June 15 , 2005

FOOD & BEVERAGE

Vegging Out
Freshness is an increasingly important criterion by which both diners and foodservice professionals judge meals, raising vegetables’ stature as ingredients and accompaniments. Perfectly prepared, seasonal vegetables improve quality perceptions of all other meal components.

Four Stars: Cocktail Party
Shrimp cocktail never has gone out of fashion, but it needn’t be old fashioned. Four operators show how ethnic accents, innovative ingredients and creative presentations elevate this first course from standard to stand out.

Bottle Rockets
There are nearly as many tactics for improving wine sales as there are bottles in the average restaurant cellar, but here is a flight of 10 proven ideas that entertain, engage and educate customers about wines.

BUSINESS

The Asian Century
Is the relative dearth of national Asian-menu restaurant chains an opportunity or indicative of difficulties in entering and mastering the segment? The mainstreaming of Asian foods increases the category’s appeal as it limits the need for narrowly focused Asian concepts.

Perfect Pitch
Students are college foodservice directors’ clients, not just their customers. Learn how leading universities are shaping menus and sales tactics for incoming students and their families.

OPERATIONS

Freeze Frame
In college foodservice, where high-volume advance preparation is a necessity, blast chillers are indispensable for efficiency as well as safety.

Handling Harassment
Sexual-harassment allegations are facts of business life. Operators share training strategies that can lower incidence of inappropriate behavior.

Chilling Out for Summer
A new national food-safety program emphasizes the need to monitor refrigeration equipment in summer.

DEPARTMENTS

R&I Insider
Metz & Associates makes nutrition fun; Wendy’s and Taco Bell launch whimsical Web sites; Cafe Adelaide makes a bet with diners; Sodexho’s Retail Brand Group signs its first franchisee; two resourceful restaurateurs are rewarded for their entrepreneurship. Table Turns tells who’s in the news. Menu Focus takes to the grill.

Ten-Minute Manager
Mistakes happen, but they needn’t result in lost customers. The Ten-Minute Manager offers tips on turning complaints to compliments.

EDITORIAL

Viewpoint
Carl’s Jr. aimed to parlay its small-change ad budget into something much bigger than airtime.