Papa John’s CEO Says Company Added More Than 8 Million Customers This Year
Shares of Papa John’s have soared in 2020, as the pizza chain has added more than eight million new customers this year, according to Chief Executive Rob Lynch. The jump in customers comes at a time when more people are eating at home and looking for services, like delivery.
“Growth is not just our customers eating more, which could lead them to getting worn out of pizza,” Lynch told MarketWatch after the company’s third-quarter earnings call on Thursday. “Those new customers are just starting to experience what we have to offer. There’s still a lot of opportunity there.”
How Carhartt Became An American Fashion Icon
CNBC reports that Carhartt has been the unofficial uniform of many of America’s hard-working laborers since 1889. Carhartt got its start outfitting railroad workers with overalls, but as the company expanded its product line to include canvas pants and jackets, everyone from farmers to construction workers started wearing the rugged clothing.
But Carhartt isn’t just some dusty legacy brand. Since the hip-hop community adopted the workwear style in the late 1980s, Carhartt gear has become a fashion staple.
In 1989, two Swiss designers, Edwin and Salomee Faeh, struck a licensing deal with Carhartt to create a tailored line of clothing called Work in Progress, featuring slimmer fits, a streetwear aesthetic and steeper price tags.
Minnesota Firm Gave Away Its Product Early In Pandemic. The Risky Move Paid Off.
The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports that George Demou, president and chief executive of Avtex, says offering free software and services to help clients get employees working remotely amid the pandemic ultimately has boosted the company’s fortunes.
Close to 1,000 clients took advantage when Demou made the offer in April to help clients speed the move of contact center and mission-critical employees off site to comply with stay-at-home orders.
The gesture “galvanized” relationships with clients as they reimagined their customer experience as stay-at-home orders, for example, forced banks to close lobbies and health care providers to stop in-person visits. And once workforces had gone remote, Demou said, employers discovered they needed additional help that in turn generated new income for Avtex, a customer experience consulting and technology company based in Bloomington.
IHG’s first Atwell Suites property to open in Miami
Intercontinental Hotels Group has unveiled plans for the first property under its upper midscale Atwell Suites brand. The all-suite brand was launched last year, with amenities and services falling somewhere between an extended-stay property and a select service hotel. The 90-room Atwell Suites Miami Bricknell is scheduled to open in summer 2021 in the city’s financial centre, with the hotel forming part of a mixed-use developments which will offer a 140-room property under IHG’s Hotel Indigo brand.
It is one of 20 Atwell Suites either under planning or in development, in US locations including Austin, Charlotte, Denver and Phoenix, and the group said it expects construction to begin on additional properties “in the coming months”.
Insider Q&A: Bloomin’ Brands CEO David Deno
The Associated Press reports that, as coronavirus lockdowns hit the U.S. in March, Bloomin’ Brands CEO David Deno called an emergency meeting for his 12-member executive team.
“We collectively said, ‘What we do today and over the next few months will be remembered forever, so let’s be proud of the decisions we make during this time,’” Deno says.
The AP story says there have been plenty of decisions. Bloomin’ Brands — which operates more than 1,100 Outback Steakhouse, Carrabba’s Italian Grill, Bonefish Grill and Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse restaurants in the U.S. and Brazil — decided not to furlough its 93,000 employees. It offered them relief pay and health insurance while restaurants were closed.