This week in restaurants, Sweetgreen and In-N-Out tap catering, weekday dining declines and Dickey’s streamlines. On Monday (March 6), fast-casual brand Sweetgreen, which has nearly 200 locations across the United States, launched its catering program, the company said in an email, targeting the in-office corporate...
As many industries embraced modern payments systems and other digital capabilities in recent years, the restaurant industry largely lagged behind. This changed, however, during the pandemic as restaurants were forced to adopt digital tools to operate at a time of store closures and social distancing. Restaurants benefited tremendously from the...
Restaurants that survived the pandemic now face cost inflation and labor shortages. Technology can help, as Kickfin Co-CEO Brian Hassan explains the impact of digital tipping with instant payouts on helping eateries attract and retain employees.
The restaurant industry has had a rough go of it since COVID-19 hit. Due to pandemic-driven restrictions on in-person dining and related health concerns, restaurants had to rapidly adopt digital channels and hybrid dining experiences to operate. Then, when pandemic restrictions receded, restaurants found themselves...
Times have been tough for owner-operator and other small business restaurants, even as hospitality sector employment bounces back from its pandemic-era crash. Inflation continues to drive consumers towards groceries over eating out, and PYMNTS’ research has found that 64% of restaurant purchases in the U.S. now total less than $20. Just...
As restaurants seek to attract younger consumers, Chipotle is exploring new menus and digital channels. In an interview with PYMNTS, Nate Lawton, vice president of new ventures at fast-casual giant Chipotle Mexican Grill, which has nearly 3,200 locations across five countries, said that the brand...
Radius Network’s Flybuy and Olo have launched new integrations to help restaurants manage off-premise orders. The new integrations add features of Flybuy’s location-based customer experience platform to Olo’s open software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform for restaurants to help them handle in-store, curbside and drive-thru handoffs, the companies said in a Thursday...
As self-service expands, fast-casual chains are considering which tradeoffs on service they’re willing to make. In an interview with PYMNTS, Quick Chadwick, chief marketing officer of fast-casual juice and food bar chain Clean Juice, discussed the risk that self-service kiosks pose for the industry if...
As restaurants look to drive adoption of pickup channels, PYMNTS research finds discounts are key. For PYMNTS’ February study, “Connected Dining: Rising Costs Push Consumers Toward Pickup,” we surveyed more than 2,100 U.S. consumers in January about their restaurant dining habits and expectations. The findings...