restaurant industry

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How You're Coming Across to Your Waiter

Restaurants increasingly training waiters to 'read' tables

(Newser) - Gone are the days of, "Hi, my name is Tom and I'll be your server tonight." Restaurants are increasingly moving toward a less scripted approach, teaching waiters how to "read" tables and subtly mold their service to fit each individual group. The Wall Street Journal offers...

San Francisco Waiters Push for 25% Tips

Turns out some NYC bars, clubs already add 20% to checks

(Newser) - Are you tipping enough when you go out to eat? The San Francisco restaurant industry apparently doesn’t think so. A column from Ed Arnow of the Contra Costa Times reports that “there’s a move on” among local restaurant workers to “make 25% the standard tip in...

Google Buys Zagat Guide
 Google Buys 
 Zagat Guide 
Sep 8, 2011 12:01 PM CDT

Google Buys Zagat Guide

They promise to make it central to their local and map products

(Newser) - We’re going to bet that Yelp is pretty upset right now, because Google took what looks to be a big step into its turf today by acquiring Zagat to bolster its location offerings, Mashable reports. Marissa Mayer, Google’s VP of Local, Maps, and Location services, announced the deal...

Why Are Restaurant Websites So, So Bad?
 Why Are Restaurant 
 Websites So, So Bad? 
Farhad Manjoo
Aug 10, 2011 2:51 PM CDT

Why Are Restaurant Websites So, So Bad?

For the most part, they're stuck in 1999: Farhad Manjoo

(Newser) - When you type in the URL of a restaurant website, you're probably looking for information like address, hours, menu, prices, maybe an easy reservation system. Instead, you typically get full-screen photos of the executive chef, links to all their other restaurants, Flash buttons and menus that won't work...

Nina and Tim Zagat: Don't Open a Restaurant
 Seriously: Don't 
 Open a Restaurant 
Nina and Tim Zagat
Apr 7, 2011 1:53 PM CDT

Seriously: Don't Open a Restaurant

The Zagats have news for you: It's not as fun as it looks

(Newser) - Do you dream of opening your own restaurant one day? Well, Nina and Tim Zagat have some advice for you: "Don't do it!" And they should know, considering they co-founded and publish Zagat Restaurant Surveys. Opening a restaurant is about a lot more than just being "a...

Hottest Trend in Dining: Gardens

According to chefs, who say they're cheap, and popular

(Newser) - Chefs have responded to the local food movement by going as local as it gets: their own gardens. In a survey of 2,000 chefs by the National Restaurant Association, a third identified gardening as the top restaurant trend of 2010, the AP reports. Growing produce, they’ve discovered, is...

McD's: We'll Dump Worker Plans Over Health Reform

Chain wants waiver from 'mini-med' spending rules

(Newser) - McDonald's is threatening to drop employee health insurance because of new federal health care regulations requiring it to spend at least $4 out of every $5 its plan receives on health benefits. Mickey D's says that the requirement, meant to force companies to spend money on actual worker benefits rather...

Tom Colicchio: How To Be a (Real Life) Top Chef

Reality TV's favorite cook tells you how to run a restaurant

(Newser) - Tom Colicchio’s probably most famous as the head judge on Bravo’s Top Chef, but the man can run a restaurant, too. He even won the 2010 James Beard for Outstanding Chef. This week, he offered Newsweek some tips for aspiring restaurateurs:
  • Dinner parties aren’t the same thing:
...

McDonald's: Soon-to-Be Chi-Chi Destination


 McDonald's: 
 Soon-to-Be 
 Chi-Chi 
 Destination 
WANT FRIES WITH THAT LINGER ZONE?
May 19, 2010 1:49 PM CDT

McDonald's: Soon-to-Be Chi-Chi Destination

Burger joint goes yuppie with 'linger zones'

(Newser) - You know those giant golden arches thrust into the sky on a pole in front of your local McDonald's? Kiss 'em goodbye. They're just one of the casualties of an upcoming total redesign of the McDonald's franchise, Salon reports. Gone, too, will be the red, double-sloped roofs, and the cafeteria-like...

Garden Yield Too Much? LA Eatery Will Take It
Garden Yield Too Much? LA Eatery Will Take It
ITS NAME? FORAGE, OF COURSE
Feb 6, 2010 5:20 AM CST

Garden Yield Too Much? LA Eatery Will Take It

Forage won't let fruit and veggies go to waste

(Newser) - Ever felt guilty about not using all the bounty you’ve grown in your home garden? Well, if you’re in Los Angeles, now you don’t have to toss it. Just-opened (to say nothing of aptly named) Forage will take it, and use the fruits and vegetables on its...

