A Deeper Dive Winsight Podcast Network

What is the future of virtual restaurants?

This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Robbie Earl, the co-founder of Virtual Dining Concepts.

The company is now the largest operator of digital-only brands, which operate inside other restaurants, ghost kitchens and other facilities. They typically do not have a traditional storefront.

Virtual brands were all the rage during the pandemic but for various reasons they have slowed coming out of it. Some of them have been quite successful and others not so much.

We talk about how virtual brands can ensure the restaurants they work with produce quality food. We discuss whether they should open more brick-and-mortar locations. We ask about Virtual Dining Concepts’ relationship with MrBeast Burger, currently embroiled in litigation.

And we talk about what makes a good virtual brand partnership and whether anything has changed more recently.

This is a fascinating discussion about a fascinating topic so please check it out.

What happens when you combine high-tech miniature golf and food?

This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Joe Vrankin, the CEO of the fast-growing eatertainment concept Puttshack.

Puttshack is an 18-unit chain that combines a full-service restaurant with an indoor game of minigolf—neither of which is all that standard. The minigolf features innovative games featuring a high-tech ball and the food is much better than traditional eatertainment fare.

We talk with Vrankin about the concept, the games and the food. We chat about consumers’ higher expectations for food and why a company like Puttshack cannot overlook the menu. We talk about real estate, and an awful lot about minigolf, and where the chain is going from here.

It’s a fascinating conversation about food and minigolf, so please check it out.

What is happening at the Restaurant Leadership Conference this year?

We decided to demand that Chris Keating, the EVP of Conferences for Informa Connect, RB’s parent company, talk about the conference, which runs April 14-17. And he was happy to oblige.

We ask about what’s happening at the event and the strategy behind it. We also chat about Martha Stewart, and Chris tells us some of his sports interview stories. And we also talk about whether the conference itself reflects the state of the restaurant business.

We’re talking RLC on a special edition of A Deeper Dive.

How did Wingstop fix its cost problem?

This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Michael Skipworth, the chicken chain's CEO.

Wingstop is hitting on all cylinders right now, thanks to the popularity of chicken wings and takeout but also because of its new line of chicken sandwiches, which have helped lure new customers in during different times of day.

But it has also helped the chain with food costs. Chicken wings are the most volatile commodity, certainly among proteins. One year they could hit record prices and the next year they come down considerably. It has given plenty of executives massive headaches trying to deal with them.

But Wingstop’s move into boneless options, like the chicken sandwich, has helped change things. Skipworth talks all about it.

He also discusses technology, delivery and Wingstop’s plan to build its own tech stack and reach its goal of 100% digital transactions.

We’re talking chicken on A Deeper Dive, so please check it out.

How is Happy Joe’s modernizing its brand?

This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Tom Sacco, the CEO of Happy Joe’s.

The 52-unit, Iowa-based chain has been around for 50 years. It was sold just before the pandemic. Sacco was brought in as CEO after a career with BJ’s, Ponderosa, Red Robin and Ghiradelli.

The pandemic forced the brand to rethink how it does business, and so Sacco talks about how Happy Joe’s modernized its operations coming out of that period. For instance, it didn’t count transactions.

We discuss the 2022 bankruptcy involving the chain’s corporate units and what led to that. And we talk about the brand’s surprising recent growth. We also discuss the chain’s penchant for small towns as well as taco pizzas and pickle pizzas and how Happy Joe’s was an early developer of both.

How are restaurants making their C-suites more diverse?

This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Therese Gearhart, the president and CEO of the Women’s Foodservice Forum.

WFF’s leadership conference is coming up next week, and we figured it’d be a great time to check in on the industry’s track record of hiring women into leadership roles.

The answer is that it’s doing better. Several restaurant chains, including Denny’s and Dutch Bros, have recently hired women to be their CEOs. Three restaurant chains in just the last day hired women to be CEOs: Taco John’s (Heather Neary), Smashburger (Denise Nelsen) and Handel’s Homemade Ice Cream (Jennifer Schuler).

Therese discusses these issues and talks about how restaurants are doing getting people into management roles.

We talk about why it’s financially beneficial for restaurants to do these things. We talk about the upcoming conference, and Therese gives tips for up-and-coming employees to move up in the business and how companies can create more inclusive working environments.

We’re talking women in restaurants on A Deeper Dive, so please check it out.