This week on the Extra Serving podcast, a product of Nation’s Restaurant News, NRN editors Holly Petre, Leigh Anne Zinsmeister and Joanna Fantozzi spoke about new acquisitions.

FAT Brands has made another acquisition. The company acquired Smokey Bones, the BBQ casual-dining concept, for $30 million. This comes in the wake of legal troubles for FAT Brands’ former CEO and board member Andy Wiederhorn. FAT Brands made a name for itself over the past few years when it acquired four companies in 2021. Last year, FAT Brands acquired Nestle Toll House Café, and this is the first acquisition since then. What does this mean for FAT Brands? Are they getting back into the market?

Next, the NRN editors talked about Panera Brands. The company, owner of Caribou Coffee, Einstein Bros Coffee and Panera Bread, has appointed two new members to its board ahead of its highly anticipated IPO launch. Many think this executive shake-up, in the wake of the chain’s new CEO who was named to the position this year, is one of the final steps in Panera Brands going public. What can these two executives bring to the table?

Finally, the NRN editors dove into the Top 500. We’ve been pouring through the data to give you segmented data on restaurants. Now it’s time to talk about it.

This week’s interview is with Frances Allen, CEO of Checkers and Rally’s.