Happy Friday!

We open this week’s edition on a somber note: the Chuck E. Cheese band — official name, “Munch’s Make Believe Band” — will soon take its final bow after an unprecedented 34-year run.  

The reason: Parent company CEC Entertainment is renovating all its Chuck E. Cheese locations, and Munch’s will not be making the cut in the modernized stores. CEC did announce earlier this month that the band will continue performing in a “permanent residency” at one location in Northridge, CA, but for true fans, this feels a bit like late-career Elvis trapped in a Vegas casino, a shadow of his former self.

So let’s recall a simpler time — 1990 — when the band was in peak form, with Munch tickling the ivories, Jasper T. Jowls shredding lead guitar, Helen Henny hitting the high notes, and Pasqually absolutely destroying his drum set. Here they are, in all their glory.

3 Numbers

$20 million

Amount Red Lobster owner Thai Union anticipates losing on the concept this year, thanks in large part to its Ultimate Endless Shrimp deal being too successful. The company added the $20 item to its daily menu in June as a way to drive traffic — and in that sense, the deal was a success (traffic grew 4%), but on the downside, it also lost Red Lobster a significant amount of money (the company’s annual loss estimate increased from $14 to $20 million after the deal hit the menu). Anyway, Ultimate Endless Shrimp is now priced at $25.

$1 million

Value of the dry-aged beef being stored at Peter Luger’s new Las Vegas location. The restaurant — which measures 14,000 square feet, a full 20% of which is dedicated to the dry-aging space — opened in Caesars Palace on Nov.

350%

Year-to-date increase in Carrols stock, making it the best performing restaurant stock this year. Carrols — which is Burger King’s largest franchisee — announced another strong quarter on its earnings call last Thursday, reporting a same-store-sales increase of 8.1% and a blistering 530-basis-point increase on its restaurant-level EBITDA. That was enough to boost the stock by 23% in one day.

Starbucks’ ‘Red Cup Rebellion’

• Starbucks employees strike… Several thousand Starbucks employees went on strike yesterday in what may be the largest walkout against the company since the first Starbucks unionized in 2021. (Reports vary on the scale of the strike: the company says a few dozen stores were affected but most stayed open; the union says 200 stores were included.) The union timed the strike to occur on “Red Cup Day” — one of Starbucks’ busiest days of the year — and used the occasion to reiterate its demands for higher pay and increased staffing. The company said yesterday it was prepared for the strike and is ready to negotiate.

Here’s what else is happening in the restaurant world:

• Joe & the Juice & the big investment… PE firm General Atlantic announced this week that it’s buying a majority interest in Joe & the Juice, a Denmark-based chain with an increasingly large global footprint. The healthy beverage concept, which has doubled its unit count to 360 locations over the past seven years, will look to accelerate its franchising development in international markets. Several outlets are reporting that the deal is valued at around $600 million and will give General Atlantic 80-90% ownership of the company.

• New survey on tipping culture… People continue to be conflicted about tipping. According to a new survey from Pew Research Center, 72% of Americans say tipping is expected in more places today than five years ago. Only a third of people say “it’s extremely or very easy to know whether or how much to tip for different types of services” and people are divided on whether tipping is a choice (21%), an obligation (29%), or situation dependent (49%).  

• Shake Shake tests autonomous delivery… Shake Shack has become the first national vendor to deliver meals with Motional robotaxis, fulfilling orders through Uber Eats and a Santa Monica, CA location. Meanwhile Chick-fil-A (which is also testing deliveries with autonomous vehicles) announced it will be testing drone deliveries at a small number of locations, including this one in Tampa Bay.  

• Call it the Netflix Effect… Square released a new report this week revealing that the number of restaurants offering a subscription program has grown by 54% over the past year. Square said that 75% of subscription programs remain active after a month; that number dips a bit to 57% after six months. (Another interesting data point from the report: Square says the share of food and drink transactions in downtowns has flatlined at about 72% of pre-pandemic activity… but Detroit is a massive outlier. Its activity has *increased* 75% since 2019.)

• BurgerFi announces earnings… While calling BurgerFi’s 11% same-store sales drop in Q3 “clearly unacceptable,” new CEO Carl Bachmann announced a slew of changes on the company’s earnings call this week, including an upgraded POS system, the removal of more process-intense menu items, and the addition of chicken sandwiches and chicken wings.

• Wendy’s franchisee files for Chapter 11… 61-unit Wendy’s operator Starboard Group filed for bankruptcy this week, citing “post-COVID consumer habits, ever-increasing costs to do business, and significantly higher interest rates” in the filing.

Name That Chain!

You get three hints to guess this week’s mystery chain:

• This chain started as an ice cream shop before becoming a fast-food chain with a full menu.

• It is one of the (very) few brands to once feature Spam on its menu.

• Its mascot is a dancing insect. (Importantly, he also wears a blazer and bow tie.)

WHAT IS THIS MYSTERY CHAIN? (The answer will be in next week’s email.)

Last week’s answer: Moe’s

#Content Recs

• I thought that Boyz II Men did the Baby Back Ribs jingle in the ‘90s. They didn’t, but apparently a lot of other people thought that too, and Chili’s is smartly capitalizing on our nostalgia in a new set of ads that feature a jingle remix actually sung by Boyz II Men.

• Enjoyed digging through this list of the top restaurant chains from 1970. Fun fact: KFC had more locations than McDonald’s.

• Chipotle founder Steve Ells shared with the Wall Street Journal some more details about his new venture Kernel, a meat-free concept that’s staffed by a skeleton crew and robots.

• Here is RB’s Jonathan Maze with an interesting recap/vibe check from the Restaurant Finance and Development Conference.

• For the real operations nerds: how a bread factory produces 150,000 loaves a week.

International Corner!

In an attempt to spur the imaginations of fast-food R&D departments across America — each week I’ll highlight an international item that should warrant at least some menu consideration in the States.

This week: SNAKE PIZZA.

From CNN Travel

I think we can all agree that everyone could use a little boost to the ole blood circulation. So… who wants to try it first?