Mike Levinson, RD’s Post

It's no secret that we're getting less food for more money these days... 🌯 Chipotle is the most recent chain restaurant testing smaller portion sizes in select locations, raising questions about whether we're getting the same value for our money. Nathaniel Meyersohn's CNN Business article bites into the potential impact on our favorite burrito bowls. What do you think about this trend? Is shrinkflation impacting the deliciousness of our burrito bowls?? Share your thoughts below! 👇 https://lnkd.in/gAcjeupr #Shrinkflation #FoodIndustry #CustomerExperience #Chipotle

🍗 Happy National Fried Chicken Day! 🍗 Did you know? According to our latest survey, a whopping 79% of fried chicken fans prefer ordering from restaurant chains like KFC, Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, Chick-fil-A Restaurants, and Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers over c-store and grocery chains. Whether it's the crispy tenders, savory buckets, or mouthwatering sandwiches, these spots are a top choice for satisfying that fried chicken craving. Join us in celebrating today by indulging in your favorite fried chicken and sharing your delicious moments with us! Don't forget to tag your go-to spot and spread the love for #NationalFriedChickenDay. Curious for more insights into consumer preferences? We've compiled a detailed infographic with additional trends and data. Download the full infographic and dive deeper: https://hubs.ly/Q02Fsrn10 #FriedChicken #ConsumerInsights #NationalFriedChickenDay

This restaurant does an average volume of $5.4 million per store - second only to Chick-fil-A. But what’s wild is that they do it with only one menu item. Chicken fingers & fries. (they do have a sandwich option - but it’s literally chicken fingers on a bun.) Raising Cane’s strategy over the past 28 years boils down to having a simple menu with a laser focus on food and service quality. Customers know exactly what to expect and they don’t have to think about what to order. Todd Graves (the founder) explains it as "By adding just one more menu item, we'd force customers into making a decision, which would increase order times and affect our quality." When competitors zig, RC doesn’t zag. There’s no Nashville hot chicken or random LTO’s. Just chicken tendies and fries. Simplicity and consistency are superpowers in foodservice. Add in the ability to stay focused over a long period of time and you have as close to a recipe for success as you can create.

We weren’t kidding when we called our fries “restaurant-quality.” We’re the only fry brand you’ll be able to find at grocery stores AND at top restaurants across the country. Making “house-cut fries” is really hard for most chefs. They know how to do it. But they don’t have the space. They don’t have the staff (or if they do, it’s REALLY expensive). So they have to choose: sacrifice quality for convenience or stick with hand-cutting fries and live with the headaches. Most “frozen fries” are mid at best. We know because we tried them all. Jesse & Ben’s fries aren’t frozen fries. They are real Belgian-style, twice-fried fries that we freeze. Big difference. These fries are so good that chefs are proud to serve them on their menu. What restaurants need a fry upgrade??? Or if you have a restaurant and you’re cutting potatoes every day, how about you focus on what you do best and leave the fries to us! #theguysbehindthefries #jesseandbens #fries #frenchfries #frenchfries🍟 #cheflife #cheflife🔪

Celebrating #pizzaday with hot and fresh data! We conducted a survey across the United States with more than 2000 #mysteryshoppers to discover their pizza-purchasing habits! #pizzarestaurantowners, did you know that 61% prefer to order from a local or family/owned pizza restaurant rather than a recognized chain? Or that the quality of ingredients is the most important factor when choosing where to order pizza for 80% of customers? We had to ask the most burning question to end this debate once and for all. Surprisingly, pineapple is YES for more than half of our respondents. Do you agree with this statement? Let us know in the comments! Access our FULL pizza market study here: https://lnkd.in/gmWiTYP4 #ConsumerInsights #FoodTrends ##Pizza #cx Pizza Hut Domino's Papa Johns

Dogtown Pizza brings the taste of authentic St. Louis pizza straight to your local grocer and they're doing it with even greater efficiency thanks to their trusted conveyor system partner, Eaglestone Equipment "Eaglestone is the real thing. You can instantly tell how sturdy their conveyors are. They run so consistently." – Rick Schaper, Food Safety and Budgetary Manager at Dogtown Pizza Curious to see how Eaglestone is making an impact? Read the full story here. #FoodManufacturing #EaglestoneEquipment #DogtownPizza #ConveyorSystems #Partnerships #EfficiencyInAction

Those Chick-fil-A cow mascots exhorting you to eat more chicken may be the most powerful influencers out there. Since the chain kicked off a fierce fast-food battle for the best chicken sandwich, the dish has been pecking at the burger’s popularity crown. McDonald’s recently said that it’s making $25 billion off chicken annually, putting it on par with beef (though that figure includes nuggets). Sit-down restaurants are taking notes: According to Bloomberg, chicken sandwiches now feature on 47% of restaurant menus, while burgers are only on 41%. But don’t count the burger out just yet: Overall, people still order burgers twice as frequently as chicken sandwiches, per market researcher Circana.

Beer 🍺can be one of the most profitable segments at your restaurant or bar - and beer sales often exceed food sales in many operations. But in light of restaurant supply chain issues, labor shortages, and other challenges in the foodservice industry - what's on the horizon for beer? Before we look into the future of the beer industry, let's start by looking at sales trends over the past few years, and how that could impact what's coming in 2024 + beyond: https://hubs.ly/Q02ng2Cg0 #commercialrefrigeration #foodserviceequipment #beerindustry #foodserviceindustry

I don't know what to think about this one... The Wendy's Company is beginning to trial pricing for their restaurants where the SAME item of food costs varied pricing based on the demand ratio of their restaurant. If a restaurant is empty ... a burger costs $0.99 If a restaurant is busy ... the same burger costs 4x as much at $3.99 Although this should help with low footfall periods, hunger is a fairly quick renewable source of demand, my money is on all this will do is confuse customers into eating at their restaurants at different times of the day, lowering their footfall in peak periods as customers have already eaten at the cheaper periods. Squeezing the margins on their food lower and lower which isn't good for staff, shareholders or customers. It's a race to the bottom. #sales #marketing #wendys

Has that morning burrito or bagel gotten too expensive? When we talk about the increased cost of fast food, we often think in terms of burgers, fries and chicken sandwiches. But did you know that breakfast pricing at many chains is outpacing that of the rest of the menu (as in burgers, fries and chicken sandwiches)? In fact, morning prices have soared as much as 72% at a couple of chains over the past five years, according to a new report. And when it comes to certain items, the spikes can be higher -- like a 149% increase in the price of hash browns at one chain. I dig into what's happening -- and why it's happening -- in this story... https://lnkd.in/gBxd26dW