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EQUIPMENT SOLUTIONS To combat the effects of a shrinking labor pool, operators are looking to efficient, high-tech equipment to minimize labor while maximizing productivity Automated equipment and food technology are [...]

NEW YORK -- The restaurant business has been a salvation to Jerry Casale. Down on his luck after prematurely retiring from a 3-1/2-year career as a major league baseball pitcher [...]

KITCHEN TRENDS Traditionally behind-the-scenes operators, chefs move to the front of the house Unlike the traditional kitchen in the back of the house, most open display kitchens are built for [...]

PIZZA CHAINS SHIFT INTO HIGH GEAR The focus has changed from home delivery to quick delivery, and now the convenience stores are getting a slice of the action The emphasis [...]

DETERMINING ACCOUNTABILITY UNDER DRAM SHOP LAWS In 40 states and the District of Columbia, restaurant and bar owners, bartenders, waiters and waitresses are being found legally and financially liable for [...]

Boston operators throw a sea party BOSTON -- From the Waterfront and North End to the Back Bay, Boston has always symbolized the finest in fresh New England seafood. The [...]

Restaurants spread goodwill with holiday donations NEW YORK -- 'Tis the season for giving, and restaurants have gotten into the charitable holiday spirit. During the traditional holiday season from Thanksgiving [...]

Hotel/Motel show offers high-tech labor solutions NEW YORK -- High technology is filling the void created by the labor shortage, according to speakers and attendees at the 73rd annual International [...]

Legal Seafood vets set 2nd Skipjack's Skipjack's--the Brookline, Mass., seafood restaurant spawned by the legendary Legal Seafoods group--will go fin and fin for the second time with its mentor next [...]

Monaghan's Tigers take 'fast-food' World Series Tom Monaghan fulfilled a lifelong dream last week--one that he's had since he grew up in a Michigan orphanage. Monaghan, founder and president of [...]

Operators put emphasis on lighter, specialty drinks With the threat of a new temperance era becoming ever more real, operators are reorienting bar sale strategies to stress a growing range [...]

Operators single out the individual diner Fashionable city restaurants everywhere are competing for the dining-out dollar by courting the on-premises single diner. With take-out, delivery, eating on the run, and [...]

RIVER CAFE More than just a pretty view In a barge below the Brooklyn Bridge sits the River Cafe, perhaps the best-situated fine-dining restaurant in America. The 11-year-old River Cafe, [...]

LEGAL SEA FOODS Boston's bounty from the brine The Berkowitz family of Boston owns five Legal Sea Foods restaurants, a lobster wholesale business, a retail fish store, a wine and [...]

Taking a classic one step further The Conservatory at the Peabody Court hotel in Baltimore burst upon the scene four years ago and soon took its place among the finest [...]

Operators incorporate unique styles into Passover tributes The traditional Passover Seders this week will be celebrated not only in Jewish homes across America but in restaurants as well. Restaurants observing [...]

Swiss take top honors at Culinary Olympics FRANKFURT, West Germany -- The five-man Swiss national team edged the West German and American squads to become 'Weltmeister,' or world champion, at [...]

RESTAURANT JASPER New England fare finds a shrine Nantucket quail, New England chicken inspire White's menu The name Jasper is synonymous in Boston with top-notch American cuisine, one of the [...]

Fine-dining operators write long list of woes NEW YORK -- Scorching heat, the summer vacation exodus, the fish scare slumping local economies, and oversaturation are all being blamed for sales [...]

NEW ADVENTURES IN APPETIZERS From tapas to exotic pizzas, chefs experiment with customers' tastes The distinction between appetizer and entree courses is blurring as restaurateurs offer customers down-sized 'pass-around' versions [...]

China Grill debuts at 'Black Rock' The China Grill restaurant --an homage to the travels of Marco Polo and the food of Wolfgang Puck--has premiered on the ground floor of [...]

Bresler's adds frozen yogurt, changes name Bresler's has seen the future of the ice-cream business. And it's yogurt. The company plans to add soft-serve, frozen yogurt to all its 310 [...]

Return to the 'Burger Wars?' Burger King switches its ad account to Ayer Burger King Corp.'s $200 million domestic advertising reassignment from J. Walter Thompson Co. to N.W. Ayer Inc.--the [...]

