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50 Great Ideas

The top industry ideas we've spotted in the last year

50 Great Ideas

33. Watching the weather

 Aug. 08, 2018

Denver-based Mad Greens has a weather prediction service programmed into its ordering system to help forecast sales. The chain has found that when it’s too warm or rainy, sales go down. It’s helped th...

50 Great Ideas

34. Viral table

 Aug. 08, 2018

When new steakhouse Boston Chops designed its layout, it included an Instagrammers table. The table, which cost $10,000 to build and outfit, includes customizable features that are controlled by the g...

50 Great Ideas

35. Explanation-free catering

Aug. 08, 2018

Many options on the events menu at The Gray, one of Kimpton Hotel’s Chicago properties, are inspired by the in-hotel restaurant, Boleo. That includes empanadas. To make it easier and more frictionless...

50 Great Ideas

36. Yappy hour

Aug. 08, 2018

On Thursdays from 3-8 p.m., Cafe Adelaide & the Swizzle Stick Bar in New Orleans welcomes dogs with a full menu of their own, while their owners can opt for a $5 cocktail called Dog Day Afternoon....

50 Great Ideas

39. Modernizing the rules

Aug. 08, 2018

To be a more appealing employer, the HR team for convenience chain RaceTrac went through its rules with one question in mind: If a policy is not there to keep customers or employees safe, question it....

50 Great Ideas

25. Old school efficiency

Aug. 07, 2018

On one of the walls at Magpies Softserve ice cream shop in Los Angeles hangs a jumbo roll of butcher paper listing the day’s specials. The low-tech board is easy to update, with a staffer simply rippi...

50 Great Ideas

22. Champion for retention

Aug. 07, 2018

The Pilot Flying J convenience store chain has potential hires meet with “role champions,” employees who excel in the position. The champions talk with applicants about expectations and demands and pr...

50 Great Ideas

23. Friday follow-up

Aug. 07, 2018

The director of dining services at Purdue University sends a weekly Friday Follow-up email to connect with staff on all levels. It outlines what happened that week and what is coming up as well as pra...

50 Great Ideas

24. Happy hour for kids

Aug. 07, 2018

Holiday Inn is bringing back its chocolate milk and cookies happy hour, luring in excited kids—and their parents’ dough. The hotel chain is working closely with its supplier to reinstate the promotion...

50 Great Ideas

26. Real-time predictive ordering

Aug. 07, 2018

The Veggie Grill chain has developed a tech stack that includes computer modeling to improve service time. Its first restaurant in Chicago, where it launched the program, has monitors that allow for o...

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