KARA PHELPS

front counter, kitchen, or anywhere around the restaurant that needs their friendly and enthusiastic nature.”

Choosing a communication platform with voice AI integration helps future-proof a restaurant, setting it up for success whenever the time comes to upgrade. According to Mullica, planning ahead allows a restaurant to move at its own pace when it’s ready to start implementing voice AI ordering. Without built-in voice AI integration, operators need to customize the equipment and connection to their chosen voice AI provider.

Restaurants had to evolve quickly at the onset of the pandemic— and they’re still transforming. Footprints are shifting and shrinking, even as customers expect the same lightning-fast service with greater say in how they pick up their orders. “Your crew is serving more customers in new ways—drive thru, mobile order pickup, curbside pickup, walk-up windows, third-party delivery, dine-in service, and more. As a result, operators are being challenged to figure out how to manage multiple touchpoints successfully and smoothly,” says Scott Mullica, senior director of product management at HME Hospitality and Specialty Communications.

Once upon a time, it was enough to serve customers in the drive-thru lane quickly and e ciently. Today, operators also need to meet service expectations at every additional touchpoint, and some are now turning to artificial intelligence (ai) in the drive thru to help fill the gaps and maintain e ciency even when sta ng fluctuates.

“While an AI bot greets your guests, takes their orders, and inputs the order on the POS, your crew is empowered to provide better service in other areas,” Mullica says. “Your sta can multitask and support the

NEXEO | HDX, on the other hand, is a communication platform designed to alleviate those roadblocks. When operators are ready to upgrade to voice AI ordering, the process is e cient and streamlined. “The NEXEO | HDX platform is purpose-built for drive-thru voice AI integration,” Mullica says. “Other communication solutions on the market need additional audio boxes or conversions to integrate with your voice AI provider, but NEXEO | HDX provides for a seamless integration, resulting in the best voice AI ordering experience available for customers and sta .”

NEXEO | HDX’s direct integration makes for a wonderfully e cient system. It’s quick and easy for crew members to take over the AI ordering process at any point, while also supporting system escalation that alerts a crew member if the voice AI system needs help completing an order. Whether the order taker is a person or AI-driven, HDX Digital Audio delivers the industry’s first fully digital end-to-end audio, which helps eliminate hum and noise throughout the system. Plus, advanced telemetry continuously monitors and evaluates the system interconnection to ensure it is always operating at peak performance.

The NEXEO | HDX platform is a high-quality drive-thru audio solution, while also uniquely designed for operators who want greater e ciency at every customer touchpoint—with the ability to integrate seamlessly with preferred voice AI providers. “Even if you’re not quite yet on the market for AI-driven ordering, you’ll enhance your operation with HDX Digital Audio, hands-free voice commands, integrated timerto-headset alerts, one-to-one calling, group communication, targeted alerts, and more,” Mullica says ◗

“Operators are being challenged to figure out how to manage multiple touchpoints successfully and smoothly.”

NEXEO takes communication beyond the drive-thru and into key areas of your restaurant, increases efficiency with voice commands and group conversations, and seamlessly supports voice AI ordering. And that’s just the beginning.

INSPIRE BRANDS AND CEO PAUL BROWN HAVE A METICULOUS GROWTH PLAN IN PLACE.

Innovation That Inspires

/ BY DANNY KLEIN

Inspire Brands might just be the fastest-growing restaurant group on record. But that doesn’t mean the Dunkin’ and Arby’s owner plans to slow down anytime soon.

Christian Charnaux worked with Paul Brown when the two were executives at Hilton. So the phone wasn’t exactly cold when it rang. But the notion of restaurants? That was a thought that needed to thaw. Beyond being a convincing guy, Brown pitched a vision with a hook Charnaux couldn’t resist—there was no playbook.

Five years later, Charnaux, Inspire Brands’ chief growth officer, sits in a glass-walled office overlooking what’s colloquially called “400” by locals. It’s a view of US-19/GA-400 that sits above Atlanta traffic and, on clear days, you can see mountains in the backdrop. Charnaux’s shelves are stacked with paraphernalia, including a Jimmy John’s sign unsuited for a PG audience.

When asked if he could foresee this manifestation— a 1,000-person HQ in Sandy Springs, Georgia—with floors decked for every brand, beer taps and ice cream in the common room, and a 15,000-square-foot Innovation Center, Charnaux offers one word: “No.”

To understand the logic that sprouted Inspire’s empire, it’s worth tracing back the timeline. In February 2018, Arby’s Restaurant Group closed a $2.9 billion deal for Buffalo Wild Wings—a blockbuster that gave rise to the company’s new name. Yet Inspire was already stirring behind the curtain. The headline: “Arby’s Buys Buffalo Wild Wings,” welcomed a wave of social media noise, much of it muddled. Can I order roast beef with wings now? “That doesn’t make any sense,” Charnaux says. “But no, this was a family approach and a family of

brands that we were putting together. That’s why Sonic was such an important acquisition for us.”

The Sonic Drive-In deal ($2.3 billion) arrived in December 2019. Come October, Inspire added Jimmy John’s for an undisclosed amount, transferring the business from one entity of Inspire-backer Roark Capital to another (Roark bought a majority stake in 2016). Then, Inspire struck its headliner roughly a year later when it locked up an $11.3 billion move for Dunkin’ and Baskin-Robbins. It marked the highest-dollar restaurant acquisition since 3G Capital LP, Burger King Worldwide Inc., acquired Tim Hortons for $12.64 billion in August 2014.

And it simply carried Inspire to rare air. The company, at a recent count, totaled roughly 31,700 restaurants and $30 billion in system sales, making it the second largest restaurant conglomerate in the U.S. behind Taco Bell, KFC, Pizza Hut, and Habit Burger owner Yum! Brands. Aaron Allen, CEO and chief global strategist of

his eponymous Aaron Allen & Associates, once called Inspire, “the fastest-growing foodservice company in the history of the world.”

It’s a difficult point to argue.

And so, this brings us back to Charnaux’s chat with Brown, the prior president of brands and commercial services of Hilton Worldwide (Charnaux’s was most recently SVP of corporate finance at the hotelier). Surveying the restaurant field, Charnaux observed a $6 billion business that, unlike the hotel space, was “crazy fragmented.” In hospitality, following Marriott International’s 2015 deal to buy Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, giving it 30 brands and more than a million rooms under operation, the sphere had “maybe six” real players globally. “You have, just in the U.S. alone, 20 [restaurant] players you could name that were at national scale. If you look at the opportunity of everything that we learned in the hospitality business, that whole disruption that happened 10,

CHRISTIAN CHARNAUX, INSPIRE BRANDS’ CHIEF GROWTH OFFICER, SEES PLENTY OF WHITE SPACE AHEAD.

Upgrade your menu with Baja Salsa— a fresh mixture of peppers, avocado, cilantro, and ¡Sabor! by Texas Pete® Mexican-Style Hot Sauce to give any starter, meat, or fi sh dish that spicy citrus kick it was missing.

Scan the QR code below or visit TexasPeteFoodservice.com/SimpleAs to get the full recipe and more ways to Sauce Like You Mean It® with Texas Pete.®

15 years ago of digitalization; basically keeping up with what customers want and how they interact with you, plus, OTAs and the thirdparty delivery rise, there’s a comparative there,” Charnaux says. “Clearly, multibrand makes sense like it does in hospitality.”

Inspire also had Roark Capital. Brown and Neal Aronson, founder and managing partner of the fund, partnered to form the framework you see today, which is designed to acquire major concepts and develop a shared-services structure that enables each brand to pull from a center of strength for the collective good. That, in a certain manner, is not unlike hotels.

But the starting point, before there even was one, was scale. “You can’t do all the fun stuff unless you have the shared scale,” Charnaux says.

Pre-COVID, restaurants faced digital disruption from more corners than a city square. Hospitality knew the feeling all too well (booking sites come to mind), and Charnaux and Brown navigated it firsthand. While a global pandemic wasn’t on the whiteboard, Brown understood change was coming. Wherever the world went, companies with scale and brands that served different needs, times, and occasions, would be positioned to win. Or, as Charnaux explains it, you’d have a leg up by becoming an organization with “tightly integrated scale.”

“Where you’re touching a lot of different customers and brands and you’re able to leverage that shared knowledge across brands,” he says. “If you can do that, you’re going to be more relevant to the customer, you’re going to be where the customers wants, in the right channel, at the right time, with the right message, and leverage those insights across all those brands.”

The diner isn’t likely to understand Sonic and Jimmy John’s share the same parent group. That was never the intention of Inspire. Customers aren’t taking three left turns to go to Arby’s so they can use reward points at Buffalo Wild Wings like they might with Hampton, Hilton, and DoubleTree.

At Inspire, you’ll see (without noticing) an app that may have the same shared infrastructure as Buffalo Wild Wings and Arby’s but is more relevant to users since it crosses occasions. That’s how Inspire drives incrementality.

Scale and consolidation, generally, isn’t a new con-

cept to restaurants. But Inspire’s approach veered in key areas. For one, it’s a 93 percent franchised business. Most companies at this size don’t have nearly as much skin in the corporate game. So, much of Inspire’s innovation is a test-and-learn model that directly impacts the company’s P&L and affects how it approaches change.

Take Buffalo Wild Wings as a case. At the onset of COVID, the 1,200-unit-plus sports bar had online ordering and an app for loyalty. However, 79 percent of business occurred within the four walls.

The shared tech support of Inspire allowed it to scale the chain’s digital platform and get back in front of guests. And then came a leap to becoming a tech-enabled concept through what Inspire dubbed, the “choice model.” Buffalo Wild Wings customers now have the option to scan an integrated QR code at the table and decide how they want to engage with employees. They can order, add to their order, and pay on their own. Or, they can take a hybrid approach with some team member interaction. Conversely, if they want a full-service restaurant experience, it’s available, too.

When Inspire approached franchisees about the fundamental shift, which boils down to a model with more runners than servers, it did so through a lens of personal investment. “I don’t think Buffalo Wild Wings would be doing that if they were still an independent company,” Charnaux says. “It would be a lot harder for them to do that versus leveraging infrastructure that we have and are already using at different brands.”

It would also ultimately lead to Inspire’s counter-service “BWW Go.” The initial store debuted 2020 in Atlanta at 1,800 square feet, with a walk-up counter, digital menu boards, and a small seating area with TVs to entertain customers while they wait for their order. Order-ahead guests pick up via heated lockers.

The typical size ranges from 1,100 to 1,600 square feet, with the average thus far being 1,501. At the end of last year, the top third of 35 reporting BWW Gos averaged $25,707 in weekly sales, or about $1.3 million AUV. The full system average was $992,000. In total, there were 41 BWW Gos year-end 2022, up 25 from the prior year.

Inspire did the first 50 itself, Charnaux says. “We wanted to make sure the economics worked, the returns were there. It just allowed us more freedom to tweak,” he says. “And now, we’re opening it up broadly to franchising.”

Charnaux says Inspire believes it will tout “hundreds” of BWW Go outlets in the U.S. in “very short order.” The company found it could fortress markets with both formats, which resulted in additional share, not less.

Lower Cost. Better Service. Now that’s the Recipe. We’ve helped restaurant franchisees save money on their commercial insurance for over 10,000 locations nationwide. Property | General Liability | Auto | EPL | Hired & Non-Owned Auto | Workers' Comp | Umbrella

FLEXIBLE OPTIONS Expect Better. That's Our Policy.

A+ Intrepid Insurance Company is rated A+ (Superior) Financial Size Category XV by A.M. Best.1 Our financial strength means customers can trust us to always be there when they need us the most.

intrepiddirect.com/qsr

And again, the wide potential lies in the shared vision. Inspire operates in casual dining, quick service, and all varieties of delivery—captive, third party, even hybrid with Jimmy John’s and DoorDash to fulfill. Digital to in-store, there are learnings to unlock and cross-pollinate.

Additionally, Charnaux says, the fact Inspire is a private entity allows it to make longer-term bets.

“The real story of Inspire,” he says, “is you’re getting all of these pieces together and really taking the time outside of the root gaze of public scrutiny and being a public company, and tightly integrating them in a way that’s very hard for anyone else to do and hasn’t been done before.”

Inspire produced U.S. digital sales growth over 35 percent in 2021 versus 2020 to $6 billionplus—good for more than 20 percent of domestic system sales. It also surpassed $1 billion in sales via third-party marketplaces. The loyalty user base hiked to nearly 50 million members.

“Most of it is actually a tech capabilities platform play, right?” Brown says of how Inspire helps acquired chains. “That’s really where the majority of the benefits are. We’re making really good progress on that. We’re not done, obviously. We haven’t even finished building all those platforms. Even if you look at our digital platform. We have two of the brands on a common one: Arby’s and Buffalo Wild Wings. We’ll have Sonic on before the end of the year. But that’s a journey as well.”

Where Inspire moved faster was demand generation. Joint media buys and planning, and analytics, Brown says.

Much of Inspire’s ability to boost performance stems from focus as well. Jimmy John’s never tried LTOs before the sale, or combos. It didn’t attempt a lot of beverage innovation, either. “It’s killing it right now with content,” Brown says. “A lot of it is just because we’re releasing those constraints.”

The No. 1 success metric

Inspire’s blueprint is a visible beacon and one that’s busting at the seams. You can tell just strolling through HQ the company is growing outward in a hurry. But now that Inspire has reached scale unrivaled by all but one restaurant giant, where does it turn the page? For Charnaux, it’s a straightforward spin: Is Inspire attracting outside capital for franchisees to build out restaurants? That organic growth is the proof. “Because they’re getting a better rate of return doing our brands than any of the others—that’s the ultimate metric of success,” he says.

Here is where Charnaux feels Inspire’s differentiation pulses. Even at 31,700-plus locations, he says, Inspire believes each one of its brands has room to double in size. This is a multi-front sketch. Pre-Dunkin’, just 2 percent of Inspire’s stores were outside the U.S. Today, it’s closer to 30 percent. Overall, the company saw a “record number of commitments” in 2022, Charnaux says. “I think we’re going to outpace ourselves for domestic development, again, on commitments,” he adds of 2023.

There’s runway across numerous buckets. Operators are re-upping. New ones are coming in. There’s crosssell at work—say a Dunkin’ franchisee tapping out a market and deciding to buy a BWW Go or Jimmy John’s. This past year, of Inspire’s commitments, about 30 percent were legacy 1 franchisees signing up for another opportunity.

Charnaux says it’s an industry-wide development. Franchisees are becoming more sophisticated, consolidating and buying brands. One example: SSCP Management, a franchisee of Sonic and Applebee’s, spent $15 million in June to acquire Corner Bakery Café out of bankruptcy.

Operators are striving toward scale and seeking groups that have scale benefits themselves. A decade or so ago, Charnaux says, developers targeted hotel partners who could drive outside returns through a family of brands. Now, the dynamic is coming to restaurants amid a choppy cost market. “So who do you want to work with? Do you want to work with a siloed entity or a singlebranded company or do you want to work with a multi-brand company that gives you more options of great brands that you can do in your background or beyond,” he says.

And to note, Brown adds, Inspire can go forward entirely from its core.

“We’re already at a scale, I think Dunkin’ put us at a different level than we were pre-Dunkin’,” he says. “I think it’s a good spot to be in. We don’t have to do anything else. If the right thing comes along, it’s a high bar. The worst thing I think a company could do is a bad acquisition. We will not do that. And it’s great because we’re not under any pressure to do that. If you see us doing anything else, it would be a really great brand in a great space that’s complementary in nature to what we already have.”

Speaking of Dunkin’, Inspire is just about finished

2022 U.S. SYSTEMWIDE SALES: $2,364 mm

2022 U.S. SYSTEMWIDE SALES: $ 685 mm 2022 U.S. SYSTEMWIDE SALES: $ 3,937mm

STEELE PHOTOGRAPHY INC, BASKIN-ROBBINS: VINNI HOKE, BUFFALO WILD WNGS: HAIGWOOD STUDIOS PHOTOGRAPHY

JOIN THE QUICK-SERVICE EVOLUTION

Join us for two days of informative sessions, expert speakers, and networking opportunities. Discover the latest industry trends, gain insights into customer behavior, and learn about cutting-edge technology that can help take your business to the next level.

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS:

Don't miss out on this exciting opportunity to connect with fellow industry professionals and gain a competitive edge in the ever-changing world of quick-service restaurants. Register now and secure your spot at the QSR Evolution Conference—the must-attend event of the year!

QSREVOLUTIONCONFERENCE.COM

ANDREW CATHY CEO Chick-fil-A

CHRIS TOMASSO CEO First Watch

TREVOR HAYNES President North America Subway

CHRISTIAN CHARNAUX Chief Growth Officer Inspire Brands

integrating the java behemoth. That was a “huge unlock,” Charnaux says, for everything discussed thus far.

“If you want to get real scale benefits, it’s got to be the same for a franchisee working with Jimmy John’s as it is working with Sonic,” he says.

“… That’s easier said than done. Because five years ago, we were five different companies. And all of sudden, you say, yeah, we’re Inspire. Poof. There’s processes. Systems. All of those things that we’re grinding through. But that’s the great opportunity. If we’re successful, we have something that’s really different than I would say the rest of the industry has. In some ways, more common with what a hospitality company has, if you think about a Marriott and Hilton and how they’re tightly integrated behind the scenes with their commercial engines and their view of the customer.”

