Happy Friday! 

The booth where Tony Soprano was (probably?) whacked: off the market.

This week, Bloomfield, NJ ice cream parlor Holsten’s auctioned off the iconic booth, which was featured in the final scene of The Sopranos, for the mere sum of $82,600. In keeping with the code of Omerta, the name of the buyer was not disclosed.

Holsten’s owner Ron Stark plans on using the proceeds to buy a promising racehorse pay for a dining-room renovation.

3 Numbers

$1 billion

Annual sales for McAlister’s — the first time the chain has hit the threshold, and the first time any of GoTo Foods’ restaurant brands have reached $1 billion in sales. McAlister’s has shown itself to be a bit of a sleeping giant lately, growing to more than 530 locations as it’s jumped from a regional to national brand.

10%

Increase in average check at Sweetgreen’s automated Infinite Kitchen locations (compared to other units in their respective markets). The company is quite bullish on Infinite Kitchen — which features a robotic assembly line that can make up to 500 bowls, plates, and sides per hour — and in Sweetgreen’s recent earnings call, CEO Jonathan Neman said the locations also boast 7% better margins and lower team-member turnover.

$7.99

Cost of the introductory tier of Chuck E. Cheese’s subscription program, which is now in test at a location in San Diego. Membership gets you one play card for each child in your family, plus extra tickets, food discounts, and, for the adults, access to Pasqually’s private reserve collection.¹

What’s In the News

In its recent Q4 earnings call, Papa Johns gave a fairly astounding statistic: its third-party delivery sales were up 50% year-over year in 2023. What makes the number even crazier is that last year the chain’s primary competitor, Domino’s, began working with UberEats for the first time. Plus (lest you forget!) Papa Johns still offers its own delivery service.

Clearly, Papa Johns is benefiting from its relatively deep experience in selling on DoorDash and UberEats — the company has now been on the platforms for five years. But, as Restaurant Business points out, this huge jump in Papa Johns’ third-party sales is also one more data point that “third-party aggregators are definitely establishing themselves as the go-to option when consumers want delivered food.”

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In another sign that Starbucks and the union Workers United have turned over a new leaf, a group of labor unions announced this week that it will end its proxy fight at Starbucks, pulling three people it had put forth for election to Starbucks’ board.

The proxy fight was always unusual — CNBC says this was the first time a labor union attempted to mount an activist campaign at a public company — and it should mean a calmer annual shareholder meeting for Starbucks on March 13.

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Big changes are coming to Noodles & Company.

Interim CEO Drew Madsen now has the job permanently, and he said the company plans to revamp more than 50% of the menu, with the goal of establishing “a new culinary identity of contemporary comfort kitchen.” Madsen said that means more “food that is wholesome, homemade, nostalgic, and nourishing.”

The changes will come amid a tough few months for the fast-casual chain, with a 4.2% decline in same-store-sales and a 9% drop in traffic.

Headlines

McAlister’s is not the only brand announcing a huge sales milestone — First Watch also hit $1 billion in sales for the first time in 2023. It turns out Panera is not exempted from California’s new minimum-wage bill after all. Denny’s reported a same-store-sales increase of 3.6% in 2023, but the chain also saw a net decrease of 29 units. Outback owner Bloomin’ Brands is sharpening up its real-estate portfolio, closing 41 (mostly older) stores and opening up as many as 45 units this year. Del Taco has stopped using drive-thru voicebots. Catering represents 5% of Portillo’s revenue mix — the company wants that to grow. Domino’s added 50 new franchisees; every one of them started as either a delivery driver or from within its system. Cracker Barrel is testing a new menu with around 20 new items and over 20 deletions.

Name That Chain!

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

• While this chain is arguably most associated with football, its roots actually lie with figure skating — its founder was a pro figure skater in the 1960s.

• It’s one of a surprising number of prominent restaurant chains that started Columbus, Ohio.

• Some of its retired sauces include Wicked Wasabi, Ghost Pepper, and, uh, Salted Caramel BBQ.

Last week’s answer: Del Taco

#Content Recs

• Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, plus 37 more of the all-time best food movies of all time.

• Extremely chopped sandwiches are all the rage on TikTok. Why are people yearning for that “pre-chewed texture?”

• Interesting Choppin’ It Up episode on how Salad and Go is still selling salads for under $7.

• Higher-end restaurants are pushing back on reservations for large parties.

• Fascinating report on Subway’s big internal push to get its franchisees to remodel outdated stores.

• Finally, there’s been a whole bunch of content on margin-squeezed independent restaurants lately. The WSJ wrote about their escalating payroll costs; Bloomberg published graphs showing how QSRs are now dominating most US counties; and in a long (pretty downbeat) piece, Business Insider reporter Corey Mintz made the case for more full-service independents moving to counter service.

‘Member When?!

What does this powerful image evoke for you?

I see this and think many things — an arcade, a long-since-closed ice cream shop, a matinee showing of Jungle 2 Jungle.

If a decade can lay claim to a signature cup, the ‘90s had this one. Called “Jazz,” it was originally produced by Springfield, MO’s Sweetheart Cup Company (which was later bought by Solo, which, in turn, was bought by Dart).

In 2015, the Springfield News-Leader tracked down the cup’s designer — Gina Ekiss, who was living a quiet life with her family in Aurora, MO. Via ABC News:

After Springfield began manufacturing the cup, “Jazz” quickly made its way across the country, showing up in bowling alleys, movie theaters, schools, and many, many restaurants.

Dart still produces the cup, albeit in much smaller quantities than its heyday. But its legacy lives on, with the design showing up on t-shirts, bumper stickers, and at least one tattoo.

Thanks for reading! We’ll be back next Friday with a recap of industry news.

Andy

¹ Kidding!