This week on NRN.com, the top story was Menu Tracker: New items from McDonald’s, Arby’s, and Whataburger. Plus innovation at &pizza, Baskin-Robbins, Bonchon, Bruster’s Real Ice Cream, Burgerville, Chicken Guy, Donatos Pizza, Dutch Bros, Fiiz Drinks, The Flying Biscuit Café, Frank Pepe’s Pizza Napoletana, Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers, Gott’s Roadside, Handel’s Homemade Ice cream, Hardee’s, Hopdoddy Burger Bar, IHOP, Krispy Kreme, Mountain Mike’s Pizza, Nekter Juice Bar, Noodles & Company, Nothing Bundt Cakes, Penn Station East Coast Subs, PJ’s Coffee of New Orleans, Potbelly, Pretzelmaker, Ruby Tuesday, Rush Bowls, Shipley Do-Nuts, Sweet Paris, Texas de Brazil, Velvet Taco, Viva Chicken, Voodoo Doughnut, Yampa Sandwich Company, and Ziggi’s Coffee.
Plus, the wave of 2024 restaurant bankruptcies may not be breaking anytime soon. A report surfaced earlier this week from Bloomberg that Seattle-based MOD Pizza is the latest chain to consider such a move. That report was followed by a Wall Street Journal report that MOD hired legal and financial advisers to work on a “potential bankruptcy filing” while searching for a buyer.
Also, something happened in Q1 that hasn’t happened in the past 11 quarters – IHOP experienced a same-store sales decrease (-1.7%). The company’s results certainly weren’t unusual; much of the industry turned in a dismal performance at the start of the year as consumers aggressively tightened their spending reins.
For IHOP, these results signaled an urgency to change its strategy, and to do so quick. Fortuitously, the company had already been laying a strong foundation to be able to do just that. When Kieran Donahue was named chief marketing officer in 2021, one of her initial priorities was to build out a deeper innovation pipeline – specifically, a pantry that is 24 months out by the end of 2024. Having a more robust playbook in place has since allowed the company to pivot much faster.
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