en-us http://www.chainleader.com/blog/180000418.html?nid=3974 Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information. Subject to its Terms of Use http://www.chainleader.com/blog/180000418/post/980034698.html?nid=3974 The Wizard of Oz (1939). "Close your eyes and tap your heels together three times. And think to yourself, 'There's no pla...Read More http://www.chainleader.com/blog/180000418/post/160034416.html?nid=3974 Paper or plastic? It won't be long until this question will disappear from daily use at grocery stores. Most haven't asked it in years. For those of you who only eat in restaurants and don't know what I am talking about (and bless your hearts!), this is shorthand for a longer question. &quot… http://www.chainleader.com/blog/180000418/post/210034221.html?nid=3974 The search is on for new synonyms for "all-you-can-eat". Popular now are "bottomless" and "endless". They meet the main requirement of sounding classy, while still getting across the point that a customer is able to eat all they want of something they have ordered. &quo… http://www.chainleader.com/blog/180000418/post/150034015.html?nid=3974 It has been common knowledge for at least 2,000 years that the Earth is round. Flatbread is older than a round Earth. What is flatbread? Well, I don't want to seem like a wise-guy, but it is any bread that is flat. Flatbread is one of the world's oldest, most prevalent forms of bread. Flatbread come… http://www.chainleader.com/blog/180000418/post/920033892.html?nid=3974 "Closing time - time for you to go out, go out into the world. Closing time - turn the lights up over every boy and every girl. Closing time - one last call for alcohol, so finish your whiskey or beer. Closing time - you don't have to go home, but you can't stay here." … http://www.chainleader.com/blog/180000418/post/880033688.html?nid=3974 If the hot dog is the All-American food, then ice cream must be the All-American dessert. It is everywhere we go, and yet, it is so familiar that often we don't see it all around us. We have ice cream shops, ice cream trucks, ice cream containers in grocery store freezers, ice cream in milk shakes… http://www.chainleader.com/blog/180000418/post/930033493.html?nid=3974 It’s hard enough to run a restaurant by preparing the food in the kitchen. When the kitchen moves into the dining room all bets are off, but the customer is certainly responding well to the effort. As has been mentioned on more than one occasion, everything old becomes new again. Just give… http://www.chainleader.com/blog/180000418/post/230033223.html?nid=3974 Burgers still reign supreme in the U.S. While the hot dog still holds the reputation as the All-American food, no doubt through clever publicists, the hamburger is still on top of the popularity ladder. In a national survey, 94% of consumers report eating a hamburger at least occasionally. With… http://www.chainleader.com/blog/180000418/post/1750033175.html?nid=3974 Investors turn to research analysts to help make sense of trends and outlooks in all industries. Like hurricane forecasters, analysts build complicated models with a wide range of input variables that they are constantly updating and tweaking. This is done in an effort to try and look around the c… http://www.chainleader.com/blog/180000418/post/650033065.html?nid=3974 The CEO says that the glass is half-full. The investment community says that it is half-empty. The CFO says that the glass is twice as big as it needs to be, and should be reduced in size. The construction department says that if the glass can have its sides straightened it can be built more c… http://www.chainleader.com/blog/180000418/post/1000032900.html?nid=3974 I have always loved visiting the restaurants of Manhattan. I remember cabbing in from La Guardia on a long ago trip, and seeing a billboard promoting the vast number of restaurants in the city. It stated that there were over 12,000 restaurants from which to choose. Now that is a lot...Read M… http://www.chainleader.com/blog/180000418/post/1520032752.html?nid=3974 Bobby Flay is seven weeks into his entry in the burger wars with Bobby’s Burger Palace (BBP). Located in the Long Island suburb of Lake Grove, NY, Bobby and his partner Laurence Kretchmer have opened a fast casual prototype with 70 seats. Anything that Bobby does is going to be watched c… http://www.chainleader.com/blog/180000418/post/1390032539.html?nid=3974 Technology moves slowly in the restaurant industry, especially