This podcast series from the publishers of FastCasual.com, PizzaMarketplace.com and QSRweb.com provides restaurant owners and executives with the insights and inspiration they need to grow their brands. Each episode features interviews with experienced restauranteurs, industry experts, and thought leaders, who share practical tips and advice for running a successful restaurant business.
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After nearly five decades as a beloved Texas icon, Taco Cabana is officially taking its signature breakfast tacos and Mexican-inspired menu across state lines. Spurred by a recent acquisition and a newly designed, smaller-footprint prototype optimized for modern off-premise dining and delivery, the 140-unit chain is launching its first major out-of-state franchise expansion. By strategically…
What happens when the fast-casual restaurant industry doubles in size over a decade? It stops just serving food and starts operating like a high-tech powerhouse. In the latest episode of the Restaurant Operator Podcast, Cherryh Cansler, publisher of FastCasual.com, sits down with Luke Wilwerding, Vice President of North America Sales at Elo Touch Solutions , to unpack the highly anticipated…
Crafting a solid real estate strategy is obviously central to growing any restaurant brand, but there those plans differ dramatically depending on the brand, a lesson I learned firsthand during a podcast during ICSC in Las Vegas. I sat down with Dannon Shiff, VP of Real Estate for Dave's Hot Chicken , and Abe Nasrallah, SVP of Real Estate at Wonder, to discuss how shifting consumer behavior,…
How does an independent pizza brand with zero initial restaurant experience scale to seven — and soon nine — locations while going head-to-head with venture-backed national chains? In this episode of the Restaurant Operator Podcast, host Mandy Detwiler, editor of Pizza Marketplace and QSRweb, sits down with Enga Stanfield, co-owner of Texas-based Mattenga's Pizzeria, to uncover the tech stack…
It doesn't matter how good your food is if your restaurant is in the wrong place. That was the primary takeaway from a recent episode of The Restaurant Operator podcast, where I interviewed Ebere Anokute, head of retail research for CBRE, during the ICSC real estate conference in Las Vegas. We dove into the shifting dynamics of restaurant real estate, modern data trends, and the intangible…
In this episode of the Restaurant Operator Podcast, host Mandy Detwiler, editor of QSRweb.com and Pizza Marketplace, chats with Jill Chapman, senior director of corporate partnerships for CORE. CORE is a national non-profit that financially supports food and beverage service families in times of crisis. CORE was founded 22 years and was run by volunteers up into 2015 when it hired its first…
In this episode of the Restaurant Operator Podcast, host Mandy Detwiler, editor of Pizza Marketplace and QSRweb, chats with Shawn Lalehzarian, co-founder of The Red Chickz , a West Coast Nashville hot chicken brand that opened its first unit in Los Angeles in 2018. Lalehzarian began his restaurant career as a dishwasher in a local restaurant in San Diego in 1998. He eventually moved on to be an…
Beverages have become big business as boba, dirty sodas, coffee and kombucha take center stage on the franchising market. Juice It Up , which has been selling cold and raw-pressed juices, smoothies, açaí bowls. toasts and bagels for more than 30 years, has been an industry leader. In this episode of the Restaurant Operator Podcast, host Mandy Detwiler, editor of QSRweb and Pizza Marketplace ,…
In this episode of the Restaurant Operator Podcast, host Mandy Detwiler, editor of Pizza Marketplace and QSRweb, talks with Brian Simowitz, president, and Andie Smirl, director of franchise sales, for Houston TX Hot Chicken . The Nashville hot chicken concept launched during COVID in 2020 in Las Vegas. The brand now has 31 units. Part of what draws diners to the concept is its electric brand…
In the high-pressure environment of a professional kitchen, communication is the invisible thread that prevents a service from unraveling into chaos. A "call and response" system ensures the front-of-house servers and the back-of-house line cooks remain perfectly synchronized; when a lead expeditor calls out an order, the collective "heard" from the kitchen staff confirms that every component,…