APRIL 2025
THE CHILIHEAD:
Brinker International CEO Kevin Hochman is the 2025 Restaurant Leader of the Year
Marc Lore wants AI to feed you P . 6 | Pandemic Voices P . 24
APRIL 2025 RESTAURANT BUSINESS
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JONATHAN MAZE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
WELCOME EDITOR’S
JMAZE@WINSIGHTMEDIA.COM @JONATHANMAZE
I am an old print veteran who loves newspapers and magazines and hates to see them go away in favor of the online version. Yet businesses have to evolve.
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WE LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU ALL ONLINE.
CONTENTS APRIL 2025
EQUIPMENT AT NAFEM, ROBOTS SLIP MOSTLY INTO THE BACKGROUND................................................4
SPECIAL REPORT COVID 5 YEARS LATER PANDEMIC VOICES.......................................24 COVER STORY CHILIHEAD: KEVIN HOCHMAN BRINGS PRIDE BACK TO CHILI’S.............18 MENU WALK-ON’S SPORTS BISTREAUX BROADENS MENU WHILE STAYING TRUE TO ITS CAJUN ROOTS...........................................................14 EMERGING BRANDS CHIP CITY COOKIES CO-FOUNDER GETS CREATIVE WITH CROISSANTS.......................16
HOW THE BUSINESS HAS, AND HAS NOT, CHANGED SINCE THE PANDEMIC...............26
5 YEARS LATER: HOW THESE INDIES HAVE FARED SINCE THE PANDEMIC.....................30
MARC LORE WANTS AI TO FEED YOU............6
COVID MADE DELIVERY A WAY OF LIFE FOR RESTAURANTS............................................. 34
TECNOLOGY HOW TECH IS HELPING RESTAURANTS SPEED UP THE HIRING PROCESS............................12 FINANCE ONE BIG POST-PANDEMIC CHANGE AT RESTAURANTS: MORE PEOPLE ARE DINING ALONE...........................................................10 SCREENS TAKE CENTER STAGE AT THE NAFEM SHOW: NAVIGATING THE FUTURE OF KITCHEN TECHNOLOGY.................................................8
THE RESTAURANT LABOR LANDSCAPE HAS VASTLY IMPROVED SINCE THE PANDEMIC ................................................... 38
RESTAURANT CATERING IS BACK, BUT IT LOOKS DIFFERENT POST-COVID................44
THE PANDEMIC BROUGHT FULL-SERVICE RESTAURANTS TO A CROSSROADS............48
FROM OUR COLUMNISTS
AT KRISPY KREME, A REMINDER OF RESTAURANTS’ DIGITAL RISK..........................................................51
TACO BELL SHOWS IT’S GOOD TO HAVE SKIN IN THE GAME..........................................................52
Photo courtesy of Somedays Cover Photo by Terri Glanger
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EQUIPMENT
AT NAFEM, ROBOTS SLIP MOSTLY INTO THE BACKGROUND Restaurant operators are eager to save labor and automate more tasks. But they want that automation to generate a return, rather than get attention.
A ttendees at the North American Association of Food Equipment Manufacturers (NAFEM) show crowded around a demonstration of a chicken wing-making robot. They listened to an employee talk about the benefits of the device as he quickly put sauced, bone-in wings into boxes. “What’s the ROI?” one person asked. The presenter didn’t have an answer, and the attendee turned around and walked away. But the story highlights the single, biggest question any operator is asking these days as technology ideas are thrown at them daily: How is this going to help me make more money? There’s nothing new about that, of course. Operators have always been focused on the returns new equipment can generate. Yet, over the past five years, restaurant operators have dealt with a pandemic, a false recovery and then a three-year period of soaring inflation, rising interest rates and now a consumer that is cutting back to adjust to those higher prices. And that means they’re less interested than ever in fancy equipment that doesn’t solve their everyday problems, such as food and labor costs, speed of service or hospitality. Operators “have real problems they have to solve today,” David Wilkinson, who recently stepped down as CEO of NCR Voyix, said at NAFEM. “We need to solve real challenges and avoid
distractions.” In many respects, the NAFEM Show demonstrated that shift. Robots were tougher to find at NAFEM this year. Oh they were there, for sure. The Middleby booth alone featured several of them. Robots made the aforementioned chicken wings and fries. Another one, in a large box, put sauce, cheese and pepperoni atop a pizza crust. Other robots were less out front than they’d been in the past, such as one that rinsed dishes that was tucked in a back corner. Yet, generally speaking, the robotics weren’t as prolific as they’d been in the recent past, when robots took center stage at many events. Robots made and served drinks. They prepared salads or made fries or scooped toppings onto soft-serve frozen yogurt. They often drew crowds of curious onlookers taking videos. And the restaurant business was seemingly eager to see them in action, particularly as operators struggled to find enough workers to service the demand inside their restaurants. But, while plenty of chains are testing robot ideas, there appears to be more skepticism about the ability for these devices to generate a return. Chili’s, the casual-dining chain, started adding robot servers into its restaurants to help address its labor challenges in 2021. But the company ditched those servers shortly after Kevin Hochman took over as CEO of parent company Brinker International,
JONATHAN MAZE
JONATHAN.MAZE@INFORMA.COM
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RESTAURANT BUSINESS APRIL 2025
A ROBOT MADE CHICKEN WINGS AT THE MIDDLEBY BOOTH AT THE NAFEM SHOW. | PHOTO BY JONATHAN MAZE
in the future,” Wonder CEO Marc Lore said. He envisions a day in which a robot gets food from cold storage, brings it to the appropriate oven and gets it prepared. “It can pull a lot of labor out and reduce waste,” he said. Then there are brands like White Castle, which installed its first Flippy fry-making robot in 2020 after CEO Lisa Ingram saw the robot flipping burgers a year earlier. “That technology didn’t exist,” White Castle COO Jeff Carper said. “That technology didn’t exist. There was no robot working the fry station. It had to learn how to raise the basket, move the basket over and lower the basket. Today it’s on its third version. And there are other companies doing it.” Nevertheless, broader adoption of robotics inside restaurants is probably a ways off, at least until they have a clear return on investment.
