Social media may be the marketing channel of choice for restaurants today, but many chains once opted for loftier means. Like their roofs. This week’s edition of Restaurant Rewind, Restaurant Business’ retro-focused podcast, looks back at restaurants' once-routine use of a particular color on the tops of their buildings as a marketing tool. Pizza Hut’s point of instant recognition was a red roof. Howard Johnson’s opted for orange. IHOP relied on light blue. Podcast host and RB Editor At Large Pe...
Dec 20, 2022•8 min
Wisconsin is known for dairy cows, cheese curds and the Green Bay Packers. This week’s edition of Restaurant Rewind reminds listeners that supper clubs also belong squarely on that list. This episode of Restaurant Rewind looks at the peculiar institutions that grew out of Prohibition and speakeasies, only to be re-embraced by generation after generation in part because of the nostalgia they pack. You won’t find the latest experiment in molecular gastronomy, but where else can you get all the fri...
Dec 13, 2022•7 min
In the quest for The Next Big Thing, even veteran restaurant operators have been known to hatch a venture that was best left undeveloped. This week’s edition of Restaurant Rewind looks at three that didn’t even sound good on paper. Host and Restaurant Business Editor At Large Peter Romeo takes listeners on an audio tour of the three concepts he ranks as the worst-ever, from an S&M-themed spot in New York City to an eatertainment venture built around catastrophic deaths. Tune in so you, too, ...
Dec 06, 2022•9 min
The restaurant industry lost one of its pioneers last week with the death of John Y. Brown. Many in the business may not recognize that name, given that he bowed out of the limelight about two decades ago. But they’ll surely know of his major success, a chicken chain called KFC. Brown was to Kentucky Fried Chicken what Ray Kroc was to McDonald’s or Howard Schultz is to Starbucks. He built the chains from a loose group of about 600 diner-style restaurants operating under a variety of names, into ...
Nov 29, 2022•8 min
The midterm elections returned politicians from all stripes of civilian lives to Washington, D.C. And that includes one of the restaurant industry’s own. Indeed, the next Congress is likely to be led by someone who was no stranger to making payroll and working a lunch rush. This week’s episode of the Restaurant Rewind podcast looks at the path that led Kevin McCarthy from deli proprietor to speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, the federal government’s third-highest-ranking official. Joi...
Nov 22, 2022•6 min
Restaurants have been advised to be politically active likely from the first time a table was set. But that involvement hasn’t always gone smoothly, as this week’s edition of the Restaurant Rewind podcast attests. Back in the early 1990s, when another health crisis was ravaging the nation, the industry mistakenly gave its support to a measure that contradicted science—and, in the eyes of many, common decency. The business was tarred as insensitive to employees who were fighting to stay alive—at ...
Nov 16, 2022•8 min
The restaurant industry has abounded in creeps, bullies, meanies and all-around jerks. But few rival Victor Posner, the onetime owner of Arby’s, as a candidate for the title of GOAT. This week’s edition of the Restaurant Rewind retro podcast looks at the infamous corporate raider and his flamethrower management style. While he owned Arby’s, the brand rebounded in head-turning fashion. But it wasn’t because of the warm, supportive culture he cultivated for the chain and its sister brands. Join ho...
Nov 08, 2022•7 min
Few full-service restaurant chains have seen the steep ups and downs of Shoney’s, a brand that once dominated family dining. It also sported one of the most ill-fitting management teams ever to occupy a C-suite. No wonder it was one of the most talked-about chains of the 1980s and '90s, only to fly out of mind before you can say "breakfast bar." What humbled a brand that appeared to have so much momentum? On the occasion of Shoney’s 75th anniversary, Restaurant Rewind is strapping into the rolle...
Nov 01, 2022•14 min
Yet another modern riff on the Automat has called it quits , extending the lengthy list of ventures that have fallen far short of the original’s 89-year run. What about that pioneer of restaurant technology has prompted so many entrepreneurs to give an updated version a try? Restaurant Business Editor At Large Peter Romeo looks back at the attractions and drawbacks of the seminal concept in this week’s edition of his retro-focused Restaurant Rewind podcast. Using the lens of his own experiences ...
Oct 25, 2022•8 min
Few restaurant companies can match the success of Starbucks. But the coffee giant has had its share of spectacular misfires as well, as this week’s edition of Restaurant Rewind recounts. The retro-focused podcast looks at some of the bad calls the company has made over the last 40 years, from the launch of a flatbread side venture to its bid to become a force in the music business. Host and Editor At Large Peter Romeo recalls in particular the host of secondary chains the home of the green apron...
