This week on the Extra Serving podcast, a production of Nation’s Restaurant News, NRN editors Holly Petre, Sam Oches, and Leigh Anne Zinsmeister discuss Starbucks’ exit from Russia.
Starbucks joined McDonald’s and made the official move to exit Russia this week. The team discusses what it means for the brand and what it means for companies to take a stand on issues like this, DEI issues and the recent shooting in Texas.
The team also discussed Fat Brands’ latest acquisition of Nestle Toll House Café by Chip. After acquiring multiple brands in 2021 and an indication at the ICR conference in January that they didn’t intend to purchase more, Fat Brands surprised everyone with this recent move. The team discusses what it means and gives an overview of the year in M&A deals so far.
It wasn’t mentioned in the podcast, but the biggest acquisition from 2021 was arguably Restaurant Brands International’s purchase of Firehouse Subs, on par with Inspire Brands’ purchase of Dunkin’ the year before.
Finally, the team discussed the possible sale of Wendy’s and the idea that this public company could go private after being public for so long. What does it mean that the brand’s biggest investor is exploring a purchase of the brand? Would it make it the largest M&A deal of the year? The team discusses.
This week’s interview is Oath Pizza’s director of supply chain and product innovation Pamela McMorrow. Joanna Fantozzi and McMorrow speak about the topic on everyone’s mind: supply chain challenges.