November 1, 2001

FOOD & BEVERAGE

Focused on Fare
From Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts to Starwood Hotels & Resorts, The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co. to Hilton Hotels Corp., the top lodging companies are jazzing up their restaurants, using food to create a niche and expand the customer base.

Rainbows by the Glass
Technicolor cocktails are the latest rage at operations such as Tantra in Miami Beach, where the brightly hued Tantric Kiss and Pure Ecstasy are bar favorites.

SPECIAL REPORT

Best Accommodations
Whether lodging companies have developed their own restaurant concepts or partnered with outside chefs or operators, the resulting upgrading of hotel dining is helping ease the sting of depressed room revenues. Restaurants and Institutions offers an exclusive ranking of lodging’s top performers in F&B sales.

BUSINESS

Riding Out the Storm
The foodservice industry hasn’t faced such uncertain prospects since the 1991 recession. Already-soft sales in many segments have eroded further since September. But operators are fighting back with aggressive marketing and cost-cutting strategies.

Talking Points
Sometimes all that stands in the way of a person’s foodservice career is an inability to understand English. Noncommercial foodservice operators are breaking down barriers with classes aimed at educating workers and managers alike.

INTERFACE

Jim Collins
The author of “Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...And Others Don’t” says the most successful businesses are those that know what they can and can’t do better than anyone else and that make decisions accordingly.

OPERATIONS

Good Vibrations
Well-chosen design elements and an understanding of clientele can set the right noise level.

USDA Report Calls for Food-Chain Update
Sharp Competition, consumer demands point up need to revamp existing food and farm policies.

EDITORIAL

Viewpoint