well,” said Aaron Thomas, director of engineering and robotics at Yum Brands, the parent company of Taco Bell, KFC, Pizza Hut and Habit. “Is there a place for that? Maybe. But how many team members have a role in which they do one thing and it’s pretty limited?” To be sure, there has been some progress on automating some tasks inside restaurants, notably in the drive- thru where AI is taking more orders than ever, and which is likely to expand rapidly in the coming years. “If you can automate individual components, you’re bringing value to the restaurant versus ‘I’m bringing this traditional robotic arm and will look for a problem,’” Thomas said. And there are some companies and people out there intent on developing concepts that can be automated. “The goal is to move toward full automation
and today he said there are 60 of them sitting in a warehouse. Many of the largest chains have likewise been slow to adopt any sort of robotics, even though it’s easy to see how, say, McDonald’s could deploy robot fry makers or dishwashers. The company certainly has the money. But it also has franchisees who need to make a profit, have plenty of expenses as it is, and want any of them to generate a return. Restaurants themselves have different processes, which can make automation of an existing restaurant or chain more difficult. Employees inside a restaurant usually perform more than one task, unlike, say, an automaking plant. That makes it inherently more difficult to deploy robotics with any substance inside restaurants. “Robots do one thing over and over again and do that one thing really
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EQUIPMENT
MARC LORE WANTS AI TO FEED YOU
The CEO of Wonder is pushing to change the restaurant business. But he has bigger goals than that, including a “superapp” that could choose all your meals.
BY JONATHAN MAZE
FOOD FROM MR. D’S, A FRIED CHICKEN RESTAURANT IN LORMAN, MISS., CAN NOW BE FOUND ON THE WONDER MENU. | PHOTO COURTESY OF WONDER
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M arc Lore doesn’t pick his own meals most of the time. He has artificial intelligence for that. And, he said, the AI is better at choosing his next meal than he is. “85% to 90% of my meals are AI derived,” Lore said on Wednesday at the North American Association of Food Equipment Manufacturers (NAFEM) Show. “AI tells me what I want to eat. I set my health goals. It knows what I like better than me.” Lore is the CEO of Wonder, which has raised $1.6 billion and spent several years developing what it calls a “superapp” for meals. The company acquired the delivery provider Grubhub as well as the meal kit provider Blue Apron, which was recently launched on the Wonder app. He has more plans for that, too. The company is looking at reservations and deals with grocers, all with the idea of giving people an array of options for meals that they can get delivered. “We want to service every meal occasion,” Lore said. The AI program would take that even further, by allowing artificial intelligence to choose what customers should eat. It’s not as crazy as you may think. People are using AI for a growing number of menial tasks, from help writing term papers to labor scheduling in restaurants. But it holds considerable promise and it’s not a stretch to imagine people using it to help with meal planning. AI could take stress out of meal decisions based on what people like and don’t like. And it could in theory help people accomplish certain goals. The AI platform brings together food and health, so it can suggest meals that help users solve for their health goals. For instance, if Lore needs to cut back on cholesterol, it may recommend some walnuts with the morning oatmeal. The AI program can’t make the food too healthy, because it wants to ensure a positive food rating. A future iteration could solve other problems, Lore said. For instance, AI could help a user meet certain budget goals by sending certain groceries to your house. It then suggests meals so they get a fuller use of those groceries so there’s less waste. “In the future people are going to give up a little bit of agency to solve goals,” Lore said. “AI is you, a smart version of yourself who is not persuaded by marketing or branding. It’s all based on science.”
WONDER FORMERLY USED VANS TO FINISH MEALS STEPS FROM CUSTOMERS’ HOMES. | PHOTO COURTESY OF WONDER
AI might be able to make a reservation at a restaurant you like and recommend what to eat off the menu based on what you’re craving or what you may like. But you can also tell AI to pick something else, which only serves to improve the program’s function. “It captures all the data,” Lore said. As for Wonder’s restaurant-ghost kitchen- food hall hybrid, the company has 40 brick- and-mortar locations but expects 100 in 10 months and is opening one per week. It plans to open in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., and has plans for places like Boston. About half of its orders are pickup, and the concept thus far works best in suburban areas, though it is primed to go just about anywhere. Its locations have a tight delivery radius to ensure food is delivered fresh and in less than 30 minutes. Orders have a 99% accuracy. Lore also said the company can operate as many as 30 concepts—each of which is its own brand— in one of its facilities with relatively low labor. Its locations range from 1,200 square feet to 2,800 square feet and can have 12 to 30
different concepts. “We have one kitchen with lightly skilled and lightly trained labor, little waste, super high efficiency and the food quality is incredible,” he said. “We’ve spent hundreds of millions on culinary food science the past six years.” Lore perhaps somewhat controversially argues that Wonder can operate all 30 concepts during off-peak hours with just two people. And he says that the company’s vertically-integrated business model means it doesn’t pay royalties to restaurants or to delivery providers. “If you have a ghost kitchen, you have to pay royalties to restaurants, 30% to DoorDash and you have high labor and high waste,” he said. “You can see how the math is challenging.” The long-term goal, he said, is to automate everything. “The goal is to move toward full automation in the future,” Lore said. “The food is robotically picked out of cold storage. The robot then takes it to the appropriate oven. That could pull a lot of labor out.”
