Why are activist investors taking an interest in the restaurant space? Can an iconic fast-casual chain learn new tricks? Where is Parts Town’s new fulfillment center? Answers to these questions and more This Week in Foodservice.

Editor’s note: This is the last edition of This Week in Foodservice for 2024. Please check back the week of January 6, 2025, for the next post. Thank you for reading and here’s wishing you the happiest and healthiest of holiday seasons.

Can old restaurants learn new tricks?

Leaders at a well-known fast-casual chain believe that’s the case. SSCP Management acquired Corner Bakery in 2023 and is taking several steps to revitalize the chain, including updating and enhancing the quality of its menu, per a Franchise Times story. The chain also remodeled 12 units in 2024 and plans to remodel a dozen more in the coming year. After installing self-ordering kiosks in a few locations this year, company leaders expect to have them in all locations by the end of 2025.

And the owners of Chicago’s iconic Italian Village Restaurant opened a new venue in the basement of the building. Sotto, which features a menu of Italian American comfort food, replaces a restaurant that closed in 2020. It’s the first new restaurant in the historic building since 1955, per a Chicago Eater story.

Foodservice News

• Why are restaurants such tempting targets for activist investors? With digital sales channels growing more important for operators across the board, the restaurant industry has shifted more toward a model that emphasizes efficiency over size, per a Restaurant Dive story. Growing off-premises revenue streams can boost sales and create shareholder value without incurring major real estate expenses. In other words, expect activist investors to remain, well, active in the coming year.
• Has BurgerFi finally found a home? Last week Happy Asker, the parent company for Savvy Sliders acquired BurgerFi, per Restaurant Business. It was the second time the chain had changed hands since October when lender TREW Capital bought the once burgeoning burger chain out of bankruptcy.
• Transit hubs can be big business for quick-service restaurants. QSR revenues at airports came in at $174 billion in 2023 and projections have that number swelling to $252 billion by 2023, a Restaurant Dive story citing projections from Spherical Insights. While airport sales seem poised to take flight, other hubs, like train stations, seem to be in the express lane with revenue, too. That’s why, for example, Pollo Campero, plans to open in New York City’s Penn Station in 2025.
• SPB Hospitality is sharpening the focus of its portfolio. The multiconcept operator sold five concepts to Kelly Companies of Southern California. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed but Kelly Companies acquired brewery restaurants Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery, Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant, ChopHouse & Brewery, Ragtime Tavern and Seven Bridges Grille & Brewery. SPB’s remaining collection of chains includes Krystal, Logan’s Roadhouse, Old Chicago Pizza & Taproom, J. Alexander’s, Stoney River Steakhouse and Grill, Amada Vino + Tapas and Village Whiskey.
• Format innovations will drive restaurant development in 2025. These include fast-casual spin-offs of casual dining chains and nontraditional locations. This is according to 39% of restaurant development + design readers participating in a pulse survey the magazine fielded earlier this fall.
• Marriott International expanded its outdoor-lodging offerings by acquiring Postcard Cabins, per a Hotel Management story. The company plans to launch an outdoor-focused collection of properties in 2025. Both Hyatt and Hilton have added outdoor hospitality options to their portfolios this year as more consumers seek new experiences, including those that bring them closer to nature.
• Parts Town Unlimited opened a 427,000-square-foot fulfillment center in Litchfield Park, Ariz. This is the largest fulfillment center yet for Parts Town Unlimited, which owns Parts Town, an OEM parts distributor, as well as Unlimited Service Group, which is a collection of 37 companies that install, maintain and repair commercial foodservice equipment. The facility’s inventory includes commercial appliance parts, residential appliance parts and HVAC parts to support Parts Town and Encompass Supply Chain Solutions.

Economic News

• November retail and foodservice sales increased 0.7% compared to the previous month, per an advance estimate from the U.S. Census Bureau. These results beat economists’ expectations, which called for a 0.6% sales increase, per Yahoo! Finance. This also represents a 3.8% increase from November 2023. Total sales for the September 2024 through November 2024 period were up 2.9% from the same period a year ago.
• The Consumer Price Index increased 2.7% for the 12-month period ending in November, per the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. While 0.1% greater than in October, this was still in line with economists’ expectations, per a Yahoo! Finance story. Restaurant prices, also known as food away from home prices, increased 3.6% for the 12-month period ending in November. In contrast, grocery prices increased only 1.6% for the same period.
• The Producer Price Index for final demand rose 0.4%in November, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. November’s increase was greater than the 0.2% economists had forecast, per a CNBC story. Excluding food and energy, though, the core PPI increased 0.2%, which met the forecast. Final demand prices increased 0.3% in October and 0.2% in September.
• Initial jobless claims climbed by 17,000 for a total of 242,000 for the week ending December 7, 2024, per the U.S. Department of Labor. This is significantly more than the 220,000 claims economists had projected, per a MarketWatch story. The 4-week moving average was 224,250, an increase of 5,750 from the previous week.