The Restaurant of the Future is in Holland, but at first glance it doesn’t seem like anything special. It just looks like a cafeteria, with a salad bar and long tables. But there are things going on in The Restaurant of the Future that make this nondescript cafeteria very different. …
Read More »The Boy Wonder Chef
At the National Restaurant Association show in Chicago earlier this month, Greg Grossman, a promising new chef, impressed show participants with his cooking demos. He has open invitations to work in the kitchens of some of America’s top chefs, including Grant Achatz and Eric Ripert. He also has a book …
Read More »Restaurant Stocks Beat The Rest of the Dow
As I noted in a blog post earlier this year, restaurants, especially high end ones, get hit hard in a recession. Eating out is a luxury, not a necessity, to most people, and it therefore becomes one of the first to go when people start watching their pocketbooks. Luckily, when …
Read More »Menu Trends: The Rise of The Cuban Sandwich
After about a century, the Cuban sandwich is finally getting its due respect. The sandwich was first developed in Florida for the purpose of feeding hungry cigar factory workers, and the cigars are probably more responsible for the sandwich’s namesake than any connection with the long isolated island nation. What …
Read More »“Zion Curtains” Come Down In Utah
The liquor laws in Utah have always been bizarre. From requiring membership in “private clubs” to drink local microbrews to no Sunday beer and liquor sales to limiting beer to 3.2% alcohol content, the requirements placed on restaurants, bars, and liquor stores have always been more stringent than in other …
Read More »Hungarian Pigs Are Cool Again
100 years ago, a Hungarian breed of pig called Mangalitsa was the preferred pork breed for restaurants across Europe and the eastern U.S. Over the last century their popularity declined for a variety a reasons. The Mangalitsa also fell out of favor with pork producers, because they require open pasture …
Read More »The Long Hard Road To Sushi Greatness
Chef Nobu Matsuhisa always knew he wanted to be a sushi chef. From the first time his brother took him to a sushi restaurant in his native Japan, Matsuhisa he has aspired to make people happy with top quality sushi using only the best ingredients. With 22 restaurants all over the …
Read More »Boost Sales With A Free Meal
An increasing number of restaurateurs are looking to boost sagging sales with value-minded deals to lure customers back into their restaurants. A particularly successful strategy has been employed by the Laguna Grille in Long Island, NY: a “Bailout Program,” which randomly awards free meals to a table per shift. The …
Read More »Should You Cut Costs In Payroll?
My recent post, “Missouri Legislature Debates Wage Cuts For Servers” sparked some debate about cutting payroll expenses in your restaurant. Finding places to cut expenses as revenue falls is never an easy endeavor. And since labor is almost definitely your number one expense, it’s easy to look there first when …
Read More »Missouri Legislature Debates Wage Cuts For Servers
In 2006, voters in the state of Missouri overwhelmingly passed Proposition B, an initiative that mandated a minimum wage increase for hourly workers. Prop B passed with a 75% majority, and after some debate, Missouri decided that workers who receive an hourly wage plus tips were eligible for the pay …
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