The Week in Ideas, June 10, 2011

We were going to be very disappointed if Anthony Weiner didn’t somehow figure into this week’s roundup of ideas. And the industry didn’t let us down! Plus, a very cool online scavenger hunt. An app whose genius is hard to refuse. And sage advice from Tim Zagat.

Idea #1: The obvious idea: A Brooklyn sausage restaurant has named one of its dishes the “Anthony Weiner,” according to the New York Daily News.

Idea #2: Where’s Genghis idea: HuHot Mongolian Grill has come up with a neat way to get customers to spend more time on its website and social media pages. Each week through June the chain will hide a picture of its Genghis Khan logo on its site. When customers click on the logo, a secret code will pop up. When they give that code to their server at the restaurant, they will win a gift card or other prize. Clues to the location of the logo will be posted on HuHot’s social media pages.

Idea #3: New restaurant idea: When someone says to you they are thinking about opening a restaurant, what advice do you give them restaurant critic Tim Zagat? “Don’t.”

Idea #4: The beer-for-dad app idea: TGI Friday’s has introduced a new Facebook app that allows users to send their Facebook friends—or their dad for father’s day, as the chain is suggesting—electronic gift cards for beers at the restaurant. Bruce Lee Livingston, executive director of the alcohol marketing watchdog Marin Institute, told USA Today the app is "horrifying."

"This is part of a growing trend to use Facebook and other social media to promote alcohol sales to youth," he said.

Friday’s said anybody showing up with a coupon purchased online will have to show ID.

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