Panera Brands tightens its belt. A college addresses food insecurity. Plus, a closer look at industry job performance. These stories and more This Week in Foodservice.

If there isn’t a Starbucks near you, there may soon be. As part of its Triple Shot Reinvention initiative, the Seattle-based coffee giant plans to accelerate store expansion to 55,000 units on a global basis by 2030. That will translate into opening roughly eight new units per day, according to the chain. 

As a true sign of the times, Starbucks will lean heavily on technology to drive performance, as this Restaurant Business story notes. The company plans to extend its Microsoft partnership to leverage artificial intelligence to “take product development and personalization to the next level.”

Starbucks will also work with Apple on what it terms as the company’s first “Green Apron Innovation store,” where it will experiment and refine its use of technology. And it plans to reimagine the customer experience by using Amazon One and Just Walk Out Technology.  

The ambitious plan also calls for a $3 billion investment into making stores more efficient and working to enhance its relationship with the staff that work in its stores. 

Foodservice News This Week

• The National Restaurant Education Foundation provided scholarships to 300 students at 139 colleges and universities. They were selected to receive scholarships to support their goals – part of $1 million awarded annually by the NRAEF. The recipients range from 17 to 66 years old and 98% have already worked in a restaurant. They are pursuing a range of studies – including culinary arts, tourism and hospitality management, human resources and computer science – highlighting the multitude of careers that exist in the restaurant and hospitality industry.
• Fogo de Chao has a healthy appetite for growth. Bain Capital, which acquired Fogo de Chao in August, plans to grow the Brazilian steakhouse 15% or more each year, particularly in international markets, per a Nation’s Restaurant News Story. The nearly 50-year-old chain has 80 locations globally and plans to grow to 100 units within the next 5 years.
• Panera Brands is getting a little leaner. In advance of its initial public offering, the multiconcept operator laid off 17% of its corporate staff, as this Restaurant Dive story notes. Panera Brands is not the only company to take this kind of step. Chipotle and McDonald’s trimmed its corporate staff earlier this year, as the story notes.
• Pitt Eats’ initiative helps address food insecurity. Pitt Eats installed food lockers in one of its campus buildings to address food insecurity and streamline food distribution. The initiative is part of Pitt's ongoing commitment to enhancing student well-being and accessibility to essential resources and is being done with Chartwells Higher Education, Pitt Eats’ contract foodservice provider. The food lockers will serve a dual purpose by providing a temperature-controlled storage solution for on-campus dining and free meals in partnership with Pitt Pantry, the University of Pittsburgh’s resource for food-insecure students. Out of the 61 compartments, 25 are dedicated to Pitt Pantry meals, 20 for on-campus mobile orders, and 16 for grocery deliveries. This initiative is the first step as Pitt Eats plans to expand these food lockers across the campus to reach more students. The food locker initiative is a collaboration between Pitt Eats, Food Recovery Heroes—a student-run organization combating food insecurity and food waste—and various local eateries. Volunteers will help package meals every day, contributing to the reduction of food waste and supporting students in need.

Economic News This Week

• The U.S. economy added 150,000 jobs in October, and the unemployment rate changed little at 3.9%, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. Job gains occurred in health care, government, and social assistance. Employment declined in manufacturing due to strike activity. Notably, the United Autoworkers Union was on strike at plants for three major automobile manufacturers and that impacted hiring in the sector. The job gains were about 30,000 less than economists had projected, per a Yahoo! Finance report. Closer to home, though, the restaurant industry lost 7,500 positions for the month. Factor in downward revisions to the employment data from August and September, and the industry has yet to fully recover from the pandemic-related job losses, per the National Restaurant Association. As of October, eating and drinking places jobs were 0.1% less than they were in February of 2020.
• Private sector employment increased by 113,000 jobs in October and annual pay was up 5.7% year-over-year, according to the ADP National Employment Report. Medium-sized employees led the way by adding 78,000 positions. Small and large employers added 19,000 and 18,000 positions, respectively. Education and healthcare were among the segments leading the employment gains.
• Initial jobless claims increased by 5,000 for a total of 217,000 for the week ending October 28, per the U.S. Department of Labor. The 4-week moving average was 210,000, an increase of 2,000 from the previous week.
• The number of job openings totaled 9.6 million on the last business day of September, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. Over the month, the number of hires and total separations came in at 5.9 million and 5.5 million, respectively. Within separations, quits totaled 3.7 million and layoffs and discharges totaled 1.5 million. September’s report represents little change from the previous month per the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
• U.S.-based employers announced 36,836 cuts in October, per data from Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a global outplacement and business and executive coaching firm. This represents a 22% decrease from the 47,457 cuts announced one month prior. It is 9% greater than the cuts announced in the same month last year. “Job cut plans have slowed significantly since the first half of the year, and consumers have continued to spend, even in the face of high inflation. Pandemic savings and higher wages have gotten many workers through economic uncertainty,” said Andy Challenger, labor expert and Senior Vice President of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.
• Labor productivity increased 4.7% in the third quarter of 2023, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. Output increased 5.9% and hours worked increased 1.1%. The increase in labor productivity is the highest rate since the third quarter of 2020, in which productivity increased 5.7%. From the same quarter a year ago, nonfarm business sector labor productivity increased 2.2% in the third quarter of 2023.
• New orders for manufactured goods in September increased 2.8%, per data from the U.S. Commerce Department. This follows a 1.0% August increase and represents the largest increase since January 2021, per a MarketWatch story. September’s gain was 0.3% greater than what some economists had projected. Shipments increased 0.4% and unfilled orders were up 1.4%. Transportation equipment led the increase, growing 12.7%. New orders for manufactured nondurable goods increased 1.0%.
• Economic activity in the manufacturing sector contracted in October for the 12th consecutive month, per the Manufacturing ISM Report On Business. The Manufacturing PMI came in at 46.7%, which is 2.3% less than September.
• Economic activity in the services sector expanded in October for the 10th consecutive month, per the Services ISM Report On Business. The Services PMI registered 51.8%. Despite posting a 1.8% decline, the index remains in expansion territory.