June 19, 2013

Women in Foodservice

Marc Halperin: Resident F&B Expert
A Tip From the Bartender

While attending the Research Chefs Association’s annual conference in San Antonio this past March, I wandered into the Esquire Tavern, a historic downtown institution with a cocktail menu capable of tempting even the most ardent teetotaler.

Read Full Story // read more about: Menu Development, Ingredients & Dayparts
Executive Insights
The Changing of the Guard

They say the only thing you can count on is change. That adage is especially true in the quick-service C-suite, where new career opportunities can leave a company without its top executive at any time. This year has already witnessed a slew of CEO shake-ups, perhaps none as significant as when Jim Skinner retired and turned...

Read Full Story // read more about: Culver's, Goodcents Deli Fresh Subs, Human Resources
Franchising
Don’t Let Weather Get You Down

Eric Wright signed on with Kona Ice, a shaved-ice concept, in 2009. His Kansas City–based business is mostly mobile and outdoor-oriented, consisting of food trucks, carts, and kiosks, and has become increasingly profitable despite sometimes less-than-ideal weather conditions. Wright has focused on developing new stations that can...

Read Full Story // read more about: Kona Ice, Marketing, Promotions
Denise Lee Yohn: QSR’s Marketing Guru
The Marketing Measuring Stick

Q: The corporate office and I often debate what an effective marketing program is. How should we evaluate marketing ideas, and what are realistic expectations from a marketing program? 

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Emerging Concepts
One to Watch: Milio’s Sandwiches

Mike Liautaud, president and founder of Milio’s Sandwiches, says when it comes down to it, he and his sandwich competitors are all “just putting lunch meat on bread.” But something else helped grow his concept from a single sandwich shop near the University of Wisconsin campus in 1989 into a 47-unit chain with locations...

Read Full Story // read more about: Milio's Sandwiches, Sandwiches, Franchising, Growth
Consumer Trends
Flex Casual: The Best of Both Worlds

Consumers today have an abundance of restaurant choices, and to stay competitive, quick-service operators must develop innovative strategies to remain profitable. Some operators have found that they can attract more customers by operating as flex-casual concepts, offering quick service by day and table service by night. Austin,...

Read Full Story // read more about: American Roadside Burgers, Mama Fu's Asian House, Russo's, Training, Competition, In the Store, Fast Casual
Competition
How to Make Sure the Price is Right

With economic and climate pressures forcing commodity costs upward, many quick-serve C-suites are facing the grim task of raising menu prices. But with fears that such increases could impact sales and customer loyalty, executives are left to figure out how to best introduce these higher prices.

Read Full Story // read more about: McDonald's, Operations, In the Store, Promotions
Consumer Trends
Are Meat Pies Just a Pie in the Sky?

While the meat pie may not be as American as its apple-filled cousin, one quick-service entrepreneur is betting on the Australian street-food staple to become the next big thing in U.S. quick service. Wayne Homschek is CEO of Pie Face, a meat-pie concept that opened its first location in Sydney, Australia, in 2003 and now has 72...

Read Full Story // read more about: Pie Face, Menu Development, Consumer Trends, Menu Innovations, Franchising, Growth
Fast food brands are using customer suggestions to develop new products.
Operations
The New Face of R&D

There’s no way around the truth that social media is now a critical tool for limited-service restaurant brands.

It plays an influential role in marketing and building brand identity, and allows concepts to reach out to and interact with fans and followers to build deeper...

Read Full Story // read more about: Baskin-Robbins, Sloan's, Wing Zone, Desserts, Menu Development, Consumer Trends, Menu Innovations, Social Media, Ingredients & Dayparts
Fast casual brands attract customers with alcoholic beverage programs
Menu Innovations
Buying into Booze

Fast-casual restaurants were once able to claim premium food, modern décor, and all-around upscale service as hallmarks of their category. But with more quick-service chains retooling in those areas to compete for post-recession consumers, fast casuals have been left to search for new ways to...

Read Full Story // read more about: Blaze Pizza, Chipotle, Freebirds, Fresh to Order, Starbucks, Uncle Maddio's, Beverage, Menu Development, Competition, Consumer Trends, Ingredients & Dayparts
Superfoods like blueberries offer nutritional and flavorful menu potential.
Menu Innovations
Wonder Food

Look, up on the table! It’s a burdock. It’s a plantain. It’s … superfood!

Although there’s nothing really super-heroic about eating nutrition-rich fruits and vegetables, the foods give customers an opportunity to pursue healthier options at a time when many...

