This week, some ideas for getting on Consumer Reports' good side; the living dead; guns are a good publicity idea; and another reason to wash your hands.
Idea #1: Focus on taste, value, service and mood. If you want to make it on the list of best chains from Consumer Reports. Nine chains scored big across the board last week: Biaggi's Ristorante Italiano, Black Angus Steakhouse, Bob Evans, Bravo Cucina Italiana, First Watch, J. Alexander's, Le Peep, Elmer's and Fatz Eatz & Drinkz. Friendly's and Waffle House? Not so much.
Idea #2: Zombies!!Zombie-themed restaurants are the new vampire-themed restaurants.
Idea #3: Support guns—even jokingly—get publicity. In a new Denny’s commercial a dad stares longingly at the Midwestern Meat & Potatoes Sandwich he just ordered and asks his two kids, “Do you know what it is that makes this country great?” He’s thinking that it’s the sandwich that does that, but his kids and other customers chime in with “the Constitution,” the “melting pot” and “the right to bear arms.” It’s all kind of tongue in cheek, but boy, you say “the right to bear arms” on TV and the gun folks love you.
Idea #4: Wash your hands. Or have to deal with a proposed regulation like this one in Oregon that would require restaurant workers to wear gloves. The proposal is in response to a recent survey showing that 63 percent of restaurants in the state were out of compliance with hand-washing rules.
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