Check out our in-depth look at Wonder here.
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EQUIPMENT
SCREENS TAKE CENTER STAGE AT THE NAFEM SHOW:
NAVIGATING THE FUTURE OF KITCHEN TECHNOLOGY Industry leaders discuss the connectivity of restaurant equipment, the challenges of data integration, gas vs. electric and tariffs at the restaurant equipment show.
BY JONATHAN MAZE
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RESTAURANT BUSINESS APRIL 2025
A rguably the most common sight at the North American Association of Equipment Manufacturers (NAFEM) show in Atlanta earlier this year was not ovens or refrigerators or flat-tops or whisks or robots. It was screens. Screens on devices that would not otherwise have screens, such as fryers or any of the aforementioned equipment, have be - come so commonplace they’re expected. “There’s a lot of stainless-steel boxes with screens,” said Aaron Thomas, director of engineering and robotics for Yum Brands, the owner of Taco Bell, KFC, Pizza Hut and Habit Burger. The issue with those screened boxes is what they do for the companies that use them. “There are a lot of screens now, but what are they doing for us?” Thomas said. The challenge in the coming years, said those at the show, is to make sure all these screened kitchen devices talk with one another. And then the challenge is to figure out what to do with all the data these devices generate. “No one has a north star,” said Simon De Montfort Walker, EVP, Central Industry Solutions, with Oracle Restaurants. “There are some super impressive products that do remarkable things. But there’s no north star with where we’re going.” That said, all this data and connectivity could eventually solve a real problem: How to balance all these orders coming from all these different ordering channels. That’s proven to be an issue even for a brand as tech-forward as Starbucks, where mobile ordering has created enormous headaches. “We all live in a world where we have this omnichannel front-of-house,” said Dan Simpson, CEO of the fast-casual franchise Taziki’s Med - iterranean Grill. “Guests are choosing the path of how they engage with us, walking in the door, on the app or third-party ordering. There are many channels coming at us and they hit the kitchen at the same time.” “We have to have better technology that enables us to say yes to the guest, with dynamic load balancing that allows the technology to shine.” Here are some other takeaways from NAFEM.
GAS VS. ELECTRIC? At 10,000 feet above sea level, gas loses effi - ciency and doesn’t work as well as it does in lower elevations. But that doesn’t keep chefs at high-end restaurants in places like Vale, Colorado, from demanding gas stoves. “They still want gas,” said Chris Wair, design principal with Reitano Design Group. “They demand gas even though they’re not getting heat from it.” The gas-versus-electricity debate was in full view during NAFEM, as companies sell - ing induction-based equipment argued that their items were better than what you could achieve with gas. The issue took on a new meaning in recent years, after the American Public Health Asso- ciation labeled gas appliances a “public health concern.” There has also been sustainability questions. Neither appear to be keeping some chefs or others away from gas. “Gas is cheap. Gas equipment works,” said Stuart Davis, principal with Stuart Davis De - sign. “The chefs I work with, they want gas. Right now, gas is king in my world.” At the same time, however, there are clear benefits with electricity. Wonder, the deliv - ery-centric food hall chain, uses all-electric equipment. “There are no hoods, no flames,” CEO Marc Lore said. “It allows us to go places other restaurants can’t go.”
TARIFFS The NAFEM show attracted plenty of attend- ees, and there was a sense of some optimism this year, in part because the restaurant in- dustry is widely—if cautiously—expected to perform better than in the past. And if res- taurants and bars are doing well, that’s good news for equipment makers. But tariffs, or the potential of tariffs, cast something of a shadow over everything. NAFEM itself, for instance, is predicting a bet- ter year overall. But that might change if Pres - ident Trump ultimately follows through on his tariff threat. “They’re making our lives more exciting than we would prefer,” said Connor Lokar, senior economist with ITR Economics. “We’re not changing our outlook. But things could be very different 10 days from now.” Tariffs are taxes on imports and typically paid by import companies that pass them on to their customers, such as a Mexican chain im- porting avocadoes from Mexico or an equip - ment maker bringing in steel from China. Tariffs—25% on goods from Mexico and Canada, and 10% on top of Chinese imports— were set to go into effect on Tuesday. That will likely drive up the cost of a lot of fruits, vegetables, alcohol and electronics and other equipment.
RESTAURANTS VS. ECOMMERCE
Marc Lore first made a name for himself by building a website selling diapers, called Di - apers.com. He did it again a few years later with an ecommerce site called Jet.com that was later sold to Walmart. Restaurants, he said, are far more compli- cated. “The restaurant industry is way more complicated than ecommerce,” he said. “We used to think it was challenging to buy a box of diapers that doesn’t expire and you put in a warehouse to send it to Fedex with delivery. “Now we’re ordering food. The food is not always the same. It has an expiration date. You have to keep it cold. Then you have to cook the food and keep the food hot before delivering it to the customer. And you can’t deliver it too them too late otherwise it’ll lose it’s quality. It’s a whole magnitude higher lev - el of difficulty.” “THERE ARE MANY CHANNELS COMING AT US AND THEY HIT THE KITCHEN AT THE SAME TIME.”
