Restaurant news to know: June 13, 2014

Restaurants work to woo the 5:30 dinner crowd (The Wall Street Journal)
Restaurateurs are trying to fill the pesky 5:30 dinner hour with a combination of sophisticated early menus and online booking specials. And fine restaurants are fine-tuning their service approach to make early diners feel they are getting more than the "early bird special."

—Ron Ruggless

McDonald's joins World Cup mania with first global promoted Twitter trend (Fast Company)
A year in the making, McDonald's new campaign and #FryFutbol hashtag will be promoted in more than 50 countries worldwide.

—Marcella Veneziale

(Chicago Tribune)
A group of former cooks at Charlie Trotter's, as well as the late chef's family, are joining forces to convert the former restaurant into an event space and foundation for teaching culinary schools and nutrition.

—Bret Thorn

Priceline buying OpenTable reservation company for $2.6 billion (New York Daily News)
Priceline Group Inc., the online travel company, said Friday it is buying online restaurant reservation company OpenTable for $2.6 billion. “Travelers are diners,” said Darren Huston, chief executive and president of Norwalk, Conn.-based Priceline. “It’s the same customers. There’s opportunity to cross promote brands.” San Francisco-based OpenTable seats more than 15 million diners per month at more than 31,000 restaurants.
 
—Ron Ruggless