The Beatles were still newcomers to the music scene when Scoma’s served up its first bowl of cioppino on San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf. The Fab Four would disband in less than a decade, but the restaurant remains a star of the local restaurant scene at age 59, the payoff from navigating the latest currents in dining while remaining true to the operating philosophy and standards set by founder Al Scoma in 1965. By design, the experience of today’s customers is not radically different from wha...
May 09, 2024•34 min
With summer just a few heatwaves away, the restaurant business is within a Maraschino cherry toss of prime ice cream season. Is there any better time to retrace how a treat that began as honeyed snow has morphed into an all-American restaurant staple? This week’s episode of Restaurant Rewind is betting “no.” The installment looks back at the origins of the frozen treat and its twisty evolution over the centuries that followed. In what other account might Nero, Thomas Jefferson and Howard Johnson...
May 02, 2024•10 min
Even the name suggests a climb out of a rut: TGI Friday’s, as in it’s time to cut loose and have some wicked fun. The casual-dining trailblazer didn’t disappoint, aiming from Day One to offer a different sort of experience to children of the conformity-conscious '50s.
Apr 25, 2024•9 min
If you’ve been in the chain restaurant business for an appreciable stretch, chances are you’ve either attended or heard about the Restaurant Leadership Conference. It’s the top-to-top event where you might see Magic Johnson jump off the stage to give someone a hug, two chain builders lay the groundwork for a merger (Cava and Zoes Kitchen, 2018) or a big-name CEO careening around a Go Kart track. Be mindful of who may be behind you in the coffee line, because it could be a best-selling author che...
Apr 16, 2024•9 min
Popeyes is emerging as a tough bird to beat in the quick-service fried-chicken market, a distinction that would have delighted its late founder, the flamboyant and pugnacious nonconformist Al Copeland. Had Copeland done nothing more than create Popeyes, he’d deserve a prime spot in a restaurant industry hall of fame. But his leadership of that chain is only one of the reasons he should be remembered today. In an industry of cowboys and rebels, he was a standout in his brashness and insistence on...
Apr 09, 2024•11 min
It’s probably a myth that tax-code writers refine their knack for inscrutability by taking a whack at state and local liquor regulations. The complexity and illogic of the rules governing alcohol sales are enough to make a restaurateur long for a seat on the other side of the bar, knocking back Jell-O shots with fellow scofflaws. In New York and other areas, theirs would be an outlaw’s life, the result of gelatin made with vodka being prohibited for sale or giveaway by restaurants and bars. Yes,...
Apr 02, 2024•8 min
America loves its pranks, as fast-food chains learned years ago in turning April Fool’s Day into a major marketing opportunity. Consumers have brought considerable gullibility to the day, while big brands like Taco Bell, Burger King and McDonald’s have gone to extreme lengths to hoodwink the public, with remarkable success. The combination has turned several of the put-ons into major news stories because the deceptions were so successful, as stupid as they might appear in hindsight. In a surpris...
Mar 26, 2024•9 min
After Wendy’s charge and retreat on dynamic pricing, the restaurant business can’t seem to talk about anything else. Perhaps that’s because variable pricing is as much a part of the business as knives and forks. Indeed, you may not be aware of the various forms dynamic pricing has taken over the years. In this week’s edition of Restaurant Rewind, we take a look at some of the forgotten manifestations, including ones from big-name operators like McDonald’s. Join us as we look at early instances o...
Mar 19, 2024•9 min
True crime stories have become a major entertainment genre, delivered in big numbers by podcasts, streaming TV shows and even several whole networks. It’s about time Restaurant Rewind, Restaurant Business’ retro-focused podcast, made its contribution to the field. In this week’s episode, we look back at the small role a restaurant played in the assumed murder of Jimmy Hoffa, the labor leader and known organized-crime associate who disappeared without a trace in 1975. Even today, tips periodicall...
Mar 12, 2024•10 min
If Mad Men’s Don Draper was trying to impress a prospective client, he may have taken the target to New York City’s cathedral of French cooking, La Pavillon—the 1960s landmark, not the modern reincarnation opened by Daniel Boulud. There, he would have sampled the fare of a young French chef who’d leave more of an imprint on the American dining scene than mere memories of outstanding meals. By that time, Jacques Pepin was already a culinary star on both sides of the Atlantic, having served as per...
