Recap of Monday September 18, 2023: Drew Brees Smalls Sliders, Chick fil-A Robots, Michelin Stars Pros & Cons

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 Drew Brees Smalls Sliders, Chick fil-A Robots, Michelin Stars Pros & Cons, 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

Diddy’s Diageo Lawsuit Will Continue, Despite Liquor Brand’s Attempt to Dismiss by Tomas Meier - Rolling Stone 

Sean “Diddy” Combs claimed Diageo “proposed downplaying” his connection to Ciroc, “with the goal of rolling back its ‘image of being an African-American brand.’”

Per the suit, Combs told Diageo it needed to be “careful about ‘watermelon’ with a brand that it consistently characterized as an ‘urban African American brand.’”

Question: Need to hear from our beverage professionals, have you seen discriminatory practices from brands or distributors?

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Minnesota meatpacker to pay $300,000 to settle child-labor penalties by Ryan McCarthy - Meat + Poultry 

The Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry said that Tony Downs Food Company employed at least eight minors between the ages of 14 and 17 who were operating meat-processing equipment.

Tony Downs said it “does not, and did not, knowingly hire workers who are under 18 years of age in production areas,” adding that even before the investigation, it used the federal E-Verify program to hire employees. 

Debate: More child-labor laws and litigation around labor violations are becoming prevalent, how is this affecting your workplace? 

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Beef inflation pushes average burger price close to $16 by Joe Guszkowski - Restaurant Business Online

Beef prices fluctuated this summer peaking at $4.15 per pound in May, then cooled down in June to $3.78.

The price of beef has remained high even as other commodities, like pork and chicken, have slowed. Chains that sell a lot of beef such as Texas Roadhouse and Shake Shack have said they expect it to be an ongoing pressure point.

The main problem is a lack of supply. Widespread drought this summer has shrunk U.S. cattle herds to their lowest levels since 2015.

Question: What are you paying for ground beef right now? What is the current menu price of your burger?

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Chick-fil-A tests robot servers by Julie Littman - Restaurant Dive

The autonomous robots, from Bear Robotics, deliver food to tables with staff helping refill beverages, clean tables and provide hospitality to guests.

This Servi model, also known as Wall-E, can hold two trays, has a payload of 66 pounds and has an eight- to 12-hour battery life, the company claims. These bots have been used at Chili’s, Kura Sushi, Denny’s, California Pizza Kitchen.

Spotlight: The numbers I’ve been hearing from companies like United Robotics Group have the daily cost of a food runner robot like their Plato, is around $20 a day. Is that in your budget?

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SHŌ Group’s upscale NFT restaurant in San Francisco is officially never being built by Joanna Fantozzi - Restaurant-Hospitality 

After many delays, the NFT-backed restaurant/club that was supposed to offer memberships between $7,500-$300,000 is “not possible [to open] at this time.”

CEO Josh Sigel revealed that only 100 NFTs were sold during the initial private sale, and that the promised wider public sale of the initially promised 3,275 NFTs had not yet happened. 

SHŌ isn’t the only group struggling to grow interest in exclusive NFT clubs, which have “changed and withered.” Brooklyn Chop House abandoned a planned subterranean NFT lounge with memberships costing between $8,000-$100,000, as did New Jersey-based Dragonfly Brands, early on in the development process.

Debate: Are NFTs or blockchain technology going to become a part of the restaurant business or has the fad passed? 

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Inside The First Personalized Smoothie Concept Powered By 100% Generative AI by Matt Newberg - HNGRY

BetterBlends, is the first-ever 100% AI-powered food and beverage concept that seeks to create a personalized ordering experience. 

Customers start by scanning a QR code in-store or visiting the BetterBlends website, which lists a single menu item: “Your Smoothie, powered by AI” for $9.99. 

After a brief survey and selection of ingredients are automatically fed back into the AI to generate a title for the smoothie. Customers can then further customize by adding or removing ingredients or clicking a “Remix” button that regenerates an entirely new recommendation based on the same inputs.

But what’s perhaps most unique about BetterBlends is that it takes prior order data to generate an entirely new set of menu recommendations on subsequent visits.

Question: Custom flavor and ingredients profiles along with your personalized title…how are you feeling about that?

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Drew Brees and Smalls Sliders Game Plan for National Stardom by Sam Danley - QSR Magazine

The future Hall-of-Fame quarterback is heavily involved in the growth of the emerging fast casual, which is seeing some stores earn more than $100,000 per week. 

The brand serves a hyper-focused menu of cheeseburger sliders from a roughly 800-square-foot shipping container affectionately dubbed “the can.” Brees is gearing up to open his first franchised location later this year, but he’s been at the forefront since day one. The former NFL quarterback and future Hall of Famer is an initial investor and co-owner alongside Brandon Landry, the founder of Walk-On's Sports Bistreaux. 

Brees is also a franchisee, co-owner, or investor in a growing number of franchises, including Jimmy John’s, Dunkin’, and Everbowl, and a few others.

Debate: Celebrity-backed restaurants don’t have a great track record, is this more of the same or does Brees' more hands on approach lead to a successful concept? 

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Labor, business reach deal to raise fast-food wages and end California ballot fight by Taryn Luna - Los Angeles Times 

The deal between labor and fast-food companies, over Assembly Bill 257, also known as the Fast Food Accountability and Standards Recovery Act, will result in an increase in the minimum wage for fast-food workers to $20 an hour in April and form a new council of representatives for workers and companies to consider pay bumps in the future, according to sources involved in the negotiations.

Question: Will other states follow-suit with similar labor and fast-food companies to set standards for pay and workers rights? 

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Salad chain Sweetgreen accused of race, sex bias at NYC stores by Daniel Weissner - Reuters

Sweetgreen is being sued by a group of Black and female employees at seven of the salad chain's New York City locations who claim they faced racial and sexual harassment.

The 10 plaintiffs claim that Sweetgreen managers and the company's human resources department ignored complaints about the alleged conduct for years.

Opinion: Restaurants don’t seem to be evolving their workplace policies to get with the times. Seems we’re stuck in a problematic past of discrimination and harassment. So I am watching for the organizations that are developing new workplace policies and training. 

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Michelin’s Coveted Stars Can Come With Some Costs by Julia Moskin - The New York Times

In 2019, Visit California paid Michelin $600,000, to have top restaurants in Los Angeles and elsewhere in the state earn stars.

So while it is still true that individual restaurants can’t buy stars, tourism boards and hotel owners can buy the possibility.

In 2010, after the guides had been losing money for years, the parent company hired the consulting giant Accenture to assess their future. Soon, the Michelin Guide began to transform itself from an elite, arms-length critic of the restaurant industry to a financial partner.

Michelin began accepting money from sponsors like food brands, liquor distributors, hotel chains and tourism agencies. 

To get the guide, the Colorado Tourism Office agency agreed to contribute $100,000 a year for three years. Following suit were four tourism boards (Denver, Boulder, Aspen, Vail) and two resort companies (Snowmass and Beaver Creek); they told The New York Times that they each paid Michelin $70,000 to $100,000. Aurora and Colorado Springs, among others, declined to participate.

“I love all my children equally,” Mr. Wolfe said. “But if Colorado Springs wanted to get involved, they have to get involved.”

These decisions left top restaurateurs in the state like Caroline Glover of Annette, Josh Niernberg of Bin 707, Brother Luck of Four and Matt Vawter of Rootstalk out of consideration. 

Opinion: Hot Take - over the last twenty years, the Michelin Guide has done more harm than good. That’s loaded and you’re not going to get any context in this clip, you can imagine I’ve got a lot more to say on the topic. 

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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.