Noah Stern

While 2023 could be seen as a year of stagnation within the industry, I believe 2024 will be remembered as a year of strategic and thoughtful progress. As we close 2023, reflecting on the year, I’d like to offer three predictions going into 2024.

Throughout the pandemic, over 70,000 restaurants in the United States were forced to close. Despite recent negative news, ghost kitchens will play a part in the future of restaurant delivery.

Over the last decade, Jack in the Box's growth has been stagnant, operating fewer locations today than it did in 2012. Today, Jack in the Box might be the most exciting legacy brand going into 2024.

In 2019, the day Beyond Meat went public, it had one the highest growth IPO days for any American company over the last twenty years. Since then, marketing campaigns have quieted and public attention has diminished.

While consumers will continue to pay for food and beverage, the more restaurants increasing their prices, the less people are going to dine out. In the modern age of hospitality, technology is the necessary and logical solution.

In luxury dining, people are still willing to pay exorbitant prices, just for a different experience. No one has captured this better than Major Food Group.

According to Edison Trends, online ordering of fried chicken sandwiches increased 420% between January 2019 and December 2020. So how does one relatively new chicken tender and french fry chain stand out among the competition?

A great staff member can remember certain details personalizing a customer's experience. One founder is attempting to take this one step further by not only automating the collection of these preferences, but then rewarding the guest for their loyalty.

Restaurant operators understand that having consistent quality in a full-service restaurant, especially across vast geographic locations, can be a true logistical nightmare. However, one EU restaurant group ignored conventional thinking and it just paid off in a big way.

Chicago looks to approve a law that would abolish tips credits, while California wants to enact a law that could raise minimum wage for fast food workers to $20. This week, I want to examine the financial implications to owners and operators.