Topic: Restaurants and Food Services

Recipe for Success

How do you launch a software business staffed by Web-wary employees and targeted at a tech-averse audience? Start with passion, add funding, season with experience, and serve.READ»

Will the Letterman-Palin Clash Take a Bite Out of Olive Garden?

Late last week, the Web site Politico ran a story claiming that Olive Garden was pulling its ads during The Late Show with David Letterman because of the late-night comedian's recent joke about Sarah Palin's teenage daughter. The ...READ»

Why America Is Addicted to Olive Garden

Technology, savvy brand management, and a little bit of soul have made $6.7 billion Darden Restaurants the world's biggest casual-dining operation -- and it's still growing, even in tough times.READ»

• The Darden Menu

The Darden Menu

Starter The Green Frog The pitch: "Service with a hop" Size: A 10-stool lunch counter in Waycross, Georgia -- Bill Darden's first restaurant, opened in 1938 Entrées Olive Garden The pitch: ...READ»

Ludacris -- Rapper Turned Entrepreneur?

When I overheard an excited murmur about how Chris Bridges was setting up a restaurant in Atlanta, I didn't think anything of it. Neither the name nor the act seemed worthy of much interest. A little while later the name popped up ...READ»

Clarence Otis Jr. Interview

In the June 7th New York Times there was an interview with Clarence Otis Jr., CEO of Darden Restaurants (Red Lobster, Olive Garden & Capital Grille - talk about diversity!)that I found intriguing because of his answers to 2 ...READ»

When Children Outshine the Parents

Speaking of sports, let's turn our attention to the Kentucky Derby. The Wall Street Journal reports that Yum Brands -- parent company of the better-known KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell enterprises -- has hitched its star to the ...READ»

Farewell, Esther Snyder, Founder Of In-N-Out Burger

Esther Snyder, the founder of In-N-Out Burger, passed away Friday. She was 86. In-N-Out Burger, as many of you likely know, is the cult burger chain on the West coast that was born in the same cradle of post-WWII America's love ...READ»

Fast Food Nation

This Friday, November 17, Eric Schlosser's best-seller, "Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal," hits the big screen. Directed by Richard Linklater of "A Scanner Darkly," fame, the film takes audiences on a tour of ...READ»

More Bucks for Starbucks

You'll be spending a little more on your daily grande non-fat iced caramel macchiato with whip from Starbucks come Oct. 3 -- 1.9 percent more to be exact (or roughly $0.05). The coffee chain is also raising the price of their whole ...READ»

The Sizzling Secrets of In-N-Out Burger: Q&A With Stacy Perman

In this Q&A with Stacy Perman, author of "In-N-Out Burger: A Behind-the-Counter Look at the Fast-Food Chain That Breaks All the Rules," we uncover how the West Coast chain is shaking up the fast-food industry--one "animal style" burger at a time.READ»

Starbucks and (RED) Team Up to Combat AIDS in Africa

Last year, Starbucks went red for the holidays, unveiling an attractive red cup, dotted with white snowflakes and sporting the company's logo in green. This year, as the season of good cheer approaches, the chain is taking ...READ»

The Char Mark Conspiracy

"Would you like that chicken breast cooked in our restaurant, or in a factory in Arkansas?"READ»

Marketing Tuesday: McDonalds Caters to Local Palates

I recently wrote a blog post, Lost in Translation – How Do Linguistic Differences Affect Global Marketing, on how, in line with cultural differences, advertising, commercials and marketing materials are necessarily differently ...READ»

Are You Preparing for the Economic Upswing or is Your Customer Service in Recession?

While some shortsighted organizations have cut back on customer service there are organizations that  continue to create the kind of extraordinary experiences for their customers that ensure repeat business. The Kimpton Hotels and ...READ»

Starbucks Offers Free Coffee to Voters

“If you care enough to vote, we care enough to give you a free cup of coffee.” So goes Starbucks' (NASDAQ: SBUX) advertisement depicting the coffee chain's contribution to the presidential election. “Simply vote, and ask ...READ»

Fast Food for Thought

Stefan Stern's Business Life piece in today's Financial Times makes me shake my head. An SVP at McDonald's in Europe is circulating a petition to nix the term "McJob" from the dictionary. That senior executive, and the writer, ...READ»

Slow Food: The Restaurant Biz Is Floundering

More bad news for the nation's diners, drive-thrus, and dives. Can they innovate their way out of this mess?READ»

Russ Klein Interview: Explaining Social Currency

The first podcast interview by FIR's Neville Hobson and Shel Holtz from the CMO Summit at the 2006 Innovative Marketing Conference. Opening keynote speaker Russ Klein, EVP and CMO of Burger King Corporation, expands on a theme he ...READ»

Tech for Toques

Rain or shine, Damian Mogavero's Slingshot brings left-brain discipline to a right-brain world. READ»

Viral Innovation

Can companies still be innovative once all the low-hanging fruit has been plucked? The answer lies in the right incentives for management -- rewarding actions one level up.READ»

These Brands Are Made for MySpace

The social portal uses music to connect marketers with the audiences they crave.READ»

• Myspace, the Sequel
• The Box Score
• A Place for Friends...To Get More Famous

The Eating Experience

Karen Stone mentioned an innovative approach to the dining experience in her blog Decent Marketing. Citing Kathleen Ream's review of eating at Herbfarm in Washington state, Stone posits that improving the eating experience could bode ...READ»

Restaurant Heritage: Rooting in Intuitive Understanding

It's interesting to note that there has been a heritage of being more experience aware in the restaurant business, over the years there have been visionaries like Ray Kroc, Howard Johnson, JW Marriott, etc. who understood how ...READ»

Score One for the Little Guys!

After a two-year boycott, Taco Bell finally acceded to demands to improve the wages and working conditions of farmworkers, primarily for immigrants who pick tomatos for the burrito giant in Florida. While it's also heartening to ...READ»