NRN.com - Interest in craft beer is skyrocketing among restaurant customers, with sales and trial rising with it, so operators must educate themselves about new beer offerings and trends in order to guide their guests toward their ideal new experiences, NRA Show panelists said.

“With so many craft beers now that have hit the market, and the attention to quality … that’s a lot of things you want your consumers to know and understand,” Patrick Kirk, director of beverage and guest experience for Minneapolis-based Buffalo Wild Wings, said during a session during the International Wine, Spirits & Beer Event. “We realized as we grew our menus and continued to promote crafts in more ways, we needed to find a way for our team members to talk about this with our guests.” Continue

Qsrmagazine.com - Restaurants are expected to add 448,000 jobs this summer season, a 4.5 percent increase over the March 2013 employment level, according to National Restaurant Association (NRA) projections. The projected gain represents an improvement over the 2012 summer season.

“Summer is the busiest season for restaurants in most parts of the country, and the stronger business leads to additional employment opportunities at all levels of a restaurant operation,” says Bruce Grindy, chief economist for the NRA. “The projected addition of 448,000 summer restaurant jobs will be driven by a national economy that continues to improve, as well as consumers’ pent-up demand for restaurant services that remains at historically high levels.” Continue

Theadvertiser.com - On the hunt for cheap booze -- or worse -- investigators fanned out around the state ordering drinks at restaurants and bars. And they found they didn't always get what they asked for – and in one place, they got coloring and rubbing alcohol masquerading as scotch.

On Thursday, state law enforcement authorities detailed Operation Swill, which identified 29 restaurants around New Jersey, s, including a dozen TGI Friday's locations, that were alleged to have filled bottles of premium brand liquor with cheaper brands. Continue

WWLTV.com A sheriff’s auction Thursday afternoon brought a new twist in the complicated family fight over the future of Brennan's Restaurant in the French Quarter.  The restaurant's familiar pink building at 417 Royal Street was sold at a sheriff's auction at Civil District Court for $6.85 million.

Brennan's Restaurant, which is heavily in debt, is caught up in a legal squabble between family members fighting over control of the building first opened by Owen Brennan in 1954.

A court spokesman confirmed the sale, which would have been stopped had family member Owen "Pip" Brennan posted a $150,000 bond.  The bond was a condition of the injunction ordered Wednesday by Civil Court Judge Piper Griffin, which would have halted the sale and foreclosure.  The bond posting did not happen and the building was sold.Continue

Baristanet.com - Do you know Grey Goose from some cheap vodka brand? Can your palate distinguish between Glenlivet and budget-priced scotch?

Some folks are talking about that today after yesterday’s announcement that the New Jersey Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control busted 29 restaurant bars in Operation Swill. They’re accused of swapping out popular high end alcohol brands for much less expensive libations. The list includes several not far from the heart of Baristaville: Cucina Clanandra’s in Fairfield, and the TGIF locations in West Orange, Clifton and East Hanover (there were 13 TGIFs on the list). Continue

USAtoday.com -Americans seem to be fed up with frugality.

As the recession ever so slowly recedes, an increasing number of Americans say they are less frugal than they were a few years ago. At the same time, sales at restaurants are at an all-time high and at least one survey says consumers expect to spend more eating out as soon as their pocketbooks allow.

Sales at eating and drinking places in April reached $45.9 billion, a $200 million seasonally-adjusted increase from the previous high in December 2012, according to preliminary figures from the U.S. Census Bureau.

"Last month was a shock," said Ryan Lowder, the chef and owner of the Copper Onion in Salt Lake City, where his sales were up 20 % over April of 2012. "The increase last month was killer. I'm not complaining." Continue

News.asiaone.com -MOORE, Oklahoma - For years, Anita Zhang's neighbours joked that if a tornado ever bore down on her Chinese restaurant, folks could take refuge in its roomy walk-in freezer.

On Monday, Ms Zhang got the chance to test their idea - and to live to tell the tale - when one of the most powerful and destructive twisters to hit the United States in recent years ripped through this Oklahoma City suburb.

"I'm so lucky," she said, over and over, as she told her story to AFP through an interpreter on Tuesday in the driveway of her home in another section of Moore that escaped the tornado's raw fury.

A native of Guangdong, the southern Chinese province that's no stranger to merciless typhoons, 57-year-old Zhang emigrated to the United States 10 years ago with other members of her family. Continue

NPR.org - It was the customer service disaster heard around the Internet.

An Arizona restaurateur, fed up after years of negative online reviews and an embarrassing appearance on a reality television show, allegedly posted a social media rant laced with salty language and angry, uppercase letters that quickly went viral last week, to the delight of people who love a good Internet meltdown.

"I AM NOT STUPID ALL OF YOU ARE," read the posting on the Facebook wall of Amy's Baking Co. in Scottsdale, Ariz. "YOU JUST DO NOT KNOW GOOD FOOD."

It was, to put it kindly, not a best business practice. Add to that an appearance earlier this month on the Fox reality TV show "Kitchen Nightmares" — where celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay gave up on trying to reform the restaurant after the owners refused to listen to his advice — and you have a recipe for disaster. Continue

UPI.com -As the recession and austerity measures continue to take a bite out of the "new poor" in Spain, a new restaurant in the autonomous region of Catalonia is offering a work-for-food option to diners.

La Trobada opened in March and serves lunch Monday to Friday, offering a set menu of starter, main course, dessert, bread, water and wine, according to El País.

In exchange for lunch, a diner can volunteer an hour of time to work as a dishwasher or server in the restaurant. La Trobada serves an average of 70 meals a day, about half of them paid for with time behind an apron.

After three months of regularly volunteering, people can keep doing voluntary work in other positions within the company. The so-called "time workers" are people who have been unemployed for two or three years and currently live below the poverty line.

Read more: http://www.upi.com/blog/2013/05/22/Restaurant-in-Spain-lets-diners-work-for-their-meals/8141369226428/#ixzz2U72AVd1L

Arronallen.com - We have collected ten (in)famous foodservice and restaurant industry lawsuits, from McDonald’s to Wendy’s that have played out in the public eye. Continue