How to reinvent franchising with tech and transparency

If you want to know the real economics of the pizza business, you've clicked the right link. How much can a pizza shop, franchised or independent, make a year? How does pizza store revenue vary from country to country? What profit margin is attainable — and what impacts this number in the pizza business? We have the answers. 

...humongous? This is the word we probably need here. The impact of new technology on the fast food and restaurant industries has been hu-mon-gous! The internet and mobile phones have completely reshaped how we order, make and consume food.Instead of thumbing paper menus in restaurants, customers use their phones to order for delivery. Instead of soliciting advice from their friends, people study reviews left by total strangers online.

It’s easy to get overwhelmed with all these changes. Software is eating the world, so what’s going to be left of the restaurant and fast...

The dark kitchen is a very popular idea nowadays—it’s getting a lot of investment hype. Dark kitchens are restaurants without a dining area, they do delivery only. Their rent is low, their kitchens combine several concepts at once, and their storage areas and courier service are shared between them. All this should result in cost savings and increased efficiency.

This year, I visited CloudKitchens in Los Angeles, one of Uber founder Travis Kalanick’s new ventures. In a low-rent neighborhood near the downtown business district, several concepts are gathered under one roof—pizza, Tex-Mex,...

Benjamin Calleja wants to spy on you, and he bets you'll love it.

Actually, there is a chance that he already tracks your moves—though you might be completely unaware of it. He knows, for instance, if and how often you pass by his restaurant.

Smart sensors he installed at the front door count how many times you do that without going in. And when you do go in, the same pesky little sensors measure how much time you spend at the counter or which area of his fine establishment you prefer.

But for such a man as Benjamin Calleja, that's simply not...