(Very) few restaurant brands in America are growing as fast as Tropical Smoothie Cafe, while also generating these type of sales. CEO Charles Watson joins QSR editorial director Danny Klein to discuss what’s driving the brand’s success, where it’s headed, as well as, for the first time, get into its recent sale to private equity giant Blackstone. We also dive into broader industry trends and how the rest of 2024 is shaping up, from value to asset evolution and more.

Devon Zielinski, the president of USA Restaurant Suppliers, joins the podcast this week to talk about the state of equipment in the sector, how he started the company, challenges and opportunities, and a bunch of other things, from dog DNA tests to, yes, living on Mars. This conversation went a lot of places.

Kate Finley, who worked as a Marketing Director for Chick-fil-A, is now the founder and CEO of Belle Communications, an award-winning and top-ranked digital PR and social media firm. She joins the podcast this week to talk about how restaurants can best reach today’s guest, from influencer marketing strategies to meeting customers on their own terms.

Kiosks are flooding the quick-service industry right now, from the biggest brands to fast casuals looking to scale. But what are the pitfalls and real benefits? Do they actually replace labor? Optimize sales? We’ll break down the landscape, present and future, and the ins-and-outs of implementation and performance, with PDQ chief operating officer Eric Knott and GRUBBRR chief marketing officer Jarrett Nasca.

How does a cult-favorite restaurant chain embrace the masses? It’s a multi-tiered strategy from store design to digital campaigns to rethinking every customer touchpoint along the way. Potbelly CMO David Daniels joins QSR Uncut this week to talk about the sandwich legend’s approach to guest engagement and what’s still to come.

Lunchbox cofounder and CEO Nabeel Alamgir returns to QSR Uncut to talk about what’s fast become one of the biggest opportunities in the restaurant marketplace. Catering has made a massive comeback out of COVID and is now rife with whitespace. Can tech unlock the potential?

The Açaí pioneer recently launched into franchising for the first time in 24 years. CEO and cofounder Ryan Black joins QSR editors Danny Klein and Ben Coley to discuss the brand’s journey—it owns 50 percent of the imported Açaí market and has more than 30,000 retail partners stocking the product—and how it’s going to translate that equity and experience into brick-and-mortar development that’s already fast underway.

No stranger to the restaurant industry, Max Sheets got his start as a teenager scraping cheese off pans in a Pizza Hut kitchen. He later spent more than 20 years in real estate and development for such brands as Lone Star Steakhouse and Saloon, Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers, Smashburger, and Ted’s Montana Grill. In fact, he was with Smashburger when the footprint transformed from a handful to hundreds, and was at the floor of Ted’s Montana Grill when Ted Turner and George McKerrow pioneered the better-burger segment. His responsibilities took him across the country. And in those travels, he saw things done well, and saw the opposite. He then took those learnings to Chick N Max, a six-unit fast casual, with more than 50 locations in various stages of development across Kansas, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Texas.