Financing
Loving underutilized cuts of red meat
To feed Americans’ never-ending appetite for beef, the cattle industry is making new and underutilized cuts more available to restaurateurs.
Operations
6 unusual stabs at setting a restaurant apart
The constant pressure to differentiate is pushing operations in some unusual directions. Here are a few examples.
Snicker all you want, but if you’re ignoring bathroom advertising—“indoor billboard advertising” in the trade—you may be flushing away a useful bottom-line opportunity. “It’s a captive audience for ad clients,” says Jeff Trent, president of Portland, Maine-based Billboardz, which specializes in restroom advertising.
Restaurants traditionally rely on chicken and turkey to be menu profit makers. Usually in good supply and always a good buy in relation to other proteins, operators often turn to poultry to keep costs in check when red meats and seafood skyrocket. But that strategy may be dampened in the months ahead.