“THE CHEFS I WORK WITH, THEY WANT GAS. RIGHT NOW, GAS IS KING IN MY WORLD.” Stuart Davis, principal with Stuart Davis Design
Dan Simpson, CEO Taziki’s Mediterranean Grill
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FINANCE
A LOT MORE YOUNGER CONSUMERS DINE AT RESTAURANTS BY THEMSELVES. PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK
ONE BIG POST- PANDEMIC CHANGE AT RESTAURANTS: MORE PEOPLE ARE DINING ALONE The Bottom Line: As off-premises sales at restaurants have taken off over the past five years, more consumers are eating alone, and often in their cars. What is the impact on the industry?
BY JONATHAN MAZE W e’ve spent much of this week examining the impact of the pandemic on restaurants, which you can read here. But there’s one element of that story I’d like to call out: A lot more consumers are eating alone. To wit: In 2019, 26% of consumers dined at restaurants on their own, according to Restaurant Business sister company Technomic. By last year that number was 32%. More to the point: The percentage of consumers today who dine alone easily outnumbers those who dine with their spouse, 32% to 26%. To be sure, most people—about two- thirds—still dine with other people. But Americans are now less likely to dine with small children, with co-workers, with friends or, yes, their spouse or significant other. And it’s not just that consumers are eating alone. Consumers are far more likely today to eat in their cars than they did before the pandemic. Younger consumers in particular are more likely to dine in their car, said Robert Byrne, senior director of consumer research with Technomic. The data confirms previous surveys that said roughly the same thing. Last year, for instance, OpenTable said online reservations for parties of one increased 8%. And some 60%
of respondents in a survey said they had dined alone at restaurants in the past year, including 68% of Gen Z and millennial respondents. OpenTable suggested restaurants customize their floor plans to encourage such customers to sit near others and strike up conversations, citing its survey showing 27% would invite other solo diners to their table. (We doubt 27% of people actually would invite other solo diners, but we’re pretty sure they would say they would to a person taking a survey.) That said, many elements of the dining-alone trend are disconcerting. The Atlantic, for instance, cited restaurants’ shift to takeout and away from their traditional roles as gathering spots as part of a troublesome trend of loneliness. “How much of our lives have we spent thinking about food as this social thing?” Byrne said. “You’re not just nourishing your body. You’re also nourishing your soul, your mental health, your relationships, your friendships. All those wonderful things that food, I believe, should represent.” But there are a few reasons for the dining-alone trend. First, a lot of people dine alone while traveling, often for work. Byrne also noted that there is a growing number of occasions that are naturally about dining alone—such as
snacking. He also blamed social media. The “car occasion” has soared since the pandemic, which Byrne suggested is linked to the number of video posts of people eating out of their cars. “The amount of videos that are recorded in a person’s vehicle just shocks me,” he said. Still, there is a sense in some places that the industry needs to give people more opportunities to connect with one another. The industry has spent a lot of time focusing on the takeout customer. They’ve turned their businesses in many cases into glorified vending machines, where people order on a phone or a kiosk and pick the food up in a box. Much of that humanity is gone. We thought of Byrne’s data on dining alone and his comments on people eating from their cars when we watched the Starbucks shareholder meeting. CEO Brian Niccol said there is a need for places like Starbucks where people can actually gather with one another. “That third place is probably more necessary than it’s ever been,” he said. Restaurants have spent the past few years simply reacting to what consumers want. But maybe it’s time to think of what they need.
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RESTAURANT BUSINESS APRIL 2025
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TECHNOLOGY
HOW TECH IS HELPING RESTAURANTS SPEED UP THE HIRING PROCESS Operators say tools like chatbots and scheduling assistants are helping them manage an influx of job applications, according to a report from the National Restaurant Association.
THE HIRING PUSH COMES AHEAD OF BURRITO SEASON, THE PEAK PERIOD BETWEEN MARCH AND MAY. | PHOTO COURTESY OF CHIPOTLE
F or restaurants, hiring a new employee can be a lengthy, time-consuming and costly process. Some are turning to technology to make it easier. According to a report published Tuesday by the National Restaurant Association, restaurants are increasingly using things like chatbots and automated scheduling software to streamline hiring, reducing the time it takes to hire someone from weeks to as little as a day in some cases. It comes as some restaurants find themselves swimming in job applications as they emerge from a post-pandemic labor shortage. Last year, 59% of operators said they had open positions that were hard to fill, down from 70% in 2023 and 79% in 2022, according to the report. “It’s a little easier to hire today than it was a year or two ago. But you’re still getting huge volumes of applications,” said Chad Moutray, VP of research and knowledge for the restaurant association, in an interview. “And so how do you as human resources process that volume of resumes? You really lean on technology.” The report, which is based on interviews with 16 restaurant companies, highlighted a few pieces of tech that restaurants are using to help ease the hiring workload, which often falls on the shoulders of busy managers. One popular feature is AI-powered chatbots that can help pre-screen candidates. The bots appear at the start of an online
