The week in ideas, July 22, 2013

This week: KFC ditches the Colonel for its spinoff. Automatic tips come under scrutiny. Laying off employees via text is a bad idea. Shutting down your restaurant mid meal is even worse.

Idea #1: If you can’t beat ’em. QSR’s have been trying to capture a little fast casual mojo for a  while now, upgrading menu items and décor. KFC is now the latest to go a step further, opening a full-fledged fast casual spinoff. Called KFC eleven, the new restaurant currently has one test location. And pour one out for the Colonel: he won’t be a part of the new logo.

Idea #2: Automatically adding tips is against the law. That’s what a suit in New York City charges, calling out some of the town’s biggest names like Per Se and Masa.

Idea #3: Text layoff announcements. Understandably, former employees of Barducci's Italian bistro in Winter Park, Florida, are not happy with they way their former boss decided to let them know of their layoffs: he texted them. "I think it's immoral. I think it's cowardice," one worker told WFTV. "I think we all deserve our compensation for money that he's already made from us."

Idea #4: Shut down mid meal. As if texting layoff notices wasn’t bad enough, a restaurant in Charlotte shut down in the middle of lunch hour after it was unable to reach an agreement with its landlord. Cops were called in to help get customers out and employees were told only minutes before guests.

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