Like Jimmy John’s, Inspire let Dunkin’ loose by solidifying its building blocks. Before, Brown says, the brand was often chasing its next LTO, with no real overarching theme or brand idea behind it. “And I think the team has done a great job over the past couple of years of what is the Dunkin’ story we’re trying to tell,” he says. “And how do we focus in on innovation a little bit more around platforms versus sort of the next LTO. And you’re going to see more of that.”

On the international front, the majority of Inspire’s overseas venues today are actually Baskin-Robbins— north of 5,000. Dunkin’ has produced same-store sales over 20 percent for more than 20 months outside the U.S. As a company, Inspire hosted more than 800 new restaurant openings internationally in 2021.

Presently, there are over 600 Dunkin’s in Saudi Arabia. That’s nearly more stores than you’d find west of the Mississippi. Inspire opened its first Saudi Arabia Arby’s in May, which broke sales records. Perhaps even more telling, though, and a signal of what’s to come, it’s a location operated by Shahia Foods Limited Company, a company that runs more than 700 Dunkin’ units across Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Germany. On October 1, the same company opened a record 30 Dunkin’ restaurants in one day in Saudi Arabia, an unprecedented number in the brand’s 72-year history.

“There’s a huge opportunity on this cross-sell, but also multi-brand unlocks,” Charnaux says.

What Charnaux means by “multi-brand unlocks” speaks to another realm of whitespace. Real estate has shown little to zero signs of getting cheaper, he notes. So if companies can offer franchisees opportunity to “maximize the throughput of that dirt,” there are gains to be had. Walking into Inspire’s HQ lobby, employees and visitors pass a Dunkin’-Jimmy John’s co-branded outlet that opened in February 2022.

And it’s merely a taste of the company’s non-traditional potential. While Charnaux is not saying there will be 50,000 non-trad outlets for Inspire, he does feel the opportunity is there. The approach should represent 15

percent of what the company does on an annual net unit growth basis, Charnaux adds. Also, Inspire is currently testing a modular, 650-square-foot build that can be used for any of its brands. It’s built off site, fitted to whichever chain is needed, and brought to market.

Charnaux broadly imagines a universe where the company can work with colleges, airports (Jimmy

John’s recently launched in Sarasota, Florida’s, airport), and more, on presenting packages of brands that stretch the full daypart gamut. He says Inspire talked with turnpike operators on creating a space that offers something for everyone. And this isn’t just a matter of having multiple concepts. Inspire spent ample time innovating around how to operationalize this kind of approach collectively and in a way that saves space and resources.

Answers it found through another industry-first approach.

Welcome to Alliance Kitchen

In fall 2021, Inspire unveiled “Alliance Kitchen.” You could call it a “ghost” or “dark” kitchen, but, in truth, the label doesn’t do it justice. The space claims the distinction as the first fully developed, owned, and operated multi-brand ghost kitchen in the industry. Or spun differently, nobody has ever melded brands together at this level, for this purpose.

The main split is it’s a one-central-kitchen model that maps product preparation and creation, which allows Inspire to curate different orders for various concepts (in this case, everything but Dunkin’). The segmented kitchen features workspaces that blend to fulfill as opposed to having five separate areas.

There’s also WiFi, charging stations, and free Dunkin’ coffee for couriers.

In many respects, Alliance Kitchen is the digital, virtual manifestation of the co-branded spaces that have long infiltrated quick service. Past offering choice, though, Alliance Kitchen reduced labor requirements

ALL IDEAS SPROUT FROM INSPIRE BRANDS’ HEADQUARTERS IN SANDY SPRINGS, GEORGIA.

Our Bavarian Pretzel Bites are on track to be one of the most profitable products for menus everywhere. A delightful taste, these bites have the versatility to fit on any menu and be served in every daypart. Oh, and they’re good at making customers smile.

by 54 percent, cut square footage needs by 19 percent, decreased equipment costs by 45 percent, and sliced energy consumption north of 50 percent, compared to having five spots.

Vans Nelson, Inspire’s SVP of Operations Innovation, a company vet whose been with Arby’s and Inspire more than 13 years, credits Alliance Kitchen’s development to many of the company traits Charnaux highlighted. The 2,000 or so corporate units. The shared knowledge. “It’s a unique situation that only we could do,” Nelson says. “We start out at the Innovation Center, we might test some

interesting to operators.” In sum, Alliance Kitchen’s real unlock was learning how to integrate the back of the house across a multi-brand portfolio. Would Inspire have tried that as a pure franchisor? Charnaux doubts it. “We want to do those things because those learnings impact the corporate stores,” he says, “as well as create something for franchisees to get a better return.”

Charnaux is calling this future phase of Inspire’s development “co-location,” versus “co-branding.” Customers aren’t confused and the true drive is efficiency and productivity over breadth of options.

“I love Mexican. I love fried chicken. Do I want to see both together? No, maybe not,” Charnaux says. “But if they have separate dining rooms and areas and are appropriately branded, I think there’s some opportunity there.”

things there, do a proof of concept there. We move it into Alliance Kitchen where it’s a real-world environment, continue to refine, test, and validate, and then deploy to our restaurants into the field and through that process we don’t ask our franchisees to invest until we’re ready and we’re thorough with our testing process.”

When Inspire began conceptualizing Alliance Kitchen, the innovation wheel was ahead of its time. Nelson says it would have been simple to take Arby’s, Buffalo Wild Wings, Sonic, and so forth, and just house them under one roof with independent approaches. It would have tapped into the digital ordering and on-thego trends of today’s consumer and provided a relief valve for nearby stores. But that would have been one bubble in a lexicon full of them.

Alliance Kitchen was a practice in efficiency, from equipment to utilities to labor, designed to understand how collective, yet different parts could make each one better. Picture a grill where all of the brands’ grill-cooked products are produced in that station. Now, everything flows one direction toward the guest and locker system. Not to mention, cross-trained workers.

And then, couple this concept with what Charnaux portended with non-traditional. “All these non-trad places, these are folks who want plug-and-play kinds of solutions,” he says. “And if you can go to an airport and say, ‘I’ve got coffee, I’ve got sandwich, I’ve got wings, I’ve got Sonic, I’ve got all those things … With Alliance Kitchen, we figured out ways behind the scenes we could man those with shared equipment, shared resources so it’s more productive. That now becomes really, really

“If you think about the importance of non-traditional locations, because of our learnings in Alliance Kitchen, it enables us to take two brands, three brands, and be able to develop a workflow and a deployment from a kitchen design and layout standpoint that makes everything more efficient,” Nelson adds. “So now you can collaborate from a workforce management standpoint and be much more effective.” Because Inspire was created with diversification central to its DNA, the company is staring down non-trad growth with limitless horizons. It doesn’t need to go brand-by-brand; it can mix-and-match or address a specific need. “Then, if we have an operating model that allows that to be much more efficient, then we can give them that, too,” Nelson notes.

Broadly, Nelson says, the spirit of Alliance Kitchen exists across the company’s directives. Recently, his team spent a good deal of time fine-tuning team member engagement. They focused on details such as restaurant design, workflow innovation, facilities and equipment upgrades, and placement, in an effort to boost performance and satisfaction.

The Innovation Center is where it all takes shape. Nelson says Inspire worked on “operations complexity model innovation,” which set out to define complexity in a “common language that can be spoken throughout the building and throughout the teams.”

Nelson adds these are ambitious times for Inspire, especially when you consider how COVID accelerated many of the trends the company anticipated ahead of it. “From an Inspire Brands standpoint, because of our portfolio of brands and uniqueness of them, and our ability to touch every daypart, it just gives our team a lot of innovation to go after. And so, from an equipment innovation, facilities innovation, process, workflow, innovation, engineering and design, food safety, all of those allows us to be resourced to work across all of our brands to bring solutions to. And that’s what we’re most excited about.”

Danny Klein is the editorial director of QSR and FSR. He can be reached at dklein@ wtwhmedia.com

INSPIRE BRANDS GAINS MUCH INSIGHT FROM ITS ALLIANCE KITCHEN CONCEPT.

QSR 50

/ BY QSR STAFF

Within the past year, the top quick-service chains experienced a mix of challenges and opportunities as they navigated the ever-changing landscape of foodservice. These brands, known for fast and convenient dining experiences, had to adapt to shifting consumer preferences, technological advancements, and global events that impacted operations.

One thing is for certain—automation is coming sooner rather than later. A host of companies are tinkering with robotics in the back of house, on the phone, and at the drive-thru. Not for the sake of replacing human bodies, but for the benefit of relieving an already stressful job that suffered greatly from recruiting and retention issues during the pandemic.

The restaurant industry is often labeled as a sector slow to adopt technology. But COVID remapped the minds of operators nationwide. Ideas that were once seen as innovative and cutting edge are quickly becoming table stakes. Onlookers should buckle up—the pandemic appears to be in the rearview, and the quick-service segment is preparing for another transformation unlike anything it’s seen before.

1 McDonald’s

$ 48,734 MM

The world’s largest burger chain is experiencing a renaissance of sorts thanks to its overall transformation plan, Accelerating the Arches, which calls for modernization, emphasis on core menu items, and the three Ds—digital, delivery, and drive-thru. At the start of 2023, McDonald’s systemwide sales had grown by nearly $20 billion since the onset of COVID, despite losing nearly 850 stores in Russia. The brand’s U.S. comps increased roughly 25 percent on a three-year basis in 2022. And now, McDonald’s is using those bigger sales to enhance its development outlook. The company finished last year with 13,444 restaurants after gaining a net of six locations. It marked the first time McDonald’s grew its domestic footprint in eight years. All of it was company-owned growth, with the footprint moving from 663 to 693, while the franchise base dipped 24 units to 12,751. The chain is drawing in customers with constant product news, like the announcement of its improved Big Mac, McDouble, cheeseburger, and hamburger, which will come with softer buns, gooier cheese, and more onions. At the same time, McDonald’s isn’t shying away from new ventures. The chain reportedly tested the meatless McPlant sandwich and the chicken Big Mac in the U.S. and began piloting Krispy Kreme doughnuts in about 160 Louisville-based restaurants. However, McDonald’s didn’t entirely escape macroeconomic pressures. In April, multiple media outlets said the brand planned to lay off hundreds of employees as part of an organizational restructuring. CEO Chris Kempczinski hinted at the move in January, saying “This will help us move faster as an organization, while reducing our global costs and freeing up resources to invest in our growth.”

M c DONALD’S SITS ATOP THE QSR 50 BECAUSE OF ITS ABILITY TO INNOVATE.

2 Starbucks

The pandemic uncovered a few realities for Starbucks. Perhaps none louder, however, then the fact digital released the floodgates—maybe too much so at times.  This past September, the java chain shared a comprehensive “Reinvention Plan” at its biennial Investor Day. Headlining was an incremental $450 million investment in new equipment designed to boost efficiency and reduce complexity. In conjunction, Starbucks revealed its Siren System built to aid customization of hot and cold drinks, as well as warm food. This included the brand’s Clover Vertica system, which can serve a cup of coffee on demand in less than 30 seconds.

Yet this was, at its center, a story rooted in an enviable problem. Fueled by digital growth, the chain suddenly faced unprecedented demand. The tidal of transactions stressed productivity and inspired Starbucks to spend $1 billion in employee investments during the spring.

It’s a tale that stretches back further. In the fall of 2020, Starbucks announced it could close 800 units as part of “portfolio repositioning.” The goal was to meet a changing guest head-on. It was mainly geared toward devoting 90 percent of new store expansion to units with drive-thrus (mobile order and pay, drive-thru,

and delivery accounted for 74 percent of Q2 companyowned revenue). And as it turned out, the pace back was exactly how Starbucks billed it—a pause before a boom. Starbucks across 2022 opened more locations than any restaurant in America, with a net of 429. So the brand dotting the country today is simply not the same as 2019. It’s a far gamer model ready to take advantage of trends ignited by COVID. New CEO Laxman Narasimhan, who arrived in March, recently explained Starbucks’ ambitions through this multiyear lens. Due to digital-erupted demand, the chain witnessed elevated turnover on the crew level, supply instability, and cracks in operations that left a lot on the table. Hence, it was in need of a “Reinvention.” Narasimhan said to expect a solution where Starbucks becomes a company with “theaters at the front, with a factory in the back.” Or “theaters” where employees focus on making coffee and delivering experience, and “factories” in the back that aid productivity and streamline processes to free up workers to do just that.

There is a bevy of rolling initiatives to support that, like Starbucks’ new Cold Pressed Technology, a patented method that extracts coffee with low-pressure immersion, without heating water. But regardless of the logistics, there’s undeniable opportunity. To start the year, Starbucks’ ticket in December was the highest on record. Average weekly sales in U.S. corporate units reached a high, and eight of the 10 best sales days in Starbucks’ history came during a threemonth stretch. In Q2, consolidated revenues climbed

2022 U.S. SYSTEMWIDE SALES: $ 28,100* MM *ESTIMATED

STARBUCKS IS GROWING QUICKLY THANKS IN PART TO ITS MULTIMILLION-DOLLAR REINVENTION PLAN.

to $8.7 billion and Starbucks reported 12 percent samestore sales growth in the U.S. Store traffic surpassed pre-pandemic levels in the brand’s busiest dayparts. Starbucks’ 90-day active rewards membership tacked on 400,000-plus members and hit 30.8 million users. Members accounted for 57 percent of company-operated revenue in Q2—a record figure, and 3 percent higher on an annual basis.

There’s reason to believe Starbucks’ efforts are paying off already, with barista turnover down more than 9 percent last quarter from a high in March 2022. “Starbucks delivers connection no matter how you visit us, in stores, drive-thrus, or digitally—we are there to provide this connection, any place, any time,” Narasimhan said.

3  Chick-fil-A

was $8.142 million, which was nearly 15 percent higher than Chick-fil-A’s 2020 result of $7.096 million.

To put it plainly, no restaurant brand in the QSR 50 has come this far, this quickly, and punches that high above its store count. And there are reports, too, Chickfil-A will soon begin testing international waters. At the end of 2022, there were 10 franchised stores outside of the U.S. (seven in Canada and three in Puerto Rico) The brand plans to invest $1 billion as it looks to open restaurants in Europe and Asia by 2025, with stores in five international markets come 2030.

To illustrate the potential just domestically, there were nine brands in this year’s QSR 50 at $10 billion or above in U.S. total sales. After Chick-fil-A, the next smallest, footprint-wise, was Wendy’s, at 5,994 U.S. stores. Chick-fil-A had 2,837. Even closed on Sundays, the brand trails only McDonald’s and Starbucks in systemwide results despite the fact there are 13,036 more Starbucks and 10,607 more McDonald’s in America. It’s yet one more staggering statistic for a brand that’s bar continues to get reset every year.

4  Taco Bell

Anecdotally, anybody in a car who’s passed a Chickfil-A in recent years might have an inkling the brand is doing OK. But the actual scope is unrivaled. In 2022, Chick-fil-A generated $18.814 billion in U.S. systemwide sales. That figure was $16.674 billion, $13.7 billion, and $12.2 billion, in 2021, 2020, and 2019, respectively. Over that run, it’s seen total revenue and income climb from $4,321,122,548 to $5,764,153,899 to $6,373,786,108. The number worth circling, though, goes back to the drive-thru point. Chick-fil-A’s freestanding and drivethru locations (non-mall environments), of which about 1,925 locations counted and were opened at least a full calendar year in 2022, produced median annual sales volumes of $8.51 million and average annual sales volumes of $8.676 million, with 919 of the 1,925 locations, or 48 percent, hitting that mark or higher.

One operator pulled in $16.985 million. Notably, 33 percent of operators in this field recorded annual sales volumes north of $9.5 million. In 2021, the AUV figure

Taco Bell’s digital business was up 40 percent yearover-year in 2022. It grew another 60 percent in the first three months of 2023, leading to an eight-point improvement in digital mix for Q1. Executives at parent company Yum! Brands credited the growth in digital to the addition of delivery as a service through the brand’s mobile app. The chain also has become a leader in asset innovation with a first-of-its-kind Defy restaurant, which features a two-story design with a proprietary lift to transport food directly from the kitchen to customers.

U.S. system sales grew 11 percent to $13.85 billion last year, driven by 8 percent same-store sales

TACO BELL’S DIGITAL MIX IS GROWING SIGNIFICANTLY.

NO CHAIN PUNCHES HIGHER ABOVE ITS STORE COUNT THAN CHICK-FIL-A.

Fast. Up to 80% quicker than a conventional oven.

Quiet. Doesn’t interrupt customer engagement.

Easy to install. UL certified ventless, no extraction hood needed.

Easy to use. Intuitive touchscreen for high quality, repeatable results.

Flexible. One appliance to cook, toast, grill and reheat.

growth and 5 percent unit expansion. The fast-food giant bucked the trend on margins, holding company-operated margins steady from 2021 in the face of industry-wide cost pressure.

Yum! Brands opened 4,560 gross new units in 2022, which translated into nearly 3,100 net new units, beating the previous record it set in 2021, when it opened 4,180 gross new units. Taco Bell ended the year with 8,218 total units, up from 7,791 at the end of 2021. The brand opened 496 new restaurants in 24 countries, pushing its international business past the 1,000-unit mark for the first time. It accomplished that milestone quickly, having built around 40 percent of its international estate within the last two years.

Stateside, Taco Bell opened 196 new stores last year, its second-highest annual amount to date. It ended 2022 with 7,198 domestic stores, 464 of which are company-owned and 6,734 of which are franchised.