Oct 18, 2022•9 min
The question of the moment for many restaurateurs is how readily customers will accept menu price increases to counter the soaring costs of food and labor. While the rate of inflation may be unprecedented, the challenge is decidedly not, as this week’s edition of the Restaurant Rewind podcast attests. Host and Restaurant Business Editor At Large Peter Romeo looks at past instances of operators having to adjudge where patrons would draw the line. As he recounts in taking listeners back to those h...
Oct 11, 2022•9 min
Commercial airliners can take restaurant chain executives only so far in the quest shared by many of inspecting and approving every proposed site for a new unit. The more feasible alternative has long been the use of corporate jets to zip from one location to another. But as this week’s Restaurant Rewind podcast notes, that reliance on private craft has not been without turbulence. Host and Restaurant Business Editor At Large Peter Romeo looks at the corporate scandals that have erupted because ...
Oct 04, 2022•8 min
To people of a certain vintage, the mention of Woolworth’s lunch counters pulls up strong memories. Children of the early '60s might recall them as the setting for a crucial step forward in the fight for equal rights. A group of college-aged youngsters galvanized the nation by trying to order a meal and refusing to leave when they were denied service. The youths were violently attacked because they were Black and in the South. Those a little younger may remember how that battle solidified the ou...
Sep 27, 2022•7 min
With a little help from the My Pillow Guy, Hardee’s was served an ideal opportunity last week for the sort of marketing exposure it could never afford. With a single tweet, the chain snagged one mention after another on some of TV’s most-watched programs. The experience echoed past instances of restaurant chains turning an off-hand comment or passing event into an opportunity for truly breakthrough marketing. This week’s edition of Restaurant Rewind, a search through restaurant history for insig...
Sep 20, 2022•7 min
Today, diners can’t lob a jalapeno in a decent-sized town without hitting a Mexican restaurant of some sort. Many likely don’t realize the way was blazed for those options by a former Green Bay Packer and a displaced West Coaster who couldn’t find so much as a taco in his new Midwest haunts. As this week’s Restaurant Rewind podcast reports, the unlikely pair would introduce patches of the heartland to burritos and the like through a restaurant concept named after one of the partner’s wife. She w...
Sep 13, 2022•9 min
All these years later, the commercial is still a stunner: The onetime leader of capitalism’s archenemy, plugging a very symbol of the American free-enterprise system. Yet there was Mikhail Gorbachev, the last premier of the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics, relishing a visit to Russia’s first Pizza Hut with his granddaughter. If that wasn’t controversial enough, much of the spot’s dialogue was a debate over Gorbachev’s controversial legacy. The situation was unusual, if not bizarre. Equally a...
Sep 06, 2022•8 min
He’s known as “the Jackie Robinson of restaurants,” an African-American who made his name in the business back in the early ‘60s, when people of color were seldom found in the front of house, never mind with their name on the deed. Through his dignity, business acumen and warmth for all as a host, Ernie Royal proved that the skin color of anyone you put in chef’s whites is as insignificant to their success as the sort of socks they wear. It all came down to skill and drive, the ingredients that ...
Aug 31, 2022•28 min
Looking to hire restaurant pros with a proven knack for delighting customers? Have you thought about Ronald McDonald or the Burger King? They could use the work, as this week’s Restaurant Rewind podcast attests. Host and Restaurant Business Editor-at-Large Peter Romeo looks at how onetime superstar mascots have been sidelined by the current trend of spotlighting food, guests and less-controversial team members. What many consumers and even seasoned restaurant marketers might not appreciate are t...
Aug 23, 2022•9 min
‘Tis the season for steamed-milk mustaches and pumpkin ending up where no squash has gone before. Like the swallows that made Capistrano famous, restaurant marketers seem to know instinctively that it’s time to bring out their riffs on the pumpkin spice latte. More a blend of pumpkin-pie seasonings than a true jack-o-lantern extract, the PSL and its derivations have proven they’re among a select group of limited-time offerings that draw a fanatical response no matter how many times they’ve been ...
Aug 16, 2022•10 min
It’s not uncommon to forget about something we stashed away in an attic or basement because it’s no longer being used. But how often is that item a restaurant? Yet that’s essentially what happened at a mall in Wilmington, Del., as this week’s Restaurant Rewind podcast reports. Tucked behind a wall, where shoppers and staff couldn’t see it, was a Burger King that had been mothballed in 2009. It was largely overlooked until new management took over the center in 2020 and a curious vendor took a sn...
