Foodservice Equip & Supplies News

How Restaurant Kitchen Automation Can Optimize Labor and Improve Customer Service One of the biggest challenges since the global pandemic began has been the lack of available workforce, particularly in the restaurant and hospitality industry. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics for the Leisure and Hospitality space, businesses have had to make up…

What generation shifts mean for predicting food trends Food preferences can change drastically between a generation, and food industry professionals from chefs to the largest manufacturers need to know who their customer is in order to effectively market to them. But generational tastes and shifts can be hard to keep track of, as new food…

Leading Foodservice Design Software Now Available in Spanish, French, and Italian, as well as English . . .   KCL, the industry leader in foodservice design technologies, announces that their BIM/CAD Designer software can now be used in English, Spanish, French, and Italian. KCL helps manufacturers distribute their CAD, Revit, and other product content while…

Chick-fil-A’s Little Blue Menu virtual brand is hitting the road. The chain’s delivery-led concept, which first opened in Nashville in late 2021, has a new food truck that will initially visit Louisville, Ky., for a three-month stint in the Oxmoor Mall parking lot. The opening date has not yet been announced, but the food truck’s…

How Restaurants Such as Panera and Chipotle are Dipping into A.I. to Streamline Food Prep and Ordering From drive-thru to back-of-house operations to predictive ordering for consumers, restaurant brands are starting to pilot artificial intelligence to streamline food service. The technology has yet to reach critical mass at major chains but has the potential to…

Like many others, the fast-casual giant is learning how to unlock the true benefits of a virtual brand . . . .   The Making of Chipotle’s Fresh-Forward Ghost Kitchen In the wake of COVID, virtual concepts have turned into culinary goldmines. The industry could potentially reach $1 trillion by 2030, according to research firm…

Darden Softens Unit Growth Targets as COVID Impact Persists Two years ago during a call with investors, former Darden CEO Gene Lee lamented how COVID delays were harming unit growth. He hoped the company would soon reach the higher end of its 2-3 percent expansion target. While Rick Cardenas is now chief executive, the central…

Restaurant Meals are Frequently Among the First Things Consumers Cut Recessions can make any business — large or small — uneasy about potential drops in sales from the decline in economic activity. With inflation and ongoing supply chain issues, experts predict a 70% likelihood of a U.S. recession in 2023, with at least 41% of…

President Joe Biden signed a $1 trillion infrastructure bill into law Monday that ends the employee retention tax credit retroactive to after September 30. The ERTC provides a tax credit equal to 50 percent of qualified wages paid, up to $10,000 per employee, after March 12, 2020, and before January 1, 2021. The National Restaurant…