James Beard Award Finalists To Receive $3,000 Grants From LEE Initiative
When the James Beard Foundation decided not to announce the winners of this year’s restaurant awards, the decision sparked controversy. The winners had already been chosen, so why not give them some good news in one of the worst years in the history of the restaurant industry? In response, the LEE Initiative has decided to award $3,000 grants to all restaurant award finalists listed by the James Beard Foundation this past May. During the pandemic the LEE Initiative, which is led by Louisville chef Edward Lee and Maker’s Mark, has helped provide widespread relief to the restaurant industry, distributing food and resources to more than 500,000 restaurant workers in 19 cities across the U.S. “While a grand celebration isn’t top priority this year,” said Lee, “we still want to honor these nominees and their work, and we hope that all of the chefs will continue their education and support of their communities and keep their restaurants alive.” .
Restaurant Menu Exhibition Reveals 100 Years of American Dining
In the United States, restaurant menus only came into general use around the 1840s when hotels began to replace the old inns and taverns in which daily meals were determined by whatever the proprietors had on hand. While most hotel menus were meant for short-term use and not meant to be saved, others were carefully crafted by high-society stationers such as Tiffany’s and Dempsey & Carroll. Even when briefly kept as personal mementos, many menus were tossed out by later generations. To help preserve this bit of American cultural history, Henry Voigt curated 100 years of such menus from the 1840s to the 1940s. He had planned to open the exhibition to the public this September at New York’s Grolier Club, a 135-year-old society for bibliophiles and graphic arts enthusiasts. Due to the pandemic, the menu exhibition is now online. Some of the exhibition highlights include rare menu examples from Edgar Allan Poe, from Mark Twain’s seventieth birthday party at Delmonico’s, and from a reception for French zoologist Paul B. Du Chaillu in the New Mexico Territory. Like other cultural ephemera and artifacts, part of a historical restaurant menu’s appeal stems from the belief that its survival is improbable.
Chef David Chang Opens Up About His Bipolar Disorder And Depression In New Memoir
Celebrity chef David Chang, founder of the Momofuku restaurant empire, talks frankly about his struggles with bipolar disorder and depression in his new memoir Eat a Peach. “Bipolar has given me the very best of myself as a chef and the very worst of me as a chef,” writes Chang. Throughout the memoir, the chef details his experiences with the disorder, from manic episodes at his restaurants to depressive phases when he wasn’t cooking. “I would ride my bike all over Manhattan, weaving in and out of traffic and blowing through stoplights. There was a New Year’s Eve party that began with Valium, speed, pot, washed down with around twenty drinks, and ended with my falling through a giant glass table,” says Chang. “The ER doctors said I narrowly missed an artery.” Chang is very aware of the critical role therapy has played in his life and in his success. He met his longtime therapist, Dr. Eliot, in 2004, the same year he opened Momofuku.
NYC Extends Fee Caps On Restaurant Food Delivery
New York City officials have extended a cap on third party delivery fees until restaurants can operate at 100% capacity. Even though there is no set date for reopening indoor dining, members of the city council voted on the 15% fee cap to ease the financial burden that is forcing thousands of restaurants to close permanently. “While restaurants are struggling to keep their doors open and continue paying their staff,” said Councilman Mark Gjonaj, “third-party delivery platforms have experienced a surge in use. Their business model continues to thrive under COVID, while restaurants continue to need help.” The current 15% fee cap will only be lifted 90 days after indoor dining resumes at 100% capacity. Food delivery companies such as DoorDash and Grubhub have been lobbying to eliminate the cap. “We continue to have concerns around a permanent cap,” said DoorDash in a statement, “which would ultimately undermine restaurants’ access to reliable delivery services that are helping them stay open and that provide economic opportunity to workers who may not have any other source of income during this prolonged economic downturn.”
McDonald’s Faces $1 Billion Discrimination Lawsuit From Dozens Of Black Ex-Franchisees
McDonald’s is being sued by over 50 former Black franchise owners for steering them toward less profitable restaurants and offering fewer opportunities than white-owned franchisees. All 52 plaintiffs were forced to sell their franchise within the past 10 years, and the ex-franchisees are seeking $4 to $5 million in compensation per store. According to the suit filed in a Chicago federal court, McDonald’s directed the Black franchisees to stores in inner-city neighborhoods with low sales and higher security and insurance costs. “Revenue is determined by one thing and one thing only: location,” said James Ferraro, the Miami-based attorney representing the plaintiffs. “It’s a Big Mac. They’re the same everywhere.” .
Drive-Thrus Define New Chain Restaurant Designs
The pandemic has reshaped consumer behavior at restaurants with take-out, delivery, and drive-thru orders dominating the methods of purchase. According to industry analysts NPD Group, visits to restaurant drive-thrus grew 26% in April, May and June this year. Increased demand for contactless transactions and off-premise dining has caused restaurant chains like Shake Shack, Taco Bell, and Burger King to plan new formats for future stores. All three restaurant chains recently unveiled plans that feature additional drive-thru windows at new locations. Burger King’s new store format includes up to 3 drive-thru lanes per restaurant, while Shake Shack and Taco Bell feature 2 lanes. The chains also feature contactless curbside pickup areas, and Shake Shack’s contactless pickup will become a permanent feature in all stores.