5Wendy’s

11,694 MM

burden, while also improving speed of service for customers. In terms of ramping up development, Wendy’s in March announced a new “Pacesetter” development program in the U.S. and Canada that doubles the incentive offered in the previous Groundbreaker program. It’s estimated the new incentive will cut payback for a new build to just over two years. The first store under the Pacesetter agreement should come in 2025, and a meaningful impact should begin in 2026. A leadership restructure took place amid these initiatives. To create a unified operating model, CEO Todd Penegor said the brand will start thinking globally instead of running the U.S. and international businesses separately. As part of the redesign, Kurt Kane, U.S. president and chief commercial officer, was let go and his positions were eliminated. Penegor said the move will put himself “a lot closer to the business.”

6 Dunkin’

Wendy’s near-term development goals are to achieve 2-3 percent net unit growth in 2023 and 2024 and 3-4 percent in 2025, and there is a specific strategy in place to achieve these marks. In August 2022, the chain unveiled its digital-forward Global Next Gen prototype, which features a delivery pick-up window, parking and in-restaurant shelving for mobile orders, a new galley-style kitchen, efficient lighting and HVAC

In 2020, Dunkin’ worked (not unlike Starbucks) on getting its footprint primed for a fresh generation. That included the closure of 450 Speedway stores—a group that accounted for less than 0.5 percent of its domestic sales. Dunkin’ would ultimately trim by a net of 547 locations. Yet also in Starbucks’ vein, the chain filled those gaps quickly with builds designed to capture the omnichannel whitespace at hand. Inspire Brands spent $11.3 billion to acquire the chain, along with Baskin-Robbins, at the end of 2020. It’s since grown by 161 and 126 locations in 2021 and 2022, respectively. And done so with NextGen stores that focus on streamlined orders and digital integration.

Dunkin’s AUV climbed from $1.127 million to $1.2 million year-over-year and the brand has paced in the double-digits for same-store sales over recent calendars. Dunkin’ also committed to 100 percent Responsibly Sourced Coffee by 2025. In 2020, its U.S. restaurants replaced their polystyrene cups with a new double-walled paper cup made with paperboard

systems, and updated technology. In the future, these restaurants may include drive-thru AI technology. This past spring, Wendy’s announced that it was using Google Cloud’s innovation to test automated voice ordering at one restaurant in Columbus, Ohio. The intention is to not replace workers, but to ease their

WENDY’S GLOBAL NEXT GEN MODEL EMPHASIZES OFF-PREMISES DINING.

certified to the Sustainable Forestry Initiative Standard. The same year, it began testing an industrial compostable straw in select markets throughout the U.S. The straws are made with PHA, a material created by the fermentation of canola oil. Dunkin’ is shifting from plastic to wooden stir-sticks across all U.S. venues as well.

7 Subway

It was another eventful year for the country’s most ubiquitous restaurant. Subway finished 2022 with 20,576 U.S. stores after closing a net of 576 units. While a large chunk, it was the brand’s lowest rate of closures since 2016. Subway shed a net of 1,043 units in 2021 and 1,600 or so in 2020. Even at its lowest total count since 2005, Subway remains the largest chain in America by some distance—Starbucks is next at 15,873.

As it pares back, Subway remains in transforma-

tion mode. Last year, the chain shifted its development strategy to focus on multi-unit operators and remodeled stores. The company said it was partnering with franchisees and using data to ensure units aligned with market needs, were in the right location, and using the best format. Meanwhile, Subway is inviting multi-unit restaurateurs to buy out existing operators who want to retire or sell. More recently, the brand inked five multi-unit deals in Texas, Florida, Arizona, and the Mid-Atlantic. The agreements involved the consolidation and transfer of more than 230 existing stores as well as the remodeling and opening of new ones. Subway expects to increase North America openings by 35 percent in 2023 year-over-year, it said. Also, 3,600 stores will be remodeled, bringing the total to more than 10,000. Systemwide, Subway opened nearly 750 new restaurants in 2022 and 145 stores in Q1. Additionally, in April, Subway reported its ninth straight quarter of positive same-store sales. It credited positive traffic and double-digit sales growth to menu innovation, modernized restaurants, and digital improvements. First-quarter same-store sales

SHEDDING STORES, SUBWAY STILL HAS THE MOST RESTAURANTS IN THE U.S.

Craveworthy FRANCHISING

“Many brands spend so much time and energy trying to build themselves up to then get bought out,” Majewski says. “We believe that with access to our resources and restaurant expertise early on in their journey, we can help brands reach their potential faster.”

While the franchisor is looking for all types of franchisees, Craveworthy Brands is unique in that it values first-time franchisees—and not just in theory. Majewski has set up several incentives to help those who want to achieve their dream of owning a restaurant: anyone who stays with Craveworthy Brands in a management role for three years earns the right to open up their own store. The franchisee is then entitled to two royalty-free years of operations.

“The great thing about the franchise model is that it allows people to achieve the American Dream,” Majewski said. “However, it’s painful to me where the franchise model has gone. Most brands won’t franchise with you if you don’t have experience doing it, and that means you have these huge groups that own all these different brands. We want to create a system that helps make the American Dream more accessible.”

The following pages contain details on three of the concepts currently owned by Craveworthy Brands and why they might be attractive opportunities for seasoned franchisees—and aspiring ones as well.

CRAVEWORTHY BRANDS was founded in 2022 by Gregg Majewski, former CEO of Jimmy John’s. His goal was to build a portfolio of brands with craveable food and significant white space within their category—and to provide the resources necessary to streamline their growth via franchising.

The Budlong Hot Chicken: a Chicago-Area Favorite, Now Franchising

Brand has developed a ‘cult-like’ following at its four locations.

BY CHARLIE POGACAR

NASHVILLE HOT CHICKEN HAS TAKEN the country by storm. Soon, The Budlong Hot Chicken will be doing the same—the chef-driven concept originated in the Chicagoland area in 2016 and quickly became known as the area’s go-to spot for Nashville hot.

Basing his recipes on those from famous Nashville establishments like Prince’s Hot Chicken and Hattie B’s, The Budlong Founder Jared Leonard developed an original menu that would capture authentic Southern flavor. The brand features a full menu of Nashville hot sandwiches that range from mild all the way up to “berserk!!!”, designed for only the bravest connoisseurs of spice.

Diners can choose from several different versions of Nashville hot sandwiches, including the Southern Style, smothered in pimento cheese and pickles, or the Yo Momma’s, served with black-pepper pickle relish mayo, lettuce, tomato, red onion and Budlong pickles. Other menu items include Southern staples like buttermilk biscuits, creamy mac ‘n’ cheese, scratch-made farm slaw, popcorn chicken, and a Southern-style salad.

The Budlong caught the eye of Craveworthy Brands CEO Gregg Majewski when it first opened. He became a devoted follower of the brand and its mouth-watering menu items and eventually acquired it in 2021 after COVID-related restrictions put the brand in a tough position. Majewski’s goal was to scale the brand while keeping the authenticity that makes it so unique.

LOCATIONS: 4

FRANCHISE FEE: Single Unit - $30,000; additional units$20,000 each; development fee$10,000, credited to franchise fee.

TOTAL START-UP COSTS: $178,000 to $989,500/store

“The Budlong Hot Chicken truly has a cult following in the city,” Majewski says. “Who doesn’t love fried chicken and Southern-style food? And The Budlong blows the competition out of the water.”

Majewski says one thing that sets The Budlong’s food apart is the fact that the brand gives diners the option of selecting thighs for their hot chicken sandwich—a chef hack that creates differentiation in the saturated fried-chicken segment. “It’s more of a Southern

fried chicken than it is a Nashville Hot Chicken,” Majewski says. “But you’ve got different flavor profiles and levels of spice in there to choose from. We’re going to own the Southern chicken segment because we’re differentiated from everyone else.”

The brand is still in its initial stages of growth, with four locations open. Majewski sees a world where The Budlong Hot Chicken grows across the Midwest and all over the country thanks to its craveable, standout menu and its ease of operation. Like many Craveworthy Brands’ concepts, The Budlong Hot Chicken requires very little square footage or operational complexity. Franchisees can open locations for under $200,000 in some cases.

“This is the perfect brand,” Majewski says. “This is truly the one to jump in on if you want to live the American Dream. The food is incredible, there’s so much room to grow, and the buildouts are right on the money in terms of price point.

“ THE BUDLONG BLOWS THE COMPETITION OUT OF THE WATER.”

Wing It On! Award-WinningRidingRecipe to Growth

BY CHARLIE POGACAR

UNTIL 2022, THERE HAD NEVER been a fast-casual restaurant to win a “best wing sauce” category at the annual National Buffalo Wing Festival in Buffalo, New York. That changed when Wing It On! secured the top prize for the traditional medium sauce category in September 2022.

Wing It On!’s best-in-class wing sauces are part of the reason why Craveworthy Brands purchased the brand with intentions of scaling it.

not just because of its mouth-watering food, but also due to the wing category’s white space. Majewski calls it out: his goal is to give Wing It On! all the resources it needs to grow into the second-biggest brand in the category.

With 14 locations, including a food truck, currently open and 17 more agreements signed, Wing It On! is a real contender to achieve that goal—in 2022, Wingstop was the only wing concept that appeared in the QSR Top 50. Majewski says Craveworthy’s current projections show Wing It On! checking in at 200 units within the next five years, with “100 or more in the pipeline at all times.”

“And that’s a scaled down version of our projections,” Majewski says. “That’s the sure-thing bet of locations we’ll have open by 2028. I think the sky’s the limit with this brand, because the product is there and now we’ve got the infrastructure built up around it.”

“That gave me proof of concept,” Craveworthy Brands CEO Gregg Majewski says. “Usually you see mom-andpop restaurants win in contests like that. Wing it On!’s sauce is that much better than other brands trying to grow out there. I knew we could build a Craveworthy type of experience with it.”

The Wing It On! menu also features chicken sandwiches, tenders, dumplings, french fries, and more. All of the food is built to travel—Wing It On! boasts up to 90 percent off-premises orders at its stores.

Wing It On! fit the Craveworthy Brands playbook

LOCATIONS: 14

FUTURE LOCATIONS

SIGNED: 17

FRANCHISE FEE: $30,000 for single unit, $22,4500 for second, $14,500 each additional unit

TOTAL START-UP COSTS: $210,500–$440,000/store

One of the key upsides of Wing It On!’s model is the fact that it requires minimal up-front investment—estimated between $210,500 and $440,000 per store—and very little square footage. It’s a brand that a franchisee can really run with, too: Craveworthy Brands charges a $30,000 franchise fee for a single unit, $22,500 for a second unit, and just $14,500 for each additional unit.

“This is a brand that scales everywhere,” Majewski says. “We are aiming to grow all throughout the northeast, up and down the eastern seaboard, and even into the midwest, in places like the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and we’ll soon be opening up corporate stores in Chicago. But we’re really open to a lot of different places right now.

The wing nut’s kind-of-wing joint takes aim at 200 locations in the next five years.

“ THIS IS A BRAND THAT SCALES EVERYWHERE.”

SAY HELLO TO THE WING NUT'S KIND OF WING JOINT

AMERICA'S #1 BUFFALO SAUCE

Our obsession with wow-factor flavors has earned us the title of America's #1 Buffalo Sauce. Our Medium Buffalo was voted best-tasting traditional buffalo sauce at the National Buffalo Wing Festival, in Buffalo, NY - the birthplace of the wing.

A HOT FRANCHISE TREND FOR 2023

Invest in a winning concept. Ranked one of the hottest franchise trends in 2023 by Entrepreneur Magazine. 2021 winner of QSR Magazine's 40 under 40. Ranked on the Inc. 5000 list as a Top 50 Food Brand in 2022.

WE'RE MORE THAN JUST WINGS

An innovative menu to keep fans coming back for more. Our mix of classic wings, boneless tenders, chicken sandwiches, dumplings, fries and unique sides brings a diverse menu offering not seen in other“wing-joints”.

Genghis Grill is King of Its Segment

The legacy brand has a new look—and unlimited white space.

BY CHARLIE POGACAR

IN MANY WAYS, GENGHIS GRILL was before its time. Long before other brands were leaning into customization and menu items with a health halo, Genghis Grill was founded in 1998 as a design-your-own bowl concept beloved by all different types of diners.

Guests at Genghis Grill come in and select from over 80 of the freshest ingredients—from proteins to handcut veggies to signature sauces and spices. Genghis Grill has also always offered a variety of chef-curated bowls for every type of eater and dietary lifestyle.

“Genghis Grill is a really fun concept that has absolutely no competitor in the space,” says Craveworthy Brands CEO Gregg Majewski. “We are the king of this

of having to wait too long.

Under Majewski’s leadership, the brand transitioned from a full-service restaurant model to a fast-casual concept, cutting staffing from 15–20 team members during peak hours down to 5–7. Suddenly, fresh bowls were coming out in a maximum of 3–5 minutes during those peak hours. With streamlined operations, the brand is now a 50-plus unit concept and has already sold 24 franchise agreements in 2022.

“Genghis Grill is by far the easiest concept that we have,” Majewski says. “Guests come down the line and point to what they want and it’s cooked in the time it takes to cook a burger.”

When taking a look at the brand’s menu prices, it’s easy to see another reason why guests love Genghis Grill. The concept offers 20 of its bowls for under $10—Chef Bowls and Fried Rice Bowls are available for $9.99 or less. The brand recently launched a new “VALUEBOWLS” lineup with bowls priced under $8. There’s plenty of margin left for the operator, too: the COGS for VALUEBOWLS run between 18–23 percent, while Chef Bowls’ COGS average between 15–30 percent.

space already. We have so much white space because nobody does it like we do.”

When Majewski and his team acquired Genghis Grill in 2021, Majewski put his Jimmy John’s hat on. As the former CEO of the “freaky fast” sandwich concept, Majewski saw a world where Genghis Grill customers could have all of the upside of customizing their own bowl and watching it get cooked to order with none of the downside

Another area where Genghis Grill continues to grow is its off-premise ordering channels. Genghis Grill locations currently do about 30 percent of their orders to-go, with goals to grow that number to 50 percent at future stores. Best of all, Genghis Grill’s intentional move away from solely Asian stir-fry and push towards more global influences has showcased the capacity of the ingredients—and franchisees benefit from the new menu with boosted productivity, reduced complexity, and increased profitability.

“The white space is all ours in this category,” Majewski says. “The way customers are eating now, everything is customized, they want food on the go. This is truly the perfect concept to fill both of those needs.” CF

“GENGHIS GRILL IS BY FAR THE EASIEST CONCEPT THAT WE HAVE.”

A TRUSTED BRAND

Today, Genghis Grill has more than 50 locations open across the country, serving 3.2 million customers annually. We’re on our way to offer customization, freshness and fun in more communities across the nation.

OPERATIONAL EXPERTISE

Genghis Grill owns and operates over 50% of our current locations. You can say we're a brand built by operators for operators and we'll pass our knowledge and insight to you to ensure your success.

SUPPORT FROM DAY 1

We're not successful unless you are. Genghis Grill offers personalized and comprehensive start up and on-going support to franchise owners from day one. Whether it's real estate selection, marketing or on-the-job training, we have your back.

SATISFY

FRANCHISING CRAVINGS

LEGACY AND EMERGING BRANDS!

increased 12.1 percent year-over-year, and digital sales hiked 11.4 percent. Global digital sales have more than quadrupled since the start of 2019. And to start April, Subway accomplished its highest weekly U.S. AUV since 2010.

Speaking of menu innovation, the brand in May announced the first update to its “Subway Series” since the curated lineup arrived last July. This included double cheese, two new sandwiches, and new twists on four fan favorites.

8 Burger King

10,278 MM

among these new executives is a lower tolerance for unengaged franchisees. As a result, Burger King U.S. plans to shut down 300-400 stores in 2023.

9 Domino’s

Domino’s COVID journey has been maligned by delivery struggles, magnified by consumers returning to pre-pandemic habits like sit-down occasions, inflationary prices, and struggles to find workers. At the start of 2022, Domino’s reduced stores and restricted online orders because of labor challenges. The number

Burger King is rethinking its brand image arguably more so than anyone else near the top of the quickservice industry. After a long stretch of disappointing sales, the chain announced last fall its $400 million Reclaim the Flame turnaround strategy, which covers modernized branding, simplified operations, premium menus, advertising, and building refreshes/remodels. Of that financial figure, $150 million is for advertising and digital investments and $250 million is for technology, kitchen equipment, building enhancements, and remodels/relocations. The company kicked things off by switching its classic tagline “Have it Your Way” to “You Rule.” The change was featured in commercials that put a hip-hop spin on the classic “Have it Your Way” jingle from the 1970s. Early into the journey, sales improved, but some operators succumbed to COVID pressures. Franchisees TOMS King and Meridian Restaurants Unlimited declared bankruptcy, and EYM King shut down 26 restaurants. This is all happening under a series of leadership changes. In November 2022, Burger King revealed that former Domino’s CEO Patrick Doyle would become the new executive chairman of Restaurant Brands International, the parent of Burger King, Popeyes, Tim Hortons, and Firehouse Subs. As part of the move, Doyle agreed to buy $30 million in shares and hold the investment for five years. Then, in February, RBI announced that CEO Jose Cil— who had been at the helm since 2019—stepped down and was replaced by COO Josh Kobza. The consensus

of combined lost operating hours equated to the entire U.S. system being closed for six days. The situation improved throughout the year, but struggles remained. To end 2022, delivery same-store sales dropped 6.6 percent year-over-year. Also, domestic comps decreased 0.8 percent last year, which was Domino’s first negative result on an annual basis since 2008. Because of delivery woes, the brand updated its two-to-three-year outlook from 6–10 percent global retail sales growth to 4–8 percent and global net unit growth from 6–8 percent to 5–7 percent. Domino’s entered 2023 with an action plan, including its first “Summer of Service” training program—one of the largest system training efforts in Domino’s history. The expectation is that best practices are shared and franchisees create a specific strategy to impact their restaurants. Ideas will vary depending on market and operator, but overall, Domino’s wants its system to focus on innovation. And by that, CEO Russell Weiner means menu (Loaded Tots), delivery (electric vehicles), and ordering (enhanced loyalty program and online ordering system and Apple CarPlay). As for the possibility of third-party delivery, Weiner hasn’t confirmed whether that will happen in the U.S. He said in late April that he wants to ensure “we’re our best Domino’s” before anything happens.

