Sep 19, 2026
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10 min read
A Wichita burger chain built a growth machine out of nostalgia, thin patties and frozen custard. The strategy is smarter than the decor.
A Columbus pizza chain bet everything on one visible promise. Here is why that promise is harder to copy than it looks.
A chicken dance in the poultry section and a beer bar by the produce. Silly on the surface, and a calculated answer to a real problem.
A chain this size cannot average across a region. Every store is a bet on one county. The Census Bureau already scored them.
A contract clause nobody ever reads saved it a million dollars. Meanwhile its home city lost seven percent of its people, so the family quietly bought two chains in Wisconsin.
9 min read
A Dayton grocer with three stores should have been crushed decades ago. Census and federal data explain why it wasn’t.
Twenty-three stores, four generations, and a metro that keeps losing people. The math behind staying independent.
People drive across state lines to shop for groceries. Once you see the business model behind it, the strangeness makes sense.
Guessing how much fresh produce to order is the most expensive guess in grocery. Software is finally better at it than people.