Aug 02, 2022•11 min
Two of today’s most powerful sales drivers for restaurants are delivery and digital technology. Both have been extraordinary strengths for Domino’s. Why, then, is the pizza giant hitting an uncharacteristic slowdown? This week’s episode of Restaurant Rewind looks back at how the pie maker got to its position of prominence in the off-premise market and what the trajectory is likely to be near-term. Joining podcast host and Restaurant Business Editor-at-Large Peter Romeo is Editor-in-Chief Jonatha...
Jul 26, 2022•27 min
Copycatting a successful restaurant concept is as old as the industry itself. Witness the recent efforts by Crumbl Cookies to block upstart competitors from lifting signature features of the fast-growing baked-goods specialist. But few of those alleged thefts of intellectual property are as outrageous as a situation that had to be resolved by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1992. It involved a brand that still operates today, Taco Cabana, and a competitor it would eventually absorb, Two Pesos. The dis...
Jul 19, 2022•8 min
Subway is in the midst of a turnaround that pivots on the sandwich chain’s new ad campaign, Eat Fresh Refresh, a successor to some of the most effective marketing the restaurant industry has ever seen. Following up on the likes of $5 Footlong spots and the long-running focus on a customer’s loss of 245 pounds from a Subway diet can’t be a cakewalk. Just how difficult that challenge must be is the focus of this week’s Restaurant Rewind podcast. Host and Restaurant Business Editor At Large Peter R...
Jul 12, 2022•10 min
Tensions between McDonald’s and its franchisees have escalated into a public dispute, centered this time on the franchisor’s new policy for contract renewals . The franchisor has flat-out warned it’ll use the re-ups of 20-year pacts to scrub the system of operations showing their age. The rank-and-file counter that a 20-year run is a pretty good indicator that they know how to run successful restaurants. The melee harkens back to a critical point in the evolution of another dominant franchise br...
Jul 05, 2022•9 min
Gasoline prices have never been as high as they are currently, but the damage to restaurants and the economy in general is likely far lower than a fuel crisis many Americans still vividly remember. Those who are too young to have caught that truly historic wallop may be surprised to learn just how much of a disruption it was to day-to-day life. Indeed, as this week’s edition of Restaurant Rewind recounts, the impact extended to everything from wartime-like rationing to forgoing year-end holiday ...
Jun 28, 2022•7 min
As the richest man in the world, Elon Musk has a pretty good record on startups, from PayPal to Tesla to Space X. But now he’s bringing that Midas touch to a field where past successes and staggering financial resources are no guarantee of another triumph, as this week’s Restaurant Rewind podcast attests. Host and Restaurant Business Editor At Large Peter Romeo looks at past instances of corporate giants giving the industry a try. For every slam-dunk by the likes of Pepsico or General Mills, the...
Jun 21, 2022•7 min
Gunmen have turned the most unlikely of settings into sites of horrifying carnage, as the recent tragedies in a Uvalde, Texas, grade school and a Buffalo, N.Y., supermarket readily attest. Fortunately for foodservices, the shooters haven’t chosen restaurants as their stage, or at least not recently. But as this week’s edition of Restaurant Rewind vividly shows, the business hasn’t always enjoyed such luck. Host Peter Romeo, the editor at large for Restaurant Business, recounts the three shooting...
Jun 14, 2022•9 min
Nelson Peltz must love those square burgers and Frosties. Fourteen years after buying Wendy’s, the activist investor has alerted federal regulators that he’s interested in acquiring the burger chain again. If past is prologue, it’ll likely be a rollercoaster ride for investors, staff and any other stakeholder, as this week’s Restaurant Rewind podcast reports. Host and Restaurant Business Editor-at-Large Peter Romeo looks back at the war of communications that raged over about a two-year stretch,...
May 31, 2022•6 min
McDonald’s withdrawal from Russia has been big news, but the attention is nothing compared to the to-do that accompanied its entry into what was then a part of the Soviet Union. The opening of the first store 32 years ago was heralded as a turning point in East-West relations. No wonder the ramp-up to the first store took 14 years. Much of that time was spent on the initial unit’s supply chain, but new hires needed as extensive training. Smiling in retail settings, for instance, wasn’t part of t...
May 24, 2022•8 min
One of the downsides of being a public company is the fickleness of Wall Street. If investors so much as suspect a holding will fall short of expectations, they’ll mercilessly hammer down the value of a high-flying issue, even if the business fundamentals remain largely unchanged. They can fall in and out of love as easily as a teenager. A case in point: Dutch Bros, the drive-thru coffee chain that lost 37% of its stock value in a single trading day because of a decline in comparable store sales...
May 17, 2022•10 min
