I hope that you will indulge me this one last blog to honor the greatest restaurateur and human that I have ever known.

 

Dear Norman,

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This is goodbye. On Monday morning I show up for work in Denver as the new CEO of Boston Market. My new bosses, the private equity firm Sun Capital Partners, would prefer that I focus on the things that they are paying me for. As a result I am resigning from the various boards of directors that I am on and will be ending my blog when I hit the “send” key.

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In cycling this shout means that you need to keep your bike in as straight a line as possible to keep from hitting other cyclers near you. Ignore it at your peril. Unfortunately, in the restaurant industry we don’t have a similar cry to keep other concepts from encroaching on our traditional space. And today the land grab for someone else’s market and customers is taking on a frenetic pace. 

A recent USA Today article titled “...Read More

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Ever since the first ticket was sold at a baseball game, foodservice was there. I don’t know what was sold. It could have been a hot dog or a beer since some things never change, but fans have been buying high priced, questionable quality fare at sporting events for a long time. That has been improving over the past few years at sporting venues all over the country, b...Read More

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I saw Ron Paul of Technomic at the Marketing Executives Group conference in Chicago the week before last. Seeing him reminded me of a white paper that they published for attendees of the Restaurant Leadership Conference recently. It was titled “Satisfying the Changing Consumer: The Winning Restaurant Formula”. Technomic does a lot of good work in helping chains make sense of trends and customer behaviors in the restaurant industry. This paper did a great...Read More

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The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers is asking Congress for $30 million annually to develop passive ignition interlock technology that would be standard equipment on all cars. This is a device that would detect and measure the level of alcohol in your body when you grab the steering wheel, and would not allow the car to start above certain BAC thresholds. Contrary to the logic that this would keep drunks off o...Read More

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Every year at this time, one week before the Restaurant Show, restaurant marketers migrate to Chicago for the Marketing Executives Group (MEG) meeting. 200+ restaurant marketers, presidents, CEOs and assorted students of the industry gather to learn the latest in marketing tactics, techniques, strategies and media. If you think that your marketing person was born or hired with their current knowledge you are mistaken. There is a network in place that ensures that every restaurant marketer gets a little bit smarter ev...Read More

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Published at the end of 2007, Eat This, Not That! by David Zinczenko has sold over one million books and has been followed by two other books that are focused on helping the consumer make dietary sense of the choices...Read More

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I was talking with a casual dining CEO recently about his plans to develop a new concept. I asked him if it would be a fast casual concept. “No,” he replied, “I don’t believe in fast casual. I see very few fast casual concepts that make money. This one will be full-service so that we can make some money.” I have been pondering that statement for the past couple of weeks and have been thinking about the implications of it. Can it be true that a profitable fast casual concept is as rare as the mythica...Read More

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I finally had the opportunity to visit one of Bobby Flay’s burger restaurants yesterday during a trip to New York City.  Bobby’s Burger Palace gives the public a chance to enjoy the food and flavors of this celebrity chef in a quick casual format. Fine dining for $12. One year after opening the first unit on Long Island Bobby has three locations open and a fourth under construction. The restaurant that I visited is the most rec...Read More

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The battle between the casual dining super powers just went nuclear. It was only a matter of time before this happened. The escalation of arms happens in most wars, but seldom do you see the response to a large bomb be the launching of a thermonuclear weapon. Most countries big enough and smart enough to possess an atomic bomb are smart enough not to use it. Well, the gloves are off, the diplomats have been recalled, and all neutral parties are speculating what the level of residual radiation from the blast will be. TGI Frid...Read More

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A few years ago I pulled up behind a brand new Mercedes convertible at the traffic light. I couldn’t help but notice the personalized license plate of the older woman driving the car: PO NO MO. I also couldn’t help but notice the waves and thumbs up she was getting from other drivers who were passing her after having read her license plate. Everyone can appreciate an underdog who has apparently worked their way from being poor, to having more, even without really knowing if they actually deserve it. Casual dining stocks find thems...Read More

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