Author Archive
Children & Restaurants - Banning Kids
Welcome back!If you happen to have children under the age of six, and if you find yourself in Monroeville (PA)… you are not welcome at Michael Vuick’s place (McDain’s Restaurant). Actually, you and the wife are totally welcome, but you have to leave the kids (under the age of six) in the car. Needless to [...]
The man is a restaurant critic so it’s not his fault…
A guy named Brian Freedman is a food critic for a weekly paper in Philadelphia. He most recently wrote an unfavorable review on a relatively new restaurant located in the Rittenhouse Square area. With only one visit in mind, he chose to bash this spot during Restaurant Week. The guy has the right to do [...]
Is Groupon Good For Restaurants?
I don’t think it is necessary to explain the Groupon thing. The truth is that you can’t get away from it now that approximately one million copies of their concept are now available.
The Philadelphia Inquirer is doing it and they tell me even Clipper Magazine has joined the fray. It’s the [...]
Kids & Healthy Eating: A Chef at War
It was almost ten years ago that we (Restaurant Report) were ranting and raving about the subject of childhood obesity. We knew then that we were systematically raising an entire generation hooked on fast foods. We knew then that both the parents and the schools were failing miserably as they sat back and [...]
Restaurant Doom — More Alcohol Taxes?
“Here’s to Alcohol: the cause of, and the solution to, all of life’s problems” –Homer Smith
The economy is what it is and if restaurants don’t already have enough problems, look for state governments to raise alcohol taxes. The studies continue to come to the same conclusion - Alcohol taxes and prices affect drinking. When prices [...]
Restaurant Service: Warm vs. Cool
I just finished reading a piece by our town’s major restaurant critic. There was one paragraph that I found disturbing…
“I’ve been to this oldie a number of times over the years to mixed results, but I’m happy to say this was our best visit yet. The service was a bit unnecessarily gruff and cool, but [...]
Marketing Your Chef
It’s one of the great mysteries of restaurant life. An owner seeks a highly qualified chef to take the restaurant to the next level. The owner pays the chef a boatload of money, and not unexpectedly, the restaurant is better than ever. The place even has the potential to go way beyond the next level. [...]
Restaurant Superchefs: Do You Know Where Your Chef Has Gone?
I am a big fan of chef driven restaurants. If the chef is in the kitchen, it’s going to be a great experience. If, by chance, the chef is somewhere else that evening, it may or may not be a great experience. I understand that almost all chefs will assure you that [...]
Automatic Gratuity Disaster
In one form or another, it’s a phrase that appears on menus all over America…”An 18% gratuity will be added to parties of eight and over”. I understand the thinking from the restaurant point of view, and I also understand that it represents a disaster waiting to happen.
Yelping Out Loud
The writer said it best – “Is this a Service or a Shakedown”(San Francisco Business Times article)
The good folks at Yelp in San Francisco have taken the public restaurant reviews to a whole new level, and it’s not a pretty picture. When the media encourages the public to literally hold a gun to the heads [...]
