Good, Bad, and Other News! – December 2021

Welcome back to our monthly franchise news roundup. Here comes 2022 and the holiday season. But here also comes Omicron. And with many more people spending time indoors in the coming months, fears of a new Covid surge are growing. Yet, as we always say and history has proven: franchising carries on with growth and expansion, despite all.

Here’s your chance to follow the leaders, every third Tuesday of the month! And if you’re not doing it already, send us your good (and other) news here!

POST-COVID – REOPENING & RECOVERY

McDonald’s Pledges $250 Million Over 5 Years To Improve Franchisee Diversity

Reef’s Ghost Kitchen Expansion Runs into Permit, Health Inspection Infractions

Some Restaurants Cut Back on Delivery Among Labor Shortage, Reopenings

Fashion Resale Brands Are Booming Among All Generations

Gym Franchises Still Face Cash Crunch

NYC’s 5-Unit H&H Bagels Launches National Franchising Program

Deloitte’s “Restaurant of the Future” Report

Square Releases 2nd Annual Future of Commerce Report

HIRING & EMPLOYMENT

At 1.9%, Nebraska Has the Lowest Unemployment Rate of Any State – Ever!

Restaurants Remain 750,000 Workers Short of Pre-Covid Levels

Jack in the Box Invests in Robotics To Mitigate Labor Shortages

Why the November Jobs Report Is Better Than It Looks

Starbucks’ Buffalo Store Unionizes, a First for the Brand’s 8,000-Plus Stores

Improving Restaurant Employee Retention with a Data-Driven Culture

How a Midwest Pizza Company Is Beating the Labor Shortage

Torchy’s Tacos Partners with DailyPay To Offer On-Demand Pay Benefit to Employees

FINANCE/M&A

Jack in the Box To Acquire Del Taco for $575 Million

Roark Capital Acquires Mathnasium and Its More than 1,000 Locations

L Catterton Sells Its Velvet Taco Majority Stake to Leonard Green & Partners

Mod Pizza Plans To Go Public

25 Restaurant Mergers & Acquisitions in 2021

Could Fat Brands’ Risky Acquisition Strategy Pay Off?

Restaurant-Tech Startup Presto Going Public Through $1 Billion SPAC Merger

LEADERSHIP

How Much Vulnerability at Work Is Too Much?

4 Tips for Leading During Uncertainty

LEGAL

FTC Files Amicus Brief in Patel v. 7-Eleven

OPERATIONS

13 Restaurant Prototypes Unveiled in 2021

MARKETING/CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

Study: One-Third of Black Friday Online Shoppers Were Fake

Marriott Enters the NFT Game

Twitter Announces the Best Brand Tweets, Handles, and Campaigns of 2021

Adweek’s 2021 Podcast of the Year Winners

Fast Food: Why Value Will Make a Comeback in 2022

PEOPLE & MILESTONES

Peter Buck, Subway Co-Founder, Dead at 90