Fine dining restaurants have been the hardest hit segment of the food service industry since the country slid into recession two years ago. Many establishments have closed and other have turned to deep discounting to stay alive during a time when consumers just aren’t willing to spend a lot of …
Read More »The Public Smoking Ban Counterculture
There has been much ongoing debate over the effect of public smoking bans on restaurant business. As more and more states move to ban smoking in almost all public buildings, a counterculture has been pushing back by openly flouting the bans in their communities. This counterculture is especially strong along …
Read More »These Guys Boosted Sales 400% With Creative Marketing
Ivar’s Seafood Restaurant in Seattle, Washington pulled off a brilliant piece of restaurant marketing recently, resulting in a 400% increase in clam chowder sales. How did they do it? Well, it’s a funny story actually. Ivar’s dreamed up this scheme to get a kooky story going in the local media …
Read More »Is There Money To Be Made After Hours?
The 24/7 lifestyle has been creeping further and further into American cities over the course of this decade. People are out later more frequently, and many restaurants, especially in urban centers, are responding by catering to late night diners. If done right, the late night scene can energize your restaurant …
Read More »11 Hot Restaurant Trends
Keeping up with the latest and hottest trends in food service could be a full time job in itself. Luckily for you, The Back Burner is here to keep track and distill things down into manageable chunks. This is a quick rundown of the trends we’ve been tracking over the …
Read More »Food Service Industry Groups Voice Their Opposition To The House’s Health Care Reform Bill
House Bill 3962 passed the U.S. House of Representatives last Saturday, and with the vote, which was a close one, the first steps have been taken towards comprehensive health care reform in America. The primary provisions of the bill include: Roughly 96% of Americans would be covered Businesses with less …
Read More »Campus Dining Trends: Going Trayless
One of the big things in campus cafeterias over the last couple years has been trayless dining. Several hundred college food service operations removed trays from their dining facilities, and left the students to eat what they could carry. The initial programs were a huge success, and continue to be …
Read More »Obstacles to Nutrition Labeling for Restaurants
Since 1993, the FDA has required manufacturers to print nutrition labels on food packages. As Americans become increasingly obese, health-consciousness has powered the trend toward full nutrition disclosure in restaurants as well. The theory is that if we see the caloric impact of foods, we will make healthier choices and …
Read More »New York City Health Department Finds Menu Labeling Affects Consumer Behavior
Nutrition information on menus is a trend in food service that doesn’t seem to be going away. Legislation is still working its way through Congress that would require menu labeling. In the meantime, New York City has had its own menu labeling law for fast food chains in place for …
Read More »Standardized Coding for Restaurant Products. It’s about time!
Maybe you missed the announcement by the National Restaurant Association, GS1 US and the IFDA concerning the new initiative for standardized labeling of restaurant industry products, or maybe you saw it and overlooked the potential impact it could have on your restaurant. The rest of the planet already has retail …
Read More »