That Menu Is Playing With Your Mind, Wallet

Restaurants high and low use psychology to boost spending

(Newser) - In the recession, restaurants casual and white tablecloth alike are desperately updating one of their secret moneymakers: the menu. Numerous studies have concluded that customers spend more when items have sumptuous descriptions, a relative’s name is included, or, most importantly, the $ sign is banished entirely. Whether you can...

Rolling Stone Gets Into Restaurant Biz

Hollywood lounge plans to outclass Hard Rock; chain possible

(Newser) - Aiming to sidestep the pitfalls that have bedeviled countless other entertainment-industry players, Rolling Stone magazine is opening its own Hollywood restaurant. “We've been looking for the ideal opportunity to expand the Rolling Stone brand," co-founder Jann Wenner tells the Los Angeles Times . And no, it’s not because...

100 No-Nos Insulting to Waiters
 100 No-Nos Insulting to Waiters 
Nov 11, 2009 9:37 AM CST

100 No-Nos Insulting to Waiters

Former waiter irked by Bruce Buschel's New York Times list

(Newser) - Along with the rest of the world—or at least, frequenters of the New York Times website—Lauren Bans read restaurateur Bruce Buschel’s recent “100 Things Restaurant Staffers Should Never Do.” And the former waiter is pretty annoyed. “No minimum wage job should ever require a...

The Biggest Restaurant No-Nos
 The Biggest Restaurant No-Nos 
check, please
Oct 29, 2009 3:30 PM CDT

The Biggest Restaurant No-Nos

Owner lays down the law with these rules for staff

(Newser) - The seafood restaurant Bruce Buschel is building will have excellent service—or else. Some staff members, he acknowledges, "will no doubt protest some or most of what follows," but he's the boss, and he presents 50 rules in his New York Times blog. A tasting menu:
  • "Do
...

10 Dirty Restaurant Tricks
 10 Dirty Restaurant Tricks 
Sep 23, 2009 12:09 PM CDT

10 Dirty Restaurant Tricks

Eateries cut corners and assume you won't notice

(Newser) - Restaurants are known to cut a few corners for the sake of their bottom lines. Slashfood sheds some light on dirty little industry secrets, including:
  • Using cabbage instead of seaweed: An ex-maître d’ at an upscale Chinese joint says the chef assumed his celebrity clientele wouldn’t know the
...

Mickelson Looks to Buy Waffle House Franchise

Golfer's company makes $20.2 million offer for budget restaurant chain

(Newser) - Phil Mickelson has made a bid for SouthEast Waffles, a group of 105 Waffle House restaurants in four southern states, the Tennessean reports. Mickelson’s GS Acquisitions offered to buy SouthEast Waffles out of bankruptcy for $20.2 million. Though neither Mickelson nor his two other partners at GS have...

In Recession, Vegas Eateries Can't Beat Odds

(Newser) - Just a year ago, 25% of the country's highest-grossing restaurants were in Las Vegas—where diners ran up $15,000 checks and tipped waiters with wads of C-notes. But now restaurants are closing, new construction languishes half-finished, and more than 5,000 food industry workers have lost their jobs. "...

Twitter a Delicious Marketing Tool, Restaurants Find

Microblogging website allows for quick communication with customers

(Newser) - Restaurants are finding Twitter a highly useful marketing tool, allowing for direct communication with customers other forms of advertising can’t provide, the Boston Globe reports. Boston’s Tupelo (@tupelo02139), for example, used a Twitter feed to post updates as the restaurant passed inspections, set the décor and decided...

OpenTable Brings (False) Hope for IPOs
OpenTable Brings (False) Hope for IPOs
Analysis
May 27, 2009 1:21 PM CDT

OpenTable Brings (False) Hope for IPOs

Great company creates an old-school frenzy, but it's a one-time deal

(Newser) - A hot website goes public, and investors go wild. Shares soar 59% on the first day of trading. “Is this really May 2009?” asks James B. Stewart of SmartMoney. The stock is OpenTable.com, which went public at $20 and is trading just south of $27. "The company...

Tough Times Push Chains to Try New Fare

McDonald's classy coffee, grilled KFC widen menus

(Newser) - Desperate times are driving chain restaurants to desperate measures—straying from their bread-and-butter dishes and diversifying the menu. KFC now sells grilled chicken, Domino’s offers subs, and McDonald’s dips into the world of espresso coffee, USA Today reports. “This is a defining moment for the industry,"...

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