Mar 05, 2024•8 min
The restaurant industry has seen a number of big-name chains reveal widespread closures within their ranks in recent weeks. Outback parent Bloomin’ Brand alerted Wall Street that it intends to close 41 stores , while adding another 45. Denny’s recently acknowledged that it had shut about 60 stores in 2023 because the units were no longer financially sustainable. As dramatic as those closures might be, they may not have spun as many heads as the complete shutdown nearly 30 years ago of a 51-unit ...
Feb 27, 2024•13 min
As any fan of "The Sopranos" knows, mobsters love good food almost as much as they relish ill-gotten money. No wonder organized crime is constantly rumored to be intertwined with the restaurant business. For veterans of New York City, those insinuations are far from fanciful. Long-timers know the dining landmarks where Mafioso kingpins were whacked after a meal, and where you have to be careful not to kick fellow guests in the ankle lest you set off their back-up guns. A line of black limos outs...
Feb 20, 2024•9 min
Restaurants will be hearing the name again and again as one of the industry’s premier awards program draws closer to its early May conclusion for 2024. Yet few in the business may know who James Beard was, now that he’s been gone for nearly 40 years. This week’s episode of Restaurant Rewind answers the question of why Beard should be remembered, particularly within fine dining. Even those familiar with the media star’s legacy may not be aware of his full contribution to the industry he loved, li...
Feb 13, 2024•11 min
Tipping has been villainized by organized labor as a vestige of slavery, an assertion that strains credibility. What makes the assertion even more difficult to accept is the background of the restaurant company that’s likely more dependent on tipping than any other employer in the business. Bill Darden is well-known to any student of the business as the founder of Darden Restaurants and Red Lobster, the brand that made the company a full-service powerhouse. Yet few are likely aware of the role h...
Feb 06, 2024•7 min
Casual dining roared back as pandemic conditions lifted and dining rooms reopened, dispelling assertions the segment was cooked. But that doesn’t mean the full-service chain market has been on cruise control, as this week’s episode of Restaurant Rewind attests. The retro-focused podcast looks back during the installment to what the casual market looked like 10 and 20 years ago, and how that compares with the state of play today. Among the brands that have clearly aged are TGI Fridays and Red Lob...
Jan 30, 2024•13 min
It’s not unusual for a newly hired restaurant-chain executive to spend time in a unit as a line-level employee. Seeing an operation from the perspective of a customer or worker often provides insight and a reality check c-suiters might not get otherwise. In general, being in stores is a great thing for the CEO. Except, that is, when they don’t have a clue as to what’s really happening in their restaurants. This week’s episode of Restaurant Rewind looks at how wrong things can go when an exec doe...
Jan 23, 2024•8 min
About 84% of the United States’ adult population carry a credit card, or roughly 191 million American consumers, according to the research company Experion. That shouldn’t be a surprise to today’s restaurateurs, who’ve seen the use of cash be challenged pointedly in recent years by the surge in digital ordering. No wonder the expense of accepting plastic has soared into one of operators’ biggest cost items, third only to labor and food. How did the industry get here? When did the modern credit c...
Jan 16, 2024•10 min
Restaurants have been pressed since at least the 1970s to provide menu options for customers looking to lose weight and eat more healthfully. That pressure might reach its peak every January, when patrons are hellbent on following a set diet in hopes of shedding a few pounds. What diet might that be this year, given the weight-loss schemes currently in vogue? Chances are it won’t have as much of an influence on menus as the craze that swept up diners and restaurants more than two decades ago, pr...
Jan 09, 2024•9 min
The restaurant industry seems as if it’s going backward in its efforts to promote diversity within its top executive ranks. If it goes all the way back to the mid-20th century, it’ll find that the role of women in particular was far more pronounced in those formative years. Indeed, women played key roles in the development of the chain sector, in part because those early ventures were largely family affairs. Men might have grabbed the limelight, but women were often the key figures behind the sc...
Dec 19, 2023•11 min
McDonald’s created a stir last week with the opening of a second concept, a drive-thru drinks operation called CosMc’s. But it’s far from the first time the Golden Arches has tried to find gold from a second venture. It’s been tinkering with possible additions to its single-brand fold almost from the time Ray Kroc got involved with the chain. The possibilities have included everything from a beer garden to an amusement park to a mixed-use complex that could have been a model for Mall of America....
