Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen is one of the most beloved fried chicken restaurants in America, having spent more than 50 years winning over fans with its extra-crispy wings, thighs, drumsticks, and, of course, its iconic chicken sandwich. Today, it boasts almost 3,200 restaurants across the United States, with Popeyes locations in nearly every state.
There's a whole universe of unique pizza toppings to choose from and, depending on what state or city you're in, your pizza could be round, square, or rectangular. Even the pizza base has moved on from flour-yeast-water to using more exotic ingredients like millets and cauliflower. Point being: the insatiable appetite for pizzas lies in its versatility - but that still doesn't explain why a slice of pizza costs so much in the state of Washington.
If you think your burger, burrito, or cold brew already costs too much, brace yourself - restaurant groups say they would have to raise prices by 30% just to stay profitable amid rising costs. In a new survey from the restaurant management software company Toast, nearly half of restaurant operators said they plan to increase menu prices if inflation, tariffs, and labor costs continue to climb.
Analysts said the impact should be moderate, given that the fees apply only to new applications, but warned that a constrained supply of skilled workers in the U.S. may push wages higher and squeeze margins. Companies including Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet and Goldman Sachs were among those that sent urgent emails to their employees with travel advisories.
It was a perfect storm. We added positions to respond to needs, we negotiated new labor standards, and there was also the expenditure to purchase the theater, and, frankly, we have some internal overtime spending controls that need to be tightened up,
Speaking on CNBC Tuesday morning, McDonald's CEO Chris Kempczinski was asked how the fast-food chain would be affected by the "no tax on tips" provision of the Big Beautiful Bill, which President Donald Trump signed into law in July. Proponents of the change say that it will lower taxes for a variety of employees, including restaurant servers. At McDonald's, workers don't take tips, Kempczinski said, meaning that the chain's workers won't see a change.
Am I surprised to see inflation coming through? Of course not. You can't increase the cost of labour in food production, food distribution and food retailing in the way that we have... and not expect to see prices move.
