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Insider Q&A: CEO of fast-growing First Watch keeps the focus on breakfast
First Watch, a restaurant chain that serves breakfast, brunch and lunch, is rising – and shining.
The Bradenton, Florida-based chain, known for its fresh, seasonal ingredients and made-to-order menu, is one of the fastest-growing in its category in dollar sales and unit growth, according to market research firm Technomic.
Two restaurant veterans who were tired of working late nights launched First Watch in 1983 in Pacific Grove, California.
“So many concepts are devised in a boardroom or something like that. This was the complete opposite,” CEO Chris Tomasso said. “This was a bunch of guys who really wanted to be home every afternoon so they could golf.”
The company now has more than 500 U.S. locations in 29 states. But because each eatery is designed to blend into its community instead of from a corporate model, the restaurants often feel more like neighborhood hangouts than part of a chain, Tomasso said.
Tomasso led marketing for Cracker Barrel and Hard Rock Cafe before joining First Watch in 2006. He talked to The Associated Press recently about building brands and why First Watch has no plans to expand beyond lunch. His comments have been edited for length and clarity.
Q. You say First Watch has retained its scrappy feel despite its growth. How do you accomplish that?
A. One thing I’ve been saying forever to our teams is, “If we can do it in one, we can do it in 100. If we can do it in 100, we can do it in 1,000.” And the reason that’s so important is because usually by the time concepts get to our size, they start to dumb down or do things differently, not realizing that the consumer will notice over time. You start outsourcing things. You say, “Well, it’s too much labor to make our pancake batter from scratch.” And we’ve stayed very true to that. I will tell you, there’s less expensive ways to do the things that we do, but we know what’s important to the consumer.
Q. What are some of the breakfast trends you’re seeing?
A. We started to see over the last five or six years this emergence of what we call “power breakfasts.” It’s so much easier for people to meet in the morning before they get to work and their day gets away from them. So that’s been a big shift for us. And what used to be a shoulder period between 10 a.m. and 11:30 a.m., with remote working and hybrid working and all those things, we’re starting to see all that fill up. And then, you know, the weekend brunch is just having its day, right? It’s been the only segment in the restaurant industry that has shown growth in the last five years.
Q. Some competitors have been trying to grow sales by expanding into dinner. Does First Watch plan to ever stay open past 2:30 p.m.?
A. We love our business model, and we love the employee proposition side of it too. It’s one shift a day. We do tremendous volumes in 7.5 hours. Our teams get to have a job in the hospitality industry that doesn’t have them work until all hours of the night. They make a great living. So I don’t see us expanding hours at all. Also, from a consumer standpoint, doing what we do establishes us as the authority in breakfast and brunch and lunch. We’re not trying to be all things to all people in any way, shape or form.
Q. You’re a marketer. How has the work you do changed over your career? Is it getting harder to reach customers with all the distractions they face?
A. The kind of marketer I consider myself to be is an inside-out brand builder versus an advertising focus. Which is great, because when I first joined, I didn’t have any money to do any advertising anyway. So it really was about evolving the concept and setting up the foundation for growth. We had three uniforms, four menus, all kinds of different things. There wasn’t a lot of consistency. And so in order for us to really grow, we had to unify the brand voice. There was a lot of work done around the menu, the music, every consumer touch point in the restaurant. Now, has marketing gotten harder or easier? I think it’s easier in that you can now reach a lot of people through social and digital without having to do TV and radio like you used to do. It’s also easier now to control the messaging. But I also think there’s challenges. If you make a misstep, it can be amplified a lot. So I think much more care and focus has to go into your messaging and your actions.
World
2 people killed in collision between jet and vehicle at New York’s LaGuardia Airport, source says
NEW YORK (AP) — An Air Canada regional jet struck a fire truck on the runway after landing at New York’s LaGuardia Airport late Sunday night, crushing the nose of the plane, according to authorities and photos of the wreckage.
Two people were killed, according to a person familiar with the investigation into the crash. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss an active investigation.
Two Port Authority employees who were traveling in the fire truck also were injured, the person said.
There were 72 passengers and four crew members aboard the aircraft, a Jazz Aviation flight operating on behalf of Air Canada, according to a statement from the airline. The flight originated at Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport, the major airport serving Montreal.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said in a statement that the jet had struck a rescue and firefighting vehicle that was responding to a separate incident at about 11:45 p.m. The airport was closed as of 3 a.m. to facilitate the investigation, officials said.
Photos and videos from the scene showed severe damage to the front of the aircraft, with cables and debris hanging from a mangled cockpit. Nearby, a damaged emergency vehicle lay on its side.
Stairways used to evacuate passengers from aircraft were pushed up to the emergency exits on the jet, a Bombardier CRJ. The impact left the jet with its crumpled nose tilted upward.
In the moments before the crash, an air traffic controller could be heard on a radio transmission giving clearance to a vehicle to cross part of the tarmac, then trying to stop it.
“Stop, Truck 1. Stop,” the transmission says. The controller can then be heard frantically diverting incoming aircraft from landing.
Jazz Aviation issued a statement confirming the accident and noting the passenger and crew list was preliminary and subject to confirmation.
The National Transportation Safety Board said it was investigating the incident.