DOMINO’S CEO RUSSELL WEINER

RBI CHAIRMAN PATRICK DOYLE, CEO JOSH KOBZA

STORE: GREG RIEGLER, BURGER KING/RBI

10 Chipotle

Chipotle’s identity as a digital brand gained significant traction during COVID. In 2022, the channel earned more than $3 billion in revenue and mixed 37.4 percent in Q4 and 39.3 percent in Q1. Last year, loyalty membership lifted 20 percent year-over-year to 31.6 million. The brand is supporting its digital push with Hyphen, a platform that automates the digital makeline process, and Chippy, a robotic arm that fries chips. Additionally, earlier this year Chipotle rolled out virtual brand Farmesa in partnership with Kitchen United. The menu, featuring bowls, was designed by James Beard Award-winning chef Nate Appleman, who is also serving as director of culinary innovation for Farmesa and led menu ideas for Chipotle in the mid-to-late 2000s. On a bigger level, the fast casual is dedicated to growing Chipotlanes, which feature a drive-thru pickup window for mobile orders. In 2022, Chipotle opened 236 restaurants, and 202 of those were Chipotlanes—about 85 percent. The brand opened its 500th Chipotlane during Q4. It’s no coincidence that as the proportion of Chipotlanes in the system increases, so does efficiency. Since 2018, when the prototype was launched, restaurant productivity has improved by roughly 1,000 basis points. New stores produce on average around 85 percent of what the existing comp base is doing. Three to four years ago, that figure was in the high 70 percent range. Chipotle hopes to grow 8-10 percent per year for the foreseeable future, with at least 80 percent being

11 Panera Bread

Panera spent 2022 diving further into customer convenience. In June, the sandwich chain announced the opening of its first digital-only restaurant in Chicago. The 2,500-square-foot prototype—meant for densely populated urban centers—features a smaller front of house and pickup shelves for to-go customers and third-party delivery drivers. A few months later, Panera revealed that it was testing drive-thru AI voice ordering at two restaurants in the Rochester, New York, market. The fast casual partnered with OpenCity’s proprietary AI assistant, named “Tori,” which takes customers’ orders while employees are on standby to troubleshoot if necessary. Panera also recognized

Chipotlanes. Chipotle expects between 255–285 new restaurants this year.

2022 U.S. SYSTEMWIDE SALES: $ 8,600 MM

CHIPOTLE’S NEW FARMESA BRAND OFFERS A HOST OF BETTER-FOR-YOU DISHES.

PANERA CEO JOSÉ ALBERTO DUEÑAS

that convenience isn’t restricted to off-premises customers. Last year the chain implemented Contactless Dine-In, which allows guests to find a table inside the restaurant and order using the app—bypassing lines and kiosks. Then in 2023, Panera released that it was piloting Amazon One inside two stores in St. Louis. The innovation uses computer vision technology to create a unique palm print for each user, which is matched with a credit card and customer account.

Panera wants to use it to create a faster and more personalized experience for rewards members. The fast casual said it planned to expand the technology to up to 20 additional restaurants across St. Louis and Seattle. It was believed that Panera would continue these initiatives as a public company in partnership with Danny Meyer’s special purpose acquisition company, USHG Acquisition Corp. However, the deal was called off last summer because of “deteriorating capital market conditions.” The IPO strategy gained steam once again in May when Panera reconfirmed its plans and announced former Einstein Bros. Bagels leader José Alberto Dueñas as its new CEO.

Pizza Hut

the Dragontail AI platform, which automates kitchen flow and driver dispatch processes. It expanded the tool to more than 2,500 restaurants across nearly 30 countries last year.

Pizza Hut opened 1,584 gross new restaurants in 73 countries in 2022, the vast majority of which were in international markets. Stateside, the company netted 13 new restaurants last year, pushing its domestic footprint to 6,561 total units, including 21 company-owned stores and 6,540 franchised stores. U.S. system sales were $5.5 billion in 2022, with AUVs increasing from $1.022 million to $1.033 million.

Pizza Hut is embracing technology on both sides of the counter. The company adopted third-party delivery this past year, integrating white-label delivery into its point-of-sale system and expanding access to the brand via aggregator’s online marketplaces. After entering into its first partnership with delivery providers in early 2022, it launched multiple marketing campaigns on Uber Eats and DoorDash in Q4. As a result, aggregator transactions were up 30 percent heading into 2023.

Pizza Hut President David Graves told QSR that aggregators are bringing incremental customers into the business and allowing team members to process delivery orders with new levels of ease.

The pizza chain also is ramping up utilization of

13 Sonic Drive-In

$ 5,499 MM

The classic drive-up heads into 2024 with new leadership. Jim Taylor, who worked at sister brand Arby’s for nearly nine years, stepped into Sonic’s brand president role in April following the resignation of longtime executive Claudia San Pedro, who temporarily stepped away to focus on family medical matters. San Pedro had served as president since January 2018, guiding Sonic to a 30-plus percent increase in AUV.

Taylor led robust growth of his own at Arby’s, where he started as head of product development before moving to CMO and eventually brand president. During his tenure, Arby’s reported nine consecutive years of positive comps and its highest AUV on record. He was also behind multiple award-winning brand activations, such as the Wagyu Burger, Diablo Dare, and the introduction of Arby’s venison.

Sonic retracted by six units this past year after growing by 26 the prior calendar. The brand’s setup fit the country’s “car picnic” movement to a tee, helping bump two-year same-store sales 25.8 percent. Of late, the brand marched forward its well-known cadence of outsized menu innovation, from merchandise for dogs to Pickle Juice slushes. Sonic also made its Hawai’i debut in February with an opening in Kahului, Maui.

2022 U.S. SYSTEMWIDE SALES: $ 5,500 MM

SALES:

SONIC PRESIDENT JIM TAYLOR

PIZZA HUT PRESIDENT DAVID GRAVES

Designed for MORE

MORE revenue. MORE upsell. MORE expertise.

Bring operational efficiencies to your restaurant and elevate your self-ordering experience with ACRELEC’s kiosk solutions, equipped with Glory Cash Payment Systems. The industry leader with over 80,000 installations worldwide, ACRELEC’s innovative technology and personalized AI-driven ordering optimizes your customer journey while increasing the average check by up to 30% more.

acrelec.com/kiosk | marketing.KIOSK@acrelec.com

Copyright 2021 Acrelec. All rights reserved.

14 Panda Express

Panda Express is a believer in the plant-based movement, according to the meals its tried in recent years. To start 2022, the fast casual introduced Mapo Tofu and String Beans with Beyond Beef. In September 2022, the brand announced the return of Beyond The Original Orange Chicken, which was first introduced in California and New York City in 2021. But Panda Express found room to roll out traditional menu innovation as well. In March, the chain revealed it was testing The Original Orange Chicken Sandwich and also launched Sizzling Shrimp. Additionally, the fast casual brought forth Spicy Wagyu Beef Dumplings, wok-tossed in an exclusive sauce made with Fly by Jing. Looking at the bigger picture, Panda Express has plans to welcome customers with a new store design honoring its American Chinese heritage. The company debuted “Panda Home” in Dripping Springs, Texas, in early May. The building features a moon gate-inspired entrance, neon signs, a mural celebrating Chinese culture, and a drive-thru that is lined with pictograms that tell an American Chinese story. There were also terrazzo tables symbolizing Chinese New Year confetti, traditional fretwork tiling, and red lanterns. The prototype was brought to life by ChangeUp, a retail brand agency.

15 KFC

KFC is targeting new audiences and category use occasions. The chicken chain has doubled down on value and product innovation with the introduction of boneless offerings, including a 2 for $5 chicken wrap deal and $5 chicken pot pies, both of which contributed to positive same-store sales in the first half of 2023.

More recently, it brought back the fan-favorite Double Down Chicken Sandwich and introduced a new Bacon and Cheese Chicken Sandwich. In May, KFC claimed to have sold more than 100 million chicken nuggets, after launching the boneless offering in March. Those launches followed the successful rollout of $5 Mac and Cheese Bowls and a $6 Drum and Thigh Combo last year, both of which helped the brand retain low-income and value-conscious consumers.

KFC’s U.S. system sales were $5.1 billion in fiscal 2022. The brand closed 35 stores and ended the year with a total of 3,9018 domestic stores, including 46 company-owned units and 3,872 franchised units. Globally, KFC expanded its footprint to over 27,000 restaurants by opening nearly 2,500 new units around the world. Development outside of the U.S. was widespread, with new units opening in over 100 markets,

PANDA EXPRESS BUILDS SALES BEHIND A DIVERSE MENU.

KFC MAKES IT A POINT TO DRIVE VALUE.

cash handling

Cash handling can be a huge time and labor commitment – something restaurant operators don’t have enough of. SafePoint is comprised of smart safe technology, change order management, armored transportation, and our customer reporting platform, and is designed to make your in-store cash handling quick and easy. Leave it to the pros!

download the Ultimate guide for restaurant Cash Handling

Everything you need to know to increase efficiency, mitigate risk, and reduce costs associated with in-store cash handling.

including significant openings in India, Thailand, Turkey, and China.

KFC completed its 1,100-unit exit from Russia this spring. Parent company Yum! Brands sold the stores to two local operators. The former franchisees took over all Russian KFC restaurants, operating systems, master franchise rights, and the trademark to Rostik’s, the name of a former Russia-based chicken chain.

16 Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen

$ 5,001 MM

Popeyes’ story continues to be around unit growth. In 2022, the chicken chain opened more than 200 North America stores, featuring the highest number of new franchisees and the highest percentage of freestanding single or double drive-thru locations in five years. Globally, the brand finished last year with nearly 4,100 units—about 2,700 more than it had when RBI acquired it in 2017. Much of the momentum is coming internationally. In 2022, Popeyes opened 180-plus units outside of North America, a nearly 7x increase above 2017. Also, in March, the master franchisee responsible for rapidly growing Tim Hortons in China announced that it would lead expansion for Popeyes as well. A total of $90 million is being used to accelerate investment. Meanwhile in the U.S., the restaurant is directing attention toward profitability. This past

spring Popeyes unveiled “Easy to Love,” a multi-year strategy to increase average four-wall profitability to $300,000 by the end of 2025. The plan starts with simplifying operations, especially in the kitchen. Other components include leaning into core menu items and innovation and building modern and convenient restaurants. There are already examples of the brand putting these tenets into action, like the digital-only restaurant in Miami with no registers and the introduction of Ghost Pepper Wings. As part of the “Easy to Love” strategy, the Popeyes team visited several international markets and learned best practices to bring back to the U.S. It’s a new emphasis by RBI and executive chairman Patrick Doyle to increase transparency around franchisee profitability.

17 Dairy Queen

$

4,579 MM

The legacy treat chain recently enjoyed a major marketing win. Dairy Queen began selling its famed Blizzard for 85 cents in honor of the product’s 1985 debut. Guests using the DQ mobile app were able to tap in from April 10–23. The result, according to Apptopia data, was staggering. Initially, there was a surge in downloads in late March when the promotion was announced. Two weeks later, thanks to push notifications and another round of publicity, Dairy Queen welcomed 3.3 million new installs in April. The only quick-serve in America to have more that month was McDonald’s (3.4 million). From February to March, DQ’s

POPEYES’ GHOST PEPPER WINGS WERE A BIG HIT.

app grew downloads 193 percent. Then, from March to April, it erupted 974 percent. It placed Dairy Queen in the top 10 for the first time in Apptopia’s records.

The brand made a big executive move in 2022, appointing Nicolas Boudet as chief operating officer, international. He arrived from Wingstop, where he served as SVP of global development and president of international. Previously, he clocked roles at Focus Brands and Yum!

Arby’s

Like Sonic, Arby’s has some new faces at the controls. When Taylor moved over, then-CMO Rita Patel ascended to brand president. Patel joined Inspire in August 2020 as the marketing chief of Buffalo Wild Wings. There, she established integrated ways of working between marketing, supply chain, and franchisees, the company said. She also spearheaded menu innovations such as the Wild Burger, Boneless Bar Pizza, Bird Dawgs, and Saucy Chicken. Ellen Rose, a 10-year company vet most recently serving as VP of strategy growth initiatives, was named CMO. About a week later, Inspire announced Stephanie Sentell as SVP of Arby’s company operations. Previously, she guided Inspire’s drive toward restaurant innovations and led the journey to transform the company’s approach to

efficient team member and guest experiences. Sentell joined Arby’s in 2012, leading field marketing, and eventually brand strategy and culinary innovation and restaurant excellence.

Arby’s expanded by net six stores domestically in 2022 and recently opened its first restaurant in Saudi Arabia’s capital city of Riyadh. Operator Shahia Foods Limited Company is the master franchisee for Dunkin’ in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain and operates more than 700 Dunkin’ locations across Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Germany. International growth will remain a key lever going forward—Arby’s now operates 180 locations across eight countries outside the U.S., with plans for further development in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Southeast Mexico.

19 Jack in the Box

Jack in the Box has hovered around the 2,220-unit threshold for nearly a decade, but CEO Darin Harris believes the brand has enough whitespace to surpass 6,000 stores in the U.S. His goal is to reach 4 percent annual unit growth by 2025.

Since launching its development program in mid2021, the burger chain has signed 76 agreements for a total of 335 restaurants. Highlights include bringing in the first new franchisee in over a decade and the addition of new markets, including Florida and Arkansas.

Profitability initiatives and a focus on maximizing store-level profitability are encouraging more franchisees to build and open new restaurants, Harris said during the company’s Q3 earnings call in May. AIenabled pricing tools are one area of focus, along with equipment updates, process improvements, and automated frying and drink-making technology.

A slimmer, 1,350-square-foot prototype designed that caters to off-premises orders also is generating interest from new and existing franchisees. Jack in

ARBY’S PRESIDENT RITA PATEL

DAIRY QUEEN COO NICOLAS BOUDET

An Opportunity to Spread Joy

Franchise with IHOP and bring a sense of joy to your community.

We have opportunities in select, prime markets and non-traditional venues for qualified restaurant operators and developers with varied incentives for development.*

• Widely recognized and loved brand in family dining where guests feel welcomed and can enjoy classic favorites and craveable menu innovations any time of day

• A powerhouse brand that is a part of Dine Brands Global, a publicly traded company and one of the largest restaurant groups in the U.S.

• A dynamic brand that aims to deliver on popularity, relevancy, adaptability, and support

• An established franchise system with a business model and flexible design—from conversions to freestanding, endcap, in-line and non-traditional—adaptable across varied venues

the Box’s drive-thru-only model launched in Oklahoma late last year. It has continued to outperform expectations by generating average weekly sales of around $43,000. Harris said 20 percent of those sales are coming through digital channels, and the new prototype costs approximately 20 percent less to build than legacy locations.

Jack in the Box is on track to reach positive unit growth in 2023 for the first time since 2019, with 25-30 new restaurants slated to open by the end of the year. In fiscal 2022 the company shuttered 33 stores. It ended the year with 2,181 units in the U.S.

20 Papa Johns

3,698 MM

as they did elsewhere. Additionally, Papa Johns jumped ahead on a few tech initiatives, like third-par ty delivery and AI at its call centers. The former, in particular, proved fortuitous as pizza brands of all sizes struggled to find drivers amid a labor shortage.

In more recent months, Papa Johns worked to strike a value balance, with options like Papa Pairings lowering the entry point, while also sticking to its innovation laurels. It’s a formula that’s paid dividends. Papa Johns opened 2023 with flat comps, but the results measured against an Omicron-saddled period where pizza sizzled when diners stayed home. It also lapped a Q1 2022 where Papa Johns set its highest sales volume in history. And that measured against a quarter that marked the top result since the company’s 1984 inception.

There’s a simple way to frame Papa Johns’ success in 2020, a year that proved as challenging to the pizza chain as any segment in the business: It was the only of the “Big 3” public brands to report positive same-store sales across the calendar. What drove that momentum is a playbook that dates back to the early days of CEO Rob Lynch’s arrival a few months before COVID. Lynch, a former Arby’s president, turned Papa Johns’ attention back to what helped it separate from the pack in the first place—premium menu innovation. That commitment insulated Papa Johns from some of 2022’s inflationary hurdles as consumers didn’t feel the sticker shock quite

To put it simply, Papa Johns continues to hold and elevate its record-setting shift. AUVs have bumped from $900,000 to $1.2 million since 2019. Lynch believes the brand could catapult higher if some of the sector’s cost structure challenges (namely commodity instability) level out. In all, it’s painting a future view where Papa Johns expects 2–4 percent top-line growth this year and an even riper growth chart. The brand is on track to achieve 270 to 310 net new units in 2023 and recently reaffirmed a long-term development target of 1,400 to 1,800 between 2022 and 2025. One area to circle is international: Papa Johns still boasts about half as many restaurants as its two largest competitors domestically, and roughly a third internationally. It exited Q1 with 2,349 international stores, up 19 from at the end of 2022.

