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 FOOD & BEVERAGE
Open Water
Heightened consumer interest in healthful eating and freshness has boosted the popularity of fish and shellfish as menu items and as the defining focus for restaurant concepts. Inventive preparations of new and familiar varieties make a splash.
Stew Gets New
With winter on the horizon, this is the time to reacquaint diners with the delights of stews, those congenial comfort foods that warm body and soul. Chefs help the venerable one-dish dinner shed its stodgy image.
Dish R&D: Plum-Nectarine-Pear Chutney
Executive Chef Duke Lindberg always includes a selection of fresh fruit at Campus Club on the University of Minnesota campus, with leftovers combined into flavorful chutneys.
Calendar Hopping
Seasonal beers have built-in marketing advantages: Limited-time availability spikes interest and new styles offer a break from the usual for brew fans. Chains and independents are tapping the trend.
SPECIAL REPORT
Built for Speed
Broader menus and tighter margins cause operators to rethink kitchen design. Maximizing versatility and efficiency while minimizing square footage requires marshaling the latest technologies to make the back of the house a more-profitable space.
BUSINESS
Untangling the Web
Online purchasing of food, equipment and supplies gains converts as foodservice incorporates Internet technology. Operators also discover auction Web sites for finding nontraditional décor items and bargain prices for staples.
Hungry Minds
Renovated foodservice facilities help the Museum of Science and Industry and contract-management partner Sodexho USA entice visitors to take a break from the wonders of science for quick or relaxed meals.
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OPERATIONS
Spare Utilities
To reduce energy costs, buy multifunction equipment and be diligent in managing it, advises Michael Zema, director of the Culinary Arts and Hospitality Institute at Elgin (Ill.) Community College.
Hand Washing Is Food Safety’s Starting Point
New research details food-safety audits’ abilities to reduce foodborne-illness incidents.
DEPARTMENTS
R&I Insider
The hottest trends in college campus dining; a new report on obesity addresses parents and schools; Starbucks spurs a gossipy Web site; new thinking on beverage refills; KFC co-brands with ribs; and the annual New York City hospitality show offers something new. The Top 10 list scans vegetables; soup is on in Menu Focus.
Interface: Norman Brinker
Norman Brinker recounts for Interface the opening of Steak and Ale, which paved the way for development of what now is known as casual dining.
10-Minute Manager
The 10-Minute Manager examines the intricacies of lease negotiations and ways to make landlords champions for an operations’ success. Learn a few tricks of the trade from industry veterans.
EDITORIAL
Viewpoint
Serving Notice
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