This week on Nation's Restaurant News the top story was How White Castle plans to grow under outside leadership. Quick-service slider chain White Castle is one of the few major restaurant chains still owned by its founding family. For the first time this month, the company announced the promotion of Anthony Joseph from chief administrative officer and general counsel to president — the first non-family member to hold this position at White Castle.
For CEO and fourth generation Ingram family leader, Lisa Ingram, the decision to bring in an outside perspective was a practical one: there was simply no one in the fifth generation at this time who was ready to take on the reins of president.
In other news, P.F. Chang’s is taking another stab at a limited-service spinoff concept. More than five years after selling off Pei Wei Asian Kitchen, the 300-unit Scottsdale, Az.-based casual-dining chain is testing out a fast-casual concept called Pagoda Asian Grill. The new offshoot already has three locations open in New York, Texas, and Florida, with a possible runway of 2,000 units.
Also, Red Robin released preliminary fourth quarter results last week ahead of the ICR Conference in Orlando, Fla., with same-store sales expected to increase by 3.4%, a measurable improvement from an otherwise sluggish 2024 that included comp sales of -6.5%, -0.8%, and 0.6% sequentially.
The positive Q4 projections exceeded analysts’ expectations and pushed shares up by double digits upon release of the news. During an interview at the conference, chief executive officer G.J. Hart cited the continued execution of his five-point “North Star” plan put into place in early 2023 after he joined the company. Last quarter, he admitted the process of a turnaround has been slower than preferred because of a tough macroeconomic backdrop, but now the momentum seems to be picking up a bit.
See what else was trending on NRN.com this week.
