We always say that the commercial foodservice equipment and supplies industry is low-tech/high-touch in terms of how we like to do business. It feels empty when we can’t get together and network as a community. I hope this is a very temporary situation.
"Over the next year, the company plans to reinvest in our existing restaurant portfolio.”
The restaurant industry remains rooted in a certain entrepreneurial spirit. Everyone loves the story of two friends sketching out their business plans on the back of a cocktail napkin as part of a late-night conversation for the ages. These days, the industry continues to attract entrepreneurs but in a slightly different manner. Enter Nili Malach Poynter, president of ChefReady, a Colorado-based ghost kitchen operation.
"We’ve gone from using disposable dishware to serving delivered foods on china.”
In the wake of a year that is commonly — but perhaps understatedly — referred to as “unprecedented,” dining operations of every kind should reevaluate how they’re serving and whether “business as formerly usual” will continue to make sense. Simply put, foodservice operators no longer have the luxury of not thinking about and planning for the unexpected.
Dramatic changes in K-12 school foodservice have meant an abrupt halt to traditional service models, as well as disrupting evolving programs such as scratch cooking.
Takeout and delivery dominated the foodservice industry last year, thanks to the pandemic.
Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, when many foodservice operations were deserted — 95% of our 7,000 local employees at the Jacksonville, Fla., campus all worked from home — there was still work for us at Florida Blue.
Any realistic look at how far away the end of the tunnel is has to begin with an honest appraisal of where we are at right now. The most recent jobs reports show large-scale losses in the hospitality and restaurant space.
“We’re doing a cost analysis to decide if we need a preventive maintenance program and making extending equipment life a priority.”
While the pandemic and restaurant restrictions has made it challenging to pinpoint food trends this New Year, one pattern certainly stands out.
The present is always a good time to have a discussion about the restaurant of the future.
January 2021 has arrived … thankfully.
To call 2020 a challenging year is a bit like calling World War II a serious misunderstanding. It would be difficult to overstate the impact of this year on all of our lives. At this point in the pandemic, given its pervasive global reach, there are very few of us who do not, at the very least, know someone who has been directly affected by COVID-19. For anyone who operates a business, works for a living, has children, parents, grandparents, siblings, co-workers or friends to worry about — I think that about covers all of us, right? — this has been a year we will never forget and one that we would surely like to.
After a 9-month closure due to the pandemic, multiconcept operator 50 Eggs Hospitality Group reopened CHICA Miami, a high-end Latin-American restaurant in Florida, on Dec. 9, 2020.
The past seven months have been a challenge, especially for full-service restaurants like Huddle House, which have been the hardest hit. Our sales and profit declines were crippling.
Companies don’t become cohesive by accident. Though, in the case of Kittredge Equipment Company, it’s really in our DNA.
Through the years there has always been something very transactional and predictable about a restaurant. Perhaps not anymore.
As COVID-19 continues to spread in this country and dining rooms operate at reduced capacity, restaurants (and other foodservice operations) keep having to make sweeping changes, not only to their businesses but also to their vision and mission.
COVID-19 took a massive toll on the restaurant industry, forcing many restaurants across the country to close temporarily or permanently, but the Checkers & Rally’s drive-thru model set the brand up to weather the storm. Our executive team made early and strategic pivots under new CEO Frances Allen, which have led the brand to not only thrive through the pandemic but continue growing.
Foodservice Equipment & Supplies is the longest-running publication serving the decision-makers of the nearly $15 billion E&S industry.
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Foodservice Equipment & Supplies (FE&S) is the one media source that connects equipment and supplies manufacturers and service providers with the full distribution channel including news, trends and best practices for foodservice equipment dealers, specifiers, operators, and supply chain partners.