application and help guide the applicant through it. But they also ask questions about basic things like age or citizenship that can quickly determine whether the prospective employee is even eligible for the role. “It did a little bit of that screening that someone who was reading it manually might do,” Moutray said. There is hope that as chatbots become more sophisticated, they could take on an even bigger role in the screening process. Chad Hewitt, senior product manager for the digital employee experience at Chipotle, noted that the chain’s hiring chatbot, called Ava Cado, currently uses simple language, but could progress to more complex conversations in the future. Tech is also stepping in at the next stage of the process: setting up an interview. There are a number of tools that allow managers to automate scheduling so that once a worker has applied, they can easily sign up for an interview slot. The report found that these tools have reduced hiring times and taken some pressure off of managers. Three-fourths of the operators surveyed said that tech allows them to get new employees hired within eight days, and all agreed that hiring times have improved noticeably. Southern Rock Restaurants saw the most dramatic impact. The company, which operates 160 McAlister’s Deli locations, said that with automation, job candidates can
JOE GUSZKOWSKI
JOSEPH.GUSZKOWSKI@INFORMA.COM
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now apply and be hired within 24 hours, compared to an average of 14 days using a manual approach. Putting more tech into hiring has also allowed restaurants to appeal to younger people who have different lifestyles and expectations when it comes to applying for jobs. According to the report, 38% of candidates apply outside the hours of 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., for instance. “Being able to apply in the middle of the night or using a QR code, I think that certainly appeals to younger generations that are much more tech-savvy in general,” Moutray said. This has helped restaurants deepen the applicant pool. Chipotle has said that since launching Ava Cado late last year, applicant flow has nearly doubled and application completion rates have improved to 85%, from 50%. Restaurants are also using tech to support employees once they are hired. Onboarding
and orientation procedures can be digitized, and online surveys can be used to keep tabs on how newcomers are feeling. Potbelly Sandwich Shop sends out quarterly surveys called the Potbelly Pulse to gather employee feedback. The surveys help the company monitor morale and identify areas for improvement. Chief People Officer Pat Walsh called the Pulse a “major differentiator” for Potbelly. That said, operators also emphasized that hands-on management remains key to onboarding employees and keeping them around long-term. Several said new hires are paired with a mentor or buddy to help them navigate their first few months on the job. “No matter what technology you use, it’s important to have a human connection,” Jonathan Seyoum, a partner at the Original Pancake House, told the association. “This makes people feel comfortable and helps us connect with our new and current
employees.” In terms of the cost of all of this new technology, Moutray said he did not know what the actual dollar amount looks like for restaurants. But he said the benefits were clear. “I think certainly the payout there is that, again, the last thing you want as a restaurant is to be understaffed,” he said. He noted that some smaller operators are more resistant to moving away from the traditional hiring process. But overall, a good number of restaurants are exploring investments in this area. Last year, 37% said they had plans to invest in automated labor management, recruitment and scheduling systems, according to the association. The new report, titled Research Insight: Workforce Technology, was sponsored by Paradox, which makes conversational AI for hiring. Some of the restaurants featured in the report are Paradox customers.
THERE IS HOPE THAT AS CHATBOTS BECOME MORE SOPHISTICATED, THEY COULD TAKE ON AN EVEN BIGGER ROLE IN THE SCREENING PROCESS.
CHIPOTLE IS USING A CHATBOT TO HELP SCREEN APPLICANTS. | PHOTO COURTESY OF CHIPOTLE
APRIL 2025 RESTAURANT BUSINESS
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WALK-ON’S SPORTS BISTREAUX BROADENS MENU WHILE STAYING TRUE TO ITS CAJUN ROOTS
MENU
The Louisiana-born sports bar refreshed its food and drink lineup and the look of its menu, playing up its scratch kitchen and elevated beverage selection.
BY PATRICIA COBE
PATRICIA.COBE@INFORMA.COM
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RESTAURANT BUSINESS APRIL 2025
WALK-ON’S SPORTS BISTREAUX ATTRACTS BOTH GAME-DAY FANS AND FAMILIES, AND THE NEW MENU APPEALS TO BOTH. | PHOTOS COURTESY OF WALK-ON’S
A tlanta-based Walk-On’s Sports Bistreaux rolled out a refreshed and re-engineered menu Monday, broadening the appeal of its food and drink selection while preserving its Cajun legacy. “We did a ton of guest research and discovered that diverse groups of people were coming in,” said Chris Porcelli, CEO of the 80-unit sports bar chain. Along with the “Sports Enthusiast” who naturally patronizes a sports bar and energizes the game-day vibe, the research revealed that “Team Mom/ Family Decision Maker” was another clearly defined target audience. She’s the one who brings in the T-ball team and their parents to celebrate a win, or comes in with her family on a hectic Friday night. So the menu refresh leaned into Walk- On’s as a “family-friendly sports bar,” said Porcelli, focusing on the restaurant’s scratch kitchen, its Louisiana culinary roots and an elevated beverage lineup. The makeover kicked off about a year ago. Although it may sound contradictory, streamlining the menu was the first step in broadening its appeal. Director of Culinary John Hagen began by cutting some longtime items and reimagining and replacing others. In the end 14 dishes were axed. “We eliminated those with a low pain point of removal; items that were below 1% of sales or didn’t seem to resonate with guests,” said Hagen. That included a Surf ‘n Turf Burger that he tried to re-engineer with a different cheese and bun, but it still didn’t fly. “We have to be proud of what we serve,” he said. What Hagen is proud of are the dishes he updated to be more craveable and on-trend. About 20% of sales come from Louisiana- inspired items, he said, so he took the menu’s boudin to new heights, infusing the Cajun pork and rice sausage with pepperjack cheese and transforming it into Pepperjack Boudin.
