While fast food chains like McDonald’s and Wendy’s have recently cut prices to lure back customers, fast-casual restaurants are thriving. The fast-casual segment’s sales grew 11.2% last year, according to Nation’s Restaurant News, exceeding those of the quick-service, family-dining, and casual-dining sectors by a healthy margin. Against this backdrop, New York City staple Dig has plans for expansion.

Dig, founded in 2011, focuses on locally sourced, healthy, and approachable food. The company owns 32 restaurants, 20 of them in New York City and others in locations like Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC.

Now, it’s got plans to open more stores in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, its CFO, Jasmine Chiaramonte, told Retail Brew.

But sustaining growth in this challenging economic environment for consumers isn’t easy. She spoke with CFO Brew about how Dig’s keeping its brand intact as it expands, and how it places new locations.

Focus on quality. When you’re in a growing company, it can be easy to “lose track of what got you to become a growth brand in the first place,” said Chiaramonte, who was recently promoted to CFO from her role as VP of finance. In Dig’s case, that brand is built on the quality of its food, she said.

For more on Dig’s real estate strategy, click here.—CV

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From scorching heat waves to a head-spinning number of tornadoes (just in time for Twisters), the year already seems to be brimming over (we mean that literally for some areas) with severe weather. Of course, severe weather can mean severe damages to and disruption of business as usual.

But economic losses from catastrophes in the first half of 2024 weren’t that bad, considering what the world has experienced in recent history, according to a new report from Aon.

The insurance brokerage giant’s impact forecasting team estimated first-half losses from global natural disasters at $117 billion, which is lower than the 21st century H1 average of $137 billion and “significantly lower” than the $226 billion in losses over the same period in 2023.

First-half insured losses stood at approximately $58 billion, which is above the century average of $39 billion but lower than the $60 million-plus in insured losses seen in the first half of the last three years.

Better yet, the insurance protection gap—which is the difference between uninsured and insured losses—has fallen to 50%, “one of the lowest on record for 1H” and largely due to insurance payments covering severe storms in the US. According to the report, US natural disasters made up nearly 80% of global insured losses, at almost $46 billion.

For more, click here.—AZ

Domino’s is preparing for a less-than-appetizing back half of 2024.

In its Q2 earnings report last week, Domino’s reported 4.8% same-store sales growth, though it expects growth as low as 3% for the rest of the year. It also cut its plans for global expansion by 25%.

Domino’s did beat expectations for earnings per share in Q2. Its revenue rose 7.1% year over year to $1.1 billion for the quarter. Domino’s credited the revenue growth to higher supply chain revenue, greater order volumes, US advertising success, and franchise royalties and fees.

On the whole, though, it’s been a bumpy time for fast food. Price increases at many leading chains have far outstripped inflation over the past five years, according to analysis by FinanceBuzz, and customers appear to have cut back on spending in response. Investors are “concerned about the health of the sector,” the Wall Street Journal reported, observing that while Domino’s share price increased 21% in the past year, an S&P 500 restaurant sector subindex is down 8% over those 12 months.

Fast food chains have responded to the downturn with a slew of promotions. Likewise, Domino’s continues to offer “boost weeks” when pizzas are 50% off. CEO Russell Weiner said during an earnings call that the company has updated its loyalty program so that customers can earn points and free items more quickly. The loyalty program, coupled with “strong marketing programming,” is helping to increase transaction growth in US stores, CFO Sandeep Reddy added.

Click here to add toppings to this story.—CV

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