More Articles By Lisa Bertagnoli, Contributing Editor
- Technology Takes the Gut-Feel out of Site Selection
Real-estate software can help take some of the guesswork out of finding locations for both franchised and company restaurants, but it's not perfect. More - Real-Estate Selection a Work in Progress
Using demographic data from its existing location, restaurant chain upstart Johnny's Lunch customized a site-selection index to pinpoint expansion locations. More - Counting Pros: Technology Reduces Food Waste
Restaurant chain Stevi B’s waste-reduction technology has prompted the company to make several operational changes to cut food waste and food cost. More - Restaurant Design Step by Step
Emerging restaurant chain Finagle Bakery Cafe developed a new prototype that cost about the same as the older incarnation. It required a year's worth of back-and-forth with its design firm as well as tough choices regarding fabrics, finishes and fixtures. More - Technology Manages Food and Waste at Noodles
An integrated POS system, which tracks how much product is sold, coupled with a Web-based food-management program, which shows how much product should have been used, keeps Noodles & Company's food waste to a minimum. More - Downtown Denver Restaurants Rely on the Kindness of Strangers
How do 100 restaurants survive in a 25-square-block area that has fewer than 1,500 residents? For Denver's Lower Downtown, or LoDo, there are four answers: Coors Field, Elitch Gardens, The Denver Center for the Performing Arts and Pepsi Center. The four tourist attractions draw more than 7 million visitors a year. More - Balanced Breakfast: New Kitchen Enables Catering and In-Store Dining
Rising Roll Gourmet opened a prototype with a redesigned kitchen to accommodate the restaurant chain's new breakfast-catering menu while serving in-store restaurant customers. More - Technology Keeps Track of Sushi
Blue C Sushi uses RFID technology on its plates to enable sushi chefs to pull dishes off the conveyor belt when they are past their sell-by time and to help the growing restaurant chain track sushi sales. The technology has helped to lower waste and food costs. More - Why Restaurant Chains Bend to Fit into Historic Areas
Historic districts are the siren songs of commercial real estate: They're cute and quaint, and often huge tourist draws. But for restaurant chains, the path from signing the lease to opening the doors can be rocky. More - Technology Transforms Restaurant Training
Cincinnati-based restaurant chain Buffalo Wings & Rings' new corporate headquarters includes a 3,700-square foot, 150-seat training restaurant. The restaurant's technological touches include surveillance cameras that double as training devices and a kitchen-display system that's helped cut ticket times in half. More - Restaurant Design: Affordable Luxury
Mazzio's kept rising building and commodity costs and slumping casual-dining sales in mind when it developed Oliveto, its new full-service Italian bistro. The restaurant's decor includes both value and luxurious touches such as a stained-concrete floor, simple lighting fixtures and granite-topped communal tables. More - Hidden Assets: Freshii's Display Kitchen
Freshii retooled its display kitchen to partially obscure customers’ view. The fast-casual restaurant chain added a partition to the work station and moved the makeup tables to the back wall of the kitchen. Food costs have since dropped 2 percent and equipment costs have dropped 15 percent. More - Group Dynamics: Darden's Employee Networks
Darden Restaurants’ employee networks help the casual-dining giant identify and nurture promising employees, while helping the company better understand its minority employees and customers. More - Table Service: Pay and Go
Cozymel’s new pay-at-the-table system is reaping benefits above and beyond customers appreciative of the credit-card security it offers. The technology has sped service, increased sales and cut labor costs—and without too much angst from customers or servers. More - Pagers Improve Service at Captain D's
Captain D's installed a pager system at 40 company stores in Nashville, Tenn., that has helped improve service and matches the more upscale experience at the remodeled stores. More - Redefining Vinings
Ask Atlantans which neighborhood is the hottest in town and Vinings might well be the answer. The area, northwest of Atlanta's downtown, is filled with historic buildings, including Pace House. Vinings' residents are young, hip singles and older empty nesters with plenty of disposable income. More - Cosi Is Good to Go
Cosi has instituted new support mechanisms for franchisees as they become a bigger part of the chain’s growth strategy. It has hired new executives, created limited-time offers, redesigned the look of the stores and commissioned price-elasticity reports for each market. More - Krystal's Design Is More Than Skin Deep
Krystal’s latest design is more than cosmetic. The new prototype features softer colors, architectural details, upscale finishes and marketing elements to improve the dine-in experience while building the quick-service restaurant’s brand awareness. More - Neighborhoods Drive Atlanta Development
Thanks to residents tired of the city's endless traffic snarls and wary of gas prices, Atlanta's neighborhoods are filling in with nice restaurants and shops within walking distance of homes. More - All Lined Up: A More Sensible Kitchen
Einstein Bros. Bagels and its sibling concept, Noah’s New York Bagels, rearranged equipment on the service line to accommodate their expanded menu. The result: faster ticket times, happier customers, more accurate order and even higher check averages. More
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