Restaurant.org - As the Internal Revenue Service looks at revising its voluntary tip agreements to improve tip-reporting rates in restaurants, the National Restaurant Association is urging the agency to simplify the agreements and provide employers and employees with greater protection from audits.

Some of the tip agreements – the IRS currently offers four -- are now 20 years old. The IRS announced this spring it’s looking into revisions across the board, especially to the Tip Reporting Alternative Commitment (TRAC) and Tip Rate Determination Agreement (TRDA). Thousands of restaurants have signed these agreements, but the agency maintains tip income remains significantly under-reported.

Restaurant employers who enter an IRS agreement generally agree to take on a bigger role in educating employees about tip reporting and taking steps to ensure more accurate employee tip reporting. Continue

Today.com - Paula Deen no longer faces claims in the lawsuit that led to the fall of her food empire.

According to court documents filed in Savannah, Ga., all claims against the TV chef have been dismissed in the suit brought by former restaurant manager Lisa Jackson, with no award of costs or fees to any party. Jackson had sued on the grounds that the work environment at Uncle Bubba's Seafood and Oyster House, owned by Deen and her brother, subjected employees to sexual harassment and racial discrimination. Continue

The workers are calling for a wage of $15 an hour and the right to form a union. Organizers of the walkout say cashiers, cooks and crew members at fast-food restaurants are paid a median wage of $8.94 an hour.

Since some 200 workers walked off their jobs at fast-food restaurants in New York City in November, the strikes have moved across the country, drawing attention to a fast-growing segment of the workforce that until recently had shown no inclination to organize for purposes of collective bargaining. Continue

Eater.com -  A San Francisco restaurant owner claims that a Groupon sales rep threatened him with bad Yelp reviews after an unsuccesful sales pitch. News of the incident spread when Trip Hosley — the owner of the Sauce restaurants — posted the text of the alleged threatening email from Groupon sales rep Andrew Johnston to Sauce's Facebook page:

I sincerely appreciate you hanging up on me. As a resident of San Francisco for over 25 years, I have a huge network of friends (ages 25-40) that all are extremely active on Yelp as well as other social media. I will gladly let them know how you treated me as well as my feelings about the people who run Sauce. Continue

St. Lucie County Jail Ronda Beckmanwas arrested for indecent exposure , lewd lascivious behavior and disorderly intoxication — and she didn’t go quietly, according to police.

Diners at a restaurant in Florida got an eyeful when a drunken woman exposed her breasts in a restaurant and vowed to take all her clothes off. The manager called police after Ronda Beckman, 46, allegedly removed her shirt on the dance floor while intoxicated and refused to put it back on Aug. 2 at Captain Jax Sandbar and Grill on North Second Street in Fort Pierce. She then left.

Diners at a restaurant in Florida got an eyeful when a drunken woman exposed her breasts in a restaurant and vowed to take all her clothes off.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/dancer-topless-florida-diner-cops-article-1.1431521#ixzz2cY8ad9yY

Orlandosentinel.com - An ax-wielding thief busted open a cash register at an east Orange County restaurant before peddling off as the owner videotaped the getaway.

The burglar stole $100 from Saigon Grill on South Goldenrod Road early Aug. 3, the Orange County Sheriff's Office said Wednesday.

The owner arrived before deputies and videotaped the criminal getting away on a bicycle.

Money.msn.com - Some famous American restaurant chains are becoming difficult, if not impossible, to find. As McDonald's (MCD) and Subway outlets proliferate, once-common eateries like Howard Johnson's and Ground Round are fading. Others have disappeared altogether.

The website 24/7 Wall St. turned to Technomic, a consulting and research firm serving the food industry, to identify chains that have vanished or moved overseas or have been reduced to doing business in just a few locations. In their heyday, these chains had hundreds, if not thousands, of restaurants. As of 2012, however, most had 25 or fewer restaurants.

What happened? According to Technomic's Darren Tristano, troubles can often be traced to increased competition from the likes of Applebee's, TGIF, Olive Garden and Red Lobster.

"Those brands did better in terms of expansion," Tristano said. "Those that couldn't keep up and didn't have the franchises or the financing struggled."

Read through this slide show, published Aug. 13, for a look at famous but faded restaurants chains Continue

TSNN.com - Atlanta-based Urban Expositions has further expanded into the restaurant and foodservice industries by scooping up three shows from Reed Exhibitions and one more from the New York State Restaurant Association.
 
The Reed shows are the Florida Restaurant & Lodging Show, Western Foodservice & Hospitality Expo and Expo Comida Latina, as well as the association’s International Restaurant & Foodservice Show, which was managed by Reed.
 
"We have been searching for strategic opportunities to grow our retail/hospitality sector and these shows perfectly reflect the profile and development potential we were hoping to find," said Doug Miller, President, Urban Expositions.Continue

Newsobserver.com Gillnets. Bycatch. Longlines. Bottom trawlers. Dredge.

Those words can make anyone’s head spin when trying to become a well-educated seafood consumer. To better navigate what can be confusing waters, we’re offering a quick guide on what you need to know in order to ask your fishmonger, waiter, even chef at a favorite restaurant about the sustainability of the seafood they’re selling.

Chefs and restaurant managers should be expecting these questions. Sustainable seafood and local seafood were among this year’s top 10 culinary trends cited by chefs in a survey conducted by the National Restaurant Association. And more consumers are asking questions about where and how their seafood was caught or raised. Continue

Eater.com - Who wants to get rid of tipping now? Martha Cheng of Honolulu Magazine, and also California restaurateur Jay Porter. Porter actually abolished the practice of tipping at his now-shuttered restaurant the Linkery — instead adding an automatic 18% service fee to all bills — and he writes on Quartz "our service improved, our revenue went up, and both our business and our employees made more money."