2022 U.S. SYSTEMWIDE SALES: $

PAPA JOHNS CEO ROB LYNCH

21 Little Caesars

Staffing shortages, a difficult delivery environment, and macroeconomic headwinds made 2022 a challenging year for the quick-service pizza category. Little Caesars wasn’t immune from those pressures, but a streamlined business model and vertically integrated supply chain have helped it weather the storm.

The company has worked with third-party delivery aggregators since 2020, so it didn’t feel the pinch from the delivery driver shortages that plagued competitors like Pizza Hut and Domino’s last year. Still, the privately-held pizza chain ramped up investments in technology, emphasizing automation, digital menu boards, and other proprietary technology aimed at reducing friction for in-store employees. It also increased wages across the board and introduced more flexible scheduling for team members.

Labor efficiency and a strong value proposition are two key ingredients that could help the brand reach new heights. It recently planted flags in the U.K. and Portugal, expanding its global footprint to 27 countries. It also is growing in the core Latin America market, including Mexico, where it plans to open

around 100 stores this year.

The company is seeking multi-unit deals with both new and existing franchisees to energize its domestic system. Earlier this year it inked a 10-store agreement in the Bronx and Manhattan, kicking off a plan to open hundreds of new restaurants in New York City over the next few years. Chief development officer Jeremy Vitaro told QSR the company’s streamlined model and small store layout work well in urban areas, where delivery and digital options have had the biggest impact on bringing in new customers.

$ 3,340 MM

Whataburger

Whataburger continued its expansion throughout the country with the addition of 52 new stores last year. That represented a 9.6 percent increase from 2021, when it opened a total of 14 units. Heading into 2023, the burger chain’s footprint stood at 925 units, including 785 company-owned stores and 140 franchised stores. Sales jumped 23.8 percent to $3.34 billion in 2022 from $2.698 billion in 2021, with AUVs increasing 16.5 percent to $3.725 million.

WHATABURGER HAS SEEN HEALTHY GROWTH IN RECENT YEARS.

LITTLE CAESARS CHIEF DEVELOPMENT OFFICER JEREMY VITARO

23 Raising Cane’s

3,118 MM

The chicken finger brand has been on a tear. From 2019 to 2022, it added a net of 246 locations and saw AUVs soar from $3.6 million to $5.4 million. Total systemwide sales have climbed from $1.466 billion to $3.11 billion. This kind of eye-popping growth is nothing novel for Raising Cane’s. In early 2016, the brand wrapped up the year at $500 million in sales, 290 locations, and a shade over $2 million in AUVs. It then set a goal to triple in size over the next 60 months. The brand “stoutly” did so, as co-CEO AJ Kumaran told QSR earlier in the year. It finished 2021 at $1.711 billion. However, the COVID pause, and eventual eruption, allowed Raising Cane’s to rethink its future. Management came up with a guidepost called “Timeless Horizon.” Unlike past projections, which showed in five-year blocks, Raising Cane’s decided to think bigger, and broader. Kumaran now believes Raising Cane’s is on track to triple the current figure, which could take seven years or so. And when the brand does, he believes it will boast $8 million per store averages, or numbers on par with what Chick-fil-A reports at its drive-thrus these days.

And pulled back, Raising Cane’s would tout a footprint of 1,500 locations and $10 billion in systemwide

sales, making it (most likely) one of the top 10 chains in America. As it gets there, a people-first focus that has long defined the brand will continue to anchor its growth. Raising Cane’s has spent hundreds of millions on wage increases and other employee efforts in recent years, including a Restaurant Partner Program designed to turn GMs into millionaires. It’s even offering $10,000 toward closing costs for restaurant leaders who purchase their first-time home, among a host of other industry-leading benefits.

Lastly, Raising Cane’s will keep giving back as it scales, too. In the last 26 years, it’s donated some $100 million to communities. It plans to match that number, but in just six or seven years.

24 Culver’s

Culver’s is well on its way to becoming a $3 billion brand with a four-figure footprint. The burger chain’s U.S. sales surpassed $2.8 billion last year, up 13.7 percent from $2.489 billion in 2021, marking the latest in an ongoing streak of double-digit annual sales gains. AUVs grew nearly 6 percent year-over-year to $3.28 million from just over $3 million.

Highlights from 2022 include the return of the CurderBurger topped with cheese curds. Culver’s orig-

RAISING CANE’S CO-CEO AJ KUMARAN

SUCCESS WITH MULTI-UNIT FRANCHISE OPPORTUNITIES

BUILD NEW OR ACQUIRE EXISTING LOCATIONS

INVEST IN MODERN, FRESH FORWARD RESTAURANT DESIGNS

LEVERAGE MULTIPLE REVENUE STREAMS

ENGAGE WITH BRAND LEADERSHIP FOCUSED ON FRANCHISEE PROFITABILITY

12.5% AME -STORE SALES GROWTH %

inally teased the item a few years back on April Fool’s Day. Countless demands from guests and even a Change.org petition prompted the company to make the burger available for one day in 2021. The promotion saw 20 percent of restaurants systemwide break their single-day sales record. Following the record sales from the initial debut, it brought the fan-favorite item back for an extended time late last year.

Culver’s also embarked on a “Welcome to Delicious” marketing campaign headlined by a 17-city tour featuring its first food truck. Both the campaign and the buzzworthy CurderBurger LTO were spearheaded by former marketing VP Julie Fussner, who earlier this year became the first person to hold the CMO title in Culver’s 38-year history. She joined the executive team alongside chief operating officer Jim Esposito, who came on board last summer.

The addition of a new COO and first-ever CMO comes as Culver’s steadily increases the pace of new store openings. It netted 56 new restaurants in 2022 after adding 55 units in 2021. It ended the year with 892 total stores, including six company-operated locations and 886 franchised locations.

25 Jersey Mike’s

$ 2,680 MM

In 2021, Jersey Mike’s CEO Peter Cancro told QSR the brand was closing on a growth cadence of 300 units per year, with 3,000 in sight. The 1975-founded sandwich chain was just about there in 2022, expanding by a net of 297 stores. Jersey Mike’s trailed only Starbucks and Crumbl Cookies in total net growth last year, which is hardly a stunner. It ballooned by 246 restaurants the previous year. The three leading up to that: 189, 173, and 150, respectively. So it’s a pace that’s only gaining. Jersey Mike’s closed 2022 with 2,397 restaurants and AUVs above $1.2 million. If you go back to 2019, stores averaged $824,000.

No matter how big Jersey Mike’s gets, philanthropy will always key into its business—a culture that’s as old as Cancro’s tenure. He turned 18 a few months after acquiring Mike’s Subs (its original name) and hosted a local Special Olympics event for kids from a neighboring town. That came full circle in 2022 when the

CULVER’S CMO JULIE FUSSNER, COO JIM ESPOSITO

Staff are Returning, and Guests are Noticing

Consumers continued to let quick-service brands know what’s important to them in 2022. Based on nearly nine million guest reviews, the big stories are positive gains for staffing, while price/value continued to take a hit, as to be expected. In addition, we see that while there are some gains in guest opinions, trends in overall guest satisfaction were not evenly spread across the segment. Leaders held strong, but “Straddlers” and “Chasers” encountered declines.

STAFFING TURNAROUND

Guest recognition for staff demeanor and staff dedication had taken significant hits, with Theme Performance Scores (tps) dropping throughout 2021. Dedication dropped below a TPS of 1.0, indicating complaints outnumbered praise. This contributed to the overall decline in guest satisfaction for the category in 2021, as measured by

/ BY ADAM LEFF

ratings on social sites. In 2022, with significant focus on hiring and training, guests have noticed improvements and this trend has begun to turn around. Staff dedication and staff demeanor TPS scores gained 67 and 12 percent, respectively, from the end of 2021 (see chart). This is significant progress, but still below previous years’ levels.

As seen in the accompanying table, Shake Shack is one brand that has leveraged technology to allow front-of-house staff to focus more on the guest. Its staff scores have improved, while its food score has remained relatively unchanged, yet impressive. So, Shake Shack’s relative staff score improvement has helped the brand move up five positions in relative guest ratings within the top group of “Leaders.” It is now challenging Five Guys, while also improving its loyalty and referral score along the way.

El Pollo Loco is another brand with similarly impressive upward movement, jumping from 36 in the “Chasers” category last year to 26 in “Straddlers” this year, touting valuable improvements in dedication and loyalty and referral.

GUEST SATISFACTION LEADERS HOLD ON

The barrier to enter the “Leaders” group remained similar to last year

For the second year, we break down consumer sentiment among the QSR 50 chains.

THEME PERFORMANCE SCORES * ( TPS )

3.83+ STARS (OUT OF FIVE STARS)

at 3.83 stars out of five, versus 3.89 stars in 2021. Note that the annual guest satisfaction trend for most of these brands was well above that level. “Straddlers” and “Chasers,” on the other hand, both saw meaningful declines in guest satisfaction. The hurdle to achieve “Straddler” membership dropped from 3.61 stars out of five to 3.36 stars, and the ceiling on “Chasers” dropped from 3.6 to 3.44 stars.

Guest satisfaction for food among the “Leaders,” as measured by TPS scores, continues to significantly outpace the “Straddlers” and “Chasers.” This is followed by staff dedication, which leads to significantly higher scores for Leaders for loyalty and referral. Looking at the members of each of the three groups is not surprising and appears from their scores that they more closely compete within their same group of “Leaders,” “Straddlers,” or “Chasers” than across groups.

GUEST OPINIONS ON INFLATION IS REFLECTED IN PRICE/ VALUE SCORES

Complaints about price/value increased relative to praise throughout 2021 and into 2022, with the TPS score for these quick-service brands dropping to .98 since the end of 2021. Of the five key themes mentioned, price/value has the smallest gap between “Leaders” and “Chasers,” illustrating how it is the most difficult theme to differentiate across groups. We see that inflation pressures have pushed the average price/value TPS scores for “Straddlers” and “Chasers” below 1.0, meaning they are receiving more price/value complaints than praise. On average, Leaders were able to remain above 1.0, still boasting more praise.

tps) the ratio of positive mentions for a theme relative to the percentage of negative mentions for the same theme in all reviews collected for a brand. A TPS score of 1.0 would indicates that guests mention that theme at the same rate positively and negatively. The higher the score, the better, as it indicates a higher ratio of positive mentions to negative mentions.

Pizza brands continued to have very high price/value scores above 2.0, indicating they receive twice as much praise than complaints, with standouts including Little Caesars, Marco’s Pizza and Papa Murphy’s. In the burger category, In-N-Out Burger scored the highest at 5.0 and was the clear standout in the price/value scores. Checkers/Rally’s and Del Taco also had superior price/value scores above 2.0 in 2021, which, despite remaining high in 2022, dropped below the 2.0 threshold.

What does all this mean for the remainder of 2023? Can “Straddlers” and “Chasers” solve the staffing challenge as “Leaders” continue to forge ahead? We expect technology will continue to be a key component to answering this question, especially as it allows staff to deliver more on dedication and demeanor. Also, if inflation slows, it will likely enable greater competition and improvement from guest perspectives in food and price/value.

SPECIAL NOTE: All data and analytics presented in this article are based upon Merchant Centric’s findings from the brand’s featured in the QSR 50 and, like all data sets, are inherently limited in scope and nature. Data presented herein may not be comprehensive and may exclude certain brands or brand locations. Data is provided without guarantee as to its accuracy, completeness, or currency, and Merchant Centric expressly disclaims any and all liability resulting from reliance on information or opinions included herein. Brands selected are for illustrative purposes only and data should not be relied on as reflective of or attributable to all brands within a segment or cuisine. Please note that certain brands included herein are clients of Merchant Centric.

Adam Leff is the co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer for Merchant Centric, a leading reputation management solution that caters to the restaurant, veterinary, and automotive industries.

national event rolled into Orlando, Florida, and Cancro got on the mic to introduce the Games on national TV. The brand raised a record-breaking $21 million to help more than 200 local charities during its 13th Annual Month of Giving in March. As always, Jersey Mike’s Day of Giving featured every unit donating 100 percent of sales. One reason it’s surged so much and will continue to do so—there are now far more locations than 13 years ago.

26 Wingstop

Volatile wing prices proved to be a significant headwind for Wingstop during COVID, but once the fast casual pushed past that obstacle, it was completely in the driver’s seat. The chain noted to investors that while many competitors had to raise prices due to

record inflation in 2022, it felt significant deflation. Last year, spot market prices for bone-in wings lowered 44 percent, and in Q4, the brand’s cost of sales decreased 900 basis points year-over-year. Because of these lowered expenses, same-store sales increased 8.7 percent in the fourth quarter, fueled solely by transaction growth. That happened in the first quarter too, except comps rose even higher at 20.1 percent. And Wingstop has a multi-layered plan to ensure these

JERSEY MIKE’S CEO PETER CANCRO

WINGSTOP IS BENEFITING FROM LOWER WING PRICES.

financial figures continue, like building awareness through a revamped national ad fund, leaning into its chicken sandwich that’s mixing in the mid-single digits, launching more menu innovation, such as the Hot Honey Rub, and reaching additional customers through new platforms, with Uber Eats being the latest example. In turn, this energy is driving franchise interest. Last year Wingstop opened more than 200 net new stores globally for the first time ever. In 2023, the goal is to reach 240 net new openings. The coming years appear just as fruitful since Wingstop is sitting on a pipeline of nearly 1,200 restaurants, also a record. With an initial investment of $450,000 and AUVs closing in on $1.7 million, operators experience a payback of less than two years. The long-term goal is to surpass 7,000 units worldwide, including 4,000 in the U.S.

Zaxby’s

Zaxby’s made waves last fall when it introduced a new loyalty program called Zax Rewardz. The new app allows members to earn rewards online or in person by converting dollars into “Rewardz” points. Every $1 leads to 10 points, which can be put toward free menu items and discounted offers. In October, when the fast casual made the announcement, the chain’s app downloads increased 204 percent month-over-month, according to Apptopia, a leader in real-time app data. In November, the downloads increased 196 percent. Zaxby’s incentivized customers to go digital by offering a free Big Zak Snack Meal with every download or update of the existing app. The rewards program launch was directed by Patrick Schwing, who joined Zaxby’s as CMO in 2022. He entered the company after working for Inspire Brands, where he served as Arby’s CMO and president of the

Franchise Association for more than two years. Zaxby’s consumer-facing marketing efforts are a big part of the chain’s overall growth story. In 2014, the brand had 662 locations, earned $1.24 billion in U.S. systemwide sales, and reached AUVs of $2.03 million. In 2022, each of those increased to 922 restaurants, $2.38 billion, and $2.59 million. Fueling that growth has been leadership. In addition to Schwing coming on board last year, Zaxby’s hired former Dairy Queen and Domino’s executive Mike Mettler as chief development officer, brought in Papa Johns veteran Sharlene Smith as COO, moved interim chief digital and technology officer Mike Nettles into the position long-term, and appointed Michelle Morgan as the company’s first chief people officer.

28 Jimmy John’s

$ 2,364 MM

Inspire’s sandwich chain kicked off 2022 by introducing its first drive-thru-only restaurant in February. The Bartow, Florida, store included dual lanes and windows, with a side dedicated to mobile orders. This followed the rollout of a fresh virtual identity the prior year, powered by design agency ChangeUp. Jimmy John’s retracted by 26 stores across 2022 but did see its AUVs inch upward from $866,000 to $900,000. On the menu side, the brand permanently added a Fudge Chocolate Brownie to the menu at $1.99 in May.

29 Five Guys

MM

The burger brand expanded its footprint by 19 stores last year as it reached $2.2 billion in systemwide sales. That number was $2.092 billion at the end of 2021 and $1.71 billion after COVID-riddled 2020. Going back to pre-pandemic days, Five Guys boasted 1,368 locations, sales of $1.6 billion, and AUVs of $1.359 million. The brand is up 41 units net since and has lifted its perstore sales nearly $400,000 to $1.7 million.

EXECUTIVES (FROM TOP), PATRICK SCHWING, MIKE METTLER, MIKE NETTLES, SHARLENE SMITH, MICHELLE MORGAN

30 Hardee’s

Hardee’s parent company CKE Restaurants made a change at the top in March when it named former Papa Johns executive Max Wetzel its new CEO. Wetzel was COO at the pizza brand in May 2022, a role he ascended to from chief commercial and marketing officer. Wetzel succeeded Ned Lyerly, who spent more than 30 years with the company, and was CEO since April 2019 when he replaced Jason Marker.

Hardee’s, as well as Carl’s Jr., is in the heart of broad transformation. Last year, CKE revealed a $500 million reimaging program that called for physical and digital transformations in the next four to six years. Some examples include new signage, brand statement elements, freshly installed interior and exterior digital menu boards, and upgraded lighting, bathrooms, and subway tiling. The company also used 2022 to launch its first loyalty program, which is part of a larger technology overhaul at Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr.

Going bolder, CKE connected with three partners— Presto, OpenCity, and Valyant AI—to expand automated voice ordering throughout its drive-thru footprint. In early pilots, the company announced in May, it experienced faster service, improved order accuracy, upselling, cost savings, and better data collection.

