Restaurants push back against alcohol warnings

There's a lot of emphasis on obtaining new guests in the restaurant industry, but it's important to remember that much of a restaurant's business actually comes from repeat guests.

Case in point: A recent report from Olo looked at data from 100 million guest records and found that a small fraction of guests often have the biggest impact on a restaurant's bottom line. 

While chasing new diners is essential, it feels good to know that the regulars you know and love are the ones really driving your business' growth, doesn't it?

Here at The Prep, we want to help you grow your business and retain your favorite customers. Have something you think we should cover? Reply to this email to reach our editorial team. Now, let's dig in. 

On the menu:

💠 Slicing into the pizza industry's annual report
💠 Alcohol sales are down, but the industry is fighting back
💠 Consumers are into fancy fries and cottage cheese
💠 An update on Tropical Storm Helene's industry impact

What we’re studying: Pizza Today’s 2025 industry report, which includes stats and information for the entire restaurant industry. 

What we’re reading: Kat Thompson's Eater piece on why she took nothing from her kitchen while evacuating the L.A. fires. "It’s not about the tools we use for cooking or the vessels that hold our dishes, but the recipes that we will always carry. Memories are truly the only things that are fireproof … Even if I do end up losing my favorite mortar and pestle, I can never abandon my grandma’s papaya salad recipe because it’s a part of me.” 

What we’re following: The impacts of Tropical Storm Helene on the restaurant industry. 

What we’re keeping an eye on: San Francisco restaurants are seeing a decline in red wine and other alcoholic beverages sales.

Plus: A panda-themed pop-up bar has opened across from the Smithsonian's National Zoo. We'll be having the Panda-Colada. 

Restaurants push back against alcohol warnings

On Jan. 5, the U.S. Surgeon General released a new warning that linked alcohol consumption with increased cancer risk, and called for cancer warnings on bottles of alcohol. Around the same time, the Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Prevention of Underage Drinking (ICCPUD) released a report finding that even moderate drinking increases the risk of cancer and alcohol-related death.

The report and warning were quite sobering for the restaurant industry, which relies on high-margin alcohol sales to help stave off all the other challenges it's facing. But the restaurant industry isn't taking these hits lying down. Numerous trade associations, including the Independent Restaurant Coalition and the National Restaurant Association, issued a statement and created an informational website calling into question the report's legitimacy and highlighting how the report could be used to update the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. 

"Today's report is the product of a flawed, opaque and unprecedented process, rife with bias and conflicts of interest. Several members of the six-member ICCPUD panel have affiliations with international anti-alcohol advocacy groups, and the panel has worked closely with others connected with these advocates," it says. (Nation's Restaurant News)

Why independent restaurants are closing

While the opening and closing of restaurants is “terribly sad,” it “becomes a circle of life kind of thing,” writes Lisa Jennings in Restaurant Business. Still, in 2024 she notes that there was “an undeniable theme” when it came to restaurant closures.

“No matter the market, this year operators are blaming the challenging business environment for their decision to cut losses and call it quits.” And there were (and continue to be) quite a lot of challenges — high food and labor costs, rent hikes and the lingering effects of the pandemic, to name a few. Of course, this industry is built in part on optimism, and new concepts are opening just as others close. “The steady stream of closures does not seem to deter those birthing new concepts, which are coming fast and furious this year,” Jennings writes. (Restaurant Business) 

60

 Percentage of restaurant revenue driven by repeat guests

(Olo)

💠 The humble french fry gets quite fancy

💠 Here's why we’re all eating cottage cheese again

💠 The National Restaurant Association scholarship application

"I’m not for tech replacing people. I think people is why the hospitality industry exists. When I go out to dinner I want to talk to a human. I don’t want to input my own order in a device. I’m going to be taken care of and served and have a conversation with somebody."

-Chrissy Ouellette, VP of business development and enterprise sales at Touchpoint

(🎧 Restaurant Owners Uncorked )

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