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Sam Smith

Articles by
Sam Smith

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The week in ideas, December 30, 2011

This week New England restaurants team up in two cities to help cut calories and drunk driving. White Castle might just replace its reputation as a destination for stoners. There’s a fight with a health inspector. And a thank you from a Chinese restaurant.

Chipotle’s bold new marketing plan

Two years ago Chipotle saw a marketing opportunity in the mainstreaming of issues surrounding sustainability, animal welfare and, generally, where food came from, all issues the chain was founded on.

Investigations of wage violations become more aggressive

There’s never a good time to cheat your workers out of their hard-earned pay. Having said that, now’s an even worse time to do it.

Marketing

Social media loves Starbucks—and hates it

Starbucks has more social media fans and friends than any other concept. It also has a lot of enemies: 220 Facebook pages call for boycotting it (and that’s just the ones spelling “boycott Starbucks” correctly).

The Week in Ideas, September 30, 2011

This week an Atlanta restaurateur thinks he has the best restaurant idea in town. We feature two counterintuitive ideas, one from New York City and one from Vegas. And we make our opinion known on the nation’s best BBQ. Don’t let the smoke get in your eyes.

The week in ideas, September 23, 2011

We don’t know much about New China Garden restaurant in Portland, Ore., but we do know they had the brilliant idea six years ago to hire Barbara Lane. You should all be so lucky. Plus: inside the guest’s brain, and the biggest bratwurst in the world.

The week in ideas, September 16, 2011

Our cup runneth over with ideas this week. Darden made the most of a big announcement. Smith & Wollensky came up with an awesome promotion. Plus, some advice masquerading as ideas. Enjoy.

Financing

Top 25 earners

The top 25 highest paid executives at publicly traded restaurant companies did well for themselves in 2010.

Meet the missions

If a restaurant is meeting its mission statement, shouldn’t you be able to identify the brand by that statement? See if you can match these chains with their defining documents.

The one-key theory

Pal’s Sudden Service, the 23-unit, Tennessee-based QSR, knows how to run a burger joint. In 2002, it won the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige Award for its highly structured management system. One of the cornerstones of its management philosophy is keeping everybody’s head clutter-free.

Our new look

We've redesigned Restaurant Business magazine! Throughout are new graphic treatments that show our commitment to giving you captivating designs, all courtesy of our artistic brain trust: Jerimiah Brown, Abbey Lewis and Art Director Susan Froberg.

McDonald's and WD-50 dispel the myths of innovation

Dan Coudreaunt, executive chef and director of culinary innovation at McDonald’s, and Wylie Dufresne, chef-owner of molecular-gastronomy temple WD-50, know a thing or two about innovation. At a packed NRA session they set about dispelling a few myths.

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