Recap of Friday, September 1, 2023: Guy Fieri Maui Charity Dinner, Expert Picks Best Pizza in America, Chipotle Recruiting Gen Z
Welcome to Restaurant News Roundup presented by LiveFlow, your go-to source for the latest updates and happenings in the restaurant industry.
In this special recap article we roundup stories on Subway gets acquired, Pickleball trend garners massive investment, Hooters sued over Discrimination, DoorDash AI voice ordering, Panda Express delivery fees, Plant-based edible “ribs”, and more breaking news.
Our mission is to bring you a rapid-fire of the 10 top stories covered in under 10 minutes. We strive to keep restaurant professionals informed of the current affairs of the industry.
To watch the Videocast of this installment of Restaurant News Roundup, click here
Guy Fieri To Host Celebrity Chef-Studded 15-Course Dinner Party In Sonoma To Help Maui by Kelly McCarthy - Good Morning America
The Maui Fundraiser is on Oct. 21, 2023, will feature over 20 award-winning chefs for a 15-course dining experience, with a cost of $2,500 per ticket. Lineup includes Leanne Wong, Stephanie Izard, Maneet Chauhan, Mark Murphy and many more.
Go to guyfierifoundation.org for more details. And let us know if there are more ways we can support our restaurant fam affected by the wildfires.
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Panda Express Will Pay 'Hundreds of Thousands' of Customers in Class Action Lawsuit Over This Common Sneaky Practice — See If You're Owed, Too by Amanda Bree - Entrepreneur
The lawsuit claims Panda Express falsely advertised low delivery fees before tacking on a 10% "service charge."
Customers who ordered delivery on the chain's website or app and paid the fee may be entitled to compensation. Panda Express will pay $1.4 million to settle, though it didn't admit to wrongdoing
Opinion: Service fees, delivery fees, any type of fees, you had better make damn sure they are clear and prominent or they are coming for you
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Subway has been sold for billions in one of the biggest fast food acquisitions ever by Doc Louallen - USA Today
Subway was owned by the families of founder Fred DeLuca and Peter Buck for nearly 60 years and toggles back and forth with McDonald's as having the most units of any chain in the world, usually around 37,000 locations.
They have now been acquired by private equity firm Roark Capital for reported $9.6 billion, who also has investments in Jimmy John’s, Arby's, Auntie Anne's, Buffalo Wild Wings, Carvel, Sonic and many others.
Spotlight: The largest family owned foodservice business can’t make it, I’m watching what all these merger & acquisitions mean for independent restaurants.
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Hooters restaurant sued for racial discrimination against employees by Kaleigh Werner - The Independent
A Hooters in Greensboro, North Carolina has been sued by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) for alleged racial discrimination against its employees.
At the start of the pandemic in March 2020, the establishment allegedly laid off around 43 employees for a period of time.
A total of 13 employees were recalled to the establishment and out of those, 12 of them were “white and/or had light skin tones, reflecting a marked shift in the racial composition of the restaurant’s Hooters Girls workforce.”
This is in direct violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
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Juicy Marbles creates plant-based ribs with edible ‘bones’ by Elizabeth Flood - Food Dive
Slovenian-based vegan meat company Juicy Marbles is launching a limited batch of plant-based ribs with edible bones.
Consumers are growing skeptical of plant-based meat alternative’s texture and taste, and inflationary pressures leading to more mindful grocery shopping patterns, alternative meat sales in U.S. retail locations have fallen by 19.8% year-over-year.
Debate: what’s your stance on plant-based “meats” vs animal meats impact on the environment and on healthy eating?
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Visa and Mastercard to Increase Swipe Fees by NACS
Merchants could end up paying an additional $502 million annually in fees, half of which will come from the increased network fees while the rest would originate from the interchange fees, also known as swipe fees.
Credit and debit card swipe fees have more than doubled over the past decade and are now at $160.7 billion a year. These fees cost the average American family more than $1,000 a year.
Opinion: Credit Card companies are blood sucking leeches!! That’s all
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Pickleball-themed Camp Pickle has unlocked $200M for growth by Lisa Jennings - Restaurant Business Online
The investors include mall-operator The Simon Property Group, and pickleball-friendly venture capital firms Good Alpha and Align Ventures as well as restaurant industry veterans:
Bill Allen, who co-founded Fleming’s steakhouse and is former CEO of Bloomin’ Brands; and Steve King, the former CEO of Dave & Buster’s. Both will serve on the board of Camp Pickle Growth Co., the parent of the Camp Pickle brand and sister concept Jaguar Bolera.
Question: Is “Eatertainment” back or is there still trepidation coming out of the pandemic?
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DoorDash’s voice ordering service could have AI take your carryout order by Emma Roth - The Verge
With the new service, restaurants can have AI field phone calls and take orders from customers, with live agents available “to support customers at any time.”
The AI-powered service will attempt to upsell them by offering “curated recommendations to complement their meal,” while also offering multiple language options. Meanwhile, callers who have ordered from the restaurant before will get the chance to “quickly reorder their favorite meal.”
Question: For my restaurant pros and for diners, how are you feeling about using AI voice ordering and assistance vs person to person phone customer service?
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Chipotle takes Gen Z behind the scenes to recruit new employees by Jessica Deyo - Marketing Dive
The chain is extending its documentary-style “Behind the Foil”.
The new commercials feature unfiltered testimonials from current Chipotle employees detailing what it’s like to work for the chain. The brand additionally plans to leverage social media, including through behind-the-scenes content meant to target Gen Z.
Spotlight: I’ve heard from thousands of Gen Z restaurant workers that they don’t trust restaurants in their hiring process. So I’m watching new approaches like this.
Check out Jensen’s article on flipping 75% interview no-shows to 88% of interviews completed, to hear about some other new approaches.
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The Best Pizza In America - Region By Region by The Washington Post
The United States is home to more than 80,000 small-chain and independent pizza restaurants.
These rankings come from experts, historians and pros around the country. For a more populist view, Washington Post data columnist Andrew Van Dam analyzed 7.5 million Yelp reviews of pizzerias to see which regional-style restaurants attract the most and highest ratings.
Debate: in your opinion which region’s pizza reigns supreme? New York, New Haven, Chicago, California, Detroit, St Louis or any others you stand by?
Article Link: Read More
Thanks for joining us for this week's recap from Restaurant News Roundup presented by LiveFlow.
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We hope these summaries keep you informed about the latest industry updates. Remember to follow along with our fast-paced show every week, where we deliver ten stories in under ten minutes. Fridays at 8am EST on Best Served Podcast Facebook and YouTube pages.
