Ashley Agnew promoted to Customer Success Manager at Chrane Foodservice

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Customer Success Manager at Chrane Foodservice Solutions Mrs. Ashley Agnew has been promoted to the newly created role of Customer Success Manager at Chrane Foodservice Solutions. From a long career in the foodservice industry, including almost nine years as a Chraniac, Ashley joined the Chrane leadership team as of March 3, 2021. Per Meredith Mulliken, Chrane’s… read more

COVID’s Impact on Processed Meat, Prepared Foods Safety

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CHICAGO – Buffets shuttered. Salad bars got covered. Deli-counter workers were reassigned jobs in the supermarket until protocol was in place to safely slice and scoop fresh foods portioned for customers’ in-person orders. These are some of the changes that occurred at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure food safety. Further, ingredient technology… read more

Ensuring Food Safety when Cleaning Conveyors

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Production room sanitation is not as simple as pulling out a water hose. Food safety requires well-thought-out procedures that are understood and followed by the cleaning team. “In the food production environment, we often see dry cleaning with compressed air, sweeping up heavy debris, and then completing a full wet clean with sanitizers and rinse,”… read more

3 Reasons Businesses Should Be Starting Now

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The COVID-19 pandemic has not only changed the trajectory of people’s livelihoods and businesses’ bottom lines but society in general. As a result, many normalities from employment to public health to how we communicate, have been changed forever. Looking ahead, research unsurprisingly suggests that 2021 will be a year of transition. Apart from any catastrophes… read more

The Startup that Saved the Restaurant Industry in the Nick of Time

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Nick Kokonas, CEO of the restaurant reservations platform Tock, is meeting a handful of new employees over Zoom for the first time. The latest hires of his rapidly growing Chicago-based company are tuning in from their apartments. He’s logging in from a house in Lake Tahoe that he’s rented for a few weeks in January… read more

Stimulus Checks could Give Restaurants a Boost for up to 7 Weeks, Research Shows

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The $1,400 stimulus checks that will be distributed to Americans under a certain income threshold (likely $75,000 for individuals and $150,000 for households) as part of President Joe Biden’s American Recovery Plan could lift restaurant sales by low-mid single digits for up to seven weeks, an analysis from Bloomberg Intelligence released Wednesday predicts.  In comparison,… read more

Freddy’s Frozen Custard Sold to Thompson Street Capital Partners

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Thompson Street Capital Partners has acquired Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers, the 360-unit fast-casual concept, the St. Louis, Mo.-based private equity firm said. Terms of the deal with the Wichita, Kan.-based Freddy’s were not disclosed. Freddy’s was founded in 2002 in Wichita and features a menu of steakburgers, shoestring fries, and frozen custard. The company… read more

The CDC Warns Against a Fourth Coronavirus Wave as Texas, San Francisco, Chicago, and More Loosen COVID-19 Restrictions

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The wave of cities and states loosening COVID-19 restrictions on businesses this week — including Texas, Chicago, San Francisco, and Massachusetts — prompted Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Dr. Rochelle Walensky to warn Americans Monday that there is still strong potential for a fourth wave of the virus, despite the fact that numbers… read more

Off-Premises Sales not Enough to Offset Lost on-Premises Business

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With on-premises capacity limited – and sometimes nonexistent – during the pandemic, restaurant operators had no choice but to sharpen their focus on off-premises business. This was particularly true in the full-service segment, with roughly one-half of operators saying they devoted more resources to expanding the off-premises side of their business since the beginning of… read more

When Normalcy Returns, don’t Expect Customers to Shift Completely Back to in-house Dining: Delivery has Become an Essential Growth Driver

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Restaurant operators say the year of pandemic-related shutdowns has changed habits and preferences. And those changing consumer trends are reshaping the industry, from the way restaurants operate, to their dependence on off-premise and the design of brick-and-mortar locations. As the COVID vaccine reaches more people and the economy settles into a new post-pandemic sense of… read more