Nation’s Restaurant News teams up with Datassential and its Firefly data platform to present a look at the restaurant landscape that tracks the performance of the largest 500 chains.
Awhite-bearded man sporting a snow-white suit and a black string tie sells pressure cookers and a secret spice blend from the trunk of his car. He calls himself “the Colonel,” says he’s from Corbin, Ky., and tells restaurateurs he can teach them...
If there’s an enduring Hollywood image that has lost little of its impact throughout the years, it’s that of the business meal. Whether it’s ruthless corporate trader Gordon Gekko lecturing his protégé over steak tartare in “Wall Street,” or a...
The fine-dining business has experienced many twists and turns over its long history, but never more so than in recent years as restaurateurs have been forced to shift gears and move in new directions. The survivors retain the segment’s great...
Parents have faced the question thousands of times throughout their child-rearing lives: “What’s for dinner?” And restaurants have answered the call with chicken fingers, burgers, hot dogs and French fries. Kids’ meals, and kids’ menus, have been...
Scurrying behind storage containers and around walk-in freezers, the cockroach is a loathsome sight in any kitchen. Restaurant owners have been battling them for decades, and yet the bugs persist as their ancestors have for millions of years...
Columbia Restaurant, founded by the Gonz-mart family in Tampa, Fla., in 1905, has survived challenging times that included two world wars, Prohibition and the Great Depression. But today, the ability to thrive as an independent restaurant in an...
Of all the school memories that alumni later recount with a nostalgic fondness, their dining experiences in the cafeteria traditionally haven’t ranked high among them. Anecdotes of mystery-meat casseroles, ossified sandwiches, mushy vegetables and...
On the surface of things, the tip should not exist—at least not as the main source of income for servers in North America. In this capitalist yet thoroughly regulated society, how can the wages of a significant chunk of the labor force be at the...
When people tell Randy Akerson they’re interested in opening their own restaurants, his initial reply is simple: “Don’t do it.” Akerson, who has run Burrito Bros. Taco Co. in Gainesville, Fla., for more than 30 years, explains why: “Too many...
During the third season of the acclaimed HBO series “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” the show’s creator, Larry David, and real-life actors Ted Danson and Michael York were portrayed as they struggled to open a trendy, celebrity-owned eatery in Los Angeles...
