Will there be a recession in 2025? What role should restaurants play in consumers’ health? Which pizza concept is ready to take flight? Answers to these questions and more in This Week in Foodservice.

Denny’s CEO has big plans for its “small but mighty” sibling concept.

The company’s Keke’s Breakfast Café has 69 locations and saw same-store sales increase 3.9% during its second fiscal quarter, per a FSR magazine story. Interestingly, only 11% of Keke’s customers overlap with Denny’s, per the story, which means there’s considerable runway for Keke’s to grow.

And Denny’s is putting its money where its mouth is by supporting the chain with advertising, menu innovation, including adult beverage offerings, and more.

Foodservice News

• Cooper’s Hawk feels Piccolo Bucco is ready to take flight. The chain came to the U.S. in 2021 and offers a more upscale experience than the Italy-based locations. Plans are in place to open a second location in suburban Chicago in August and a third in Tampa, Fla., in October, Restaurant Business story. In addition to Piccolo Bucco’s signature Neapolitan pizza, the U.S. menu includes appetizers, pastas, and other entrees as well as wine from Cooper’s Hawk.
• Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores is leaning more heavily into digital ordering. The chain added order-ahead capabilities to all of its more than 130 Carl’s Jr. locations, per a Restaurant Dive story. This update to Love’s digital offerings comes less than a month after the company rolled out this service as well as ordering kiosks at 112 Arby’s locations.
• Consumers want restaurants to play a role in their healthy lifestyles. In fact, 51% of consumers said they “want restaurants to offer more healthy food options,” per data from Technomic. Further, when citing why they visit a restaurant, 51% of consumers said they “need it healthy” and 49% say they “need it wholesome.”
• Multiconcept operator SPB plans to sell its Old Chicago pizza chain, per multiple published reports. The company plans to focus more on its core business, which includes Krystal, Logan’s Roadhouse, and J Alexander’s, among others.
• Economic News

Economic News

• The U.S. economy will avoid a recession in 2025 and the U.S. Federal Reserve will not lower interest rates this year, per a report issued by Bank of America. In explaining their projections, analysts pointed to the fact that recent inflation and retail sales data were stronger than anticipated.
• The Conference Board Leading Economic Index for the U.S. declined 0.3% in June 2025 for a reading of 8. This comes after there was no change in May. As a result, the LEI fell by 2.8% over the first half of 2025, a faster rate of decline than the 1.3% contraction over the second half of 2024. Regarding the economic outlook for the remainder of the year, “At this point, The Conference Board does not forecast a recession, although economic growth is expected to slow substantially in 2025 compared to 2024. Real GDP is projected to grow by 1.6% this year, with the impact of tariffs becoming more apparent in H2 as consumer spending slows due to higher prices,” said Justyna Zabinska-La Monica, senior manager, business cycle indicators, at The Conference Board.
• S. retail and foodservice sales increased 0.6% in June compared to the previous month, per data from the U.S. Census Bureau. This is greater than the 0.2% increase economists had projected, per a CNN analysis. That said, given that inflation grew 0.3% for the month, sales grew by a more modest 0.3%. Still, growth is growth. Sales also increased 3.9% compared to June 2024. Total sales for the April 2025 through June 2025 period increased 4.1% from the same period a year ago.
• The Producer Price Index for final demand was unchanged in June, per the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. This beat economists’ projections, which called for a 0.2% increase for the month, per a CNBC story. Final demand prices increased 0.3% in May and declined 0.3% in April. The index for final demand increased 2.3% for the 12 months ended in June. In June, a 0.3% advance in prices for final demand goods offset a 0.1% decrease in the index for final demand services. Prices for final demand less foods, energy, and trade services were unchanged in June after inching up 0.1% in May. For the 12 months ended in June, the index for final demand less foods, energy, and trade services advanced 2.5%.
• June building permits for privately owned housing increased 0.2% compared to the previous month, per the U.S. Census Bureau. The 1.39 million permits were, however, 4.4% less than in June 2024 and represent an 11-month low, per multiple published reports. Housing starts increased 4.6% compared to May.
• Industrial production increased 0.3% in June, the U.S. Federal Reserve reported. Industrial production was unchanged in April and May and for the second quarter it increased at an annual rate of 1.1%. In June, manufacturing output grew 0.1%. The index for utilities rose 2.8%. At 104.0% of its 2017 average, total industrial production in June was 0.7 percent greater than its year-earlier level. Capacity utilization moved up to 77.6%, a rate that is 2.0 percentage points less than its long-run (1972–2024) average.