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QSR traffic, Starbucks union, spinoff conceptsQSR traffic, Starbucks union, spinoff concepts

Get all the headlines in today’s Restaurant Daily podcast

Leigh Anne Zinsmeister, Managing Editor

December 19, 2024

Traffic in October turned positive in the quick-service segment for the first time all year, according to Revenue Management Solutions, and continued in the black throughout November – up 1.3%. Net sales were also up in November by 4.9%. While this improvement is good news for the industry, the news overall is perhaps more mixed.

The union drive has come home to Starbucks. Exactly three years after Starbucks Workers United succeeded in organizing a unit in Buffalo, New York, the union said it has welcomed the staff of the store inside Starbucks headquarters as its newest members.

McDonald’s CosMc’s. Taco Bell’s Live Mas Cafe. And now KFC’s Saucy. Why are so many legacy brands spinning off new concepts?

Franchisees are suing I Heart Mac and Cheese. A trio of operators are suing the fast-casual franchise in Florida, claiming that the company used illegal sales tactics to convince the franchisees to invest in the concept.

Get all the headlines in today’s Restaurant Daily podcast.

About the Author

Leigh Anne Zinsmeister

Managing Editor

Leigh Anne Zinsmeister is a managing editor for Informa’s Foodservices Vertical, specifically Nation’s Restaurant News, Restaurant Hospitality, and Foodservice Director.  Leigh Anne works on all of the brands’ special reports, including Nation’s Restaurant News’ annual Top 500 report and Restaurant Hospitality’s Best Cocktails and Best Sandwiches contests. She also manages the group’s digital engagement team, and was the managing editor for Supermarket News until December 2024.

Leigh Anne lives in New York City, but also claims Phoenix, Dallas and Cleveland as hometowns. Leigh Anne holds a bachelor’s degree in print journalism from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University, where she also studied European history. 

Email Leigh Anne at [email protected] 

Leigh Anne Zinsmeister’s experience: 

  • Group Managing Editor, Informa’s Foodservices Vertical (Aug. 2021-present)

  • Group Content Manager, Informa Restaurant and Food Group (Feb. 2020-Aug. 2021)

  • Digital Content Manager, Informa Restaurant and Food Group (April 2018-Feb. 2020)

  • Digital Content Producer, Informa Restaurant and Food Group (June 2016-April 2018)

  • Community Moderator, Mail Online (March 2014-June 2016)

  • Wire Editor, Gannett’s Phoenix Design studio (The Arizona Republic, The Reno Gazette-Journal, The Statesman Journal, The Great Falls Tribune, The Visalia Times-Delta, The Tulare Advance Register, The Salinas Californian, The St. George Spectrum, The Desert Sun, The Coloradoan) (Jan. 2012-March 2014)

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