Read Full Story // read more about: Bowl of Heaven, Freshii, Just Salad, Red Mango, Healthy Menus, Menu Development, Health, Ingredients & Dayparts
New fast food brands like Live Basil first start as innovative business ideas.
Industry News
Birth of a Brand

It always starts with a simple idea.

For Brian Bailey at Ichor Restaurant Group, it began with the idea that Ohioans needed better barbecue. Six years after that idea initially took hold, Old Carolina Barbecue opened the doors to its first unit, in Canton, Ohio. The company later opened...

Read Full Story // read more about: Fazoli's, Little Greek, Live Basil, Old Carolina Barbecue Company, Back of House, Finance, Marketing, Operations, Competition, In the Store, Growth
Ice cream brands are increasing innovation to take business back from fro yo.
Consumer Trends
Can Ice Cream Survive?

They seemed to pop up almost overnight. In strip malls and on street corners across the country, frozen-yogurt shops suddenly offered an exciting new option for America’s collective sweet tooth, teasing at healthfulness and innovating with self service and customization. Once concentrated...

Read Full Story // read more about: Baskin-Robbins, Cold Stone Creamery, Jeni's, Sloan's, Desserts, Competition, Menu Innovations, Ingredients & Dayparts
Quick service brands are using big data to streamline and improve business.
Operations
Get a Grip on Big Data

Franchisees, C-suite executives, and marketing experts in the limited-service industry have likely all come across the term big data in some form or another over the last couple of years.

But unless their background or interests lie in analytics or statistics, they probably shrugged it...

Read Full Story // read more about: Haute Dogs & Fries, Jamba Juice, Back of House, Back Office, In the Store, Consumer Trends
Wrap concept BSkis in Chapel Hill successfully delivers food to campus students.
Industry News
Signed, Sealed, Delivered

Burger King hopes its new delivery service will be a great profit-driver for the chain, as the company is banking on customers to put in large orders for office lunches, birthday parties, and other gatherings in the select cities where the service is offered.

But it may not be the only...

Read Full Story // read more about: Burger King, McDonald's, [B]Ski's, Back of House, Online & Remote Ordering, Consumer Trends
Industry News
Toppers Boosts System-Wide Sales by 40% in Q1

Despite the crowded pizza category, Toppers Pizza is taking its share of the more than $40 billion pie.

System-wide sales increased by more than 40 percent for both company-owned and franchised units in the first quarter of 2013, and same-store sales for company units were up 13.59...

Read Full Story // read more about: Toppers Pizza, Finance, Marketing, Pizza, Franchising, Growth
Five to Seven will invest in healthy and sustainble fast food brands globally.
Finance
Good Food for All

Five to Seven, a new restaurant funding initiative launched in May by foodservice industry veterans Brad Blum and John Vincent, has goodness at its core and as its goal. “Good food for the planet” is the initiative’s tagline, as Blum and Vincent want “good food”...

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A new tool from GS1 U.S. will help operators protect their food safety.
Food Safety
Cracking the Food Safety Code

For years, barcode technology has been commonplace in the retail sector, where it’s used to gather information about products, sales, and even consumer trends at various transaction points. But now, due to a major standardization initiative and broadening food-safety concerns, the same...

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Corner Bakery's new menu items use fresh ingredients to offer premium quality.
Breakfast
The Corner of Innovation

In a push to distinguish itself from growing competition in the fast-casual bakery-café space, Corner Bakery Café is doubling down on menu innovation.

The 22-year-old, Dallas-based chain recently leveraged its high-quality kitchen equipment and capabilities, as well as more than 40 fresh...

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Operators must protect their quick serve business from credit card fraud.
Point Of Sale
How to Prevent Credit Card Fraud

Every merchant that accepts credit and debit cards is required to be compliant with the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standards (DSS), whose next set of standards will be released in October 2013. Yet despite these compliance requirements, the food and beverage industry had the...

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McAlisters Deli franchisee says casual dining experience helps in quick service.
Sandwiches
What You Can Learn from Casual Dining

David Blackburn has been in the foodservice business his entire adult life. Since 1979, the McAlister’s Deli franchisee has cataloged more than 25 years of experience in the casual-dining sector, spending 16 of those as regional vice president of operations at O’Charley’s....

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Fast casual brands attract customers with alcoholic beverage programs
Beverage
Buying into Booze

Fast-casual restaurants were once able to claim premium food, modern décor, and all-around upscale service as hallmarks of their category. But with more quick-service chains retooling in those areas to compete for post-recession consumers, fast casuals have been left to search for new ways to...

