Reality Check

Peter Romeo

The blog from award-winning journalist, RB Editor-at-Large Peter Romeo. Peter taps into his decades of experience covering the restaurant business at a variety of publications to discuss any number of issues related to the operations and general direction of restaurants.

Financing

What’s the difference between sharks and most PE investors? About 3 teeth

Yeah, there are some good ones. It’s the others that have changed the game—and tarnished the industry’s image in the process.

Leadership

Why it sucks to operate restaurants in Calif.

The last two weeks have brought a slew of new laws that affect the restaurant industry. Here’s a look, a sort of pre-Halloween scare.

Little-noticed ripples on the labor front hold profound implications for foodservice employers.

Schnatter's not the only one who deserves blame in what has to be a situation unmatched in its bizarreness.

This week’s head-spinning moments include customers’ decision to secretly redecorate a McDonald’s and the capture of possibly the restaurant industry’s most notorious dine-and-dash artist. And it wouldn’t be a news roundup without a story involving Donald Trump.

Here’s why it was a bad month for tree swingers, politically aware operators and places with gas problems.

This week's head-spinning restaurant moments included a suggestion in court that the "b" in IHOb stood for "bad news for Applebee's." That's just one of the long-shot gambles that came to light as oddsmakers considered the likelihood of restaurants charging into sports betting and who'll win the chain vs. independent bout.

RCI is building an empire of gentlemen’s clubs and breastaurants. And the strategy is paying off.

Operators’ reliance on gimmicky promos might not bring the long-term traffic gains they hope for.

Starbucks has vowed to cut unit-level administrative tasks in half, while Del Frisco’s is reducing its dependence on beef. And those aren’t the only ways restaurant operators are subtly improving their lot.

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