Tabletop/Front Of House News

I once heard a wine director say to a group of hospitality students, “The restaurant industry is basically an island of misfits.” In many ways, he is correct. Restaurants draw people from all industry sectors. It’s not uncommon for one to work alongside a poet, a Broadway dancer or even an ex-con. The hospitality industry…

By now you’ve heard how important social media is to your restaurant. You’ve probably created social media accounts and have attempted to create a strategy around them. Is it successful? What does it mean to be successful on social media? Focus on what matters to your restaurant. Understand the ROI of your social presence. You…

For restaurateurs of all ilk today, the word “data” is both a four-letter word and a dream partner, capable of providing astonishing insights in a flash. But as participants at the most recent FastCasual Executive Summit in Nashville learned, diving into data generated by your brand can either leave you splashed with refreshing new insights, or drowning…

It’s late—too late to still be stuck at work. There you are, tucked away in your office flipping through text messages, bar napkins, and sticky notes to sort out who is available when. You spend hours piecing together a schedule for the upcoming week, then tack your finished product up on the staff room wall. Because…

Have you ever been to the Crater of Diamonds State Park in Murfreesboro, Arkansas? It is the only public diamond mine in the world and offers a one-of-a-kind adventure—the opportunity to hunt for real diamonds and to keep any you find. The park gives you brief training, provides you with equipment, and lets you loose…

Innovations in robotics and automation offer new ways for restaurants to streamline operations, attract top talent and delight diners, presenters said at The National Restaurant Association’s Restaurant Innovation Summit last month.Robotics is playing a growing role in settings that range from hospitals to warehouses, and there are a variety of new technologies that are a…

Communal tables, more televisions, tablet computers everywhere, a disappearing back of the house, growing grab-and-go options and countless other factors represent the hallmarks of today’s changing foodservice landscape. Today’s consumers expect great food, but what keeps them coming back for more is excellence in every aspect of execution. No detail is too small in their…

The robot takeover of the restaurant industry has been delayed. Eatsa, the automated chain that emerged in 2015 and quickly expanded last year, has closed all but two of its seven locations, both in its home market of San Francisco. The company plans to work more with other chains to help them use its platform.…

In the 1980s and ’90s, when Americans were struggling to get dinner on the table after work and shuttling kids between activities, microwaves, frozen dinners and fast-food restaurants were mainstays. Unlike recent generations, consumers today are shifting toward eating more dinners at home, including those purchased at restaurants, according to The NPD Group’s most recent…

Mention e-commerce and retail and two names immediately come to mind – Amazon and Alibaba. Yet similar to brick-and-mortar retail, the e-commerce market features a wide variety of competitors. For consumer packaged goods companies, opportunities exist in working with many of them. “ …We have a team of roughly 200 e-commerce professionals supporting our businesses…