This week on Nation's Restaurant News the top story was Higher prices aren’t the only reason QSRs are losing traffic. The quick-service segment continues to hemorrhage traffic, a trend that has been in play now for over a year at many brands. Plenty of blame has been placed on stubbornly high menu prices, and for good reason – the inflation index for limited-service restaurants continues to far outpace the general Consumer Price Index.
In other news, Immersion Investments has penned a letter to Potbelly Corporation’s board of directors and management team urging immediate action to maximize value for shareholders. The activist investor holds 299,906 shares of Potbelly, making it one of the company’s top 20 shareholders.
Also, In conjunction with the release of Starbucks’ disappointing Q4 preliminary results, new CEO Brian Niccol — who joined the company at the tail end of the quarter — released a video about the path forward for the Seattle coffee chain.
In the video, Niccol emphasized five key areas of concentration for Starbucks, which will report a 7% global same-store sales decline during its next earnings call on Oct. 30: coffee product development, barista needs, experience improvement during peak hours, emphasis on community, and brand architecture overhaul.
See what else was trending on NRN.com this week.
