Hello!

Read this email fast: supply-chain news expires in roughly 15 minutes.

And check us out at FS Supply — we’ve built a globally diversified manufacturing base for moments like this.

3 Numbers

63

Percent of restaurant operators who say they have “major concerns” around tariff uncertainty, according to a new whitepaper from Technomic. Yet 68% also said they still felt optimistic about the year — this is one battle-hardened bunch.

1,400

Square feet of Starbucks’ first-ever 3D printed café. Located in Brownsville, TX, the off-premises-only location is set to open next week and may be the first-ever 3D-printed build in the restaurant space. (Just don’t ask if the coffee is 3D-printed too — we’re not there yet.)

17

Percentage increase for Crumbl’s average store sales from 2023 to 2024. The company can credit a few different initiatives for the comeback, including a smart marketing push, a new catering program, and a surprising number of impulse DoorDash purchases on my part.

What’s Happening

Chipotle announced its Q1 earnings

This week, Chipotle gave one of the first restaurant earnings reports since the start of Tariffpalooza 2025. Its executives gave a cautious take on the state of the American consumer:

Chipotle’s same-store-sales fell for the first time in four years (a minor drop of -0.4%), and the company lowered its prior forecast for comparable sales growth; it now expects the annual number to be in the low single-digit range.

The chain also announced it will be entering the Mexico market for the first time by next year. The WSJ noted, “Chipotle doesn’t plan to market itself as authentically Mexican, but to capitalize on a growing interest in fresh food in the country.”

It was a banner week for CEOs on the move

Big week for anyone who tracks restaurant CEO moves like NBA free agents (dozens… there are dozens of us!)

Here are some of the highlights:

• Former Wingstop and Salad & Go CEO Charlie Morrison will take the reins at Jersey Mike’s, as founder Peter Cancro — who led the chain for 50 years — will move into the chairman role. Cancro’s transition was signaled earlier this year after he sold a majority stake in the brand to Blackstone.

  • Morrison had a pretty legendary run at Wingstop, guiding it to a successful IPO and fourfold increase in store count over 10 years.

• Speaking of Salad & Go… it also has a new CEO in Mike Tattersfield, who previously led Krispy Kreme from 2017 to 2023.

  • One interesting note: Salad & Go utilizes a central kitchen model, which allows it to supply as many as 500 units out of its prep facility in Garland, TX. While at Krispy Kreme, Tattersfield utilized a similar “hub and spoke” model to operate the doughnut shops.

• And how’s this for a transition… Krispy Kreme announced some big changes to its board, with four new directors coming on… board.

  • The chain nominated two restaurant operators — Bernardo Hees, the former CEO of Burger King, and Patrick Grismer, the former CFO and current chairman of Panera. They’ll join JetBlue’s Chief Digital and Technology Officer Easwaran Sundaram and Gordon von Bretten, a senior partner with Krispy Kreme shareholder JAB Holding Co.

• Unfortunately, I’m all out of segues. Red Robin CEO G.J. Hart is stepping down from the role, which will now be occupied by Red Robin board chairman David Pace.

  • Pace formerly ran Jamba Juice and Tastemaker Acquisition Corporation, a SPAC in the restaurant and hospitality space.

McDonald’s made a big addition to its permanent menu

The Golden Arches are officially entering the Chicken Tender arena.

Their first permanent menu item in more than four years, McCrispy Strips will hit stores nationwide in early May. Also launching will be a brand-new sauce — the Creamy Chili Dip.

McDonald’s has pushed to grow its chicken share, and when it created a cross-functional Restaurant Experience Team last year, chicken was one of the three category management teams it announced (alongside beef and beverages/desserts).

Snack Wrap aficionados also cheered the announcement — adding chicken strips clears the way for its return. The company hinted at as much in the press release, ending it with “and that’s a wrap… at least for now.”

The Headlines

Jack in the Box announced a new turnaround plan this week, including closing underperforming locations, making new technology investments, and possibly selling the Del Taco brand. Taco Bell plans to make its Crispy Chicken Nuggets a permanent menu item by 2026. Arby’s introduced co-branded BBQ sandwiches with Anthony Anderson and Cedric the Entertainer’s AC Barbeque.

And more proof that we’re as into Spice as the people of Arrakis: Cava announced its Hot Harissa Pita Chips, while Outback launched “Hot Wing Roo-lette,” an “in-restaurant game where you spin a wheel and hope you don’t get the one extra spicy wing out of a plate of five wings.” (Date night idea… locked.)

Finally, friend of Industry Bites Prefix is hiring three full-cycle account execs. Prefix is a booming seed-stage facility partner for restaurants and is currently working with Raising Cane’s, Salad and Go, and other high-profile brands.

Interested? Or know someone who might be? Check out founder Jared’s LinkedIn post here.

Name That Chain!

You’ve got three guesses to name this week’s mystery chain:

• This health food chain was co-founded by a doctor in 2008.

• Its menu includes items like grass-fed burgers, ancient grains, and “matcha lemonade.”

• Oprah Winfrey is a big investor.

Find the answer at the bottom of the email…

#Content Recs

• We recently hit on the American debut of the China-based tea shop, Chagee. Here’s a report from the first store, which opens to the public in Los Angeles on April 26.

• Really enjoyed this bleak review of the worst airport lounge in the United States — a small, windowless room at O’Hare. (Choice quote: “The only way to make this an enjoyable place is if you were drunk.”)

• The WSJ did a deep dive into the Chili’s comeback.

• And how Brinker’s other brand, Maggiano’s, plans to capture some of Chili’s magic and “democratize luxury.”

‘Member When?!

When William Faulkner wrote “The past is never dead. It’s not even past,” he was referring to QSR chains.

A popular Reddit thread from just 6 months ago asked “Which discontinued fast food item do you want to come back?” From November 2024 to April 2025, a shocking number of the entries have indeed made a return:

• Taco Bell’s Double Decker Taco: Back for a limited time.

• KFC Potato Wedges: Back… if you live in Tampa.

• Burger King Cini Minis: Also back… if you live in the greater Miami area. (Who knew Florida had become America’s fast-food test lab?)

• McDonald’s Chicken Selects: Kind of back! (If you consider the McCrispy Strips their spiritual successor.)

• Pizza Hut buffet: Also kind of back! (Some Pizza Hut locations never fully got rid of their buffet, but the brand is now marketing the holdouts.)

Thanks for reading! We’ll be back next week with more Industry Bites.

Andy

GUESS THAT CHAIN ANSWER: True Food Kitchen