With the restaurant’s Devil’s on Horseback, a signature appetizer, Hagen stuffed the butterflied shrimp with cream cheese and jalapeño, wrapped them in bacon and tossed them in hot honey after grilling. Customers are really into sweet heat flavors these days. For the Team Mom/Family Decision Maker demographic, he added a couple of lighter dishes. “I brought back turkey as a healthier option,” said Hagen, a protein that was on the menu before but is returning as a Warm Turkey Melt with Havarti cheese and Sriracha aioli. There’s also a Havarti Turkey Burger. “Burgers comprise about 13% of our sales,” said Hagen. The menu also puts more attention on the seafood category, with a new Mardi Gras Salmon making its debut. It features a salmon filet cooked with hot honey and topped with mango salsa, sided by a serving of fresh broccoli. “We previously had about 80 items on the menu and now we have about 50,” said Hagen of the refresh. Not only does the streamlining help drive efficiency and save on costs, “it allows us to clear up more real estate “Walk-On’s hadn’t re-evaluated its cocktails in 10 years,” said Porcelli. “From guest feed- back, we heard that the drinks were too sug- ary and high in alcohol.” The chain teamed up with a beverage partner to rework the list, adding six new signature cocktails. Some have that Louisiana twist, like the Praline Espresso Martini made with praline pecan liqueur and coffee. A Spicy Mango Margarita is another new addition, mixed with reposado tequila, chili liqueur and mango puree. The Strawberry Lemon Drop Martini was developed because customers were ordering lemon drop martinis even though they wer - for limited-time offers,” he added. A DRINKS LIST FOR THE TIMES
en’t even on the cocktail list, said Porcelli. Now there is one, a blend of Deep Eddy Lem - on Vodka, Cointreau, strawberry and lemon nectar. And there’s an upgraded mule—The O-Line—replacing the underperforming Blackberry Mule. This one combines blood or- ange sour and blood orange ginger beer for a less sweet, more citrusy flavor profile. “We elevated the bar program by partner - ing with the right vendors and offering higher end spirits,” said Porcelli, “but franchisees in local markets can choose what works best with their customers. Walk-On’s in Kentucky, for example, will have more bourbon brands.” The beverage team also added more wines to appeal to that female guest. “These are good wines that you wouldn’t expect in a sports bar,” said Hagen. THE MENU GETS A FACELIFT The food and drink additions are not the only menu news. “Guests make decisions based on the look and feel of the menu,” said Hagen. Walk-On’s relied on research in which devic - es track the movement of guests’ eyes as they read the menu. “Most people get fatigue about halfway through the menu,” he said. So the menu was redesigned, going from two columns to three and incorporating more colors and a larger font. Instead of placing high-margin items in the most prominent po- sition, “we went with things we’re the most proud of; the signatures and best sellers,” said Hagen. And the seafood specialties were shift- ed to the right and stand out in their colorful box. “We narrowed the menu down and high- lighted what we’re really proud of,” said Por- celli. Walk-On’s mantra, sectioned off in the lower lefthand corner of the menu says it all: Eat Good. Play Hard. Be Humble.
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EMERGING BRANDS
CHIP CITY COOKIES CO-FOUNDER GETS CREATIVE WITH CROISSANTS
BY LISA JENNINGS
LISA.JENNINGS@INFORMA.COM
LATTICE CROISSANTS USE THE SAME LAMINATED DOUGH WITH A DIFFERENT SHAPE. PHOTO COURTESY OF SOMEDAYS
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PETER PHILLIPS JOINS THE BAKERY BOOM WITH A SECOND BRAND CALLED SOMEDAYS BAKERY. WITH THIS CONCEPT, HE TAKES A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT APPROACH FOR GROWTH.
T he co-founder of Chip City Cookies is turning to croissants. Peter Phillips, the co-founder of the New York City- based cookie brand, last year raised $17.5 million in funding led by restaurateur Danny Meyer’s Enlightened Hospitality Investments to grow the concept. Now with 45 company-owned Chip City units in nine states and another seven in development, that brand is still growing—and, in fact, is now franchising for the first time. Phillips, meanwhile, last year created a second brand called Somedays Bakery, which focuses on the laminated dough that is traditionally used for croissants. But Somedays’ pastries are not just plain old croissants. Sure, there are the classic almond and chocolate croissants on the menu. But a top seller is a Pistachio Lattice, for example, with pistachio frangipane, raspberry jam and white chocolate. There might be a Twice Baked croissant with tahini frangipane and black sesame brittle; or a savory lattice croissant stuffed with prosciutto and gruyère. These are not hybrid croissants, like the Cronut craze of a few years back. Phillips said Somedays is designed to fill what he sees as a gap in the U.S. market for European-style pastry shops that focus on laminated dough with creative flavors. “We really step it up, in terms of creativity,” Phillips said. “Our chief culinary officer is extremely talented and has put together an amazing menu of options.” Phillips is referring to veteran baker Arlander Brown, previously of the Manhattan bakery Librae, who is Somedays’ chief culinary of- ficer. After opening the first location in Queens last year, Phillips decid - ed to jump right off the bat into franchising with Somedays. The first franchised unit opened earlier this year in Long Island City, and two more are scheduled to open in the next three months. Phillips expects to end the year with 10. But the plan to grow Somedays is very different than the path Phil - lips took with Chip City. All of Chip City’s current units are company owned. That brand began in a tiny less-than-300-square foot space. Phillips, who had a background in real estate and construction, developed the concept to fit the location, with little equipment needed. The cookie brand uses a commissary model to serve the retail lo - cations. The many varieties of cookies are made in the commissary, frozen, and shipped to stores, where the cookies are baked fresh. It’s a simple operation, and it was just a “happy accident” that the dough was improved by the freezing process, Phillips said. For Somedays, on the other hand, the laminated dough is made fresh in each unit, though it’s really only one dough that is dressed up different ways. Having a full bakery in each store opens up opportuni - ty on the menu, he said. It also means locations are a bit bigger. The first unit is 800-square
feet, but Phillips said 1,200- to 1,500-square feet is more likely the sweet spot. Fundamentally, franchising was more attractive for growing the concept, given high interest rates and the difficulty obtaining capital these days, said Phillips. For franchise operators, Somedays is attractive because it focuses mostly on daytime hours, between 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.—though last sum - mer Phillips added a soft-serve machine to Somedays in Queens to give customers reason to come in the evenings, at least during summer months. The U.S. is having a bit of a bakery boom. Over the past year or so, independent bakeries have been popping up all over, while interna- tional chains are also growing across the country. Phillips contends that boom has been fueled in part by the decline of casual dining, which has forced many in the industry to look for new ways to showcase their talents. And, fundamentally, Americans love a quality croissant. “You’re not going to go make your own croissants in the morning,” said Phillips. “Even if you’re eating healthfully, it’s an area where you might indulge.”