See More
A Wing Zone franchisee changed his cooking equipment to get better results.
Back of House
The Transformational Franchisee

Army and Air Force foodservice provider The Exchange has been serving U.S. military families since 1895 with meals in cafeteria lines and snack bars. It wasn’t until 1985, however, that it first signed a license agreement with a name-brand food franchisee—at the time, Burger King.

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The Boston Fire Department was treated to free meals at Firehouse Subs.
Charitable Giving
Nurturing Boston

As soon as he learned about the April 15th Boston bombings, Dave Tucci, the New England area representative for Firehouse Subs’ DMA, called the Firehouse franchisee closest to the bombings.

Tucci was relieved to find out that all employees at Firehouse’s Copley Square location...

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Superfoods like blueberries offer nutritional and flavorful menu potential.
Healthy Menus
Wonder Food

Look, up on the table! It’s a burdock. It’s a plantain. It’s … superfood!

Although there’s nothing really super-heroic about eating nutrition-rich fruits and vegetables, the foods give customers an opportunity to pursue healthier options at a time when many...

See More
 
Industry News
WFF Opens the Door for Sewell Scholarship Applications

The Women's Foodservice Forum (WFF) is now accepting applications for the second-annual WFF Sewell Scholars Award. The scholarship program, in partnership with Sysco Corporation, offers a grant to a high-potential woman in the foodservice industry to attend the WFF Executive Leadership Program.

Read Full Story // read more about: Women in Foodservice, Outside Insights
Industry News
Papa John's Promotes Caroline Oyler to SVP of Legal Affairs

Papa John's International announced the promotion of Caroline Oyler to senior vice president, legal affairs.

In her new position, Oyler is responsible for the company’s legal functions, including intellectual property, international law, ethics, corporate governance, government contracts and franchising, litigation, and labor and employment matters.

Read Full Story // read more about: Papa John's, Legal, Women in Foodservice, Human Resources
Industry News
PreGel America Promotes Anna Pata, Intros Evolution Glazes

PreGel AMERICA, the U.S. subsidiary of the largest specialty dessert ingredient manufacturer in the world, announces the promotion of Anna Pata, formerly key account manager, to director of sales.

Read Full Story // read more about: PreGel America, Back of House, Back Office, Menu Innovations, Women in Foodservice, Operations
Industry News
McDonald's President Jan Fields to Leave the Brand

McDonald's Corporation announces that Jeff Stratton, currently global chief restaurant officer, will succeed Jan Fields as president of McDonald's USA, effective December 1. Fields will be leaving after more than 35 years with the company.

Read Full Story // read more about: McDonald's, Women in Foodservice, Human Resources, Operations
Industry News
Togo's Pops Up in Danville, California

Residents of Danville, California, now have a new go-to, deli-inspired restaurant serving up big, made-to-order sandwiches stuffed with the freshest ingredients.

Togo’s Eateries, Inc., a “West Coast Original” since 1971, announced the opening of its newest restaurant located in the Town and Country Plaza in Danville.

Read Full Story // read more about: Togo's, Sandwiches, Women in Foodservice, Franchising, Growth
Industry News
Zaxby's Promotes Gamble to VP of Brand Development

Zaxby’s announces an “indescribably good” promotion of Stephanie P. Gamble (née Struble) to vice president of brand development for Zaxby’s Franchising, Inc. (ZFI). Gamble has played an integral role in the development of many of Zaxby’s award-winning signature menu items that have added to the brand’s success. In her newly appointed position, Gamble will oversee the strategies and developments of the menu, systems, and applications of the Zaxby’s brand.

Read Full Story // read more about: Zaxby's, Back of House, Back Office, Women in Foodservice, Operations
Industry News
IFEC Brings On Board New Officers and Members

New officers were elected by the Board of Directors of the International Foodservice Editorial Conference (IFEC) during the association’s annual conference in Nashville, Tennessee, November 5-7. Officers serve one-year terms.

Read Full Story // read more about: IFEC, Operations, Women in Foodservice, Outside Insights
Industry News
2013 Designated 'Year of Women in Foodservice'

Food News Media, publisher of QSR magazine and the newly introduced FSR magazine, which covers the full-service restaurant sector, will roll out its “Year of Women in Foodservice” initiative across both brands in 2013. Ellen Koteff, special projects editor of Food News Media, will serve as ambassador for this program.

The new platform will feature women in all aspects of foodservice: executive ranks, middle management, owner/operators, franchisees, and front and back of the house, as well as from the supplier community.

Read Full Story // read more about: Food News Media, Operations, Executive Insights, In the Store, Women in Foodservice, Operations