Doug Tomlinson says frustration drove him to create Vino Volo, an upscale airport wine bar concept. An oenophile who worked as a management consultant for Deloitte Consulting LLP, he recalls returning from a business trip in...
If Chris Simms were one of the canines photographed on the walls of his Lazy Dog Café restaurants, he’d be a young lab, sprinting for that metaphoric tennis ball of high-volume sales while others in the casual-dining pack remained...
Tom Ryan, the founder of 2-year-old Smashburger, says he realized in the late 1990s that consumers wanted an upgrade from the typical quick-service burger—but without the full-service wait times or the $9 casual-dining price tag. ...
Joe Fugere, owner of four-unit Tutta Bella Neapolitan Pizzeria, is one of only a few people in the United States able to recreate an authentic Neapolitan pizza. Trouble is, he doesn’t want to. Since the beginning for Seattle...
After more than 34 years in the United States, Filipino-born Veny Gapud still has a strong accent, and although she has at times encountered gender or race discrimination, she has not let that erase her uniqueness or deter her from advancing in...
With the recession putting an unprecedented squeeze on casual dining, the segment that came to life in the 1970s offering fern bars for singles is now pursuing that group’s progeny actively as it works to lure back lapsed customers. ...
Many of the major U.S. foodservice operators working to build sales and profits as a safeguard against unforeseen expenses in their most recent completed fiscal years found time to be no ally, as recessionary pressures mounted with each passing...
The day-to-day efforts of John Dunion, Michele Varian and Jeff Tunks are crucial to the success of their respective companies. As the executives charged with buying the food that fuels each of their brands, they have far-reaching responsibilities...
CHICAGO —The recession has thrown a number of challenges at the restaurant industry, but tough times can also inspire new thinking about how to improve operations, said the chief executives of four...
CHICAGO —The Illinois State Routing Bureau helped Pizza Hut navigate a 70,000-pound, 13-foot-wide and 75-foot-long truck through the city so the restaurant chain could serve one of the winning dishes...
