Industry Alerts

What a 20-Year Hospitality Veteran is Betting on to Redefine Full-Service Dining The potential of combining dining, entertainment, and wellness. Since opening his first restaurant in the Tampa Bay area more than two decades ago, Randy Esponda has not only watched guest preferences evolve firsthand, but played a large role in developing the area’s experiential…

Financial Pressures Force Restaurants to Reshape Due to a combination of financial challenges including rising costs and supply-chain disruptions. Sixty-six percent of U.S. operators named food and beverage among the costs that rose most over the past year, well ahead of labor and utilities at 35 percent each. “The operators handling it best reprice surgically,”…

Bielat Santore & Company Releases Seventh Episode in Podcast Series New Jersey Liquor Licenses: Reforms to Inactive Licenses. Commercial real estate brokerage firm Bielat Santore & Company has released Episode 7 of its Owner’s Edge Podcast Series. The episode provides restaurant operators, license holders, developers, lenders, and municipal officials with an authoritative breakdown of New…

The Restaurant Industry’s K-Shaped Recovery is Squeezing the Middle There are a lot of fundamentally good restaurant businesses caught in a bad environment. The restaurant industry is increasingly splitting in two. At one end, luxury dining continues to command a customer willing to pay for a truly exceptional experience. Michelin-starred restaurants, high-end steakhouses, and special-occasion…

The Hidden Tax Reporting Trap That Could Cost Your Restaurant Thousands The last thing a restaurant operator needs is an unexpected IRS penalty eating into their profits. Running a restaurant means juggling a hundred things at once—food costs, staffing, customer experience, and keeping the lights on. Tax forms are probably the last thing on a…

Bielat Santore & Company Releases Sixth Episode in Podcast Series New Jersey Liquor Licenses: Regulatory Structure and Market Value. Bielat Santore & Company, the distinguished food and beverage real estate specialists, is proud to announce the release of Episode 6 of its educational podcast series, “Restaurant Owner’s Edge.” Although New Jersey law classifies a liquor…

Speed Winds: The Restaurants That Hire First Are Winning the Talent Race An unfilled restaurant position impacts far more than recruiting. In a competitive labor market, restaurants that respond quickly to applicants can gain an edge in securing top hourly talent before it disappears. For years, restaurant hiring has been treated like a numbers game….

The Evolving Intersection of Delivery Tech, Kitchen Operations, and the Guest Relationship Where does it all go from here for full-service restaurants? More than half a decade after the pandemic fundamentally changed how consumers interact with restaurants, delivery has moved well beyond the “turn it on” phase for full-service operators. The focus now is less…

What Independents Should Take From the Chains, and What to Leave Behind What’s worth taking. Treat consistency as a system. Creating the same experience for every customer should be a core function, not just the flavor of the week. The most underrated thing chains do well is deliver the same product on a Tuesday night…

Bielat Santore & Company Releases Fifth Episode in Podcast Series Service That Stands Out. Bielat Santore & Company, the renowned food and beverage real estate specialists, is proud to announce the release of the fifth episode of its educational podcast series, “Restaurant Owner’s Edge.” This latest installment, titled “Service That Stands Out,” provides restaurant owners…

The End of ‘The Middle’ in the Restaurant Industry The brands winning in each segment obviously aren’t lucky; they have made the right strategic choices. The restaurant industry today is not neutral about strategic neutrality, it’s penalizing it. The restaurant industry is in the middle of a strategic sorting that in many companies still feels…

The Shifting Restaurant M&A Landscape What factors are influencing it, and what are investors looking for? Despite economic volatility and slower traffic, restaurant merger and acquisition (M&A) volume increased 42.9 percent year over year, according to data from Capstone Partners. Modern Restaurant Management (MRM) magazine spoke with experts from Bennett Thrasher, an accounting and advisory…