CKE’s drive-thru efforts have been coming on. The brand was one of the better performers in this past year’s QSR magazine Drive-Thru Report. Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s both clocked in above 85 percent in order accuracy, according to Intouch Insight’s data. And they were No. 2 and No. 3 behind Chick-fil-A in the friendly metric at 82.8 and 76.4 percent, respectively.

31 Bojangles

$ 1,600 MM

The cult favorite is in expansion mode. This spring, it unveiled a “strategy to become a national powerhouse brand,” the company said. This included a streamlined menu, fresh building design, and a reworked staffing model—all aimed at simplifying operations and bumping guest experience. In response to growing demand, the chain unveiled a boneless chicken platform in new markets, which was created to reduce complexity in the kitchen and help crew members execute at a higher level. It features the new, hand-breaded Bo’s Chicken Biscuit for breakfast and Bo’s Chicken Sandwich and Bo’s Chicken Tenders for lunch and dinner, with no bone-in chicken. In markets, Bojangles also introduced new items such as premium salads, lemonade, brewed iced coffee, and milkshakes.

On the prototype side, Bojangles’ Genesis build is a modern, ergonomic design with new kitchen lay-

$ 2,020 MM

CKE RESTAURANTS CEO MAX WETZEL

outs and equipment that centers on prepping, cooking, and holding innovation. Additionally, there are digital menu boards, dual drive-thru lanes, and a “Biscuit Theater” to showcase the chain’s iconic preparation (37 percent of sales flow through the breakfast daypart at company venues). Alongside these changes, Bojangles restructured its restaurant teams to handle higher volumes and improve guest experience. This includes enhanced customer service training, outside order takers, and food runners for a fast drive-thru experience. It created a new, more elevated position in company-operated stores called an “Operating Partner,” who oversees the restaurant with an ownership mentality. Bojangles’ refreshed approach launched in six locations—Sanford, Florida; Memphis, Tennessee; Clarksville, Arkansas; Monroe, Louisiana; and Ruston, Louisiana; with plans to open in Ohio and Texas later this year.

Growth is coming on the heels of boosted sales. AUVs hit a record $2.1 million for full-sized franchised units at the end of 2022.

32 Carl’s Jr.

Much of Carl’s Jr.’s trajectory mirrors sister brand Hardee’s. The brand ended 2022 with AUVs of $1.463 million and essentially flat year-over-year unit growth.

33 Dutch Bros

$ 1,163 MM

Dutch Bros is one of the fastest-growing beverage chains in the U.S., opening a record 133 shops in 2022. There aren’t any signs of slowdown either. The brand ended last year with 671 locations systemwide, and in 2023, there are plans for at least 150 openings. If accomplished, that would put Dutch Bros well over 800 stores, which is the goal it set back in 2018 when TSG Consumer Partners decided to invest. The company expects to earn $1 billion in revenue on a trailing 12-month basis by late 2023 or early 2024 and to surpass 1,000 shops by 2025. The longer-term objective is to surpass 4,000 units nationwide within the next 10-15 years. Dutch Bros implements a “smiley face” growth strategy in which it focuses expansion along the mouth of the smile. That means from the Pacific Northwest to California, the Southwest, and Texas, up to the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic. In the near-term, 60 percent of development will be in California and Texas. Once the brand enters a market, it uses a fortressing strategy to build market share and reduce drive-thru wait times. All future growth is centered around company-owned operations. Starting in 2008, Dutch Bros only awarded franchises to existing operators, and 11 years later, it decided to stop franchising completely and recruit from an internal pipeline. The pivot has

DUTCH BROS EXPECTS TO PASS 4,000 STORES IN THE NEXT 10-15 YEARS.

DIGITAL READER BOARDS. DRIVE TRAFFIC. INCREASE SALES.

Increase your QSR’s drive-thru traffic and boost sales by promoting new menu items, menu specials, and rewards program perks. Display eye-catching, dynamic brand-approved messages that uphold your QSR’s brand standards.

Maintain message flexibility with our Ignite OPx content management software. Ignite OPx allows users to program messages months in advance or make last-minute changes and streamline your sign messaging for one location or many.

Our reputation is built on your digital reader board looking and performing great, not just for one day but for its lifetime.

VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT WATCHFIRESIGNS.COM OR CALL US AT 844-805-8880

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT HOW DIGITAL READER BOARDS CAN DRIVE TRAFFIC TO YOUR QSR LOCATION.

worked well as locations open since 2017 have 35 percent higher AUVs, and the classes of 2020 and 2021 both exceed $2 million in AUV.

34 Firehouse Subs

$ 1,154 MM

Firehouse Subs in 2022 finished its first full year under new owner Restaurant Brands International, which announced it was buying the chain in 2021. Last year, the fast casual had an AUV of almost $925,000 on a trailing 12-month basis, good for a 20 percent increase against 2020. U.S. comps lifted slightly at 1.1 percent, rolling over 21 percent growth in 2021. The company spent the year transitioning from an area representative model to a more traditional corporate and franchiseeled development model, like sister chains Burger King, Popeyes, and Tim Hortons. Another big change came

earlier this year. Don Fox, CEO for 13 years, stepped down from his role. COO Mike Hancock was promoted to brand president, while Fox is remaining with the team as chairman. Under Fox’s leadership, the brand grew to more than 1,200 restaurants across 45 states, Puerto Rico, Canada, and non-traditional locations. It had about 400 stores when he took over as CEO.

35 In-N-Out

Whenever In-N-Out teases expansion, it’s headlinegrabbing. And that moment arrived in January when the burger chain said it would enter the Southeast for the first time. In-N-Out plans to invest $125.5 million to build a 100,000-square-foot corporate office in Franklin, Tennessee, with construction slated to begin late 2024 and end by 2026. It will house functions from ops management to HR and IT. In turn, In-N-Out projects to start opening locations in the Nashville market by 2026. At the time of the announcement, it had stores in California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Texas, Oregon, and Colorado. All corporate-owned. Nashville would mark In-N-Out’s first restaurants east of Texas.

Naturally, In-N-Out’s decision wasn’t just social media fodder. The brand, per location analytics platformer Placer.ai, led the industry in terms of average visits per store last year. It averaged nearly 700,000, or more than four times the industry mark. Another area In-N-Out shined last year was on the labor line. Sharon Zackfia, head of William Blair’s equity research consumer group, released her yearly longitudinal analysis of restaurant employee satisfaction last August. Zackfia pulled more than 350,000 Glassdoor reviews across 90-plus restaurant concepts, and In-N-Out shined. The chain topped the net promoter score section (the percentage of employees who would recommend their job to a friend) at 87 percent for the seventh straight year. It’s the only brand to maintain a top 10 ranking every calendar since 2016.

FIREHOUSE SUBS CHAIRMAN DON FOX, BRAND PRESIDENT MIKE HANCOCK

36 Tropical Smoothie Cafe

$ 1,075 MM

Tropical Smoothie Cafe has been on a decades-long upswing that isn’t showing any signs of slowing down. With more than 100 store openings and more than 250 executed franchise agreements, the fast-casual cafe concept was able to achieve its 11th consecutive year of positive same-store sales growth in 2022. It ended the year with 1,198 restaurants across the U.S. Systemwide sales increased 13.4 percent to $1.075 billion.

Franchisees opened 158 locations last year, marking the highest number of new cafe openings for the brand in a single year. Existing franchisees were a driving force behind the growth, accounting for more than three-quarters of the 2022 openings. Similarly, the brand signed 258 franchise agreements, many of which will expand it into key territories throughout the Midwest, Northwest, and South.

37 El Pollo Loco

Efforts to streamline back-of-house operations are helping El Pollo Loco reduce complexity and improve product quality. The operational improvements, along with successful LTO promotions and strong demand for value items, delivered a 4.7 percent increase in same-store sales. U.S. system sales at the fire-grilled chicken restaurant chain grew 6.8 percent last year to $1.039 billion.

On the heels of a successful 2022, El Pollo Loco is expanding its operational improvement initiatives to include bench building and training. Another area of focus is better managing labor and food costs by minimizing overtime and reducing food waste.

The company opened its first airport location inside the Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City. The store is equipped with an efficient design to handle increased foot traffic from on-the-go travelers. Another first came last spring when it opened its first double-drive-thru prototype. Located in Oklahoma City, the new model includes one standard drive-thru lane and one lane dedicated to digital orders.

Tropical Smoothie Cafe expects to continue benefiting from upgraded app technology and enhanced mobile ordering capabilities that further elevate the digital and dine-in experience. Last year it debuted a redesigned app that helped grow its loyalty program membership by 69 percent.

38 Crumbl Cookies

Crumbl Cookies finds itself on the QSR 50 for the first time after experiencing skyrocketing growth since its founding in 2017. For perspective, the chain had 65 locations at the end of 2019. It finished 2022 with 688 shops nationwide, making it the largest cookie concept in the U.S. in terms of footprint. The company has gained social media fame, particularly on TikTok, where it had 6.8 million followers as of late May. The chain rotates cookie flavors each week and builds anticipation by doing a special reveal each Sunday evening. In September 2022, Crumbl boosted its leadership team by naming former Chick-fil-A executive Graciela Chadwick as COO.

EL POLLO LOCO IS ATTRACTING OPERATORS WITH A MODERN DESIGN.

CRUMBL COO GRACIELA CHADWICK

39 QDOBA

$ 1,002 MM

QDOBA sees itself as a sleeping giant. The Mexican fast-casual restaurant chain’s footprint stood at 728 units heading into 2023, but chief development officer Jim Sullivan thinks that number could reach 2,000 in the not-so-distant future.

Around 40 percent of QDOBA locations are owned and operated by the company. Realizing that potential Sullivan sees will require growing with franchisees. To that end, the company has been working to roll out a range of prototypes that will allow partners to thrive in a wide range of traditional and non-traditional settings. It currently has around 80 restaurants in non-traditional environments, and it plans to “exponentially” grow in additional airports, military bases, stadiums, and college campuses in 2023.

The company opened 34 new restaurants last year. That included a mix of freestanding and in-line prototypes as well as non-traditional locations. It also signed agreements in Cleveland and Alabama and inked its largest franchise deal to date in the South Florida market.

One strategy QDOBA is using to break into new markets centers around ghost kitchens. The company is using its digital presence to grow awareness and gain traction in new territories before rolling out physical stores. It also is touting robust off-premises channels generated through its new mobile app to attract franchisees.

The Charts

QSR 5 0 RANKI N G

Flip open to see the ranking of America’s biggest limited-service chains

plus: The Contenders

QDOBA CHIEF DEVELOPMENT OFFICER JIM SULLIVAN

SERVE A SUSTAINABLE KNOCKOUT

WITH PHADE® STRAWS AND STIRRERS IN YOUR CORNER, YOU CAN’T LOSE!

For years, it’s been paper versus plastic, but with phade® straws and stirrers entering the ring, neither stands a chance. Made with PHA, a natural biopolymer, phade® maintains its competitors’ strongest qualities — the sustainability of paper and the sturdiness of plastic. What’s more, phade® carries certifications far superior to any paper or plastic products on the market, giving the fight against global waste a new champion and you a new way to win big with customers.

Take your business to the top of its class at phadeproducts.com

About the QSR 50/

The QSR 50 is an annual ranking of limited-service restaurant companies by U.S. systemwide sales. QSR magazine collected information directly from restaurant companies from March to May 2023, and also partnered with Circana, a leading adviser on the complexity of consumer behavior. Circana leveraged multiple data products and services from its research product portfolio, combined with experienced analyst estimates. Sales estimates represent each chain’s total U.S. system for the year ending December 2022, and were anchored on CREST, Circana’s flagship syndicated study of consumer purchases of restaurant prepared meals, snacks, and beverages. Unit counts source to the fall 2022 release of Circana’s ReCount service, a census of chains and independent restaurant locations regularly updated since 1988. Today, ReCount provides unit counts and trends for over 1.2 million foodservice operators. These primary sources, combined with other proprietary Circana data, public reporting, and analysis, generate this new, industry-standard restaurant ranking.

Segments

The Contenders

From legacy chains to rising upstarts, here’s a look at 50 brands ready to break through in the coming years. All information in this chart, except for where * is indicated, was submitted directly to QSR magazine. The list was ranked by total systemwide sales from the pool of submissions.

40 Shake Shack

One of the biggest points Shake Shack learned from the pandemic is that drive-thru matters, and its development schedule confirms as much. There are only a handful in the system, but these prototypes are earning more than $4 million and operating profit margin is just as strong, if not more, than company averages. The plan is to open 10-15 drive-thru restaurants in 2023. The biggest obstacle is that drive-thru stores are more expensive to build—somewhere between $2.4 million and $3 million. But Shake Shack has a plan to mitigate those costs. CEO Randy Garutti said that with the first 20 openings, the fast casual is “doing kind of a little bit of everything so that we can learn what we like best.” Building and construction teams are value engineering and determining whether steel or wood is used, how windows are positioned, how many drive-thru lanes to use, and how tech will be incorporated. When it comes to capacity, Shake Shack wants to keep a decently sized dining room. The brand has discovered that in-restaurant sales still mix 50 percent at drive-thru locations. Meaning, the fast casual values its stores as community-gathering places. A drive-thru-only design may come in the future, but not in the near-term. Meanwhile, Shake Shack is still heavily focusing on its typical core format, which can be built for around $2 million. There’s also smaller format stores under 3,000 square feet that can fit into urban environments, higher traffic suburban areas, airports, travel centers, and resorts.

41 Krispy Kreme

In recent years, Krispy Kreme has transformed operations to focus on a hub-and-spoke model in which dozens of production centers send fresh doughnuts daily to thousands of points of access, which can include retail shops, convenience and grocery stores, and more. The U.S. strategy is working quite well, with 6,615 points of access in Q1 equating to 13.5 percent growth in net revenue and an 18.9 percent increase in adjusted EBITDA. Going forward, one of the biggest plans is for Krispy Kreme to use quick-service restaurants as points of access. The first major test came with McDonald’s last fall. The company began delivering fresh doughnuts daily to nine Louisville-based McDonald’s. In February, it was announced the deal would expand to roughly 160 locations. As of May, Krispy Kreme CEO Michael Tattersfield said the test was going well and that other shops in the market have not seen any cannibalization. The doughnut chain added delivery trucks and doubled production in three hubs to support the McDonald’s venture. Also important to note, McDonald’s controls demand planning, meaning it determines how much product it wants each day as opposed to Krispy Kreme forecasting the number. The burger brand is part of Krispy Kreme’s overall goal to reach 75,000 global points of access, including 15,000 in the U.S. In addition to exploring restaurants, the brand is making a point to enter pharmacies and club stores, like Walgreens and Costco.

KRISPY KREME CEO MICHAEL TATTERSFIELD

SHAKE SHACK IS BETTING BIG ON DRIVE-THRU. KRISPY KREME EXTERIOR: ADOBE STOCK BRETT, KRISPY KREME (2), SHAKE SHACK (2) DRIVE-THRU WINDOW: STEPHANIE ROSS

EDUCATE YOURSELF

(Did we mention they’re free?)

42 Marco’s Pizza

Marco’s Pizza achieved several milestones last year. The company opened its 1,100th store and surpassed $1 billion in annual systemwide sales while growing comps and securing its position as one of the country’s top five pizza brands by sales.

Marco’s recently committed to investing millions of dollars in technology innovations over the next several years. Key areas of focus include migrating to a 100 percent cloud-based tech platform dubbed Marco’s Order Management System (moms), exploring voice-to-text ordering, continued adoption of th irdparty delivery, and utilizing AI and machine learning to predict the amount of time it will take to complete an order.

President and co-CEO Tony Libardi told QSR that MOMS will take center stage this year as the company prioritizes technologies that create a better frictionless customer experience with a focus on improving store-level profitability. The platform includes a host of features like conversational ordering, labor scheduling, inventory management, and real-time reporting dashboards.

“The system enables all kinds of applications both now and in the future, allowing us to keep up with rapid digital change,” Libardi said. “We can pivot and plug in additional technology features for customers as they become available, such as ordering from virtual assistants … using remote kiosks, delivering items using GPS,

and utilizing social media for instant delivery.”

Franchise expansion continues to surge with more than 200 stores in various stages of development and more than 350 agreements signed. Last year, Marco’s opened 65 new units in the U.S. Libardi said the company has identified more than 4,000 potential U.S. locations, with the development team working to identify cost-saving opportunities that will keep the up-front investment affordable for franchisees.

43 Del Taco

$

Following its $585 million purchase of Del Taco last spring, Jack in the Box set out to sell at least 250 company-owned Del Taco restaurants—roughly half of the system’s footprint—to new and existing franchisees. CEO Darin Harris said the company is seeing “robust interest” from outside operators as well as from existing Del Taco and Jack in the Box franchisees.

The company expects to refranchise 65-85 restaurants by the end of 2023, all of which will contain at least a 1:1 ratio of restaurants purchased to developed restaurants. As part of the initiative, Jack in the Box has announced new development agreements for both brands to enter Montana and Wyoming for the first time. The refranchising initiative also has resulted in an agreement to build 16 new stores in California.

Del Taco’s latest Fresh Flex prototype is providing another catalyst for growth. The model debuted in late 2021 and features future-focused additions like thirdparty pickup stations, digital menus, updated kitchen equipment, and a dedicated drive-thru lane for mobile

orders. The first drive-thru-only version of the new model opened in New Mexico in June.

