Restaurant news to know: June 24, 2014

Chefs discuss wage inequality in restaurants (Bloomberg Businessweek)
Many restaurateurs see the tipping of servers as unfair to those working in the kitchen. Can the system be changed?

—Lisa Jennings

(China Daily)
The chain is revamping its 130 restaurants in the country and plans to offer better Wi-Fi and mobile experiences at its outlets.

—Marcella Veneziale

Rising rents claim more NYC restaurant victims (The New York Times)
Just as farmers are always complaining about the weather, restaurateurs complain about the rent. But with a recent spate of closings and a continuing rise in rents in downtown Manhattan, where bargains could once be had, even well-established restaurateurs are in a state of agitation. Restaurant impresario Danny Meyer, who recently said his Union Square Cafe will forfeit its lease at the end of year, noted: “There’s no such thing as a New York restaurant that is immune to real estate.”
 
—Ron Ruggless

McDonald’s moves up in Best Global Green Brands report (Interbrand press release)
McDonald’s Corp. rose four spots on the 2014 Best Global Green Brands report published by Interbrand, finishing at No. 43 out of the top 50 companies in the world. Starbucks Coffee finished ahead of McDonald’s in this year’s report, but it slipped one spot from a year ago to finish at No. 37. Interbrand says its report “examines the gap that exists between a brand’s environmental performance and consumers’ perceptions of that performance.” The top four rankings of the report belong to carmakers.

—Mark Brandau