We’ve worked with executive leadership teams of some of the most successful established and emerging foodservice and hospitality companies around the world, supporting with strategic issues related to growth and expansion, performance optimization, brand strategy, marketing, due diligence, and how to enhance and maintain enterprise value. Through more than 2,000 senior-level engagements, we’ve consolidated some insights related to the most pressing questions our clients come to us with looking for answers, and the biggest challenges that we ..read more

They say the best way to grow mushrooms is to keep them in the dark and feed them manure. Some boards are relegated to the same regimen.While it is essential for the board and executive management to nurture a harmonious and balanced relationship — and this is how it works in most of the best-run businesses — there are also instances of an organizational culture where board members become complacent in being treated like mushrooms (kept in the dark and fed a shovel-load of manure that masquerades as meaningful answers to serious strat ..read more

The biggest threats are often those that few see coming. It’s a case of history repeating itself with companies being wiped out by disruptive forces that were often dismissed when they first appeared.A similar fate could be met by many restaurant companies if they do not take active steps to modernize their businesses and stay relevant with evolving industry and consumer trends.Technological innovation and rapid changes in consumer preferences have introduced a near-constant pace of disruption adding to the already complex foodserivce ..read more

Margins are being compressed for restaurants and foodservice operators around the world. Nearly every geography, cuisine, and operating model is being hit with increased costs relative to rent, labor, commodities, demands of modernization, competitive pricing and promotional tactics designed to take share, and a more fickle and demanding consumer with rapidly evolving dining behaviors.From Middle America to the Middle East and everywhere in-between, there is spotty revenue growth with unique brands and hybrid formats that is coming at ..read more

Generation Z is expected to reach 2.56 billion individuals globally by 2020, accounting for 32.8% of the world’s population. It is also soon to be the largest demographic in the United States, expected to surpass millennials in 2019 to account for 32% of the population. Millennials dine out more often than Gen Xers and baby boomers, and restaurants have had to adjust to their eating habits. But now chains will have to re-adapt to up-and-coming Gen Z food trends, which could have an even greater influence on the U.S. foodservice landsc ..read more

Many restaurant executive teams are still planning with post-it notes and ballpoint pens while their competitors are harnessing theories, tools, and techniques that sound like science fiction — big data, machine learning, artificial intelligence, behavioral economics, neuromarketing — to create strategy and allocate budgets.For far too long, planning has consisted of dusting off last year’s templates and marking up financial projections by 3%. Always doing what’s always been done — which means always getting what’s always been got — i ..read more

Since the 2008 financial crash, restaurant loans have slowly started to increase. While there are risks to lending to restaurant companies — relatively few barriers to entry and hard-to-protect intellectual property — the size of the global restaurant industry ($2.7t) makes foodservice an appealing market for bank loans and credit lines. At the same time, the dominance of multinational chains and large restaurant operators has reduced the risk on commercial investment to those companies. Both Bank of America and Wells Fargo have extended credit to major restaurant brands. Unsurprisingly, lar ..read more

The July 2018 U.S. jobs report showed that employment continues to grow with no sign of deceleration overall. However, new jobs in restaurants has slowed slightly — just over half of a percentage point — when compared to last year. Foodservice employment increased by a monthly average of 2.6% between January and July 2017; for the same period in 2018, growth is 2.0%. Despite this slowdown, the leisure and hospitality sector added the second-most jobs in July, and wages grew faster than inflation as well as in the private sector overall. July 2018 U.S. Restaurant Labor Data: Employment Some 157 ..read more