Del Taco also is gearing up for a larger national rollout of AI voice-ordering technology, following a successful pilot program that launched in 2022 through a partnership with Presto. The system greets guests, accepts orders, and consistently upsells. More than 95 percent of orders are completed without human assistance and sent directly to the POS and KDS stations.

MARCO’S CO-CEO TONY LIBARDI

VITO oil

filter system

A game changer in the kitchent

Filtrating your frying oil you save up to 50% on your frying oil expenses and enjoy a range of incredible with VITO. Say goodbye to time consuming manual filtrations and constant supervision. Our innovative system filters your entire fryer in just 4.5 minutes, ensuring superior food and oil quality

.

Experience positive impacts on both your and kitchen by embracing the .

wallet game-changing

to our growing community of over 50k satisfied customers worldwide

44 McAlister’s

The pandemic did little to stop McAlister’s momentum. Between the end of 2019 and 2022, the fast casual gained a net of 56 restaurants. Among the Focus Brands’ portfolio, McAlister’s is believed to have the highest ceiling. Joe Guith, who previously served as the company’s restaurant category president, told QSR in April 2022 that for McAlister’s, it’s a matter of “how fast we can go.” At that point, the pipeline was enough to open once a week for the next five years. He added that the fast casual could go faster, but the chain didn’t want to rush to big metro areas like Los Angeles or New York City. Focus is instead concentrating on the Mid-Atlantic and Midwest for better operations and supply chain relationships. Two years ago, McAlister’s announced that it would reach $1 billion in systemwide sales by 2024. The brand is on its way toward that goal, with $956 million in 2022. In terms of innova-

and Montgomery, Alabama. Additionally, CEO Frances Allen was awarded the Silver Plate Award by the International Facility Management Association in the “Chain Limited Service” category. At the store level, Checkers worked through the launch of its drive-thru AI. The voice assistant has proven to be highly precise—clocking in at 98 percent accuracy rate overall and nearly 100 percent at some locations. The tech involves minimal cost for franchises that updated their overall timer and headset systems over the past five years. By mid-2022, the innovation had reached more than 170 company restaurants.

tion, piloted CLTV, or customer lifetime value. It’s about using artificial intelligence to send tailored offers to individuals as opposed to sending generic messages to several customers. If a consumer hasn’t been in the store within a week, Focus wants to send a unique note that will bring them in. Once the customer returns, the company wants to send messages that will keep them coming. McAlister’s saw an incremental $2.5 million from the original test.

45 Checkers & Rally’s

Checkers & Rally’s experienced momentum in the first half of 2022, with 32 signed franchise multi-unit development agreements comprising 53 restaurants. These deals involve new and existing groups that will expand in priority markets, like Phoenix, California, and the tri-state area, and new markets such as Knoxville, Tennessee; Providence, Rhode Island;

46 Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

Freddy’s is getting closer to its goal of reaching 800 units by 2026, thanks in large part to Capital Street Partners, which purchased the frozen custard and steakburger chain in mid-2021.

The company has zeroed in on accelerating franchise development under its new owner. In 2021, it added 32 new stores and signed 17 multi-unit deals to

add 102 locations. The momentum continued into 2022, when it opened 36 new restaurants, including its first stores in North and South Dakota, and added over 140 new restaurant commitments to its pipeline. It also signed a deal for its first stores in Canada with plans to expand across nine of the country’s provinces in the near future.

The 456-unit chain entered 2023 with plans to open at least 60 new stores in more than a dozen states by the end of the year. The growth will be split between new and existing franchises in both new and existing markets, with a mix of traditional and non-traditional formats. After opening its first drive-thru-only location two years ago, the company has been working on two new double drive-thru designs that would offer an even more seamless experience for on-the-go guests. Last year it opened its second casino location and its first airport location, and it’s eyeing opportunities to expand with more non-traditional formats at sports stadiums and college campuses.

Freddy’s notched a 6.5 percent increase in systemwide sales last year. That followed a stellar run in 2021, when sales surged 17.8 percent. AUVs clocked in at $1.84 million, roughly the same as 2021.

47 Church’s Chicken

Church’s Texas Chicken is entering its next phase of growth with a fresh slate of leaders. Former Focus Brands executive Joe Guith took over as CEO last summer. The move came one year after Church’s was acquired by High Bluff Capital Partners, the parent company of Quiznos and Taco Del Mar.

The chicken chain earned $765 million in U.S. systemwide sales in 2022, down slightly from $776 million in 2021. It shuttered a net of 91 restaurants and ended the year with 812 total units, around 80 percent of which are company-owned.

The company has shifted its sights toward global expansion via its international counterpart, Texas Chicken. It opened a record 75 new restaurants internationally in 2022. Guith will work with a slew of new leaders across the business to prioritize entering new markets. Another area of focus is boosting efficiency and improving the customer experience with smaller and more streamlined concepts, like Texas Chicken Express, which was introduced in Thailand last fall. The store features a reduced menu centered around brand staples and localized offerings.

The company last year promoted Claudia Lezcano to senior vice president of U.S. marketing, hired Bill Mitchell as vice president of company restaurant operations, added Frank Costello as vice president of U.S. franchise development, and brought on Ignacio Barbadillo as director of international new business development. It has continued to invest in expanding its leadership team, tapping Natalia Franco as CMO, Danton Nolan as CFO, and Roland Gonzalez as COO. Other recent additions include new VPs of growth and strategy, purchasing, and international business.

FREDDY’S HOPES TO OPEN AT LEAST 60 STORES IN 2023.

CHURCH’S CHICKEN CEO JOE GUITH

48 Papa Murphy’s

$ 753 MM

49 Moe’s

Lagging sales and elevated costs for franchisees weighed on Papa Murphy’s last year. Eric Lefebvre, CEO of parent company MTY Food Group, told analysts during the company’s year-end review that sales at existing locations declined in the low-single digits on the heels of softer demand for take-and-bake pizzas.

Combined with surging costs for labor and food, the waning sales sparked a slow but steady trickle of restaurant closures throughout the year. Franchisees shuttered 72 units in 2022. AUVs were $632,000, down 11 percent year-over-year but still up 14 percent on a two-year stack. U.S. systemwide sales fell 7 percent to $753 million in 2022 from $809 million in 2021.

Lefebvre said strong value propositions for quickservice pizza chains offer a partial explanation for the results.

“A lot of our competitors have gone into some really significant discounting… so it was a little bit harder for us to compete, as we don’t want to go too deep into the value offering,” he said during the company’s Q3 earnings call last fall.

By 2023, executives at MTY were optimistic that the worst of the troubles is in the past. Same-store sales and systemwide sales have trended upwards in the first half of the year, a sign that the 1,168-unit chain is regaining momentum following a soft landing in Q4. The company has launched new online ordering capabilities and a series of new menu items, including calzones, extra large New York-style pizzas, and a Meatball Marinara appetizer.

Moe’s was part of a record year for Focus Brands, which earned $3.9 billion in sales last year. Roughly 650 new franchise agreements were signed, more than 400 stores opened, and 4.1 million loyalty members joined across the seven chains. For Moe’s specifically, it began 2022 with new leadership. Tory Bartlett was named chief brand officer after previously serving in the same position for Schlotzsky’s. During his time at the sandwich chain, the industry veteran introduced two new prototypes and overhauled the menu to streamline operations and maximize kitchen efficiency. A few months later, Moe’s announced Mike Smith as the new vice president of operations. Before coming to the fast casual, he worked as COO of Taziki’s for two years. However, unit growth has been challenging in the past few years. From 2020-2022, Moe’s shuttered a net of 85 restaurants.

50 BaskinRobbins

U.S. system sales at Baskin-Robbins were $685 million last year, compared to $686 million in 2021. AUVs were $300,000, up 1.4 percent from $296,000. The classic ice cream chain closed a net of 54 restaurants in the U.S. and ended the year with 2,253 domestic units, all of which are franchised.

MOE’S BEGAN 2022 BY NAMING TORY BARTLETT CHIEF BRAND OFFICER.

PAPA MURPHY’S BELIEVES IT’S REGAINING MOMENTUM.

/BY KARA PHELPS

Automatic Success

Brands are investing in automation to adapt and thrive under current conditions.

Restaurant operators continue to cite rising labor and food costs among the biggest stumbling blocks they’re facing today. In the National Restaurant Association’s 2023 State of the Restaurant Industry report, 92 percent of operators cited higher food costs as a significant challenge, and 89 percent said higher labor costs were a top concern. Meanwhile, labor shortages are still a common problem as well—62 percent of operators reported being understaffed to meet their current customer demand.

“Operators are fighting to stay in control of rising food costs and labor shortages,” says Ryan Bowlds, senior director of product and marketing at Restaurant Technologies. “Keeping staff happy while optimizing operations and satisfying customers is a constant juggling act for most— if not all—foodservice providers.”

It’s a delicate balance; one that often requires daily heroic efforts to maintain. “It’s getting harder to find people to work the back of the house, and to retain them once they are hired. Operators also continue to deal with supply chain issues. It’s a challenge just to get product delivered to your store,” says Giovanni Brienza, senior vice president of Frontline International. “The result is that operators are spending more time managing what should be simple tasks—workforce, buying, inventory. Many are struggling to manage day-to-day.”

Even as more hospitality jobs become available, many postings are still going unfilled due to high churn rates. Rising labor costs can be solved—up to a point, of course—by increasing menu prices and passing the cost along to customers, but the labor shortfall continues. “Everyone has seen their favorite restaurant closed on certain days because the operator just

simply can’t find enough people to work,” says Ryan Catarozoli, key accounts sales manager at Hatco. “The other hardship about this is the revolving door of hiring, training, and losing staff. The amount of time and money involved in getting labor hired and up-to-speed can’t be forgotten in this conversation.”

Operators are investing in back-of-

house technology to fill persistent gaps, cut costs, and save time and labor. The fast-casual brand Sweetgreen, for example, recently announced it is testing an automated production line called Infinite Kitchen in two stores. The fully robotic production line is designed to prepare 100 percent of orders and increase speed of service. Jonathan Nemen, Sweetgreen’s

Restaurant Technologies Hatco

“Keeping staff happy while optimizing operations and satisfying customers is a constant juggling act.”

REDUCE RISKS, REDUCE PREMIUMS, SAVE MONEY.

LEARN MORE: WWW.RTI-INC.COM/INSURANCE-SAVINGS

Risk is part of any business, especially prevalent in the foodservice industry. Restaurant Technologies’ solutions have reduced risk for our customers by simplifying the most dangerous jobs in commercial kitchens for nearly 25 years. From automating cooking oil handling to keeping your hood and flue protected from hazardous grease buildup, we’ve got you covered. Meanwhile, your employees stay safe, your worker’s comp and fire risk is reduced, and your insurance carrier stays happy.

Save up to 15% on your insurance premiums with Restaurant Technologies solutions.

SmartChain Kitchen Equipment Solutions

ity to closely monitor their resources,” Brienza says. “Kitchen automation must be able to interact with operators via online connectivity and continuous notifications. They’re better able to visualize how much of a certain commodity they need, how to get the most out of it, and how to plan for future procurement. Often, they can even reorder supplies directly from the online system. When automation connectivity allows you to see exactly

CEO, has said he believes all Sweetgreen locations will eventually be automated.

In fact, many leaders in the restaurant industry now view automation as the key to streamlining kitchen operations. A March 2023 report from PYMNTS found that 90 percent of restaurant owners see automation as an important way to free up more time back-of-house.

“Smart kitchens—with new technologies such as advanced timers, sensors, and integrated reports coming from the actual equipment—help alleviate these issues by standardizing recipes and making cooking easy to do with less training,” says Matt Rigney, culinary business manager at Panasonic Food Service. “Using consistent recipes and food products and the proper equipment also allows you to control food waste by cooking on demand.”

As takeout and delivery orders surged over the last few years, staff have had to fulfill orders from an increasing number of channels. More automated systems in the kitchen can lead to simpler operations, which can also mean reduced stress for existing employees and a more positive environment, potentially contributing to increased staff retention. “Reducing the stress on staff and having equipment that is much more self-sufficient is better for the operation,” Catarozoli says.

An increasing level of automation creates more opportunities for staff to con-

tribute to revenue-generating activities and other tasks that require a human touch. “Automation of manual tasks is more important than ever to solve for the challenge of being understaffed and the higher cost of labor,” says Lisa Merryfield, vice president of the McDonald’s Business Unit at Restaurant Technologies. “Automation helps ensure that the restaurant staff spends their time providing guests with a great experience versus doing non-value-added work in the back of the house.”

Automated systems can also help reduce training costs as tasks grow less complicated and onboarding new team members happens faster. And—crucially— increased back-of-house automation technology allows operators to transform inventory management. Purchase orders can be fine-tuned so waste can be virtually eliminated.

“Automation gives operators the abil-

how much you’re using of particular ingredients and other kitchen resources, you’re better able to maintain high productivity while maintaining quality.”

Of course, the world of automation also extends to include artificial intelligence (AI), a recent tech trend that’s poised to transform restaurants. Brands like McDonald’s, Del Taco, and Panera Bread are testing AI in the ordering process. Multinational investment bank TD Cowen has estimated that voice AI can boost restaurant sales by 15 percent through suggestive selling and increase speed of service by up to 10 seconds. In the back of the house, many brands are piloting the use of AI to improve operational efficiency. Yum! Brands, for example, acquired Dragontail in 2021 and has since implemented its AI-based technology to automate kitchen flow and delivery processes in 1,000 Pizza Hut locations in the U.S. as well as many more globally.

“I believe AI will be the next new tech that will be joining the kitchen of the future, alongside robotics,” Rigney says. “Using AI and robotics will never replace the employees, but it will bring an increase in consistency.” As labor and supply chain challenges continue to linger, brands are betting that automated solutions are the way forward. SC

“Reducing the stress on staff and having equipment that is much more self-sufficient is better for the operation.”

Frontline International

Hatco

FRONTLINE INTERNATIONAL HATCO

Labor savings calls for automation—not a lack of choice. You CAN buy cooking oil in bulk without sacrifying quality and freshness. The award-winning EZ Oil™ Fresh Oil Dispensing System makes it possible, with no long-term contracts.

SmartChain Kitchen Equipment Solutions

The New Kitchen

equipment is increasing efficiency to new levels.

Restaurant kitchens are evolving. From robotics to ventless technology to oil management to “connected” setups, new solutions are taking over, and kitchen setups are adapting. Technology is providing a boost when it comes to completing repetitive tasks, streamlining operations, and reducing human error to help kitchen equipment become easier to use while delivering more advanced performance.

Operators are looking to invest in equipment that can be flexible and serve multiple purposes. “It’s not enough to sim-

ply perform the designed function anymore,” says Giovanni Brienza, senior vice president of Frontline International. “We have to help give operators the technological tools they need to manage inventory and process. Our equipment solutions must help them keep an eye on commodities moving through their kitchens and manage costs.”

“Co-bots,” or collaborative robots designed to operate alongside humans, are occasionally seen taking and delivering orders in dining rooms—and while they’re still most common in industrial and logistics settings, Ryan Catarozoli, key accounts sales manager at Hatco, predicts they’ll soon be seen more often in restaurant kitchens. Once issues of cost, serviceability, and safety can be resolved, co-bots offer unique new possibilities to augment

the labor force. “Co-bots that can do multiple tasks are much more appealing than a one-operation robot,” Catarozoli says.

It’s clear that it will soon be standard for restaurant kitchens to rely on advanced technology. “Back-of-house employees will monitor multiple automated stations which will reduce costs, boost efficiency, and lower the training demand for new employees,” says Ryan Bowlds, senior director of product and marketing at Restaurant Technologies.

“Equipment will be smart and will predict the need for maintenance before breakdowns take place.”

The “smart” part of this equation is key. It’s critical for equipment to be networkconnected. “The kitchen of the future— the very near future—will have multiple pieces of equipment communicating with robotics,” Brienza says. “Asia is well ahead of the U.S. and Europe in this regard. In Asia, the goal of the quick-service restaurant operator is to get customers in and out in three minutes. … The efficiency is startling. They’re using robotics, mobile payments, QR codes—and it’s all coming here. Soon.”

As automated kitchen equipment gains the ability to take on more than ever before, kitchen footprints are also shrinking. Consumer demands are shifting to underscore the importance of speed of service, and back-of-house setups must be carefully evaluated. As restaurant footprints begin to get smaller overall due to the prioritization of takeout and mobile ordering, the classic kitchen configuration is also growing leaner and becoming far more streamlined.

“Kitchens no longer take up a massive amount of real estate in your restaurant,” says Matt Rigney, culinary business manager at Panasonic Food Service. “Kitchens are getting smaller to make way for more pickup areas and even seating. Smaller square footage assists in capital costs being reduced.”

All these efforts are converging toward the true maximization of back-of-house efficiency. Equipment that can monitor and carry out multiple functions allows restaurants to take a wider view of their operations—and plan more effectively over the short term as well as the long term. SC

Advanced

Frontline International

Restaurant Technologies

Panasonic Food Service

“Equipment will be smart and will predict the need for maintenance before breakdowns take place.”

FRONTLINE INTERNATIONAL

RESTAURANT TECHNOLOGIES

PANASONIC FOOD SERVICE

Maximum warming power

Holding foods hot and avor-fresh

Hold everything from meats to vegetables to rolls and more in our innovative and high-performing Drawer Warmers. Built for tough kitchen duty, our Drawer Warmers keep a variety of foods hot and avor-fresh for serving. With portable and split drawer options providing maximum exibility and energy ef ciency, our warming solutions give you Hatco® dependability for cafeterias, catering, clubs & bars, concessions, convenience stores plus restaurants & cafés. Discover the innovation that fuels our products and drives your success.

