Top Outside Insights News

The National Restaurant Association (NRA) announced the recipients of its first annual Food & Beverage Product Innovations Awards, which recognize progressive food and beverage products that will make a significant impact in the restaurant industry. The recipients will be showcased in the F&B Product Innovations Gallery (booth No. 7129) at the 2011 National Restaurant Association Restaurant, Hotel-Motel […]

Springtime offers restaurant operators the opportunity to wipe away winter grime, prepare for summer traffic, and perform essential deep cleaning tasks to revive floors and other hard surfaces. To help restaurants and foodservice operations conduct a thorough spring cleaning of their facility, Cintas Corporation issued a checklist of necessary restaurant spring cleaning tasks.

U.S. consumers emerged from the recession practiced at stretching their dollars and, now faced with rising food costs, they are turning to the cost savings tactics they’ve mastered over the past few years, according to The NPD Group, a leading market research company that has been continuously tracking America’s eating behaviors for more than thirty years. “During the […]

The National Restaurant Association (NRA) applauded Senators Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) and John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Representatives Jim Gerlach (R-Pa.) and Richard Neal (D-Mass.), who week introduced bipartisan bills to make permanent a 15-year tax depreciation schedule for restaurant improvements and new construction, leasehold improvements, and retail improvements. Under S. 687 and H.R. 1265, restaurateurs, their […]

PeopleMatter, the talent management solution provider for the service industry, and Papa Gino’s, the parent company of Papa Gino’s Pizzeria and D’Angelo Grilled Sandwiches, announced the deployment of PeopleMatter HIRE. The software will manage Papa Gino’s hiring processes for the restaurant’s more than 280 locations across New England. Designed to track and pre-qualify dependable, service-minded […]

How do food manufacturers protect and promote their brands while co-existing with distributor brands? The answer seems to depend on the food product in question and where it is being served, according to recent research from foodservice consultants Technomic. Across the board, however, the competitive environment between distributors and branded manufacturers has never been more […]

A report by Technomic, a foodservice consultancy, found that U.S. systemwide sales for the Top 500 increased to an estimated $234 billion in 2010, up more than $4 billion over 2009.  "We are pleased to see improvements in the U.S. economy begin to translate into improved performance for the leading restaurant chains," says Ron Paul, president […]

With 2011 marking the year that many Baby Boomers hit retirement, the foodservice industry is set to see droves of Boomers joining its ranks. At this year’s annual NRA Show, which takes place in Chicago from May 21-24, QSR will host “The Silver-Haired Tsunami,” an education session on Boomers working in the foodservice industry. Mike […]

New research from the National Restaurant Association shows that nearly 50 percent of restaurants are now owned by women.   The research also shows that restaurants employ more minority managers than any other industry, and that Hispanic restaurant ownership has increased 42 percent in the past five years.   “As the second largest private sector […]

Jamba Juice Company and Drybar announced today that its CEOs will team up on the Dec. 16 episode of Bloomberg Television's "Bloomberg The Mentor" to discuss how a small business with overnight success can sustain and grow in an increasingly popular market. With more than 25 years of leadership experience at top Fortune 500 companies, […]

Quick-service operators have a tough task promoting themselves in a market where consumers are increasingly concerned with keeping to a balanced diet. This year began with new healthy eating–based marketing campaigns—a renewed interest in a trend that had taken a backseat to promoting price and value for a while. While healthy eating is far from […]

Success in today’s competitive quick-service market requires companies to open more restaurants, faster and in the optimal locations. That’s all while trying to minimize sales cannibalization between restaurants and constantly evaluating which restaurants to close and which to renovate. For a franchise system to grow and improve its business, it needs to have control of […]

Twenty years ago brands were concerned with total quality management. Then along came customer satisfaction management. Recently, some organizations have begun talking about managing the customers’ experience. This is an advanced view that suggests that what really dictates whether the customer will be a long-term asset is how he felt during his total experience at […]

According to industry experts, employees most likely to steal or treat cash handling carelessly are those in the lowest income strata with the greatest access to cash, who tend not to stay with one employer for very long. In short: a typical quick-service employee. To catch an employee stealing is challenging, costly, and time-consuming, and […]