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Peter Romeo

Editor at Large

Articles by
Peter Romeo

Page 371

Forget the transvestite dwarfs in the trailer park

If you’ve ever wanted to start a “Jerry Springer”-style show for the restaurant industry, this is the week to do it. Insults and chairs will be flying before you can say, “I caught my spouse cheating.”

Meanwhile, in other weirdness ...

Did the industry sneak off to Colorado or Washington for a few now-legal bong hits? How else could the business have brainstormed jaw-droppers like these?

Tarnished Golden Arches?

I’m worried about McDonald’s. The pronouncements and decisions flowing out of headquarters in recent months have been real head-scratchers, from the ouster of the ketchup-blooded Jan Fields to the recent observation from CEO Don Thompson that Europeans control their weight through walking.

Healthcare glossary

In a matter of months, restaurateurs will need to notify employees of their new health insurance options under the Affordable Health Care act, officers of the National Restaurant Association alerted attendees at the Restaurant Leadership Conference. In a short, focused presentation, CEO Dawn Sweeney and chairman Phil Hickey stressed that operators need to learn their obligations and options now to contend with one of the greatest challenges ever faced by the industry.

Financing

The pursuit of customer satisfaction

Mike Roberts’ is doing what he’s always done: following the customer. It’s tempting to see Guest Editor Mike Roberts’ new LYFE Kitchen and its array of socially responsible attributes as a departure from his old job as Global President and COO of McDonald’s.

Untold stories from the NRA show

Zipping around the industry’s annual Woodstock, you may have missed a few developments that added color to this year’s gathering. While feeling is returning to your feet, here’s your chance to catch some of the unsung moments from the National Restaurant Association’s annual convention.

Big 'huh?' from the NRA Show: 'Are we in the right place?'

Regular attendees of the National Restaurant Association’s annual convention could be forgiven for wondering if they’d descended on Chicago’s McCormick Place during the wrong week this year. How else to explain all the talk about products and management strategies that would’ve been dismissed a year or two ago as decidedly on the fringe?

Fazoli's to lift the napkin off a new, more upscale Italian brand

Fazoli’s is stratifying the Italian fast-casual market with the spin-off of a new concept positioned upmarket from its sister.

The extreme is now the mainstream, if NRA conversations are a compass

Let us share the experiences of accommodating what were once health extremists, because my world is fast becoming yours.

Cosi has more than a few changes in the oven

The revamp of Cosi is accelerating, with management disclosing plans on May 16 to leave little unchanged at the one-time darling of the fast-casual sector. “After months of practice and trial,” explained CEO Carin Stutz, “we finally figured it out.

Something fishy in chains' thinking

According to the samplers hanging in your finer Mongolian yurts, “If the herring stings when slapped across your face, don’t suggest a flounder.” Actually, I made that up, but you can almost see the scale marks on the faces of fast-food executives these days, so there’s some license to be taken. Besides, all of them should be dispatched to Mongolia if they go ahead with what they’re considering.

Investors can be real bad-asses

Back in our schoolyard days, the most effective bully was the early bloomer who used his physical advantages for ill. In the arenas where most of us play today, a head-thumper’s might is more likely a function of money than muscle. Just look at what’s happening at Tim Hortons, a concept that could teach McDonald’s a thing or two about market dominance, at least in Timmy’s homeland of Canada.

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