Restaurants Are Hiring But Applicants Are Scarce
The U.S. is in midst of the largest unemployment upheaval in 80 years, and yet restaurants are having trouble securing applicants for open positions. Many restaurants have even created new positions such as Sanitation Supervisor. COVID-19 has kept many potential applicants away because restaurants have been targeted erroneously as coronavirus hotspots. For some low-wage restaurant workers, unemployment stimulus checks have also boosted their weekly pay above what they were earning from their previous employers. In response, many restaurant chains have increased their pay offerings, but they’ve still had little success in attracting applicants. “This is the most dramatic shift that’s happened in the modern history of food service,” said Aaron Allen, chief strategist at restaurant consultancy Aaron Allen & Associates. “It’s the first time people have left the industry and decided not to come back.” Flynn Restaurant Group, which operates Taco Bell, Arby’s and Applebee’s locations, reports that its workers are now being paid a higher hourly wage than a year ago at its 280 Taco Bell restaurants. But higher pay may not be enough. Alonzo Rice, a former Burger King cook in Orlando, Florida, has been working odd jobs since his hours at the location disappeared due to the pandemic. “I’m not applying to any restaurant jobs,” he says, because the risk is be too high for the reward.
Food & Wine Names Best BBQ Restaurants In Every State
David Landsel, Senior Editor at Food & Wine, has compiled his list of the best BBQ joints in America. “After decades of research, I feel confident enough to draw up a rough sketch of what the best barbecue in America looks like,” he says. The list includes over 100 BBQ restaurants and has been put together over the course of several years. In Texas, there’s Louie Mueller Barbecue, which Landsel describes as “a national treasure.” Among the top spots in Tennessee, Payne’s Bar-B-Q was opened in 1972 by Horton Payne and is now run by his widow Flora Payne. The Skylight Inn in North Carolina, a longtime favorite for its whole hog barbecue, easily made the list, while relative newcomer in Virginia, ZZQ, began as a backyard pop-up in 2011. Moo’s Craft Barbecue in California, serving Texas BBQ in L.A., brings in lines of people that will wait rain or shine as long as it takes for a taste. And in Chicago, Illinois, the venerable Lem’s Bar-B-Q made the list as well. “After countless dates with modern barbecue, I continue to treasure the whole of the Lem’s experience. I treasure those slabs of hickory-smoked, orange-red spare ribs, those unfussed hot links coming out of the city’s largest aquarium smoker,” Landsel says.
San Francisco Restaurant Sales Have Dropped 91%, According To Credit Card Data
To assess the health of San Francisco’s businesses and plan future lawmaking, the city’s Chamber of Commerce consulted with credit card companies to analyze swipe data during the pandemic. According to Chamber spokesperson Jay Cheng, the analysis revealed that 66.8% of the city’s customer-serving businesses that remain open are restaurants or grocery stores. The data also showed that San Francisco restaurant sales fell 84% in July compared to the same time last year. Since the beginning of the pandemic in March, restaurant sales have fallen 91%. According to Cheng, credit card activity indicates that 51.5% of the city’s restaurants are not generating any sales at all, presumably because they are closed temporarily or permanently. That figure aligns with expectations of the Golden Gate Restaurant Association (GGRA), a lobbying group that represents SF’s dining business. Back in May, the group’s executive director, Laurie Thomas, predicted a 50% permanent closure rate. It was “a gut number based on talking to people,” said Thomas. “Anecdotally, one out of two people can’t see a way to stay in business,” she added.
Restaurant Chains Invest Millions In Enhanced Drive Thru Lanes
Fast-food and fast-casual chains are expanding their reach, while their overall revenue has still seen a roughly 30% plummet in 2020. While the loss of dine-in service has dampened sales, the drive-thru has proven to be the most lucrative revenue stream for major chains, accounting for 65% or more of a store’s revenue. According to a recent poll, 74% of Americans have gone to a drive-through the same amount or more than usual this year. To capitalize on changing consumer habits, most chains are expediting their expansion plans for drive-thru options. Last year, McDonald’s spent $300 million to obtain the AI company Dynamic Yield, which aims to increase drive-thru sales by giving digital menu boards predictive technologies, such as adapting to the time of day, weather, and even current restaurant traffic. Taco Bell has invested in speeding up wait times with its mobile priority lanes, which incentivize customers to order by phone. The Taco Bell app also uses GPS geofencing to determine when a customer pulls in and to guarantee that the order is ready as soon as the customer arrives at the pick-up window. For its part, Chipotle has been adding drive-thru “Chipotlanes” and opened its 100th lane this month, forgoing menu boards altogether so that customers order via their app to expedite drive-thru transactions.
