Music plays a big part in customer experience

by Alicia Kelso — Editor, QSRWeb.com

Playlist variety, volume and quality are key factors in guests' intent to return to a restaurant.

Use organic, local wines to enhance your pizza offering

by Jennifer Wright — CFO, Ecovention, LLC

I took my first trip to California's Napa Valley this weekend. Given my love of wine and Napa Valley's reputation as one of the top American Viti-cultural…

Restaurant Performance Index drops again

September 29, 2011

Less than one out of five restaurant operators expect economic conditions to improve in the next six months, according to the National Restaurant Association.

Report: Facebook activity up for restaurant brands

September 27, 2011

Facebook activity accelerated for many restaurant bands in September. A report from social media benchmarking/intelligence company Unmetric found that 15 top…

Clicks and cravings: How social media impacts food choices

by Melissa Abbott — Director, Culinary Insights, The Hartman Group, Inc

There is no debate that social media and digital technologies have altered U.S. consumers' shopping behaviors and purchase decisions for foods and beverages.

Report: Customers tend to patronize independent restaurants over chains

September 26, 2011

Battling with low-operator and consumer confidence, rising food costs and a lack of corporate support, independent restaurants can be hit hard in these poor…

NRA seeking experts for show sessions

September 25, 2011

The National Restaurant Association is now accepting proposals for education sessions from individuals and organizations for its 2012 Restaurant, Hotel-Motel…

Commentary: Social media has earned a seat at the table

Social media efforts need to be on par with all of the mainstream disciplines, such as operations, marketing and real estate.

Domino's iPhone App hits $1 million mark in three months

September 20, 2011

Domino's Pizza announced that after just three months since its launch, its app for iPhone and iPod touch has achieved $1 million in sales over a single week.

NPD Group: Restaurant traffic slips slightly in Q2

September 18, 2011

Just as the U.S. economy stalled in the second quarter of the year, so did restaurant industry traffic, according to The NPD Group, a market research company.

NRA Innovations Awards application process opens

September 14, 2011

The National Restaurant Association is now seeking applications from foodservice equipment manufacturers for its 2012 Kitchen Innovations Awards.

LivingSocial survey: Lunch is most popular dine-out opportunity

September 14, 2011

LivingSocial has released results from its first "Dining Out" survey of consumer behavior. The research was conducted among 4,000 Americans by Mandala Research.

NPD Group: Millennials' influence on foodservice industry growing

September 6, 2011

Millennials made more than 13 billion of the 59 billion visits made to foodservice establishments in 2010 and spent $73 billion dollars, according to The NPD…

Pizza Hut, Papa Murphy's, CPKI earn spots on Zagat's 2011 list

September 5, 2011

McDonald's, Subway and Wendy's were big winners in this year's Zagat's National Fast Food Restaurant Survey, released today.

Restaurants gear up for Labor Day as industry outlook softens

August 30, 2011

New research from the National Restaurant Association estimates that 35 percent of American consumers will dine out, takeout or order delivery from a…

Growth spurt: Inc. 500 list full of fast casual concepts

by Alicia Kelso — Editor, QSRWeb.com

Annual list measures percentage revenue growth of privately held companies.

Are you delighting your customers?

by Janet Eden-Harris — CMO & SVP Strategy, Market Force

The growth in our industry is just mind-boggling when you think about it. According to the NRF, you and I now spend 49 cents of every food dollar on dining…

People Report, Black Box Intelligence form foodservice joint venture

August 18, 2011

Black Box Intelligence LLC, Consumer Edge Research LLC, GuestMetrics LLC and People Report have announced the formation of a joint venture that will capture…

Restaurant State of the Industry Report, Part 2 now available

August 16, 2011

The Restaurant State of the Industry Report, Part 2: Business Strategy, developed and published by FastCasual.com, is now available for purchase.

Tableside POS is a game changer

by Nate DaPore — President and CEO, PeopleMatter

Higher sales, fewer servers, faster table turns, and happier, more loyal customers – Tableside Point-of-Sale offers all this and more. I foresee that it is…