Why consumers turned away from fast-food restaurants in 2024

This episode of "A Deeper Dive" features clips from the year's best podcasts, focusing on traffic, price, and value issues in the restaurant business during 2024. The podcast includes discussions with Robert Byrne from Technomic about consumer frustration with rising restaurant prices and reduced visit frequency, particularly among lower-income consumers. Additionally, R.J. Hottovy from Placer.ai discusses the importance of innovation and value in driving traffic, highlighting the competition from value grocery chains and the need for restaurants to excite consumers with new offerings, using Wingstop's successful chicken sandwich as an example. The episode also includes insights from Hudson Riehle of the National Restaurant Association, who addresses the overall state of the restaurant industry, its massive employment numbers, and the challenges of labor recruitment and profitability amid rising labor costs and changing customer patronage patterns, emphasizing the need for technology investments to improve efficiency.