restaurant industry

Perhaps the biggest splash so far this year in the quick-service sector came in April when KFC’s Double Down, a breadless “sandwich” that features melted cheese, bacon, and sauce between two chicken filets, made its national debut.

The advent of a sandwich that bucked sliced bread—a seemingly indispensible ingredient to one of America’s beloved food items—in favor of chicken (fried or grilled) as the item’s carrier caught a lot of people’s attention. Before the end of last summer’s test run in Omaha, Nebraska, and Providence, Rhode Island, it had become a hot topic in the blogosphere.

“It became kind of this Internet legend,” says KFC spokesman Rick Maynard. “People started posting photos online, and people starting inquiring whether the sandwich was real, or whether it existed. The thing actually took on national and even international momentum while it was in test market.”

The momentum carried over into the Double Down’s first month on KFC’s national menu, during which 10 million customers showed up to give it a try. Despite the impressive consumer demand, the Double Down received plenty of groans from food critics for being greasy and alarmingly salty.

“The Double Down did go all the way down, though not an easy task, but it required lots of water,” wrote Gerrick D. Kennedy, an L.A. Times blogger. “Sadly, within 10 minutes the sandwich caused some physical distress.”

As the Double Down made headlines around the world, concerned health experts chimed in. The British Daily Mail quoted Kelly Brownell, director of Yale University's Rudd Centre for Food Policy and Obesity, describing the sandwich as a “salt bomb.” The fried Double Down has 1,380 milligrams of sodium, more than half of the Institute of Medicine’s daily recommended intake. Surprisingly, the grilled version has more sodium: 1,430 milligrams.Read more

Amid the global financial crisis, with the world’s largest banks reporting losses in the billions of dollars, Duane Clark, a 24-year veteran of the commercial banking industry, did something he never expected to do: He opened a smoothie shop. 

“I always swore I would never go into the restaurant business,” Clark says. “I always called it the beast. You live it, you drink it, you eat it—that’s your life.”  

But in October of 2009, Clark opened a Tropical Smoothie Café in Panama City Beach, Florida. On June 12, he opened a second location further north along the Sunshine State panhandle in Pensacola.

At AmSouth Bank (now Regions Bank), Clark had helped Tropical Smoothie Café, which is based in Destin, Florida, get financing to open several locations. Over the years, he met the company’s corporate officers and gained a nuanced understanding of how Tropical Smoothie operated.

As a banker, Clark knew how to evaluate an investment, and he concluded that a concept offering low-priced food and smoothies was a winner in a down economy. He also liked Tropical Smoothie’s young, health-conscious customer base.     

But above all, Clark was looking for something steady after one of the most chaotic years in the history of global finance, when giant banks teetered and some, like Lehman Brothers, toppled. 

“The draw was the stability, and that quick service has shown such growth trends,” Clark says.

With a money background, Clark says he avoided a common mistake of the upstart restaurant operator: incorrectly assessing costs.

“Most people getting into it don’t understand the financing, and financing is crucial,” he says. “They don’t know how to manage their cash.”Read more