Red Robin socializes digital transformation (CIO Journal/The Wall Street Journal)
The company is accelerating menu changes by letting its 25,000 employees share customer feedback and suggest ideas through social software.
—Marcella Veneziale
Interest in restaurant industry jobs grows (Boston Globe)
An increasing number of people are switching careers for foodservice positions.
—Marcella Veneziale
WTF! PDQ founders name new restaurant chain with a wink (Tampa Tribune)
The founders of the popular PDQ chicken sandwich chain are starting a new line of restaurants with a name that might turn heads Pretty Darn Quickly. The new concept will be called Wow! That's Fresh. Burgers, Salads and Pizza, though executives with the company give a wink and admit that many people will shorten all that to just the text message expletive “WTF,” which stands for “What the [expletive].” Construction begins this week in Tampa, Fla.
“Maybe we'll have signs in front of the construction site that say things like 'What's The Fuss,'” said Nick Reader, who is starting the new restaurant group along with his PDQ co-founder, Bob Basham, who was also an original Outback Steakhouse founder. “We're trying to have a little fun with it.”
—Ron Ruggless
Lessons from the old school (The New York Times)
Tired of hearing about search engine optimization and the need to be socially engaged with your customers? So, apparently, is The Simone, a New York City restaurant whose owner takes reservations by phone, writes them down in a book with a pen and just got a rave review in The New York Times.
—Bret Thorn
Jeremiah Tower finds third act in Mexico (Silver City Sun-News)
Jeremiah Tower, considered one of the fathers of California cuisine, is poised for a third act in Mexico. He’s working on a book — an illustrated dictionary about food and sex — and is working on a new concept with partners in Washington state. And soon he may be the focus of a documentary by Anthony Bourdain.
—Lisa Jennings