Boka Group’s Four Nominations Highlight Chicago’s 2018 James Beard Award Finalists
Ashok Selvam and Daniel Gerzina | Eater Chicago | March 14, 2018 Chicago’s food and beverage industry netted 10 nominations this morning when the James Beard Foundation announced its finalists for the 2018 awards from Philadelphia. Boka Restaurant Group scored the...
Restaurants Are Replacing Retail As Anchor Tenants, And ‘Everyone Wants One’
Kellie Ell | CNBC | February 18, 2018 For better or worse, new eateries and the attention they attract have turned the restaurant business into a boom town, restaurateur David Chang told CNBC in a recent interview. Chang, who owns 23 restaurants around the globe in...
Cash-Strapped Restaurants Turn Up Heat On No-Show Diners
Sarah Butler | The Guardian | February 24, 2018 The declining fortunes of restaurants have prompted headlines recently, with 12 branches of Jamie Oliver’s Italian chain having shut their doors and other major outlets admitting to feeling the pinch. But some owners are...
Are Taprooms Killing The Corner Bar?
Brigid Sweeney | Crain's Chicago Business | February 9, 2018 Jason Klein and Brad Shaffer, buddies since their 9-year-old hockey-playing days in the northwest suburbs, started talking about opening a bar in 2009. But after assessing the competitive landscape and the...
High-End London Restaurant Launches Uber-Style Pricing Model
Samantha Raphelson | NPR | February 6, 2018 If you've ever tried to catch an Uber on a rainy day during rush hour or after the ball drops on New Year's Eve, you're familiar with dynamic pricing. That's when the price of a ride costs more or less depending on the...
Randolph Street’s Restaurants Victimized By The Rents They Helped Grow
Chuck Sudo | Bisnow Chicago | January 25, 2018 When John Manion opened La Sirena Clandestina on Fulton Market in 2012, the one thing he was certain about in the lease was the rent was perfect for a chef opening his first restaurant. "I was only a cook before. I've...
Restaurateurs Cultivate More Than Food By Operating Farms
Mark Hamstra | Restaurant Hospitality | January 19, 2018 Restaurateurs who operate farms are growing more than just fruits and vegetables. They’re also cultivating the ability to tell stories around the dishes that incorporate their harvests. Operators have long...
Should Restaurants Charge You If You Book And Don’t Turn Up?
Vivienne Clarke | The Irish Times | January 8, 2018 Restaurant owners have been urged to take non-refundable deposits from customers, in order to halt the growing problem of “no-shows”. The Restaurants Association of Ireland is calling on its members to take the...
How America Dined In 2017
Hillary Dixler Canavan | Eater | December 28, 2017 As the unhinged, oft-lamented year 2017 careens toward its merciful end, Eater takes a look back at what actually happened in North America’s dining capitals. Despite what commenters on Facebook would prefer, politics...
Meet the Investors Funding the Fast-Casual Boom
Andrea Strong | Eater | December 13, 2017 In early October, Danny Meyer made a big announcement. It wasn’t about tipping, or another iteration of the Shake Shack hot chicken sandwich. This one was different. He would be entering the world of private finance, starting...
The Inflated Promise of the American Food Hall
Elizabeth Dunn | The New Yorker | November 29th, 2017 In 2010, the chef Todd English opened an indoor market in the basement of the Plaza Hotel, in Manhattan. Back then, the term “food hall” was still largely alien to many Americans. It belonged to Britain, to...
Interest In Buying Restaurants Persists, Despite Weak Sales
Jonathan Maze | Nation's Restaurant News | November 15th, 2017 Declining same-store sales and traffic, and growing fears of an upcoming recession, have not scared off investors in restaurant concepts and franchisees, bidding up the prices for companies well past...