Restaurant Rewind

`Those who don’t know their history are destined to relive it', to riff on the words of a famed philosopher. For anyone in the restaurant business, that oft-quoted saying may be more of a heartening promise than a dire admonition. The industry’s past is packed with tales of scoundrels and heroes, big thinkers and pinheads, colossal successes and dismal failures, breakthrough moves and self-inflicted destruction. Few soap operas pack as much color and drama. Yet those yellowed snapshots provide insights relevant to the challenges of today. Join Peter Romeo, a 41-year veteran of the business with a penchant for restaurant history, as he explores those pivotal moments from the past. 

Operations

Kentucky Roast Beef? When KFC was in the concept creation game

Restaurant Rewind: Saucy isn’t the first time that the fast-food chicken chain created new brands. This podcast episode features a look at some of the restaurants KFC created.

Operations

Restaurants have had their share of true-crime horrors, including these

Restaurant Rewind: We dip into the industry's crime files to look at two of the most haunting cases, the Brown's Chicken and Speedway murders.

Restaurant Rewind: The Mexican pioneer is promising to return in a more contemporary version. A look back at its heyday suggests that’ll be a challenging transformation.

Restaurant Rewind: One of the most important figures in American history also played a key role in making a casserole of pasta and cheese the quintessential comfort food of the nation he helped to birth. Here's the story.

Restaurant Rewind: The chain’s history is largely the story of founder and owner Peter Cancro doing what he believed was right for the brand, convention be damned. Now a majority stake will be held by a private-equity firm, a breed hardly known for being hands-off. Will Jersey Mike’s prove an exception?

Restaurant Rewind: Restaurant mascots are seeing less career opportunity than stagecoach drivers these days. Here's the sad tale of how their fortunes have tanked.

Restaurant Rewind: Once a true convention smasher, the casual-dining pioneer gradually sanded away the quirks and irreverence that made it saucier than anything the industry had seen before. Here’s a reminder of what it once was.

Restaurant Rewind: The food-safety crisis was a turning point for the industry. Some say it was a long-overdue wakeup call that still has even giant fast-food chains like McDonald's on edge.

Restaurant Rewind: Before there was a First Watch or Another Broken Egg, there was Le Peep and its godfather, Allen Bernstein.

Restaurant Rewind: Plenty of second and third generations have opted for the career paths their elders took, undercutting the popular perception that the field is the last place a sane person would want to work.

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