World
Trump, Starmer agree Strait of Hormuz must reopen as Middle East conflict escalates
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President Donald Trump spoke with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Sunday to discuss escalating tensions in the Middle East, with a focus on the urgent need to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and restore global shipping.
The leaders discussed the current situation in the Middle East, and in particular, the need to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to resume global shipping, Downing Street said in a statement.
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Keir Stamer, UK prime minister, during a news conference providing an update on the situation in the Middle East, at Downing Street in London, UK, on Thursday, March 5, 2026. (Tolga Akmen/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“They agreed that reopening the Strait of Hormuz was essential to ensure stability in the global energy market. They agreed to speak again soon.”
The call came amid a rapidly intensifying conflict in the region, with Iran blocking the strategically vital strait since the United States and Israel launched coordinated strikes against Iranian targets on Feb. 28.
The military action triggered swift retaliation from Tehran and has since escalated into a broader regional war as Iran has sent missiles into numerous neighboring countries not directly involved in the initial conflict.
UK NUCLEAR SUBMARINE DEPLOYED TO ARABIAN SEA BEFORE IRAN TARGETS KEY US-UK BASE: REPORTS
President Donald Trump takes questions from reporters during a meeting with Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin in the Oval Office of the White House, on St. Patrick’s Day, Tuesday, March 17, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
On March 21, Trump issued a 48-hour ultimatum to Iran demanding the reopening of the key maritime route, through which approximately 20% of the world’s oil supply passes.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump warned that failure to comply would result in further U.S. action, including potential strikes on Iran’s energy infrastructure.
EU PUSHES FOR END OF IRAN WAR IN A MANNER WHERE ‘EVERYBODY SAVES FACE’
Bulk Carrier, Belray, in the Gulf, near the Strait of Hormuz on March 22, 2026 in northern Ras al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates. (Getty Images/Getty Images)
Sunday’s conversation between Trump and Starmer perhaps reflected a thaw in the tense relationship between the two leaders.
Trump had publicly criticized the U.K. government, stating that Britain “should have acted a lot faster” in allowing the U.S. to use British military bases for strikes targeting Iranian missile sites.
Starmer had also maintained that the use of U.K. bases could only be justified under the principle of “collective self-defense” in the region.
He had initially declined to support the U.S.-Israeli military operation, drawing repeated criticism from the White House.
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Meanwhile, Trump appeared to apply public pressure, sharing a “Saturday Night Live” clip Sunday mocking the British prime minister’s handling of the crisis.
World
French elections: Paris stays left as far right makes mixed gains
France’s municipal runoff delivered a mixed verdict for the country’s main political forces on Sunday: the Left held Paris with Socialist Emmanuel Grégoire, the far-right and its allies scored a major symbolic win in Nice, and mainstream parties pointed to resilience in several big and mid-sized cities ahead of the 2027 presidential race.
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Municipal elections in France are local contests to elect mayors and local councils, but they are closely watched because they test party organisation, alliance-building, and grassroots strength before national campaigns begin.
In the capital, Socialist Emmanuel Grégoire defeated conservative rival Rachida Dati, ensuring Paris remains under left-wing control after outgoing mayor Anne Hidalgo chose not to seek another term.
The result extends a quarter-century of left-led rule of the capital and hands to the Socialists one of the most visible prizes of the night. Grégoire presented the result as a mandate for a progressive vision of the city.
Elsewhere, the left also had reasons to celebrate. In Marseille, Socialist incumbent Benoît Payan was re-elected after the far right had hoped to seize France’s second-largest city.
While in Lyon, Green mayor Grégory Doucet held on after a hard-fought race against his conservative rival, which was reshaped by a last-minute merger with the list of hard-left party France Unbowed.
Socialists record strong showing
The Socialists also held or performed strongly in several regional cities, reinforcing the impression of a broader recovery for the traditional left.
For the far right, the picture was more complex. National Rally (RN) leader Jordan Bardella hailed what he called the party’s biggest local breakthrough, and RN kept the southwestern city of Perpignan while also winning smaller municipalities.
But the party fell short in several of the larger cities it had targeted, notably Marseille, Toulon and Nîmes. The exception was Nice, where Éric Ciotti — once a senior figure in the mainstream right and now allied with RN — won the race, giving the far right and its partners control of France’s fifth-largest city.
The elections also brought clearer signs of fragmentation on the centre-right and in President Emmanuel Macron’s camp.
Former prime minister Édouard Philippe was re-elected in Le Havre, strengthening his standing as a possible 2027 contender, while Macron’s centrist forces could point to a symbolic win in Bordeaux, where Renaissance candidate Thomas Cazenave defeated outgoing Green mayor Pierre Hurmic.
At the same time, the loss of Macron’s former PM, François Bayrou, in southwestern Pau, underlined the vulnerabilities of the broader presidential alliance.
Turnout remained a concern. According to the Interior Ministry, participation in mainland France stood at 48.1% at 5 p.m., higher than the Covid-disrupted 2020 election but still below pre-pandemic levels.
Taken together, the results do not predict who will succeed Macron in 2027. But they do sketch the political landscape from which that contest will emerge: a left that can still win major cities, a mainstream right that remains locally entrenched, a centre searching for durable footholds, and a far right that is growing but may still face limits in the country’s biggest urban battlegrounds.
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