Thursday March 7, 2024, 07:00:00

Restaurants: The Stockpicking History of Kalinowski Equity Research

By Mark Kalinowski

Kalinowski Equity Research was founded in February 2018, and launched coverage April 11, 2018. How has the firm’s stockpicking fared in the nearly six years since that date?

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Tuesday March 5, 2024, 07:00:00

Family Dining: Do Lower Gas Prices Help Same-Store Sales?

By Mark Kalinowski

At times in the past, we have guessed that – generally speaking – when gas prices go down, all else equal, family-dining sector same-store sales are helped. (Correspondingly, we have also guessed that when gas prices go up, all else equal, family-dining sector same-store sales are hampered.) Our supposition has been that when low-income and middle-income folks have a little more money in their wallets when they’re paying less for gas, and that some of that extra money finds it way into the registers at family-dining restaurants. To what degree, if any, does data back up this assertion?

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Monday March 4, 2024, 10:34:13

Restaurants: A Closer Look at California’s Fast Food Council and its Members

By Mark Kalinowski

Late last year, California’s Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law a revised version of Assembly Bill (AB) 1228. This act creates a so-called Fast Food Council that will have nine voting members on it. Our bottom line: as expected, the business-unfriendly members outnumber the business-friendly members. As such, expect the minimum wage for most quick-service and fast-casual employees in California to go up by +3.5% annually. This suggests that the minimum wage for these employees could get to at least $23.75 per hour as of January 1, 2029.

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