Chicago favorite Portillo’s is in the middle of a familiar cycle: Rapid expansion, followed by a plunging stock price and executive turnover. The company reported a drop in earnings, net income and sales in its quarterly report on Tuesday.
Executives are predicting brighter days ahead, but the current cycle started when the Italian-beef hot spot was sold off to private equity. Private equity firms have overseen massive cuts at the Chicago Tribune and other Chicago-area companies like Sears and Claire’s…but there’s got to be some reason they exist. So how does the business model work? And what has it meant for Chicago?
Say More opened up the phone lines to get tales of private equity wins and woe. And spoke with Megan Greenwell, author of Bad Company, Private Equity and the Death of the American Dream.
Then, WBEZ Engagement Editor Al Keefe joined Say More to preview the special presentation of “The Story of Violence,” a play by incarcerated writers at Dixon Correctional Center. The radio play airs at 7pm Thursday 11/6 on 91.5 WBEZ and other Illinois public radio stations.
