Hospitality Hangout Series featuring Danny Klein, Editorial Director at Food News Media

 Klein says the company’s day one goal was to help operators run their restaurants. In addition to not charging for the magazine content, Klein shares that the outlet also offers a free e-newsletter which keeps track of the news day to day.  Klein says, “Our e-letters are free. We don’t have paywalls on any of our content. We’re really here to help people run their restaurants.”  He adds, “That’s been kind of the day one goal.”

Klein talks about restaurant growth and industry shifts in a post pandemic landscape. He shares that independents and ‘mom and pop shops’ are really struggling to get back on their feet and how recovery for them could take years, but on the opposite side, the quick service space has become one of the hottest retail sectors in all of the country in terms of growth with brands like Chipotle and Wingstop each adding another 1000 units. He says. “You know the state of things right now is you have one side, who I think is going to be on basically the precipice of embarking on what might be the greatest growth stretch that they’ve had in probably 30 years versus another side that’s going to be a lot slower to adapt.”

Klein shares his thoughts on industry trends. He shares that the number one trend he is seeing was virtual brands, particularly in virtual wing chains. He talks about the segment slowing  slightly but being a force within the space that was scaling at an incredibly rapid pace. He says, “There was a period there though where in terms of us trying to keep track of who was introducing a virtual brand, it was just outrageously out of control, and I get why it was happening.”