Every week Restaurant SmartBrief editors scour the Internet for the breaking news and best-practices stories restaurant owners and managers need to make their businesses smarter. However, every week, hundreds of fascinating food, beverage and restaurant stories don’t make the cut. Here are a few of my favorite stories from the past week that didn’t make the newsletter.
- How the Ivy in London caters to celebrity — The Wall Street Journal’s exclusive peek inside the kitchen and dining room at one of London’s most famous restaurants. Who are the VIP guests? How does one manage battling celebrities with restaurant reservations? All is revealed in this fascinating insider’s look.
- PB&J around the world — National Geographic’s Intelligent Travel blog profiles 15 sandwiches from around the world. The post, in honor of Nov. 3, National Sandwich Day, includes mouthwatering images of Vietnamese bahn mi and Turkish shawarma, and a compelling photograph of an English chip butty.
- Former McDonald’s execs discuss Tom & Eddie’s, a new burger concept in Illinois — BurgerBusiness.com interviews Tom Dentice and Ed Rensi about how they developed Tom & Eddie’s, from the name-selection process, to leadership lessons they learned at McDonald’s, to the menu research that resulted in infinitely customizable burgers.
- Six chefs talk about rabbit — Time will tell whether rabbit is the new Kobe beef, but in the meantime, read about how some chefs have incorporated the lean meat into cassoulet, consommé and agnolotti.
- A proposed bill in Utah would allow open-market sales of liquor permits — Open-market sales of liquor permits have been legal in California for years, the Salt Lake Tribune reports, because of the scarcity of licenses, which are distributed via a lottery. This article delves into the complexities of the proposed Utah bill, which would be convenient for restaurant and bar owners, but may result in increased prices for diners, depending on how high the permit costs climbed.
Did you see other food stories worth mentioning in the news this week? Feel free to leave links in the comments.