The Restaurant Empire Strikes Back
Image Source: New York Times
You have opinions about restaurants? Chefs have opinions about you too. Dozens of restaurant chef-owners (some high-profile) spill the beans with Yelp-style digs and straight talk about entitled customers, high food costs, long hours, and hard labor. Most chefs hate the practice of tipping and think culinary school is a waste of money. Is the customer always right? No. Are restaurants improving their track record on work-life balance, respect in the workplace, and fair pay? Yes.
Wine Worth $1.6 Million Stolen From La Tour d'Argent In Paris
Image Source: Christophe Ena
During a routine inventory check, a sommelier at La Tour d'Argent in Paris found 83 bottles of rare wine missing. The 442-year-old restaurant is among the most famous in France and inspired the fictional restaurant in the animated Disney film Ratatouille. The missing bottles are a fraction of La Tour d'Argent's 300,000-bottle collection, but they are worth about $1.6 million and include Bordeaux from Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, one of the world's most expensive wines. The restaurant was closed for renovations from spring 2022 to fall 2023, but Parisian police say the theft could have taken place anytime between 2020 and 2024. Bottles coming soon to a wine auction near you.
McDonald's Opens CosMc’s, A New Drive-Thru Restaurant
Image Source: Ashok Selvam
McDonald's is hoping to capture some Starbucks magic. Its new spinoff restaurant, CosMc's, is a drive-thru-only cafe featuring customizable sweet coffee and tea drinks, sodas, slushies, and soft serve ice cream, as well as cookies, snacks, and a few egg sandwiches. Berry Hibiscus Sour-Ade, Turmeric Spiced Latte, or Popping Pear Slush, anyone? Want dragonfruit with that? How about pretzel bites with hot mustard or ranch dip on the side? Full menu here. The first CosMc's location opened in December in the Chicago suburbs and plans are afoot to open nine more locations in Texas later this year. What's with the name? CosMc was a robot-surfer-alien character that Mickey D's introduced back in the 1980s. In the space age of the 2020s, what's old is new again.
More Restaurant News
Eater's Best New Restaurants And Bars Of 2023
Technomic Releases 2024 Global Restaurant Trends Forecast
Restaurant Drive-Through Traffic Rises 30%
Image Source: Nate Ryan
The pandemic effects are lingering. It's not surprising that restaurant drive-through usage rose 30% from 2019 to 2022, according to research firm Technomic. Or that by the first half of 2023, the number of people eating inside fast-food restaurants fell by 47% compared to 2019 numbers. What may stick though, is that drive-through sales now account for two-thirds of all fast-food purchases. It makes sense. It's faster than walking inside! Fast food joints are leaning into the trend, developing ever-more convenient drive-throughs like the Taco Bell unit pictured here. For more glimpses into the fast-food future, check out this New York Times article (subscription required).
Atlanta Restaurants Receive First-Ever Michelin Stars
Georgia's capital is home to the world's busiest airport and, now, the world's newest Michelin-star restaurants. In its first-ever guide to Atlanta, Michelin awarded stars to five restaurants: Atlas, Bacchanalia, Hayakawa, Lazy Betty and Mujō. Another 10 restaurants earned Michelin’s Bib Gourmand designation, given to spots that feature good food at moderate prices, and 30 others were listed as recommended. Kudos to all the winners — and if you're at the Atlanta airport, stop by One Flew South, one of the world's best airport bars!
