At no point since Independent Joe began publishing in 2012 has there been as strong a push to unionize quick-service restaurants as there is today. In the last edition of this magazine, with the cover echoing patriot Paul Revere’s call, “The unions are coming! The unions are coming!” we saw how a nascent effort to…
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Customers attracted by savings of money and time We are undoubtedly in a subscription economy. While streaming services like Netflix, Hulu and Spotify are the masters of it, you can also subscribe to dog food, wine, gyms, razors and car washes. And restaurants, of course, have long sought a way into this now $64 billion…
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Facing a continued staffing crisis and growing labor costs, many businesses are looking beyond the next hire. Consider the barista who never calls in sick or the coffee-making bots that brew up to 300 portions per shift, work 24/7 and never take breaks, except for refilling or cleaning. In many ways, the crippling U.S. labor…
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For Andy Awale, who opened his first Dunkin’ in Georgia in 2015 and now has 10 locations, the spotlight was shining down on his new restaurant in Woodstock. On March 24, 2021, the location at 8000 Alabama Road NE (in metro Atlanta) officially became the one thousandth Next Gen restaurant to open in the Dunkin’…
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For quarantine weary diners, the fast food breakfast industry has echoed with a clear message: We have some cool new foods to try for your morning meal. After 2020 when product innovation was largely put on hold as restaurants focused on staying afloat and managing health and safety issues, the leading chains launched 2021 with…
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As 2021 got started, two important events began changing the outlook for the nation’s battered restaurant industry. People started getting vaccines and receiving a new round of $600 government relief checks. Data from the same period shows same-store sales increasing at many chain restaurants, according to the data insight company Black Box Intelligence. That matches…
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It’s easy to typecast the Dunkin’ customer as a blue-collar, regular joe, who cares about basic coffee and donuts. It’s especially easy when comparing Dunkin’ to Starbucks. But, Dunkin’ has consistently shown its willingness to shake up the menu and give customers a chance to sample healthier alternatives. Consider the veggie egg-white flatbread, or the…
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In the months before anyone was talking about coronavirus, the outlook at Jack in the Box was bleak. Since 2015, sales had been on a mostly flat trajectory, powered by low price meal deals. Increases in sales were modest and typically not enough to offset the rising cost of labor and goods. For the franchisees,…
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Go west, young man,” has been the call since the frontier days, along with the belief that more opportunities are available out west for pioneering spirits. This has proved true for Dunkin’, as the chain celebrated the opening of its 100th store in California, the land of the gold rush – and a rush of…
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We don’t need to tell you about the labor shortage in QSR restaurants. It’s probably one of the things that keeps you up at night. It’s definitely an issue for Alex Fernandez, who owns one Dunkin’ shop in St. John’s County, Florida, and five other locations in neighboring counties. With an unemployment rate of 2.8…
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