They Bet Their Future on Barbecue Dreams. Many Lost Everything.

Powerful, thoroughly reported @bretteats.bsky.social piece on the hazards (hard to avoid "pitfalls") or opening a franchise. Makes you want to find stories of scrupulous franchisers who honor their franchisees' financial well-being.

www.nytimes.com/2025/06/03/d...

They Bet Their Future on Barbecue Dreams. Many Lost Everything.

They bought a Dickey's franchise looking for the American dream. They got smoked. A great story from @bretteats.bsky.social
www.nytimes.com/2025/06/03/d...

Investigating Shrimp Fraud Is an Urgent Matter on the Gulf Coast With a flood of imported seafood driving the U.S. shrimp industry to the edge of ruin, a consulting company out of Houston is testing truth in menu labeling.

Wild Gulf shrimp - a true delicacy - is harder to find than ever, because of a flood of imports too many restaurants pass off as locally caught, pushing shrimpers to the edge of extinction. My story about the tough-talking scientist trying to stop all that www.nytimes.com/2025/04/30/d...

As Trump’s Immigration Crackdown Looms, Restaurants’ Undocumented Workers Fear the Worst In Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington and other cities, chefs and owners are worried for their workers and their businesses.

It's hard to overstate the level of fear in the restaurant profession. This is particularly true in Chicago, where I focused most of my reporting for this deadline story.
www.nytimes.com/2025/01/25/d...