QSR March 2023

EDITOR’S LETTER

®

EDITORIAL

EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Danny Klein dklein@wtwhmedia.com QSR EDITOR Ben Coley bcoley@wtwhmedia.com FSR EDITOR Callie Evergreen cevergreen@wtwhmedia.com ASSOCIATE EDITOR Sam Danley sdanley@wtwhmedia.com DIRECTOR OF CUSTOM CONTENT Peggy Carouthers pcarouthers@wtwhmedia.com CUSTOM CONTENT ASSOCIATE EDITOR Charlie Pogacar cpogacar@wtwhmedia.com CUSTOM CONTENT ASSOCIATE EDITOR Kara Phelps kphelps@wtwhmedia.com ART DIRECTOR Tory Bartelt tbartelt@wtwhmedia.com ART DIRECTOR Erica Naftolowitz enaftolowitz@wtwhmedia.com PRODUCTION MANAGER Mitch Avery mavery@wtwhmedia.com gsanders@wtwhmedia.com NATIONAL SALES DIRECTOR Eugene Drezner edrezner@wtwhmedia.com 919-945-0705 NATIONAL SALES MANAGER Edward Richards erichards@wtwhmedia.com 919-945-0714 NATIONAL SALES MANAGER Amber Dobsovic adobsovic@wtwhmedia.com 919-945-0712 NATIONAL SALES MANAGER John Krueger jkrueger@wtwhmedia.com 919-945-0728 SALES SUPPORT AND DIRECTORY SALES Tracy Doubts tdoubts@wtwhmedia.com 919-945-0704 CUSTOM MEDIA STUDIO DESIGN & PRODUCTION SALES & BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT GROUP PUBLISHER Greg Sanders

A Collection of Minds (Literally)

Come join us in September for two conferences we hope will take the entire industry forward.

and The NextGen Restaurant Summit (full-service emerging chains). They will both take place September 6–7 in the Buckhead district of Georgia (head to our websites to learn more). We’ve put together an agenda of more than 100 speakers address ing topics from is the POS dead, to ghost kitchens to what makes a best franchise, employer, eatertain ment concept, and far more. We’ll also present a collection of fireside chats to illuminate stories behind the curtain—from CAVA to Dickey’s to Firehouse to Chipotle to Subway to First Watch, and, as before, a lot more. Chick-fil-A CEO Andrew Cathy will kick off the opening keynote and we’ll get the show started. Personally, this was the first time I’ve had a hand in planning an event of this scale. That’s probably a comical understatement. But many of those nerves dropped over a steak dinner with an industry friend, Jack in the Box VP of franchise recruitment Van Ingram. He was the first outside person I let in on our plans. His response was something along the lines of, “our industry is looking for this kind of deal.” He thought people would gravitate toward it, three-plus years removed from COVID, ready to share ideas again. And he was right. There are so many threads of chal lenges and opportunities to address today, across both sides of segment lines. To me, 2023 is a year where we all need to catch our breath from breathless innovation and find real solutions to meet demand in every channel, through all avenues. So let’s do that together. I hope you’ll join us in September.

This is our third year of publishing a “crossover” issue between QSR and FSR . We always approach the concept from a base—what trends and realities separate the full- and quick-service worlds? And which bind them? Or, spun differently, has the pandemic brought these arenas closer together or further apart? Like many points in foodservice, you can’t broad-stroke the answer. There is truth in both (thanks mostly to technology) and yet, COVID did accomplish something the customer was already pushing pre-2020: it all but evaporated the middle ground. This long-ago idea of embracing millennials by trying to appease everyone—“all things to all people”—has vanished. Category wise, it brings us to a place where experiential brands and experience driven ones thrive as murky ones struggle. However, what innovation taught operators amid the crisis is you don’t have to sacrifice one for the sake of the other. You can bring hospitality to the drive-thru window just as you can the table. And maybe that’s the cost to entry now. Yet with all of this in mind, I want to take you back a few months to a pivotal moment for us here at QSR and FSR . We transitioned to the WTWH Media family of brands officially in September. One of the first things we set course on was to host a conference dedicated to the future of restaurants. So naturally, this progressed into a vision where everything comes together in an effort to foster collective evolution; a place where one operator can learn from another, and one category from a completely different one. Starting this month, we opened registration for two conferences: QSR Evolution

ROSIE ROSENBROCK

DKLEIN@WTWHMEDIA.COM

QSR MAGAZINE

Learn more:

QSR Evolution Conference /

NextGen Restaurant Summit /

FOUNDER Webb C. Howell

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ADMINISTRATION

QSR FSR

919-945-0704 fsrmagazine.com/subscribe qsrmagazine.com/subscribe

Since we’re reporting on both service formats, check out our gauge to see where a story falls on the QSR/FSR scale.

FSR and QSR are provided without charge upon request to individuals residing in the U.S. meeting subscription criteria as set fo rth by the publisher.

Danny Klein, EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

REPRINTS The YGS Group (800) 290-5460 FAX (717) 825-2150

GAUGE ICON: ADOBE STOCK / EMIL’

QSR is a registered trademark of WTWH Media, LLC. QSR is copyright © 2023 WTWH Media, LLC. All rights reserved. The opinions of columnists are their own. Publication of their writing does not imply endorsement by WTWH Media, LLC. Subscriptions (919) 945-0704. www.qsrmagazine.com/subscribe. QSR is provided without charge upon request to individuals residing in the U.S. meeting subscription criteria as set forth by the publisher. AAM member. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be reproduced in any fashion without the express written consent of WTWH Media, LLC. QSR (ISSN 1093-7994) is published monthly by WTWH Media, LLC, 1111 Superior Avenue Suite 2600, Cleveland, OH 44114. Periodicals postage paid at Cleveland, OH and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to QSR, 101 Europa Drive, Suite 150, Chapel Hill, NC 27517-2380.

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