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The Restaurant Financial Model: How the P&L Actually Works
Master the P&L structure restaurant operators need to understand. Learn which metrics drive profit, how to calculate them, and why most operators miss the critical insights. Read more
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A 300-Unit Wendy’s Franchisee Just Went Bankrupt. Beef Was Only the Excuse.
Meritage Hospitality Group, operator of 314 Wendy’s locations across 15 states, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on September 18. The company blamed rising beef costs and weak traffic. USDA has wholesale beef running anywhere from 3 to 15 percent higher year over year depending on cut and region. That’s the headline. Here is the part… Read more
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Starbucks-Chipotle: the only CEO who could price this deal correctly happens to run one of them
A tie-up between Starbucks and Chipotle surfaced in the trade press this week. Chipotle reportedly hired bankers to fend off a possible takeover, and the speculation kept landing on Starbucks as the buyer. Sources close to Chipotle say no bid has been made. The market shrugged. CMG ticked up about as much as SBUX ticked… Read more
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Cracker Barrel up 5 percent on a zero-growth quarter. McDonald’s down on a spending plan. That is the whole story.
Two restaurant giants reported this week and the market’s reaction told operators everything about which capital allocation strategy Wall Street wants right now. Cracker Barrel (NASDAQ: CBRL) closed today’s session up more than 5 percent on a fiscal Q4 that showed comparable restaurant sales down 2.1 percent and guest traffic down 6.1 percent. The stock… Read more
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McDonald’s investor day preview: Three questions the CEO has to answer, and one he probably won’t
The stock is at a 52-week low. The CEO called out execution problems on the last earnings call. Tomorrow he takes the stage in Chicago for the first investor day in three years. Three questions decide whether Wednesday fades or rallies, and one question he probably will not answer. Read more
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Blackstone Took Chips Off the Table at Jersey Mike’s. It Did Not Exit.
Blackstone sold a slice of Jersey Mike’s at a below-entry valuation and kept the majority stake. What that means for restaurant operators. Read more
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Prime Cost Recovery Playbook: When You’re Above 65% and Need to Get Back
The sequenced levers to pull when prime cost creeps above 65 percent. Real numbers, real examples, no filler. Read more
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How Same-Store Sales Are Actually Calculated (And Why the Number You See Isn’t Yours)
What SSS actually measures, how public chains compute it, why traffic and check split matter more than the ratio itself, and Q2 2026 chain-by-chain benchmarks. Read more
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The Restaurant Labor Cost Benchmark Everyone Quotes Is Wrong (Here’s the Real One)
Real 2026 labor benchmarks by concept, Q2 disclosures from 12 public chains, and the four rules for comparing your labor cost to a public peer honestly. Read more
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Wendy’s Just Admitted It Broke Its Value Equation. Every Restaurant CFO Should Read the Quote.
Wendy’s CEO Bob Wright just admitted the chain broke its own value equation. The financial fallout, and the four lessons every restaurant CFO should take. Read more
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Stripe vs Square vs Chase for Restaurant Merchant Services (2026)
Free: The Restaurant Financial Health Checklist. The 6 numbers a chain CFO tracks weekly, plus 30 yes/no questions you can run against your P&L in 15 minutes. Written by a former chain CFO. Instant PDF. Send me the checklist Unsubscribe anytime. Bottom line: For a single-location restaurant already on Toast, Square, or Clover, the POS-bundled… Read more