Author: wildgreenquest@gmail.com

El Pollo Loco has every right to go a little loco over its second-quarter numbers. Liz Williams became CEO in March 2024 with a three-year turnaround plan focused on brand awareness and unit-level economics. Heading into year three, the chain is running ahead of pace, according to Nation’s Restaurant News. Second-quarter same-store sales rose 3.9%, beating Wall Street’s expectations. Restaurant contribution margin hit 19.5%, up from 18.6% a year earlier and near the top of Williams’ original 18% to 20% target range, even with rising produce costs working against her. A lot of that comes down to new menu items.…

OpenAI just suffered another blow to its leadership team. Brad Lightcap, the company’s longtime chief operating officer, announced Tuesday he’s leaving after eight years, saying on X he’s moving on to “start something new,” according to CNBC. Lightcap joined in 2018 and served as COO for four years before shifting in April to a role focused on “special projects,” with chief revenue officer Denise Dresser absorbing most of his responsibilities. Lightcap is the fifth senior OpenAI executive to depart since April. Fidji Simo, OpenAI’s product and business chief, stepped down last month to focus on recovering from a chronic illness.…

Gluetread’s sidewall kit patches tire gashes that would otherwise leave you stranded. Published August 12, 2026 04:07AMWhen overlanding, there are two common ways you can ruin a tire. The first is to puncture the tread with a screw, nail, or sharp rock. The resulting holes are usually small enough to fix with a tire plug, similar to what you’d use on a bike. The second, more difficult type of damage is to tear a sidewall. Overlanders run the risk of sidewall tears because we often brush against rough rocks while climbing backcountry roads. Sidewall tears can sometimes be fixed by jamming…

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. Key Takeaways Early validation is not permanent validation — a product that solved a clear need six months ago can quietly drift from the problem it was built to address. What customers say and what they do are rarely the same — trust the behavior over the feedback, because purchasing patterns and drop-offs are more honest signals than anything in a survey. Founders are often taught to move quickly, listen to feedback and keep improving. That advice is useful, but it can also create a trap. When a product or business model…

Key Takeaways It is becoming more common for companies to search for a chief of staff, a second-in-command to the boss. According to the job posting site Indeed, listings for chief of staff roles are up 85% since early 2020. Richard Gelfond, CEO of Imax, hired his first chief of staff 16 years ago, and his requirements for the role have evolved since then. Over 16 years ago, Richard Gelfond, CEO of Imax, went searching for his first chief of staff. He wanted someone to shadow him, take notes and tell him what came next in his schedule.  However, as…

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. Key Takeaways The U.S. is in the midst of an unprecedented business formation boom, with nearly 2.9 million new businesses created in the first five months of 2026 alone. Entrepreneurial interest has notably risen, particularly among younger generations. The motivators include financial independence, flexibility and control over their careers. Technology lowering startup costs and momentum in business-friendly states are two other significant factors behind this surge. In the middle of one of the most turbulent economic stretches in recent memory, one trend has remained stubbornly positive: business formations. And behind those formations,…

I’ve interviewed entrepreneurs who built apps, entrepreneurs who built rockets, and entrepreneurs who built breakfast cereals. I have never interviewed anyone who built an empire out of the phrase “What do you wipe your butt with?” Until now. It’s a question Sam Nebel is never shy to ask complete strangers. Nebel is co-CEO of goodwipes, the flushable wipes brand he co-founded with Charlie Siciak 13 years ago after the two bonded over baby wipes in a fraternity bathroom at Florida State University. Since then, goodwipes has become a name-brand player in a wipes category that’s now worth billions, landing shelf…

It may be stalled growth, a customer segment that is not converting or a team issue that keeps resurfacing. Every business owner has a problem they know they need to address. To really solve the problem, business owners need dedicated time to focus, honest feedback from people who understand the stakes and a structured way to turn a broad source of frustration into a decision and a plan. That’s why we teamed up with Robert Irvine — the celebrity chef who has helped hundreds of struggling business owners on his show “Restaurant: Impossible” — to put together Overcoming Impossible Live,…

As a writer and editor at Entrepreneur, I get to pick the brains of some of the most inspiring and innovative people in business. Their missions never fail to fire me up, and when I spoke with Steve Distante, I was struck by his infectious passion for one goal: keeping kids’ entrepreneurial dreams alive.  This sustainable investment pioneer and author of the Pitchology series has spent decades helping founders fine-tune their ideas and raise capital. And lately, his real work is happening with young people. Through his children’s book Once Upon a Time in Entrepreneurland, the annual entrepreneurship bootcamp he…

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. Key Takeaways Kevin Walker saw the impact of search firsthand after optimizing his restaurant website. He worked with Popmenu and saw a spike in catering sales. You don’t have to understand SEO 100% to take advantage of its returns. Technology is moving faster than ever, but restaurant operators don’t need to use every new tool. They need to find the right ones and use them consistently to help grow their business. For Popmenu co-founder Brendan Sweeney, keeping up doesn’t mean doing everything. “It’s never been faster, and that means you gotta just…