The Bottom Line

Jonathan Maze The Bottom Line

Restaurant Business Executive Editor-in-Chief Jonathan Maze is a longtime industry journalist who writes about restaurant finance, mergers and acquisitions and the economy, with a particular focus on quick-service restaurants. He writes daily about the factors influencing the operating environment, including labor and food costs and various industry trends such as technology and delivery.

Jonathan has been widely quoted in media publications such as the New York Times and the Washington Post and has appeared on CNBC, Yahoo Finance and NPR. He writes a weekly finance-focused newsletter for Restaurant Business, The Bottom Line, and is the host of the weekly podcast “A Deeper Dive.”

Financing

Restaurant buyers have little interest in actual restaurants

The Bottom Line: There is a clear line in what restaurant chain buyers want right now. They want franchisors, not the restaurants themselves.

Financing

Most customers think restaurants are getting expensive

The Bottom Line: A pair of studies by Revenue Management Solutions provide a sobering look at the views of consumers on restaurant prices and their dining habits.

The Bottom Line: A host of investment companies have been snapping up restaurant companies at bargain prices. Getting them back into growth mode is the hard part.

The Bottom Line: Habit’s sales are falling and the chain just rebranded. Shake Shack is closing locations. BurgerFi is being sold on the discount rack. Here's what to make of it all.

The Bottom Line: Sales challenges and bankruptcy filings are the latest seismic repercussions for restaurant chains.

The Bottom Line: Some restaurant chains did extremely well, others less so. And even those that seemingly did well did not do well, at least if you ask Wall Street.

The Bottom Line: Sardar Biglari kicked off the latest proxy this week with another one against Cracker Barrel. But it isn’t the only one as shareholders grow antsy with underwhelming stock performances.

The Bottom Line: The marketing campaign was one of the most successful in restaurant industry history. But that promotion is stuck in consumers’ memory, making its offers more difficult.

The Bottom Line: In hiring Brian Niccol, the coffee shop giant opted to bring in an experienced hand, rather than focus purely on culture.

The Bottom Line: Restaurant companies need to get consumers back in the doors. That could require lower margins, even if investors don’t like it.

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