RESTAURANT FINANCE

Why Is There a Disconnect in Selling Prices?

2016 was an interesting year in restaurant finance. All the year’s action—the growing impact of activist shareholders, changes at the SBA franchise registry, the overall beating in casual dining’s performance and yet, new finance…

What is the Future of Restaurant Companies?

Iconic restaurant companies are unique to the U.S. restaurant industry. Every major U.S. city has restaurant companies that have developed multi-brands and have established a special position in the city, like Union Square Hospitality…

Finding Revenue Under the Rocks

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…

Traditional Food Courts to be Traditional No More

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…

Making the Grade with Non-Traditional Restaurant Sites: Airports, Colleges and Pop-ups/Kiosks

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…

Legal and Financial Thoughts for The Top 200

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…

Early Stage Restaurant Investing

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…

A Fair Approach to Franchising

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 Company or Twenty Companies?

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…

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