Chefs Call Proposed New York Salt Ban 'Absurd'   Thursday March 11, 2010

Some New York City chefs and restaurant owners are taking aim at a bill introduced in the New York Legislature that, if passed, would ban the use of salt in restaurant cooking. "No owner or operator of a restaurant in this state shall use salt in any form in the preparation of any food for consumption by customers of such restaurant, including food prepared to be consumed on the premises of such restaurant or off of such premises," the bill, A. 10129, states in part.... [click here view entire article]

Chefs Answer Consumers' Calls for Healthy Breakfasts   Thursday March 11, 2010

Busy and on the go in the morning, consumers don't always approach breakfast with nutrition in mind. In R&I's 2010 New American Diner Study, when asked at which meal they're most likely to try to eat more healthfully, just 13.2% of consumers chose breakfast, compared with 27.4% at lunch and 43.7% at dinner. Yet digging a bit deeper suggests that these inclinations may be driven more by a lack of opportunity than a lack of interest. In a recent survey by Chicago-b... [click here view entire article]

Few companies got high marks on food marketing to children   Thursday March 11, 2010

Mars Inc. did well while McDonald's Corp. got a mediocre mark in a "report card" on food marketing to children released Tuesday by a watchdog group. But at least neither of those companies got the grade received by most other companies included in the report: F. The Washington D.C.-based Center for Science in the Public Interest analyzed 128 food and entertainment companies, evaluating the strength of their nutrition standards for food marketed to... [click here view entire article]

Benihana wins a round in court   Wednesday March 10, 2010

enihana said late Monday that it had won a long-running court battle with the former minority shareholders of the company's Haru restaurant chain. The Miami-based Japanese-themed restaurant company said that the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled last week in the company's favor. In 2005, Haru's minority shareholders exercised a put option to sell their 20 percent interest in the sushi chain to Benihana based on a pric... [click here view entire article]

Craft beer sales up 7 percent last year as total U.S. beer sales fall   Wednesday March 10, 2010

Craft breweries captured more of the beer market last year, increasing their sales 7 percent as the overall beer market dropped about 2 percent, according to new figures from the Brewers Association, the Boulder, Colo.-based trade association. For 2009, craft brewery sales represented 4.3 percent of volume and 6.9 percent of retail dollars of the $101 billion U.S. beer industry, the association reports. "Beer lovers continue to find great value an... [click here view entire article]

NYC chef creates breast milk cheese   Tuesday March 09, 2010

Daniel Angerer co-owns Klee Brasserie with his wife Lori Mason. A photo on his blog features the cheese encrusted with maple caramelized pumpkin and Concord grapes. They had an overabundance of milk for their newborn, Arabella Caroline. When their small freezer ran out of space, Angerer decided to experiment. Angerer says his cooking instincts tend toward things natural. But even he admits: "THIS is a whole other level of ’natural.’" ... [click here view entire article]

French Connections   Tuesday March 09, 2010

In the Disney/Pixar animated movie “Ratatouille” (2007), Remy the rat, a talented cook, placates a restaurant critic by whipping up a contemporary interpretation of the film’s namesake dish, that classic Provençal creation of stewed tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini and garlic. Cassoulet"Duck confit adds richness to Bistrot La Minette's cassoulet"A similar scene is playing out today in French-focused American restaurants—minus the rat, of course. Chefs are digging deeper into France’... [click here view entire article]

Tim Hortons Outlines Strategic Growth Catalysts and Financial Outlook at Investor Conference   Tuesday March 09, 2010

The Tim Hortons strategic plan targets investments and opportunities designed to leverage our core business strengths and business model to drive future growth. In addition to same-store sales growth drivers, the Company expects to open approximately 900 new locations in North America between 2010 to 2013. "Our strategies will continue to transform Tim Hortons, not only adding significant scale but also introducing important additional growth layers to our business p... [click here view entire article]

US restaurants eye sales growth in dining drought   Tuesday March 09, 2010

Amid signs of thawing consumer spending, US restaurants are starting to walk a fine line between turning diners on with new lower-calorie dishes and tapas-style small plates and turning them off with creeping price increases. The course change comes as cost-cutting opportunities dwindle and restaurants try to wean still-skittish diners off discounts and special offers. "2009 was strictly cost-reduction focused. ... It seems like there's a transiti... [click here view entire article]

'Iron Chef' Bobby Flay to Fork Over $800K to Restaurant Workers    Monday March 08, 2010

Food Network star Bobby Flay has agreed to pay $800,000 to workers who allege they were cheated out of wages and tips while working at his popular Manhattan eateries. Flay denied any wrongdoing, but in court documents said he would rather settle with the workers than go to trial. When reached by phone, Eli Zev Freedberg, the attorney representing Flay and the rest of the defendants listed (KBFK Restaurant Corp. and Bold Food LLC), declined to comm... [click here view entire article]

Farm-to-school programs motivate school food service professionals   Monday March 08, 2010

Researchers at the Michigan State University, Lansing, examined why farmers, school food service professionals (SFSP), and food distributors participate in farm-to-school programs and how they characterize the opportunities and challenges to school food procurement from local farmers. Researchers identified three major reasons why SFSP participate in farm-to-school programs including (1) ''The students like it,'' (2) ''The price is right,'' and (3) ''We're helping our local farmer.'' ... [click here view entire article]

Pretzel bread twisting up at restaurants, bakeries   Monday March 08, 2010

The smell of freshly baked bread wafts through Hannah's Bretzel, a downtown restaurant where the ovens are lined with rows of pretzel bread loaves that are sold on their own and used to make sandwiches filled with hams, cheeses and other gourmet ingredients. "It's just soft and salty," says customer Stephanie Klein, who ordered an Italian Parma ham sandwich on the bread during a recent lunch hour and visits about three times a month. "I'm big on a soft, good tasting ... [click here view entire article]

U.S. Open Workers Sue Restaurants Over Pay, Tips    Friday March 05, 2010

March 4 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. Open workers at luxury suites at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center sued restaurants there, claiming they violated state and federal laws by not paying overtime and by keeping tips. Daniel Yahraes, of Queens, New York, who said he has worked at the Open every year start in 2000, yesterday filed a proposed class-action, or group suit, in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, New York. Yahraes and two other restaurant workers allege the ... [click here view entire article]

Morton's Makes the Most of Social Media   Friday March 05, 2010

Roger Drake, senior vice president of marketing and communications for Morton's The Steakhouse, often lectures MBA students at Rutgers University on the use of social media in business. Not surprisingly, he also oversees an ambitious social-media effort at the Chicago-based restaurant chain. Chain Leader recently grilled the 49-year-old executive about the advantages that Facebook, YouTube and Twitter give the 76-unit chain. What are the benefits of YouTube? ... [click here view entire article]

World's Most Admired Companies   Friday March 05, 2010

Most Admired Company Industry Overall score 1 Archer Daniels Midland 7.20 2 Corn Products International 6.58 3 Bunge 6.55 4 Wilmar International 6.46 5 Chiquita Brands International 5.59 Contenders Company Industry Overall score 6 Smithfield Foods 5.45 7 Tyson Foods 5.39 8 Seaboard 5.32 9 Sanderson Farms 5.31 10 Pilgrim's Pride ... [click here view entire article]