Category
Franchise economics, pricing, food costs, real estate, payments
210 articles
RSSSweetgreen reports $125.8 million in net income and a $34.3 million operating loss. Its filings distinguish the Spyce gain, sale cash and continued technology access.
The first-quarter reconciliation shows how stronger restaurant contribution can coexist with a company operating loss, and which costs sit between them.
Systemwide same-shop transactions grew 5.1% in Q1, while company-shop gross margin fell to 20%. Coffee, food and rent weighed on costs.
Higher sales and better restaurant margins coexist with falling comparable traffic and a wider net loss in First Watch’s first quarter.
Delivery supplied about 54% of company sales in Q1. Rider costs squeezed restaurant margin, while corporate cost savings helped operating margin rise.
North American revenue rose $421.1 million while operating income fell $68.4 million. A constant-margin comparison helps explain the size of the gap.
The distributor’s margin, a store’s invoice and a franchisee’s profit-sharing credit measure different parts of the same supply relationship.
Taco Bell projected 300-plus Cantinas by 2022. About 50 exist in 2026. The gap between ambition and reality reveals why alcohol's 80% gross margins don't translate to QSR profits at scale, and why the real beverage opportunity is non-alcoholic.
Brian Niccol's Back to Starbucks plan is driving traffic for the first time in two years. But North America operating margins contracted 420 basis points in Q1 FY2026, RBC Capital and Wolfe Research both downgraded the stock in one week, and the CFO admits two-thirds of the damage is labor spending with no clear end date. For restaurant operators everywhere, Starbucks is now the industry's most expensive case study in what turnarounds actually cost.
New data from AlixPartners' Proprietary Pricing Platform reveals that menu prices outpaced inflation across 90,000 locations, but transaction values fell behind. With gas at $3.94 a gallon and Oxford Economics projecting the slowest consumption growth since 2013, the restaurant pricing playbook is being rewritten in real time.
McDonald's reports Q1 2026 earnings on April 23. After a strong Q4 with U.S. comps up 6.8%, management already warned investors to expect a sequential slowdown. Here's what operators and investors should watch.
In late February 2026, Wall Street repriced fast-casual growth stocks aggressively, sending Wingstop, Shake Shack, and CAVA lower while McDonald's and Starbucks surged on execution. The divergence signals a fundamental shift in how investors value restaurant growth.