Discounts were the name of the game in 2025. | Photo by Jonathan Maze.
So much for 2025 being a better year.
Oh sure, Chili’s had a strong year. So did Taco Bell. And some chains saw some improvement.
But a year that was expected to be better than 2024 in many ways was worse. The pain spread to more chains, including the heretofore seemingly untouchable Chipotle. Deals became so prevalent that 30% of all orders featured some kind of discount, according to the data and technology firm Circana.
And those deals included about half of all delivery orders.
Consumers were frustrated by the lingering impact of inflation, and their own slowing wages, and expressed this frustration by cutting back on their regular dining. The situation was exacerbated by a shaky economy, including tariff policies and later a government shutdown, which hit consumer confidence and kept consumers away.
McDonald’s, which largely ignited the value war with a $5 meal offer in 2024, kept finding new ways to up the ante. It lowered prices on its Extra Value Meals and then decided to write value into its franchising standards. But numerous other brands pushed value, even some fast-casual chains that for years had been able to avoid it. By the end of the year Chipotle was pushing $3.50 tacos and $4 meat-snack bowls.
Here’s a look at the other top stories, in order of perceived importance as voted on by the editors of Restaurant Business.
The beverage boom
In 2025, you couldn’t get away from boba tea or cold coffee or energy drinks or whatever the hell a “refresher” is.
Drinks were everywhere. Drive-thru beverage chains, including Dutch Bros, 7 Brew and Scooter’s, were growing at rates not seen since the most recent frozen yogurt boom. Swig took off and then everybody started selling the “dirty sodas” the chain invented.
These chains sell mostly cold, typically colorful and hopefully Instagrammable beverages that the kids want. Unsurprisingly, big chains are now getting in on the act. Taco Bell is expanding its Live Mas Café in-store beverage concept. McDonald’s is getting ready to unleash an expanded line of beverages in its stores on the world. Even Chick-fil-A is testing a beverage brand.
Sure, Starbucks spent the year with weak sales and then closed a bunch of restaurants. But 2025 was the year of the cold colorful drink.
Chili’s
True story: In college my son was part of a Bachelor-style social media contest called “The Fratchelor.” One week’s question asked participants, “Where would you take someone for a first date?” He said “Chili’s,” and won that week’s vote, by a landslide.
The chain has been on fire ever since. Coincidence? Yeah, probably.
Chili’s has been the hottest chain in the U.S. for the past two years. It is on a six-quarter streak in which the weakest same-store sales result was 14.8%. And the people driving it? Gen Zers like my son. So apparently a lot of young people on first dates.
Fast-casual problems
Earlier this year my colleague Lisa Jennings wrote that, “Fast casual was the happy place in 2024” and in the process jinxed the entire sector.
Or most of it. Chipotle is suffering through its worst sales slump since that whole E. coli thing. Cava, a year after generating 20%-plus same-store sales of its own, was getting blasted by investors for the ungodly sin of reporting sub-2% same-store sales. Sweetgreen lost some 12% of its transactions in the third quarter. Panera Bread is on its latest transformation project.
Exactly why is not all that certain. Some of these chains sell bowls deemed “slop” by certain East Coast writers. The economy may be catching up with these brands and their prices. But we’re going with our Lisa-Jennings-jinxed-it theory.
Cracker Barrel’s logo controversy
Want a story that encapsulates the utter ridiculousness of modern society? The Cracker Barrel story might be it.
Cracker Barrel was inundated with negative attention for the horrific sin of removing a guy from its logo. The controversy was fueled in part by conservative activists targeting the company over its DEI practices. And it was inflamed by the burger chain Steak n Shake, which has aligned itself with said conservative activists and also happens to be run by the activist investor Sardar Biglari. Eventually, President Trump weighed in and the company went back to its old logo.
As it turned out, bots fueled much of it. A Biglari representative won a seat on the Cracker Barrel board in a proxy fight. But the results are real: The company has laid off workers and watched its sales and profits plunge.
Immigration
The Trump Administration took office with a promise to reduce illegal immigration to the U.S. and took every step possible to follow through on that promise.
The result hit restaurants, which historically rely heavily on immigrants as a source of workers. One in five restaurant workers were born outside the U.S. and many operators reported difficulties finding workers. But sales at restaurants in Hispanic-heavy markets were weak, which hurt chains like Jack in the Box.
On a more serious level, agents from the U.S. Office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, continue to raid restaurants and other businesses.
The Hooters bankruptcy
The year’s biggest bankruptcy filing is also one of the restaurant industry’s biggest such filings of all time and probably should be on this list.
Hooters of America, which runs most of the chain, filed for bankruptcy in March. The company had a lot of debt, thanks to a 2021 whole business securitization. The company struggled under the weight of that debt, coupled with inflation and a weak consumer.
But there is some good news in this one. The chain was sold out of bankruptcy to Hooters Inc., the company run by Hooters’ founders, which has started the process of “re-Hooterizing” the venerable “breastaurant” chain.
The sale of Jersey Mike’s
How does a high-growth restaurant chain move on from having a single owner and CEO for 50 years? We’re about to find out.
Peter Cancro, who bought a sub shop as a teenager and grew it into the country’s second-largest sandwich chain, sold the brand for $8 billion to the private-equity group Blackstone. He stepped down as CEO, handing over the title to former Wingstop CEO Charlie Morrison.
The sale and the management change ushered in a new era for the chain, which has thrived over the years under Cancro’s stewardship.
Dave’s Hot Chicken gets $1 billion
Dave’s Hot Chicken, the fast-casual chicken chain known for its spicy chicken tenders and colorful décor, was founded in a parking lot in 2017.
Eight years later, the chain was sold to the private-equity firm Roark Capital. The deal was valued at $1 billion. But maybe more to the point: It highlighted rapidly growing demand for chicken, particularly of the spicy variety, and the benefits of being media savvy.
Dave’s combined good chicken with an adept use of media, social and traditional, building a fan base and fueling one of the country’s fastest-growing chains, and earning a rare valuation in the restaurant space.
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