It’s a stereotype of the swanky metropolitan restaurant — only hiring wait staff that looks like they just slinked off the pages of Vogue or the runways of Milan — but the results of a recent study seem to indicate that restaurants could pad their bottom lines by hiring servers with a little more padding. [More]
restaurants
Mondelez And Denny’s Both Jumping On The Cage-Free Eggs Bandwagon
By 1.15.16
Hardly a week goes by without news of a restaurant chain or major food company announcing they’ll be using only cage-free eggs at some point in the future, and this week is no different: today, both Mondelez — the company behind Cadbury, Oreos and other snacks — and Denny’s have announced they’re joining the pack of big names pledging to take caged hens out of the supply chain. [More]
Shake Shack Now Selling Fried Chicken Sandwiches Nationwide
By 1.14.16
Shake Shack is no longer just a burger joint: after playing coy back in May when when it filed a trademark for “Chicken Shack,” and slowly dippings its toes in other sandwich waters with a limited test of chicken sandwiches in New York, the chain is now taking its fried chicken sandwich ambitions nationwide. [More]
“Fast Crafted,” “Fine Casual” & Other Nonsense Terms Restaurants Use To Avoid Saying “Fast Food”
By 1.13.16
In the foodservice industry, fast food joints have long been referred to as “quick service restaurants” or QSRs, but that was never a term intended for use by the public, which was just fine using the equally accurate “fast food.” But for many in the QSR business, this phrase has the stink and sheen of rancid french fry oil. So they are increasingly turning to borderline nonsensical descriptors to avoid it. [More]
McDonald’s Hopes Its New Packaging Design Makes You Feel Better About Going To McDonald’s
By 1.7.16
While McDonald’s can’t control how your actual insides feel after frequenting one of its locations, the company says it’s hoping that its newly-redesigned packaging will help put your mind at ease about choosing to eat at the restaurant. [More]
Chick-fil-A’s “Mom’s Valet” Aims To Take The Stress Out Of Dining With Children
By 1.6.16
A simple trip for fast food can become anxiety-inducing when you throw a carful of excited kids into the mix. In an attempt to quell this chaos, Chick fil-A is testing a new service dubbed “Mom’s Valet.”
[More]
Bar Replies To Customer’s New Year’s Eve Complaint Of Being Ignored While Fellow Patron Has Heart Attack
By 1.4.16
Often when we hear about a business’ response to a customer complaint spreading furiously on social media, it’s because people are shocked by the company’s response or because someone who works there was perhaps inappropriate in their reply. But when the manager of an Indianapolis bar replied on Facebook to a patron who slammed the establishment for ignoring her party’s questions about the bill to deal with an “overdosed junkie” — in reality, an elderly woman who had a heart attack — the Internet seemed quite pleased. [More]
Chick-fil-A Delays Reopening Its Only Standalone NYC Location After Several Health Violations Found
By 1.4.16
When there’s only one location of a chain restaurant in your city, you’re bound to notice when it abruptly closes its doors. New Yorkers who are usually willing to stand in long, winding lines to get their fill of the only Chick-fil-A in the city will have to wait a bit longer to get their chicken fix after health violations prompted the location to temporarily shut things down last week. [More]
The World’s Largest, Most French Fry-Box-Shaped McDonald’s Is Now Closed
By 12.31.15
McDonald’s lost its biggest restaurant in the world last night. Which sounds like a sad thing, to folks who value size and fried potato shapes, probably, but don’t fret — an even larger location is in the works. [More]
Subway Promises To Use Only Cage-Free Eggs In North American Restaurants By 2025
By 12.28.15
The cage-free bandwagon is getting so loaded, it might as well be a bandtrain at this point: joining fellow restaurants like Dunkin’ Donuts, McDonald’s, Taco Bell, and Panera Bread in pledging to use only cage-free eggs will be Subway, which says it will complete the change by 2025. [More]
Would You Pay $400 For A New Year’s Eve Dinner At Olive Garden In Times Square?
By 12.28.15
UPDATE: That $400 price tag will include breadsticks, despite earlier reports. [More]
Health Officials Investigating Chipotle For Different E.Coli Strain, Five Illnesses
By 12.21.15
While Chipotle CEO Steven Ells was busy riding the apology train, issuing regrets for a recent E.coli outbreak that sickened more than 50 people in nine states and a norovirus outbreak in Boston involving 140 students, the fast casual chain was being linked to five separate illnesses in three more states. [More]
Chipotle Facing First Lawsuit Linked To Boston Norovirus Outbreak That Sickened 140 People
By 12.18.15
It was bound to happen: the first lawsuit has been fired — er, filed against Chipotle in connection with the recent norovirus outbreak that sickened 140 people who ate at one of the chain’s Boston locations. [More]
Krispy Kreme Trying Out That Whole “Barista” Thing In Effort To Boost Coffee Sales
By 12.16.15
Krispy Kreme has apparently been thinking long and hard about how it can make more money from selling coffee, it seems it’s come up with an answer — call employees that serve up cups of steaming hot joe “baristas.” Heck, if it worked for Starbucks, maybe it’ll work for Krispy Kreme. [More]
Chipotle Takes Out A Full-Page Ad To Continue The Apology Parade
By 12.16.15
Chipotle co-CEO and founder Steve Ells has been riding a great big apology train around the news circuit lately, issuing a mea culpa on TV last week and mentioning again this week how “deeply sorry” he is that the chain has been linked to a nine-state E. coli outbreak that’s sickened more than 50 people and a major norovirus incident in Boston involving 140 students. He’s not done yet, either: the company took out a full-page ad in 61 newspapers around the country on Wednesday to continue apologizing to customers. [More]
Chipotle CEO Promises New Safety Standards Won’t Mean Higher Prices
By 12.16.15
After Chipotle CEO Steve Ells pledged that new safety standards would be going into effect at the chain’s restaurants across the U.S., promising it would soon be “the safest place to eat,” some customers might have wondered whether the cost of that initiative would hit them right where it hurts most, the wallet. But Ells says customers don’t need to worry about the price of their (hopefully) E. coli-free burritos and tacos going up. [More]
Family Suing Burger King After Woman Suffers Seizure While Trapped In Burger King Bathroom, Later Dies
By 12.11.15
The family of a New York City woman who died after being trapped in a Burger King bathroom is now suing the fast food chain, claiming that her death could’ve been prevented if restaurant employees had had a way to circumvent the door’s lock. [More]
Yum CEO Would Rather Pizza Hut Be More Convenient Than Have A Better Product
By 12.11.15
Pizza Hut has been fighting for a slice of the marketplace pie with a weapon that’s turning out to be rather ineffective namely, a complete menu revamp that added a bunch of new crusts, drizzles, toppings and doodads to their regular slate of pizzas. That whole idea of trying to compete with a better product is not the way to go, Yum Brands CEO Greg Creed says. Instead, Pizza Hut should focus on being more convenient than its rivals. [More]
