Jonathan Maze

Why is it always Starbucks?

"When you get customers who are that delighted with something, it's worth your time and energy to make it work."

Andy Wiederhorn is taking a "temporary leave of absence" as CEO of Fat Brands through the bankruptcy process as part of a deal with the company's lenders. His family members and the company's board are being replaced. The court must still OK the deal. restaurantbusinessonline.com/financing/fat-…

McDonald's last year actively lowered prices on its bundled meals, which is as aggressive as you'll see. We've talked about weak traffic since 2023. McDonald's has talked about "two economies" for 2 years. If you don't know of the bifurcated economy you're not paying attention.

This is not remotely new. Restaurants have had traffic challenges for three years, largely rooted in weakness among low-income consumers. And it's easy to see why. Low-income consumers have been hit with all kinds of rising costs and their wages have not grown at the same rate. Rent costs more. They're paying back student loans or whatnot. Insurance costs are up. Good luck buying a house. Food costs are up. That has put a lot of pressure on this group to make ends meet. (And yes, a few of them are spending stupidly on things like third-party delivery, but that's not the biggest issue here.) These folks need higher gas prices like they need a hole in their head. And now the labor market is weakening, which will likely make matters worse. Oh, and god help you if you're a newly minted college graduate, thanks to AI. Restaurants with a lot of low-income consumers have been fighting one of the most extensive value wars we've seen since the Great Recession. They raised their prices because their own prices went up and now they have to offer deals to get these customers in the door. Three out of 10 transactions are on a deal right now. Wealthier customers with higher paying jobs have watched their stock values go up and feel relatively comfortable and they've been spending. But if you've been watching the fast-food business it's pretty clear that the economy is bifurcated and has been bifurcated for a while. McDonald's $3 value menu is one of a few $3 menus out there and is being done simply to bolster the value efforts it's been pushing since 2024.

Fat Brands should be boasting about the value creation of Twin Peaks. Instead it is selling the brand out of bankruptcy. restaurantbusinessonline.com/financing/what…

After careful consideration and a review of long-term objectives, we’ve made the decision to transition leadership 👑

@SameStoreGuy @McFranchisee Rewards members have been shown to visit more and spend more. But you can argue that it takes away from broader marketing, which hurts non rewards sales. But I’ve not seen data on the latter.

Does anyone have any good data on whether restaurant rewards actually drive higher sales? I know most restaurants claim visits are higher with rewards members, but I question whether that is correlation or causation. @jonathanmaze or @McFranchisee ?

@McFranchisee I'm not sure what the mint would do for my curls ...

@jonathanmaze In 2023 after the evil grimace shake went viral, the shamrock shake followed up. People were making their spin on the Shamrock shake, calling it the Shammy Irish Jig. I definitely think you should do this, make sure you get a good amount in the hair.

Just remember, if you forgot to wear green today ☘️ , you can pour a shammy on you and it will count.

@mhenderson33 Depreciation and Amortization!

Hey ⁦@jonathanmaze⁩ what say you?

Biglari said nothing about bitcoin in his annual message to shareholders ...

@jemooney He’ll no. But here you go: tiktok.com/t/ZThTYRw9m/

@jonathanmaze Any jelly beans

Got a bucket o’ meat.

@JamesOReillyHQ Technically I took 3.

@jonathanmaze Appreciate you taking one for the team

Came home to find these two things on my desk. My family both loves and hates me I think.

@JamesOReillyHQ tiktok.com/t/ZTh3fx9ya/

@jonathanmaze Please report on the jelly beans

@plattMSP That is a fair question ...

@jonathanmaze Why did they need to artificially flavor it Jon?

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Or, and hear me out on this, the company's years-long effort to improve operations and the huge dollars it's spent on remodels, etc., plus marketing and now a bit of good fortune are taking hold? Burger King still has a lot to prove but moments like this matter.