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Peter Romeo

Editor at Large

Articles by
Peter Romeo

Page 374

Random Spottings: Public airing of a Starbucks issue (or not)

Howard Schultz has admitted that he visits the Starbucks Gossip website about once a month for a read on what people are saying about the caffeine empire he leads as CEO. If last week was the occasion for a drop-in, he might be sipping an herbal Tazo right now to ease some jangled nerves.

Marketing

Yelp for more sales

Restaurateurs spit at the mention of Yelp, but a new Harvard study suggests the outraged should quit grumbling and work toward a better review from the service’s civilian critics.

Hot and not: QSR ratings rank/confuse

A recent flurry of ratings, all based on consumer rankings, has settled the source of countless barroom, playground and bridge-club brawls once and for all. As the unassailable research shows, the best quickservice concept in the eyes of consumers is clearly ...

Domino’s founder, Miami’s ex-coach grab spatulas

Add two legendary names to the list of players looking to capitalize on the burger boom: Domino's founder Tom Monaghan, and NFL-coach-turned-steakhouse-mogul Don Shula.

What they're saying about Chipotle's ShopHouse

Chipotle Mexican Grill’s first spin-off, ShopHouse Southeast Asian Kitchen, hasn’t been open for a week yet. But that hasn’t stopped San Francisco Grub Street, the influential foodie website, from already anointing it The Next Big Thing.

Restaurant week gets hyper-local

Now that every nook and cranny has its own restaurant week, a growing number of locations are tweaking the formula to create a second promotional opportunity for local eateries.

The week in ideas, August 26, 2011

Normally the industry needs a few days to digest an important notion originating outside its ranks. But restaurant leaders wasted no time in warning that a ground-shaker aired this week will be a crack to the industry’s head.

Random spotting: Restaurant boycotts

A controversy involving a McDonald’s in Logan, W.Va., led locals there to embrace social media as a means of punishing the restaurant for a perceived slight. That prompted us to look closer at what many restaurants regard as a Level 5 catastrophe: Outraged consumers using Twitter and Facebook to mount a boycott.

The week in ideas, August 12, 2011

It’s probably just a coincidence that the Noid, Domino’s mischief-making mascot, would return to active duty on the very week Wall Street trips into a freefall.

Food

What customers are saying about the BK Minis

The introduction a few weeks ago of Burger King’s mini-sandwiches was relatively low-key, perhaps a reflection of the limited-time options not being completely new.

A kick to fast food’s buns: Bread as more than an afterthought

The quest for better burgers isn’t leaving the bun behind.The sandwich upgrades underway at several quick-service chains focus as much on the bread as...

Random spottings: Customer complaints on Facebook

No aspect of social media seems to unnerve restaurant chains more than the prospect of a public complaint. Because anyone can post anything, brands fear they’ll be slammed in full view of customers by whiners whose gripes might not even be reality-based.

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