February 1, 2005

FOOD & BEVERAGE

Got Grains!
Having long recognized the value of rice, bulgur and barley, many chefs now enliven menus with exotic, centuries-old grains such as quinoa, farro, wheat berries, kamut and millet.

Dish: Cuban Roast Pork Dip
Yard House restaurants’ Executive Chef Carlito Jocson augments the chain’s lunch menu with a flavorful and practical version of the classic Cuban sandwich that wins customer raves.

Clear Options
Operators know that bottled still, sparkling and flavored waters are proven profit producers. The next step at some venues has been to work with manufacturers to produce private-label water brands.

SPECIAL REPORT

The dream of opening a restaurant is popular and persuasive, though finding financing can be daunting for first-time entrepreneurs. R&I offers a down-to-earth guide to realizing dreams and staying afloat in a competitive marketplace.

Capital Gains
Limited partnerships, “angel investors,” venture capital firms and loans from the Small Business Administration or banks are some of the ways to get a start-up started.

Rules of Attraction
What do potential financial backers want to know, other than how soon they will recoup their investment? Learn how capital markets decide which horses to bet on.

BUSINESS

Good Buys Are Hard To Do
Controlling food costs isn’t easy for independent and noncommercial operators, but smarter buying strategies—alone or in conjunction with others—can help.

Nursing Relationships
Chicago’s Rush University Medical Center improved its products, services and profits through benchmarking, adoption of new technologies, forging partnerships among departments and reaching out to retail brands.

OPERATIONS

A New Brew
With consumers more coffee-conscious than ever, operators find that their choice of brewing methods affects not only the taste of the coffee but also guest perceptions of their overall experience.

DEPARTMENTS

R&I Insider
Pastry chefs hang out their shingles; Bear Rock Cafe rethinks its expansion aspirations; Union Square Hospitality Group creates works of culinary art worthy of a museum; more chains make changes at the top; the world’s most-devoted QSR fans are identified; a Mexican restaurant doubles as a décor retailer. Table Turns shares the buzz; Menu Focus serves jambalaya; Consumer Beat looks at diets.

Interface: Bertrand Weber
Bertrand Weber tells Interface how his foodservice programs at Hopkins (Minn.) School District 270 became noncommercial role models.

10-Minute Manager
The 10-Minute Manager explains why foodsafety training is at least as important for hourly employees as for kitchen managers and how to make that instruction engaging and effective.

EDITORIAL

Viewpoint
Clinical Errors