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Peter Romeo

Editor at Large

Articles by
Peter Romeo

Page 357

Saluting a save

Several hundred of us watched a life being changed tonight. The change-ee will never forget an evening that started with dire concerns about her family’s financial situation and ended with a fresh start, courtesy of two restaurant luminaries who presumably didn’t know her before today. But I’m pretty sure the rest of us will never let it slip from memory, either.

Live blogging from the Restaurant Executive Breakfast

That criteria applies as much to a whole chain as it does to a single unit, says Richard Fitzgerald, co-CEO of CapitalSpring.

This much we know already

With the NRA show just hours away, certain truths about this year's convention are piling up like used toothpicks at a sliced-pepperoni booth. Here’re some of the insights we've gleaned so far:

The Year of the Handheld?

The show hasn’t even started, but a theme is already emerging for the National Restaurant Association’s mega-convention in Chicago. If the early hubbub is any indication, this may well be the Year of the Handheld.

Flavor of the day for ice cream chains: Savory

Savory flavors are claiming more freezer space as ice cream chains slide into their peak season.

Genghis' Kwest: Healthy buzz for a few bucks

Still not seeing the potential of this whole social media thing? Then consider the buzz blitz Genghis Grill waged—for a song—to position its Mongolian barbecue as a healthy option.

The top tweeting restaurant trucks

A look at the top mobile users of social media underscores how much they depend on daily dish-ups of 140 characters to make their models work.

Casual ‘Davids’ dominate in word of mouse

Need proof that dominance in social media isn’t (yet) a function of size? Look no further than Restaurant Business’ ranking of casual chains by success in that realm.

Twitter (and Facebook’s) tops in toques

Our ranking of restaurant chefs by social media success immediately brings to mind two questions: Who is DenverChefDude, and how does he have anytime left to cook?

Cinnabon giveaway targets nurses

Cinnabon, a bakery chain with a number of non-traditional locations, will offer nurses a free cinnamon roll during National Nurses Week, May 6-12.

Marketing

The Top 10 independent users of social media

You’d think that celebrity chefs would make their restaurants the stars of social media. But in our rankings of independent restaurants, the most avid users are hardly household names. Big name chefs, it seems, prefer to tweet and post under their own names, not their restaurants’ or company’s.

Financing

Your franchisees need a loan? Give their bank an earful

Restaurant franchisees wouldn’t have to scrounge for capital if their franchisors provided lenders with info about the brand’s performance, plans and work-out scenarios, concluded a high-level powwow on the credit crunch.

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