This week on the Extra Serving podcast, a product of Nation’s Restaurant News, NRN editors Holly Petre, Sam Oches, and Bret Thorn spoke about food trends. Senior food and beverage editor Thorn spoke about the latest food trends at chains and independents. Throughout the week on First Bite, Thorn covered some of the latest trends, including the “swicy” combination and the rise in sauces. The team gets into some other trends on the episode. Check out the episodes of First Bite here: ·     Adding this to your restaurant menu can boost sales with Gen Z ·    ..read more

This week on Extra Serving, we have a special episode featuring two women in C-suite restaurant roles that aren’t typically held by women: finance and technology. There are two interviews with female executives, recorded last month during the Women’s Foodservice Forum Leadership Conference, that cover everything from how they’ve achieved success in their career to mentoring to what it means to be a woman in the industry. First is a conversation between NRN senior editor Joanna Fantozzi and Kate Jaspon, chief financial officer at Inspire Brands. Jaspon began her career at KPMG LLP, the internat ..read more

This week on the Extra Serving podcast, a product of Nation’s Restaurant News, NRN editors Leigh Anne Zinsmeister and Bret Thorn discussed food trends. NRN’s resident food trend expert, senior food and beverage editor Thorn, talked about what’s going on in drinks, pizza, snacks, and more. He covered what’s hot in the industry now and what you should be looking out for in the R&D pipeline. Then, the editors talked about McDonald’s and Krispy Kreme’s deal. The fast-food giant officially inked a deal to sell Krispy Kreme donuts in all of its stores starting in 2026. As Krispy Kreme has been s ..read more

This week, on the Extra Serving podcast, a product of Nation’s Restaurant News, NRN editors Holly Petre, Leigh Anne Zinsmeister, and Alicia Kelso spoke about the slew of female CEOs that were appointed this week. In an industry that’s flooded with white male CEOs, seeing several female leaders in one month is unusual, let alone one week. That’s contrasted with companies like Yum Brands and Starbucks pulling back on DEI goals after threats from conservative groups armed with lawyers. Is this the end of the pipeline for women and people of color in the restaurant industry C-suite? Next, the edit ..read more

This week on the Extra Serving podcast, a product of Nation’s Restaurant News, NRN editors Holly Petre, Sam Oches, and Leigh Anne Zinsmeister talked about a new law in Florida that could impact third-party delivery services across the country. The Florida State Senate last week passed a bill that would protect restaurants and consumers from third-party delivery companies by requiring the possibility of communication between customers and the restaurants directly, rather than just via the delivery app. The bill also requires delivery apps to get permission from restaurants before arranging food ..read more

On this week’s episode of Extra Serving, a podcast by Nation’s Restaurant News, managing editor Leigh Anne Zinsmeister, editor-in-chief Sam Oches, and senior food and beverage editor Bret Thorn talk about the latest drink trend sweeping the nation. Adding cream to sodas is not a new concept, but in their current form, dirty sodas certainly feel new and exciting and they’re trending in large part thanks to Utah-based Swig. The editors talk about why. Then, they turn their attention to Panera Bread. Last week, the company unveiled what executives call its “biggest menu transformation in history ..read more

In this special episode of Extra Serving, NRN editor-in-chief Sam Oches talks with Chris Keating, EVP of Conferences for NRN parent Informa Foodservice. Sam and Chris talk about the upcoming Restaurant Leadership Conference (RLC), held April 14-17 in Phoenix, and why restaurant leaders should plan to attend this influential annual event. Chris shares more details on RLC’s program and speakers, how attendees can get the most out of the event, and why he’s particularly excited for keynoter Martha Stewart ..read more

This week on the Extra Serving podcast, Nation’s Restaurant News editors Holly Petre, Alicia Kelso, and Joanna Fantozzi spoke about what feels like the longest earnings season ever. CAVA reported early this week, and showed that it’s still possible to have double-digit traffic gains in this economic environment. The brand, which went public in June 2023, has now seen three straight quarters of same-store sales gains. CEO Brett Schulman admitted that it’s partly due to the “IPO halo effect,” as he called it, but that it’s also a testament to the fast-casual Mediterranean category’s popularity ..read more

This week, we’re going to be talking about some outliers. During the first half of earnings season, we have an idea of what the industry looks like and the results are not great. Most companies are seeing positive same-store sales in the low single digits. Except for Texas Roadhouse and Wingstop. The two brands on very different ends of the spectrum both saw higher than average sales growth with Wingstop seeing over 20% same-store sales growth. And Texas Roadhouse? It’s expected to surpass Olive Garden and Applebee’s very soon. Also, we’re going to be talking about the new Focus Brands which t ..read more

What’s up with Taco Bell? It released over a dozen new menu items in a futuristic display in Las Vegas and some of the items are wacky while others make sense for the brand. We’re also talking about some financial rumors on this week’s episode of the pod. Check it out ..read more