My last few columns have dealt with non-traditional restaurant venues. What is significant about them is they create more revenue sources. It is not that people, if they had their druthers, wouldn’t prefer traditional…
Probably the best known nontraditional restaurant sites—and maybe, in some ways, they are traditional—are food courts. In my quest to get a handle on them, I have come to the conclusion I’m not sure…
There has been a great deal written about nontraditional restaurant sites (NTS), but not about their economic viability. While traditional restaurant sites are defined as stand-alone, inline or first floors of hotels and office…
As you can see from the Monitor’s annual Top 200 ranking of the largest franchisees, a significant share are multi-concept operators. Multiple concepts seem to be the trend and a way for the large…
A good friend of mine invests in early stage restaurant companies and new concepts. The first thing he asks is, “What are my dining privileges?” and “How many gift cards do I get?” It’s…
As franchisees become more sophisticated, they are more discerning when choosing that next opportunity. Assembled with the help of my partner, Jim Wahl, below is a checklist of the key elements franchisors need to…
One of the old debates in the restaurant industry concerns the way to structure the overall company—whether to create a single or multiple companies organized by units, property ownership or geographic region. Here are…
You know the old adage “How do you make a million dollars in the restaurant industry? You start out with two million.” It may not apply in today’s more thoughtful restaurant business environment, but…
The year 2015 was not a terribly monumental 12 months for new financing ideas. Instead, it was an overall dynamic market, a continuation of current trends and an acceleration of competition because of the…