Dec 12, 2023•14 min
Not every service standout earned that distinction by indulging customers’ every whim and preference. Some of the hospitality industry’s most admired brands garnered respect in part by drawing a firm line and refusing to cross it, no matter how much business was at stake. They simply tell customers, Nope, ain't going to do that. This week’s episode of Restaurant Rewind looks at several of those sticks-in-the-mud, what they’ve refused to do, and why. And, as listeners will hear, these are not the...
Dec 05, 2023•9 min
If you think the term “happy hour” was coined in the 1960s or '70s to tag post-work booze fests, you’re off by about 50 years and 100 proof. The wordsmith behind that phrase was none other than a sobriety-minded Uncle Sam. It’s one piece of the restaurant jargon whose roots we trace during this week’s episode of Restaurant Rewind, the podcast that delves into the business’ past for a deeper appreciation of what’s happening now. Join us as we look at the origins of such industry-specific terms as...
Nov 28, 2023•10 min
Deep-frying a whole turkey has become a popular way of preparing the star of Thanksgiving feasts. Proponents say it yields a more delicious centerpiece in considerably less time than roasting. So why was there ever a time that cooking method was not a consideration, be it for a restaurant chef or the home cook? It's likely a result of the option being just a mad foodie’s fever dream until an advancement in camper technology provided a means, and the leftovers from a pigfest gave an unexpected im...
Nov 21, 2023•8 min
Red Lobster has been making headlines for offering an all-you-can-eat deal that worked too well as a traffic driver. Management acknowledged that the spike in food costs ate about $11 million in profits for the third quarter. The situation is hardly unprecedented in the restaurant business—even for Red Lobster itself. Two decades ago, it similarly saw margins crunched by an all-you-can-eat crab legs deal. Join us as we look back at some of the memorable instances of restaurant chains over- or un...
Nov 15, 2023•8 min
For roughly 15 years, no other restaurant in the country could match the sales volumes of Hilltop Steak House, a kitschy mega-restaurant perched atop a hill outside Boston. It wasn’t unusual for the local favorite’s annual revenues to top $25 million, even surpassing $30 million for at least one year. Even more amazing was how the place did it. Though Hilltop specialized in doormat-sized steaks, its prices were a bargain. Its superpower was providing the sort of value that kept customers lining ...
Nov 07, 2023•9 min
Decades before the phrase “fast casual” was coined, a restaurant concept little noticed outside of New York City was using a self-service format, rapid-fire cooking and a Chipotle-style production line to offer a steak meal for less than $9. We’re not talking about something from the Roaring '20s. Tad’s Steakhouse was grilling its strip steaks several dozen at a time to offer a bargain-price steak lunch until just a few years ago. There’s still a unit plugging away under that name in San Francis...
Oct 31, 2023•8 min
The restaurant industry cursed her at the time, but Lady Bird Johnson served up some tough love in the 1960s that’s arguably still paying benefits to the business today. She moved the nation’s fight against highway litter and garish roadside billboard from the margins to the mainstreams, forcing the public and the industry to change some decidedly litterbug ways. In the process, the genteel Texan with a core of steel forever changed the role of First Lady, from a passive plus-one to her spouse, ...
Oct 10, 2023•10 min
If you can play a guitar and sell records, why not parlay your notoriety into a second career as restaurateur? That questionable line of thinking has led a number of stars to try their hand at the business, usually with unexciting if not disastrous results. But that can’t be said about the late mega-star who epitomized the laid-back lifestyle, the antithesis of what’s needed to succeed in a notoriously frantic trade that requires intense attention to detail. Jimmy Buffett lent his name, time and...
Oct 03, 2023•8 min
No, McDonald’s never blended earthworms or cow eyeballs into the ground beef for its burgers. And Kentucky Fried Chicken didn’t change its name to KFC because the birds it sourced were mutants with six wings and couldn’t legally be called chickens anymore. But, astoundingly, those reports did get some play in the pre-internet age, and you can still find references on the (mis)information superhighway today. With social media and the mass-market reach of the web, stories like those can spread in ...
Sep 26, 2023•13 min
Buzz can be as much of a factor for a restaurant’s success as the caliber of its food and service. Yet the industry has seen countless instances of reality falling short of the hoopla. This week’s edition of Restaurant Rewind looks back at a prime example, the Wagamama ramen chain. The brand’s success in Europe fostered ample talk that the low-priced favorite of London hipsters would make a similar splash on the U.S. side of the Atlantic. Yet, all these years later, the concept has only seven Am...
Sep 12, 2023•12 min
