Showing humorous restaurant scenes from movies, the respected Wall Street analyst touted the industry's strong fundamentals among all segments. In fact, according to Jamar, sales were growing faster than units. She went on to list several reasons, including companies' failure to make money, high labor turnover, lack of aggressive growth and commodity price spikes. Should a public company thus go private, an operator asked. In terms of going private, I don't know of many examples where that's been a healthy alternative for restaurant companies.
Some companies believe it's healthier to remain private, period.
Our cash is being disrespected. Tilman Fertitta, president and CEO of Landry's Seafood Restaurants, predicted Wall Street will one day value restaurant companies for their ability to generate cash. Even President and CEO Rick Federico of P.F. Chang's China Bistro, currently a Wall Street darling, feared the worst. We've been blessed with high same-store sales. Food safety was also a hot topic.