The good news is that the price of many foods has come down over the past year. The bad news is that some restaurants are seeing their customer counts come down, too. Others are seeing check averages fall, and many are seeing both.As sales drop...
The genesis of Chick-fil-A’s Char-grilled & Fruit Salad, a Menu-Masters winner for “Best Menu/Line Extension,” goes back many years and speaks volumes about customer input. In the early 1990s, Woody Faulk, the chain’s vice president of...
It’s a typical day in the life of Wolfgang Puck: The Austria-born culinary phenom is up to his lederhosen in the details of yet another restaurant opening in Los Angeles, home to his self-named company. He just learned that the opening...
When it comes to cooking, chef David Burke says he’s a “showoff.” But in Burke’s dining rooms his innovative dishes steal the show.The chef’s “angry lobster” with hot pepper sauce and claws facing up toward diners, for example, evokes a punk’s...
At Qdoba Mexican Grill, it’s healthy to go naked—but that’s not an invitation for customers to doff their garments. In Qdoba parlance, “naked” refers to menu items served without tortillas. Last year, Qdoba earned a “Smart Meal”...
When Chicago-based Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises bought its Big Bowl Fresh Chinese and Thai chain back from Brinker International in March 2005, the company took the opportunity to reposition itself at the forefront of the green...
It’s important to understand where the Plain White Shake lives,” Andy Dismore says, “because it lives within a menu of other items. We’ve been able to create some really killer food.”He showed his hand at using the word “killer,” which is more...
With research showing that 74 percent of Americans eat pasta at least once a week, Pizza Hut saw a business opportunity to expand its market by introducing family-sized pasta dinners, primarily for take-out and delivery. The resulting...
NEW YORK More than 300 guests representing a who’s who of industry leaders filled Gotham Hall in New York City recently to celebrate the 25th annual Elliot Leadership Conference. (Click here to view slideshow)This year...