Frontline International, Inc.

187 Ascot Parkway

Cuyahoga Falls, OH 44223

877-776-1100

frontlineii.com

Frontline International, Inc. designs, manufactures, and distributes superior commercial foodservice equipment for the storage, handling, and disposal of cooking oil. Customers own their equipment, negotiate their own oil rebates, and are free to choose their oil vendors. The company also offers turnkey oil management under its OilCare® bundled services program.

Hatco

635 South 28th St.

Milwaukee, WI 53215

800-558-0607

hatcocorp.com

Since 1950, Hatco has been a leader in creating innovative ideas for the foodservice industry: bold innovations in equipment that improves efficiency, reliability, and profits. Hatco is dedicated to exceptional customer service and quality engineered equipment offering maximum performance.

Panasonic

2 Riverfront Plaza

Newark, NJ 07102

na.panasonic.com/us/commercial-appliances

In today’s rapidly evolving commercial food landscape, agility is key. Panasonic’s line of versatile, powerful, compact appliances can adapt to any space and adjust to any menu, enabling you to meet today’s demands—and prepare for tomorrow’s. Discover how the Sonic Solution can transform your business and accelerate your growth.

Restaurant Technologies

2250 Pilot Knob Rd.

Mendota Heights, MN 55210

612-682-1053

rti-inc.com

Restaurant Technologies proudly serves more than 36,000 customers within the foodservice industry that includes restaurants, hotels/ resorts, grocery stores, casinos, golf clubs, and more. Restaurant Technologies has 41 depots with over 1,300 employees nationwide that help make commercial kitchens safer, smarter, and sustainable with automated cooking oil management and hood cleaning solutions.

special reports in the pages of QSR help busy restaurant operators understand current trends and sources in a variety of areas vital to your business.

Automation

A Robotic Pizza Party

BY SATYNE DONER

Amid an economic atmosphere experiencing soaring rent, labor, and food costs, technology is continuing to provide a lifeline for restaurant operators. One innovation has been pressing at the forefront of the pizza industry and is ready for the limelight—automation.

Brands such as PizzaForno and Pizza Jukebox are foregoing traditional methods of prepping and allowing robots to don a chef’s hat to fulfill growing consumer needs.

PizzaForno’s journey started in a small town north of Paris, where co-founder and president Les Tomlin spotted an 85-year-old woman getting a pizza out of a wall.

“We thought if we could get this technology to North America with a brand attached to it, we could resolve a whole bunch of risks,” Tomlin says. “Issues like labor, real estate costs, waste, and availability 24/7 could all be solved.”

Together with his partner Will Moyer and members of French businessperson Vincent Le Gouic’s culinary team, Tomlin secured North American rights to the technology and embarked on eight months of research, development, and branding.

The result? A kiosk complete with a 32-inch touchscreen, robotic arm, and a convection oven that bakes artisanal pizza in about three minutes. Currently, customers have eight types of pizza options, from classic pepperoni to flavors like honey and goat cheese.

The process begins with Sysco, which delivers ingredients and utensils to each unit, which can hold up to 70 pizzas. Then, once a customer places an order, the robotic arm retrieves a pizza from the refrigerated section and places it into the oven. If a customer prefers to bake their pizza at home, they can do so. The pizzas take about six minutes to bake in a conventional oven.

The first 50 PizzaForno locations began operating throughout Canada and eventually sprawled across the U.S. border to states like Michigan, Louisiana, and Georgia. With the U.S. division spearheaded by quick-service veteran Travis Edmondson, the company is propelling ahead with the goal of 20,000 automated kiosk locations by 2026.

Key markets of growth include Northern and Southern California, rural Texas, Miami, and more. Interestingly, Tomlin notes, “Originally, it was a bunch of entrepreneurs who gave us a shot, and

those were our first licensees. Now, we are getting much more seasoned [quick-service] operators, such as multi-unit operators from Sonic franchises, who really understand the power of this model.”

Additionally, PizzaForno’s expansion strategy is diverse: Tomlin points to both small-town rural segments and bustling college campuses.

“We can provide a hot food option in markets that are too small for the big players to operate in,” Tomlin explains. “We’re in a town called Bolivar, Texas, and it is one of our top-performing units right now because there’s literally no food within 15 miles of that location.”

On college campuses, PizzaForno provides a 24-hour solution to students’ late-night hunger. The brand works closely with local brand ambassadors, such as campus Greek life and sports teams. Tomlin explains that over 35 percent of university business is done between midnight and 3 a m

Moreover, customers have the option of pre-ordering pizza for pickup. For example, parents can purchase a meal through the PizzaForno app and send their starving college

is rising in the restaurant industry, particularly when it comes to pizza making.

PizzaForno is growing quickly across the U.S.

student a code to go pick it up at the nearest kiosk.

In the future, Tomlin is looking forward to exploring more markets such as amusement parks, partnering with third-party services, and growing PizzaForno’s presence through small towns, university campuses, and corporate chains.

Like PizzaForno, Pizza Jukebox—which opened in June inside a Walmart in Frisco, Texas—is fully automated. However, the process is more experiential. The idea is that once an order is placed, customers will watch in awe as a robotic arm lifts the pizza onto a platform where it is dressed with sauce, cheese, and toppings, all while spinning to ensure consistency. Then, the pizza is placed into an oven where it is baked for about three minutes.

Here is where it gets intriguing: customers will also be able to choose a song to listen to while the pizza is spinning, like a vinyl on a record player. That’s how the name “Pizza Jukebox” came to life.

When BRIX Holdings CEO Sherif Mityas sought to add a pizza concept to his portfolio, he wanted something unique. He wanted something to capture customers’ attention and create a compelling experience.

“I’m a big fan of utilizing technology to create and support great experiences,” Mityas says. “We wanted to marry something very innovative with great tasting pizza that’s got a little bit of theater attached to it.”

Pizza Jukebox adds to BRIX Holdings’ portfolio of brands, including Red Mango, Smoothie Factory, Souper Salad, RedBrick

Pizza, and Greenz. The Dallas-based company plans to integrate Pizza Jukebox into existing Red Mango locations.

“We are trying to balance something ‘guilty pleasure’ with something healthy,” Mityas explains. “The Red Mango menu allows us to provide the beverage and treat that would go along with pizza and gives guests the opportunity to enjoy both of our brands in one setting and occasion, separate but connected.”

A grand opening for Pizza Jukebox was held in mid- June. Initial markets will be in suburbs surrounding Dallas, but Mityas is confident the concept has potential to expand quickly. He points to a future partnership with Walmart as well as other standalone opportunities.

“Built-in traffic will be a great way to provide their associates and guests with food,” Mityas says. “The opportunity to expand is there, not just with Walmart. We believe this has the potential to have 100-200 units in the next three years.”

To alleviate pressure, restaurants have had to get creative, and these concepts are no exception. Tomlin says North America is simply catching up to the rest of the world in terms of automated machine technology.

“Once people try it, they will say ‘Wow, I cannot believe this quality of pizza is coming out of an automated pizzeria,’” Tomlin says.

Satyne Doner is a staff writer at QSR. She can be reached at sdoner@wthwmedia.com.

Navigating the Stars

Amid a rising tide of celebrity partnerships, restaurants are placing an emphasis on shared values and authentic connections.

BY SAM DANLEY

Robert Earl knows a thing or two about working with celebrities. As the former CEO of Hard Rock Cafe, he transformed the brand into a global phenomenon synonymous with celebrity culture. As the founder of Planet Hollywood, he secured partnerships with megastars like Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Now, the hospitality veteran is helping celebrities break into the restaurant industry with delivery-only brands. He created Virtual Dining Concepts in 2020 alongside his son, Robbie. Since then, they’ve connected commercial kitchens with virtual brands tied to Tyga, Mario Lopez, and YouTube star MrBeast, among others.

The advantages of teaming up with celebrities are straightforward. They come with a ready-made fan base, and there are marketing opportunities at every turn. Earl says building a successful brand entails more than simply attaching a name to a preexisting menu, though. The company handles the market research that goes into identifying potential food genres, and it works closely with its partners to scope out the right concept that will resonate with its fan base.

“It really depends on the person,” Earl says. “Sometimes it depends on their ethnicity. What’s the size of their following? Who is their fan base? What age group do they sit in? All of those factors are considerations.”

Collaboration is key. Celebrities play an active role in developing the menu and branding. As an example, Earl points to Mariah’s Cookies, a dessert concept launched in partnership with Mariah Carey. The company was constantly sending the singer different cookies to taste as it was working on the brand.

“She was always giving feedback and talking to us about everything she wanted,” Earl says. “We want to hear every single idea that a celebrity has. We want them to be involved throughout every phase of the process. If they’re not excited by it, they won’t be aggressively promoting it. There has to be honesty and integrity because it’s obvious to the consumer when that isn’t there.”

The same is true for more traditional celebrity partnerships. Some brands rely solely on a famous name to generate buzz, but in a fractured media landscape saturated with star-studded

endorsements, discerning consumers are placing a higher value on authenticity. The most successful partnerships often go beyond superficial associations, with restaurants prioritizing shared values and genuine connections to forge deeper and more impactful business relationships.

“To get the most value out of a partnership, it has to start with the person caring about the brand beyond the paycheck they’re making,” says Landon Eckles, co-founder and CEO of Clean Juice. “If they don’t, people are going to see right through that.”

Clean Juice’s biggest partnership came two years ago when it joined forces with Tim Tebow. The relationship started organically after the juice and smoothie chain opened a shop near Tebow’s home in Nocatee, Florida. He was an instant fan and requested a meeting with the founders to learn more about their mission.

“Our initial conversation wasn’t about business at all,” Eckles says. “We talked about who we are and what we believe in. Tim loved the fact that there’s a bible verse on the bottom of our juice bottle, and he loved that we’re certified organic and don’t add sugar.”

Brands often use celebrities to spread their messsage.

customers through events or support local nonprofits. Some collaborative efforts include a roasting class, “Foxtail Markets,” and “Wined Up Wednesday.”

Foxtail opened its 50 th location in Naples, Florida, in early May. As the chain continues to spread throughout Florida and Georgia, Tchekmeian says he’s looking for growth that’s “aggressive but responsible.”

He aims to make the top layer of premium quality coffee accessible on a macro scale, filling the gap between mom-andpops and fast-food chains. Methodical corporate growth helped the brand develop over the years. Foxtail opened more than 22 company-owned shops before franchising. The learning curve helped Tchekmeian strengthen the chain’s support system before expanding to outside operators. He says it would have been easy to “open the floodgates” to franchisees, but he chose to take his time.

“A big piece of our success is aligning ourselves with individuals who share the same vision and goals,” Tchekmeian explains. “It is not a race to a specific number for us. It

is more about making the best decisions for continuing to grow.”

While most Foxtail locations currently reside in Florida, Tchekmeian has slowly begun to develop in Newnan, Georgia, and surrounding areas.

“When it comes to responsible growth, we decided to open one in Georgia to make sure that the supply chain and efficiencies in the branch can travel up there and be successful,” Tchekmeian says.

Using knowledge gained from the Georgia expansion, plans are in the works to head westward. Two locations are in development in Nevada, which Tchekmeian hopes will become the key to “hopscotching” throughout North America.

Other target locations include the rest of Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas. Going forward, extensive growth will include a blend of corporate and franchised stores. An expected 30 new locations are slated to go under development by 2028.

a time of tightening wallets and heavy inflation. By switching to its own branded energy, Knudsen believes this strategy is not only cost-efficient but makes Ziggi’s stand out in a bolstering market.

This move has proven successful, with Knudsen saying there has been a 25 percent increase in units sold since the launch. Like Bad Ass Coffee, Ziggi’s has also noticed daypart growth, especially between the hours of 8 a m -4 p m

Statistics found that 51 percent of guests who bought three or more signature coffees also purchased three or more energy drinks. Between new customers and oldtime coffee enthusiasts, interest in the new beverages remains high.

“It has added folks in the morning, but we’re selling the same amount of energy all day long,” Knudsen says. “Our loyal customers are coming back and drinking energy, so that’s really exciting. It’s been great for business all around.”

The goal is to make Ziggi’s Energy 25 percent of all business.

“It’s so new, and customers love our approachable pricing,” says Knudsen. “I believe within the next couple years, this should be our number one item.”

For Ellianos, the goal is to create more promotions surrounding the new product. In July, the brand released a frozen version of Ellianos Edge, as well as new summer flavors.

In addition to current flavors, two more are in the works, and Pruitt is looking forward to making frozen drinks permanent.

Bad Ass Coffee, like Ziggi’s and Ellianos, is continuing to innovate in the energy drink category and entice customers both young and old to enjoy a handcrafted experience instead of a RTD grab-and-go.

All three brands have noticed the benefits of vitalizing menus, rounding out customer bases, and surprising guests with vivid flavors and colors.

But Ruszkowski has never been surprised by the sudden leap to energy drinks: “This is all so natural [to us]. The fact is, we have been in the energy business since we started 30 years ago. There is a natural connection to the launch of our energy products and people wanting to get charged.”

Satyne Doner is a staff writer at QSR. She can be reached at sdoner@ wthwmedia.com

Satyne Doner is a staff writer at QSR. She can be reached at sdoner@ wthwmedia.com

/ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 101

With a shared focus on clean living and commitment to Christian values, it didn’t take long for Tebow to sign on as Clean Juice’s official brand ambassador. He starred in the company’s first national TV spot, curated his own signature menu item, and featured prominently in online and instore marketing initiatives. His involvement evolved beyond a front-facing role last September when he opened his first Clean Juice franchise in Jacksonville.

Prior to teaming up with Tebow, the brand gained fame by linking up with UFC champion T.J. Dillashaw and former New York Giants wide receiver David Tyree. Both were fans of the brand before a partnership was on the table, and both went on to become franchisees.

Celebrity partnerships weren’t on the radar for Cousins Subs until CEO Christine Specht met former NFL star Donald Driver on a golf course in 2021. Driver was a longtime fan and had even pitched a partnership with the company 20 years ago. That idea became a reality late last year when the two sides inked a joint venture agreement. It was something Cousins Subs had never done before.

Specht says the match is a perfect fit, considering the brand is based in Wisconsin and Driver spent his entire football career with the Packers.

“We were careful about who we’d want to partner with,” she says. “He’s a beloved icon in Wisconsin, and there’s a lot of overlap between our values, his entrepreneurial spirit, and his philanthropy efforts.”

Cousins Subs is using Driver’s likeness in its branding and advertising. It launched a commercial spotlighting its delivery service and a “Double D” promotion through its loyalty program. It also worked with the former wide receiver and “Dancing with the Stars” winner to provide scholarships for high school students going into college.

Under the joint development agreement, Driver and Cousins share corporate ownership of six locations in Wisconsin’s Fox Valley area, including two stores in Green Bay.

“It’s much more than just getting his name and using his likeness,” Specht says. “He has a sincere desire to help our company grow.”

Sam Danley is the associate editor of QSR. He can be reached at sdanley@wthwmedia.com

Mary Jane Riva

CEO

PIZZA FACTORY

What was your first job?

I got my first job when I was 16 years old at Winchell’s Donut House in Lakewood, California.

What’s your favorite menu item at Pizza Factory? Pizza, of course! My favorite is our gluten-free pizza with olive oil, bacon, and tomatoes.

What’s your favorite cuisine aside from pizza? I like vegetarian dishes. My son is vegan, so he introduced me to a new world of culinary masterpieces.

Gracias Madre in West Hollywood has great vegan and vegetarian options.

Who inspires you as a leader? I am fortunate to have several people whose mentorship and friendship I value immensely and whose leadership style inspires me. I’ve found that I’ve taken bits and pieces of advice from many and blended it into my own leadership style over the years.

What’s the best piece of advice that other restaurant executives should hear? Go slow. Surround yourself with people you trust, respect, and are not just “yes people.” Seek out a mentor within the industry to bounce ideas off of. Collaboration is key!

What are some of your interests outside of work? I love to travel and spend quiet time with my family.

I’ve been in the food and restaurant industry since my first job when I was 16 years old, working at a donut shop, and purchased my first business, also a donut shop, when I was 20. Over time, working in the food industry became a passion that would guide my entire professional career. My journey with Pizza Factory is unique—I started out as a franchisee with the brand more than 30 years ago, and my role has evolved tremendously since then.

After being a multi-unit operator for many years, I developed a vision for the brand’s potential and a clear direction for its growth. In 2012, my husband Bob and I purchased Pizza Factory and entered a new path in my professional career—CEO and franchisee. I immediately took the bull by the horns and implemented a number of strategies that would launch us to new heights. From new marketing strategies to store designs to online initiatives, my goal was

to bring Pizza Factory into the new age of online ordering and modernize the brand while maintaining the iconic legacy we had established over the years.

The Pizza Factory team and franchisees were incredible throughout the transition. They remained fully committed to continuing our growth and shifting focus to new ideas that would propel us forward. Over the past decade, we have continued to grow alongside new and existing franchisees, fortifying our West Coast roots while expanding into new markets, and far surpassed my initial goals for the brand.

I’m proud of the growing Pizza Factory family and the way we have maintained our awesome industry-leading position over our 40-plus years in business. As a leader and still a franchisee, I’m lucky to have a perspective not many other CEOs have, which opens the door for many new growth avenues and innovations.

Where