in the kitchen. Although accelerated cooking technologies like induction (magnetic field) and air impingement (high velocity heated air) have been around for a while, they are still making inroads into mainstream res… http://www.chainleader.com/blog/180000418/post/370032437.html?nid=3974 As the economy continues to remain in its depressed state, leaving countless customers in a depressed state, restaurants are responding with lower and lower priced offers to try to stimulate and hold customer traffic. Whether they are lunch offers, dinner offers, or both, restaurants are working o… http://www.chainleader.com/blog/180000418/post/220032222.html?nid=3974 The Olympics have ended, but I still had one sports related blog subject that I hadn’t used. If I had timed it better I wouldn’t be having to make this explanation. Everything moves in cycles if you are around long enough to watch. Restaurant companies us… http://www.chainleader.com/blog/180000418/post/1490032149.html?nid=3974 Casual dining can breathe a collective sigh of relief. The Olympics have ended, and customers can return to their normal lives for a while. Every four years the Summer Olympics take their toll on casual dining. The winter Olympics hurt also, but the summer Olympics draw a much bigger television au… http://www.chainleader.com/blog/180000418/post/1880031988.html?nid=3974 Not yet, but the leading frozen yogurt chains will probably be seeking out the Lord of the Rings hobbit to add to their growing list of celebrity customers. Leonardo DiCaprio has a Red Mango yogurt machine in his office. Paris Hilton carries a ...Read More http://www.chainleader.com/blog/180000418/post/40031804.html?nid=3974 The Chapter 7 filing of Steak & Ale and Bennigan’s brought a lot of attention to the man responsible for their creation—Norman Brinker. Even though he had not been involved with the two concepts for over 26 year...Read More http://www.chainleader.com/blog/180000418/post/1570031757.html?nid=3974 One of the lasting contributions of Boston Market to the restaurant industry was the introduction of the term Home Meal Replacement (HMR). It was coined to describe the business that Boston Market had created--the selling of home-style meals cooked in a restaurant to be eaten at home. Boston Market … http://www.chainleader.com/blog/180000418/post/1960031596.html?nid=3974 Bar wars. On the cocktail front, you have the premium liquors that your customers are clamoring for. You have the hottest glassware to serve them in. You squeeze fresh juices and make your own sour mix. Your bartenders are true professionals. Your bar not only executes the classics flawlessly, y… http://www.chainleader.com/blog/180000418/post/680031468.html?nid=3974 Is there anything happier than a birthday celebration at a restaurant? For decades our customers have chosen our establishments as a place to celebrate one of the more special gatherings of the year—someone’s birthday. At the end of the meal the guests at the table of the honoree expec… http://www.chainleader.com/blog/180000418/post/300031430.html?nid=3974 "Wine is sunlight, held together by water." --Galileo Galilei, 1564-1642, astronomer Evolution in the world of wine moves at a snail’s pace, but it does move. It was just over 25 years ago that the restaurant community started offering more than token selections of wines-by-the-gl… http://www.chainleader.com/blog/180000418/post/420031242.html?nid=3974 "The stars at night are big and bright, deep in the heart of Texas." That's all of the home-state song verse that I will subject you to, but I couldn't resist. Texas Roadhouse, with CEO G.J. Hart, released their second quarter earnings, and held a conference call to discuss their results … http://www.chainleader.com/blog/180000418/post/970031097.html?nid=3974 Chili's founder Larry Lavine asked me a few years ago where I was traveling to that week. San Francisco, I told him. He asked if I had been to The Slanted Door. I told him that I hadn't, and Larry gave me a short talk on how disappointed he was with me not keeping up with the hotter concepts in the … http://www.chainleader.com/blog/180000418/post/1570030957.html?nid=3974 Sailboats need wind to fill their sails so that they can move across the water. Restaurants need customers to fill their seats so that their sales can move them toward profitability. I believe, even on a calm day, the sailboats are doing a little better than the restaurants right now. We don't…