NEW YORK BAKER ARLANDER BROWN IS LEADING MENU DEVELOPMENT AT SOMEDAYS BAKERY. | PHOTO COURTESY OF SOMEDAYS BAKERY
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COVER STORY
THE CHILIHEAD: KEVIN HOCHMAN BRINGS PRIDE BACK TO CHILI’S The 2025 Restaurant Business Restaurant Leader of the Year engineered the industry’s most unlikely comeback with a simple formula: Get people in the door and give them a good time once they get there.
CEO KEVIN HOCHMAN HAS LED A REMARKABLE TUR PHOTO BY TERRI GLANGER
K evin Hochman mingled among the attendees at a dinner on the last night of a meeting for Chili’s district managers in Coronado, California, last month, chatting with everyone from the woman serving wine at the Il Fornaio restaurant to his fellow executives, when Doug Brooks grabbed a microphone and started the evening’s toast. Well, “toast” is one way of putting it. Brooks, the legendary former CEO of Chili’s owner Brinker International, held court for 19 minutes, providing a lesson on the history of casual dining and Brinker. He noted that both Chili’s and Maggiano’s could have easily had a history more akin to bygone chains like Stuart Anderson’s Steakhouse or Howard Johnson’s, or perhaps like Steak & Ale or Ponderosa and Bonanza. Had just a few things worked out differently, he said, “We wouldn’t be here celebrating the greatest turnaround in restaurant industry history.” Brooks listed the major events that kept that from happening, including the time when Norman Brinker left Pillsbury to take on a deeply-in-debt, 23-
JONATHAN MAZE
JONATHAN.MAZE@INFORMA.COM
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RNAROUND AT CHILI’S.
unit Chili’s in the 1980s, or when Maggiano’s came into the fold in 1995. He added to that list the arrival of Hochman as Brinker International CEO two and a half years ago, earning a loud and long cheer from the crowd of “Chiliheads.” It’s safe to say the mood these days throughout the Chili’s system is a good one, which is exactly what happens when a chain completely changes the restaurant business equation. Chili’s completed a year in which its sales and consumer enthusiasm only appeared to build over time, ending the year with 31% same-store sales growth in the fourth quarter. Chili’s had never done that. And it wasn’t cheap, either: The chain’s same-store sales have increased every quarter since the pandemic. Average unit volumes increased 16% last year alone. The stock price is up 380% since Hochman took over. Maybe more importantly, the brand is “cool again,” luring
Gen Z customers with the chain’s social media-friendly cheese pulls, burger offerings and margaritas. It’s also inspired an industry to rethink value, focusing on the quality and service customers are getting for their money, rather than just pricing everything cheap and hoping people come in the door. Yet let’s get real here: This is all just so shocking. Nobody—nobody—expected this. If they say they did, they’re lying. It’s one thing for a Raising Cane’s or Wingstop or Cava to do a 30%-plus same-store sales figure, but this is Chili’s we’re talking about here. We haven’t talked about Chili’s this much since we were all at the mall listening to the latest Tiffany tape on our $99 Sony Walkmans. “I thought casual dining was dead and gone,” former Yum Brands CEO Greg Creed said. He ran Yum’s Taco Bell for years and guided it into the brand it is today. And yet, he said, “I’ve never delivered a plus-30. And this is in a category that I thought was dead.” It’s certainly more than enough to have
earned Hochman the title of Restaurant Business’ Restaurant Leader of the Year, an honor selected by the editors of Restaurant Business and celebrated at the Restaurant Leadership Conference, to be held April 13 to 16 in Scottsdale, Arizona. Kevin Hochman doesn’t come across as your typical, public company CEO. If there is an ego, it’s difficult to find one—he admitted he was embarrassed to have received the award, for instance, and is perfectly willing to occupy the background while his lieutenants take center stage. He wears thick, dark-rimmed glasses and prefers quarter-zip pullovers to suits and ties. He has a penchant for self- depreciation. “He’s quirky,” Creed said. Don’t let any of that fool you. Hochman doesn’t like complacency. And he is exceptionally confident in what he thinks is right. After more than a decade running restaurant chains, it’s difficult to argue with the results. After he took over as chief marketing officer for KFC U.S. in 2014, he had
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“You can take risks if you’re a young person, but you need to make sure you’ve got Plan B and Plan C covered so your leadership can support you and have your back.” -Kevin Hochman
an idea to bring back Colonel Sanders as the centerpiece of the chain’s marketing. Yet he had to get that idea past skeptical Yum Brands executives, notably then- CEO David Novak. KFC had used Colonel Sanders in ads in the past, to no avail. But Hochman was persistent, and believed in the idea, which would use a series of celebrities impersonating KFC’s famous founder. Even today, nearly a decade later, Hochman recalls exactly why he thought it would work. “Young people distrust everything, right?” Hochman said. “They just distrust all advertising. So, here’s this character, and the whole joke was, ‘I’m here to sell you fried chicken. I’m a character.’ And then we’re going to lean into it and break the fourth wall.” So, Hochman kept tweaking the idea, bringing it back to KFC leadership until it got the OK. And he was proven right. KFC U.S. didn’t report a single quarter of negative same-store sales from the first quarter of 2015 through mid-2019. And it wasn’t lost on
multiple former Yum Brands executives that KFC has not been the same domestically since Hochman left. The story also taught Hochman a key lesson. Take risks. But be prepared. “You can take risks if you’re a young person, but you need to make sure you’ve got Plan B and Plan C covered so your leadership can support you and have your back,” he said. “(Novak) may not agree with the direction, but he had our back because we showed him that we prepared.” Hochman is an avid runner and tennis player. But he is at his best in the kitchen. When he has dinner parties, which he and his wife, Ann, love to host, he spends most of his time working on the meal. Ann is the one who is out front. “You might not actually talk to him a lot at those dinner parties, because he’s usually in the kitchen and he’s got a set schedule and it’s a multi-course meal and he’s usually the one doing the majority of the work,” Chili’s CMO George Felix said. That included his 50th birthday party.
