Dave's Dispatch
David Farkas has worked for Chain Leader as a senior editor since 1998. With Dave's Dispatch he provides not only plump bits of industry gossip, but news and analysis found nowhere else.
Influence Peddling: A Disclosure
In the fourth quarter of 2009, McDonald’s Corp. and Starbucks Corp. spent nearly the same amounts on lobbying members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, $200,000 and $190,000, respectively, according to documents filed with the Office of the Clerk. I’m not sure what those amounts accomplished for either chain (there’s no requirement to disclose that) but t ...... Read More
Comments (0)The Gyro that Got Away (Maybe)
Ever have the feeling you missed something cool because you didn’t take time to investigate? Well, I do. And it’s especially bad because it had to do with food and restaurants, which I obsess over — especially when there’s no one around to annoy. And there wasn’t yesterday as I tooled home from western Pennsylvania. For some reason I could only muster the e ...... Read More
Comments (0)Boston Market's $2.99 Meal Deal
Last night I stopped by Boston Market to purchase a meal for the astonishingly low price of $2.99. Wow. Funny, I thought. There’s no sign proclaiming the deal. Surely, a sign with that price tag would drive people into the restaurant. Still, I hadn’t swung around the front of the building when I entered. Maybe I missed it. Inside, no sign either. What gives, I asked the manager. Chap ...... Read More
Comments (3)Hope Springs Eternal, Numbers Don't Lie
RBC Capital Markets analyst Larry Miller issued a report recently that showed the restaurant sales may be on the rebound. “For the first time since we’ve been tracking it, net spending plans (More minus Less) at restaurants turned positive,” he writes. As evidence, he cites a one percent gain in “spending plans” at restaurants over the next 90 days in February co ...... Read More
Comments (1)Animal Rights, With a Twist
Using animals for food, entertainment, research, or sport never fails to spark controversy. Here we go again, but with a new wrinkle this time: Animal-rights folks aren’t doing enough to help animals. Yesterday, the Center for Consumer Freedom, through an affiliated Web site, ran a full-page ad in the New York Times alleging that the Humane Society of the United States spent virtuall ...... Read More
Comments (2)Today's Growth Chains
Jeffrey Bernstein, a restaurant analyst at Barclays Capital, recently examined sales and unit growth over the past five years at 150 private chains with 100 or more units. He was startled by the results. “Surprisingly, growth is coming from segments that already appear well saturated,” Bernstein writes in a report published today. Those segments include sandwich, bakery, burgers, and ...... Read More
Comments (2)Hooters Uncovered
Did you catch last night’s episode of “Undercover Boss” on CBS? It was up against tough competition, namely, NBC’s broadcast of skiing and skating events at the Winder Olympics. Still, it was a mildly entertaining diversion from all that ice and snow. If you did watch I’m curious what you thought of Hooters President and CEO Coby Brooks in his role as undercover ...... Read More
Comments (0)Quiz: How Hard is Your Job?
Been keeping up with industry happenings? If so, you should have no trouble breezing through the following seven questions, all about recent events. As always, the right click immediately demonstrates your unfailing knowledge of current events. The wrong one, well … start the video at 1:25 for its full effect. 1. Pasta Pomodoro CEO Matthew Janopaul told Chain Leader that ...... Read More
Comments (1)Fast Food: Mr. Kumpir Makes Its Debut
With all due respect, the words “Canada” and “trendiness” don’t often appear in the same sentence. Yet last week the widely read Globe and Mail surmised that trendiness, in fact, accounted for the recent influx of fast-food joints into Vancouver. “Our trendsetting nature partly explains why Fatburger, Beard Papa’s, Starbucks brea ...... Read More
Comments (0)Obama's Speech: Republicans Nay, NRA Yea
I don’t know if you caught it but when President Obama proposed eliminating the capital gains tax for small businesses in last night’s State of the Union address, nary a Republican in the chamber applauded. That surprised me given party members are usually behind anything that fosters free enterprise. Yet the normally right-leaning National Restaurant Association praised ...... Read More
Comments (8)Current Affairs: Restaurant Chains
Scott Hume, a journalist who runs the excellent website Burgerbusiness.com, was interviewed during a conference call this afternoon by restaurant analyst Mark Kalinowski of Janney Montgomery Scott. When Kalinowski asked his guest for a take on the industry’s current state of affairs, Hume ticked off several items, including the following: • That chain restaurants are in ...... Read More
Comments (0)Quiz: Bellwether State
Today’s quiz theme is the bellwether state for all things foodservice. I speak, of course, of California, which has long been at the forefront of the industry’s biggest shifts. As always, right answers are immediately rewarded. Wrong ones, not so much – though what turns up will leave you shaking your head … it’s sooo Left C ...... Read More
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