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- October 2023
- Case
Fantuan
By: Feng Zhu and David Lane
In 2023, CEO Randy Wu was considering the optimal growth strategy for Fantuan, a restaurant food delivery platform that had expanded from its 2014 founding in Vancouver, Canada to serve the Chinese demand for Asian cuisine in urban markets across Australia, Canada, the...
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- October 2023
- Case
Foodology: Creating a Virtual Restaurant Group in Latin America
By: Rembrand Koning, Jorge Tamayo and Jenyfeer Martínez Buitrago
In April 2020, Daniela Izquierdo (HBS, 2019) and Juan Guillermo Azuero (HBS, 2019), awaited the results of Harvard Business School’s Alumni New Venture Competition. Operating since September 2019, Foodology, a Colombian food-tech startup in the cloud kitchen segment,...
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- July 2023
- Case
Vytal: Packaging-as-a-Service
By: George Serafeim, Michael W. Toffel, Lena Duchene and Daniela Beyersdorfer
The Germany-based startup Vytal operated the largest digital-native reusable packaging-as-a-service network globally, having raised nearly €15 million, established a large network of restaurant partners, and prevented the use of millions of single-use take-out food...
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Keywords:
Climate Change;
Climate Risk;
Digital;
Platform Strategies;
Data;
Packaging;
Sustainability;
Start-up;
Startup;
Entrepreneurship;
Entrepreneur;
Impact;
Circular;
Growth Strategy;
Innovation;
Environmental Sustainability;
Innovation and Invention;
Business Growth and Maturation;
Growth and Development Strategy;
Business Startups;
Resource Allocation;
Risk Management;
Adoption;
Strategy;
Performance Productivity;
Service Delivery;
Service Operations;
Supply Chain;
Distribution;
Green Technology Industry;
Green Technology Industry;
Green Technology Industry;
Germany;
Europe
- May–June 2023
- Article
Which Firms Gain from Digital Advertising? Evidence from a Field Experiment
By: Weijia Dai, Hyunjin Kim and Michael Luca
Measuring the returns of advertising opportunities continues to be a challenge for many
businesses. We design and run a field experiment in collaboration with Yelp across 18,294
firms in the restaurant industry to understand which types of businesses gain more from...
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- 2023
- Working Paper
The Benefits of Revealing Race: Evidence from Minority-owned Local Businesses
By: Abhay Aneja, Michael Luca and Oren Reshef
Is there latent demand to support Black-owned businesses? To explore, we analyze a new feature
that made it easier to identify Black-owned restaurants on a large online platform. We find that
labeling restaurants as “Black-owned” increased customer engagement and...
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- 2022
- Working Paper
Getting on the Map: The Impact of Online Listings on Business Performance
By: Michael Luca, Abhishek Nagaraj and Gauri Subramani
We evaluate the extent to which small businesses maintain an online presence, looking at restaurant listings on a major online review platform. While the majority of restaurants have an online presence, we find that roughly 18 percent in our sample have no presence as...
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- November 2022
- Case
Arcos Dorados’ Quest for the Digitalization of Last-Mile Delivery in Colombia
By: Jorge Tamayo, Jenyfeer Martinez Buitrago and Mariana Cal
In 2018, Francisco Staton, Managing Director of Arcos Dorados in Colombia had to decide on the company’s strategy to expand its food ordering and delivery business in the country. Arcos Dorados stood as McDonald’s largest independent franchisee, and Colombia was one of...
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Keywords:
Digital Transformation;
Delivery;
McDonald's;
Latin America;
Quick Serve Restaurants;
QSR;
Transformation;
Decision Making;
Decision Choices and Conditions;
Global Strategy;
Technological Innovation;
Growth and Development Strategy;
Agreements and Arrangements;
Negotiation Tactics;
Logistics;
Service Delivery;
Organizational Culture;
Performance Improvement;
Partners and Partnerships;
Strategy;
Food and Beverage Industry;
Latin America;
South America;
Colombia
- 2022
- Working Paper
An Anatomy of Performance Monitoring
By: Achyuta Adhvaryu, Anant Nyshadham and Jorge Tamayo
Performance monitoring is a mainstay management tool in most organizations. Yet we still know little about whether—and why—better monitoring yields better performance in practice. To shed light on these questions, we study the introduction of a performance monitoring...
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Keywords:
Performance Monitoring;
Worker Skills;
Skill Depreciation;
Managerial Inattention;
On-the-job Training;
Productivity;
Multitasking;
Quick Serve Restaurants;
Performance Evaluation;
Employees;
Competency and Skills;
Training;
Performance Productivity;
Management;
Information Technology;
Food and Beverage Industry;
Puerto Rico
- April 2022 (Revised August 2022)
- Case
Restaurant Brands International: Version 2.0
By: Boris Groysberg and Sarah L. Abbott
In 2010, 3G Capital acquired Burger King, the second largest burger chain globally. 3G expanded Burger King’s operations via acquisitions into a multi-brand business, renamed Restaurant Brands International. The acquisition had been a financial success story for 3G....
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- 2021
- Working Paper
Racial Disparities in the Paycheck Protection Program
By: Sergey Chernenko and David S. Scharfstein
Using a large sample of Florida restaurants, we document significant racial disparities in borrowing through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and investigate the causes of these disparities. Black-owned restaurants are 25% less likely to receive PPP loans....