While Hochman at this point of his career can certainly afford a chef or a caterer, he instead invited a select group of friends from around the country and prepared a selection of items unique to them. It’s a trait he learned from his mother, Zella Hochman. Kevin Hochman grew up in Miami, the youngest of three children, and his mother was a big influence. “She lived to serve others,” Hochman said. “She loved having friends over. She loved when we had friends over. She wanted to make them feel special.” She died last June. The following month, Chili’s had its annual conference for general managers. The chain’s loyal employees are known as “Chiliheads.” “It seems like a silly name, Chilihead, and I thought it was silly when I first heard it,” Hochman said. “I really understand what it is now. Chilheads are people who love to serve others. They don’t take themselves too seriously. We’re just serving beer, Southwest Eggrolls and burgers. They love to serve each
CHILI’S U.S. SYSTEM SALES Chili’s U.S. system sales increased 15% in 2024, enabling the chain to overtake longtime rival Applebee’s. Here’s Chili’s sales since 2000.
Source: Technomic | * In billions of $s
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HOCHMAN WORKED ALONGSIDE NUMEROUS PEOPLE AT PROCTER & GAMBLE WHO WOULD GO ON TO BE TOP EXECUTIVES ELSEWHERE. | PHOTO BY TERRI GLANGER
other, too. Not just serve the guests. “They like that. They call it ‘shift happens,’ and ‘let’s play a restaurant.’ The idea that, your restaurant’s busy, you get slammed, and then you make it out, and you’ve delighted a lot of guests, and you’ve done it as a team. That’s the ideal for a Chilihead. I told the general managers: I think my mom was a Chilihead, even though she’s never worked at Chili’s. It really dawned on me, why I like working at this company so much. As silly as the name is, I’m a Chilihead.” Hochman cut his teeth at two companies that have served as training grounds for future restaurant executives: Yum Brands and Procter & Gamble. He took an entry-level position as a cost forecaster in the Baltimore office of Procter & Gamble, which makes products like Tide, Dawn and Mr. Clean. That’s where he met Ann, who was a marketing intern at the time. Marketing is a big deal at the company, and marketing interns typically outrank entry- level finance people. Ann was working on a prom promotion for a cosmetics brand. Hochman’s job was to provide the financial analysis. She expected it to take weeks. He got it done immediately. “I looked like a rock star,” she said. “He’s really efficient.” Ann knew immediately he would be
successful. “It was always obvious to me he was the smartest guy in the room,” Ann said. There appears to be some disagreement, however, as to Hochman’s work as a cost forecaster. “I was terrible,” he said. But another executive with Procter & Gamble, Todd Magazine, saw Hochman’s potential, brought him over to marketing and took him under his wing. That would be a key moment for Hochman, because sponsorship from a marketing leader is how Procter & Gamble employees could make their way over to that department. That was where Hochman worked on the rebranding of Old Spice deodorant in 2010. The brand at the time was known mostly for older men. But the company overhauled its identity, starting with a series of video ads repositioning the deodorant for a younger generation. The campaign, from Wieden + Kennedy, would be a huge success and drove sales for the brand. Wieden would go on to do the KFC Colonel campaign. “It’s not that different from the KFC transformation,” said Esi Eggleston Bracey, who worked with Hochman at Procter & Gamble and is now the chief growth and marketing officer with Unilever. “How do you take outdated Old Spice and make it relevant again?” Hochman worked alongside numerous
people at Procter & Gamble who would go on to be top executives elsewhere, including Bracey, George Felix, Sonic President Jim Taylor, Arby’s President David Graves, Shake Shack CEO Rob Lynch and Brian Niccol from Starbucks. Niccol left Procter & Gamble to take a job with Taco Bell and told Hochman about a job at the chain’s international division. Hochman ended up interviewing with David Novak about a job overseeing marketing at one of Yum’s U.S. chains. Novak asked him whether he’d prefer working at Taco Bell or KFC. “I said, ‘Well, I don’t think I want to do Taco Bell because they’re doing so well and all you could do was mess it up,’” Hochman said. “I don’t love just being given a playbook and running it. The KFC brand seems like it should be doing a lot better. It’s got the Colonel. It’s got fried chicken. Everybody’s grown up on it.” That’s how Hochman ended up at Yum Brands, itself an executive incubator. Some 30 people who worked under Novak have gone onto become CEO of other companies. The company taught Hochman a lot, particularly about people culture. Yum had a strong culture of recognition under Novak, who would recognize top employees with a rubber chicken. Executives throughout the company did something similar, including Hochman, who would give out pictures of top
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