design

Heyday’s over

Casual dining’s trailblazers must branch out to compete with a slew of new competitors.

Phil Roberts: a concept-generating machine

Salut Bar Americain is but the latest in a string of concepts created by Phil Roberts.

A new generation of small “speed-cook” ovens is on the market, using various combinations of heat transfer including microwaves, convection blowers, hot air impingement and infrared browning elements. They’re creating an entire, new oven category.

Online social networking has businesses logging on.

Whether on-premise or off, catering can be a lucrative extension of your brand. But just as with the in-restaurant dining arena, the economic downturn has changed the rules of the game. Corporate events and high-ticket expense account dining have dried up. Weddings and other social events are smaller in size and budget. Fancy and formal are out; casual, creative and flexible are in. Caterers' new marching order: Do more with less—a lot less.

NEW MEXICO (January 4, 2011)—U.S. Foodservice Inc. will hold a groundbreaking for its new regional 125,000-square-foot headquarters at 2 p.m. Wednesday at...

One risk of a more sophisticated menu is that your food will take longer to prepare and serve. To meet the challenge, new designs are reducing the time customers have to cool their heels or idle their engines.

If regulators really want to lessen fast food’s impact on obesity, they should mandate Kenny G playlists and dimmer switches for McDonald’s and the like. Or at least that’s the implication of a new study on ambiance’s influence on calorie consumption.

We’ve killed the Monkey. From now on, our site will be known as RestaurantBusinessOnline.com, playing off its 111-year-old print sister. Call us crazy, but we think that name makes more sense.

Famous Dave's CEO Ed Rensi intends to turn the barbecue concept into a more efficient operation by embracing technology. He provided Restaurant Business with a peek inside the lab for the overhaul, a unit in the Chicago suburbs. Here's what we saw.

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