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- December 2021 (Revised June 2022)
- Case
Darden Restaurants: The Nine Square Feet
By: Joshua D. Margolis and James Barnett
In June 2021, Darden Restaurants CEO Gene Lee contemplates how to position the world’s biggest full-service restaurant more than one year into the COVID-19 pandemic.
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- July 2021
- Article
Availability and Nutrient Composition of Vegetarian Items at U.S. Fast-Food Restaurants
By: Caroline G. Dunn, Mark J. Soto, Sophia V. Hua, Elizabeth A. Keenan, Lindsay M. Jaacks, Julia A. Wolfson and Sara N. Bleich
Research Questions: What are patterns in availability of vegetarian items in U.S. fast-food chains (2012 to 2018) and are there differences in nutrient composition between and within vegetarian and nonvegetarian items annually and over time?
Key Findings: In this... View Details
Key Findings: In this... View Details
Keywords:
Fast Food;
Restaurants;
Vegetarian;
Consumer Health;
Sodium;
Food;
Nutrition;
Health;
Food and Beverage Industry;
United States
- April 2021
- Case
Franck Giovannini: Managing Succession to Sustain Organizational Excellence
By: Boris Groysberg and Evan M.S. Hecht
As world-renowned chef Franck Giovannini contemplated his future and the future of The Hôtel de Ville Restaurant, he wondered how would he handle the transition of leadership at the restaurant when it came time for him to step down. The Hôtel de Ville Restaurant was...
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- April 2021 (Revised May 2021)
- Case
Kitopi: The Brave New World of Cloud Kitchens
By: Antonio Moreno and Gamze Yucaoglu
The case opens in February 2021 as Mohamad Ballout, co-founder and CEO of Kitopi, a Dubai-based managed cloud kitchen platform, is looking over the company’s 2020 results. Propelled by the COVID-19 pandemic, delivery orders had been on the rise globally and dine-in...
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- March 2021
- Case
P.F. Chang's
By: Ashish Nanda, Nitin Nohria and Margaret Cross
Excited yet apprehensive after being named CEO of P.F. Chang’s beginning July 1st, 2020, Damola Adamolekun was well aware of the extraordinary challenges facing the firm. The closure of businesses deemed “nonessential” owing to the COVID-19 pandemic had devastated the...
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- January 2021 (Revised March 2022)
- Case
Brigad: The Future of Work
By: Nien-he Hsieh, Elena Corsi and Daniela Beyersdorfer
In 2019 Florent Malbranche, CEO and co-founder of the French tech startup Brigad, pondered the next growth steps. Founded in 2015, Brigad’s objective was two-fold: to help restaurants and bars find qualified staff for punctual shifts, and to make it easier for...
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- January 2021 (Revised January 2021)
- Case
Thomas Keller Restaurant Group: Leadership Through a Pandemic
By: Lena G. Goldberg and Michael S. Kaufman
Thomas Keller, the first and only American-born chef to hold multiple three-star ratings from the prestigious Michelin Guide, and Joe Essa, the immediate past Board Chair of the National Restaurant Association and the CEO of Keller’s restaurant group, were class guests...
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- December 2020 (Revised April 2021)
- Case
Arcos Dorados: A QSR Recovery Plan
By: Forest Reinhardt, José B. Alvarez, Jenyfeer Martinez Buitrago and Mariana Cal
Arcos Dorados—McDonald’s largest independent franchisee, covering Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC)—faced a pandemic that was disrupting the entire consumer foodservice business in 2020. With the exclusive right to own, operate, and sub-franchise McDonald’s...
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Keywords:
Agribusiness;
Animal-Based Agribusiness;
Plant-Based Agribusiness;
Customer Value and Value Chain;
Income;
Macroeconomics;
Environmental Management;
Environmental Sustainability;
Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues;
Food;
Health Pandemics;
Crisis Management;
Logistics;
Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact;
Strategic Planning;
Food and Beverage Industry;
Food and Beverage Industry;
Food and Beverage Industry;
Latin America;
Aruba;
Guadeloupe;
Martinique;
Mexico;
Panama;
Costa Rica;
Argentina;
Brazil;
Chile;
Colombia;
Ecuador;
French Guiana;
Peru;
Uruguay;
Venezuela;
Puerto Rico;
Trinidad and Tobago
- November 2020 (Revised February 2021)
- Case
The Roca Brothers: Innovation in Gastronomy
By: Boris Groysberg, Evan M.S. Hecht and Katherine Connolly Baden
Chef Joan Roca, sommelier Josep Roca and pastry chef Jordi Roca were three brothers based in Girona, Spain whose complementary skills, collective ability, and relentless drive for innovation had brought worldwide fame and awards to their restaurant, El Celler de Can...
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- 2020
- Working Paper
Revenue Collapses and the Consumption of Small Business Owners in the Early Stages of the COVID-19 Pandemic
By: Olivia S. Kim, Jonathan A. Parker and Antoinette Schoar
Using detailed transaction-level data from financial accounts, this paper shows that the revenues of small businesses and the consumption spending of their owners both decline by roughly 40% following the declaration of the national emergency in March 2020. However,...
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