Choice gets new lease on life Revamped buffets rise from defunct Duff's chain Boasting expeditious line service, a multitude of hot and cold buffet items, and an efficient new management [...]

Bice Ristorante writes New York success story Here's the recipe for instant success in the world of Manhattan's upscale-restaurant market: Take a midtown location; serve Northern Italian cuisine to corporate [...]

Dairy buys Bresler's chain Stanley Bresler to focus on convenience stores Stanley Bresler has agreed to sell his 300-unit, 30-state Bresler's 33 Flavors Ice Cream Shop chain in order to [...]

Redesign, rehabilitation in the works for Sardi's Sardi's restaurant, the venerable 65-year-old grand dame of Broadway's theater district, is about to undergo a major set redesign. Principal owner Ivan Bloch [...]

Skipjack's gnaws out seafood niche Legal Seafoods veterans give ex-employer competition Two veterans of Legal Seafoods, one of New England's best-known and highest-grossing independent seafood restaurant chains, are giving their [...]

Boom time in Margaritaville Tex-Mex trend fuels rise in drink's sales 'Wasted away again in Margaritaville. Searching for my lost shaker of salt . . .' Jimmy Buffet's lyrics and [...]

NEW YORK CITY, N.Y. -- Playboy's new Empire Club, scheduled to open here Nov. 6 at 515 Lexington Ave., will concentrate on dispelling the original Playboy club's reputation for poor-quality [...]

NEW YORK -- A 23-year-old first-time entrepreneur has launched a service designed to bring together Manhattan professionals for 'networking' lunches at midpriced city restaurants. David Becker, founder of Lunch Impressions [...]

PHILADELPHIA -- Apropos restaurant, specializing in New American cooking here, is planning for the long, cold winter by substituting fruits and vegetables from overseas, California and Florida for produce grown [...]

FRANKENMUTH, Mich. -- Nearly 60 years ago the Zehnder family struck upon a food-service formula that has propelled its 1,300-seat restaurant to $9.5 million in annual sales. Tourists and chicken--from [...]

Menu, unit revamp under way With a new president at its helm, a menu diversification plan in place and a systemwide remodeling package on the boards, the 645-unit Ponderosa chain [...]

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Responding directly to the challenge of McDonald's Chicken McNuggets, Kentucky Fried Chicken is testing Kentucky Nuggets chicken chunks in 300 units throughout eight major markets. The 2/3-oz. [...]

CHICAGO--Traditional 'walk-around' foods like ice cream, cookies, pizza, hamburgers, hotdogs and pretzels may be on the verge of overcoming their label as junk food as a trend evolves toward more [...]

More seats, lunch tabs spark Forgione move NEW YORK -- Lawrence Forgione's relocated American Place fine-dining restaurant has allowed him to triple his space, add nearly 100 seats, begin serving [...]

RAINBOW ROOM'S POT OF GOLD The million-dollar kitchen renovation has streamlined operations with redesigned prep areas, an inter-kitchen escalator, new equipment, lighting, and a bake shop NEW YORK -- The [...]

East 58th St. blues: Upscale to `For Sale' NEW YORK -- Once Manhattan's most bustling upscale restaurant strip, East 58th Street is today a boulevard of broken dreams. The city [...]

Morton regroups after Hard Rock setback LOS ANGELES--After losing a bidding war to Pleasurama PLC for Isaac Tigrett's half of the Hard Rock Cafe empire, estranged expartner Peter Morton moved [...]

US Culinary Olympians brace for '88 competition FRANKFURT, West Germany--Two years after 150 chefs first tried out in Orlando, Fla., Boston, Detroit, and San Francisco, 14 finalists have been chosen [...]

OVER THE RAINBOW Joe Baum's reopened Rainbow Room is a $25 million spectacle. The complex features three restaurants, banquet facilities, meeting rooms and a members-only club. Perhaps the American Express [...]

Leo Romero: A do-it yourself pioneer excels Romero's self-taught culinary genius brought authentic Mexican fare to Boston 18 years ago. Today he continues to set trends in fine dinning at [...]

No change at Ponderosa--for now Metromedia Co. said it plans no immediate changes for the 669-unit Ponderosa family steak house chain it acquired from New York investor Asher Edelman. Nevertheless, [...]

Strange bedfellows: Fast-food players join forces Diverse and seemingly competing restaurant and snack food chains are forging new alliances in an effort to expand their appeal with merged product lines. [...]