December 13, 2023

In 2022, the cafe chain Panera launched its Charged Lemonade brand, the company’s answer to energy drinks like Red Bull and Monster. The large, 30-ounce version of the beverage contains 124 grams of sugar and 390 milligrams of caffeine, which some customers do not realize when they order the drink at the counter. In fact, a pair of recent lawsuits filed against Panera claim that two people have died as a result of drinking several Charged Lemonades without knowing about Continue reading

Continue reading...

October 7, 2021

When summer came to a close last year, restaurants across the country scrambled to keep diners eating outdoors even as the weather turned cold. This led to improvised setups with shelters and gas heaters that sometimes brought about more problems than they solved. For example, every night Ellen Yin’s restaurant in Philadelphia would burn through more than 10 propane tanks for their heat lamps, with staff often changing the tanks throughout the evening. “A couple of times I went to Continue reading

Continue reading...

September 23, 2021

Since the widespread restaurant shutdowns of 2020, workers have steadily started to leave the food service industry, many for good. Along with the dangers of working in public during a pandemic, employees also found that some customers at reopened restaurants tended to tip less while others responded aggressively to mask rules. As a result, eateries across the country have nearly one million fewer filled positions than they did before the pandemic, amounting to an 8 percent decrease. And in a Continue reading

Continue reading...

As warmer weather returns throughout the country, many Americans are stepping out of their heavily used kitchens and heading back to restaurants. According to data from the review site Yelp, restaurant reservations are up 46 percent compared to 2019 and a whopping 23,000 percent compared to last year near the start of the pandemic. The reservation site OpenTable reports similar surges in restaurant traffic as more people receive vaccinations and restrictions ease across the country. 

“States that had restrictions Continue reading

Continue reading...

April 15, 2021

After experiencing the worst year for the hospitality industry in U.S. history, restaurants and bars are beginning to bounce back as vaccinated Americans reemerge into the world and Covid-19 restrictions ease. For instance, sales at the Miami coffee shop and eatery All Day spiked in January to their highest levels since the start of the pandemic. “It was like turning on a light switch,” said owner Camila Ramos. As customers continued to flood into All Day, she tried to hire Continue reading

Continue reading...

November 17, 2020

Since the start of the pandemic, takeout and delivery orders have taken on outsized importance at restaurants that have been unable to open to full capacity. As a result, some companies are investing in “ghost kitchens” that focus solely on pickup and delivery orders. For instance, last week Chipotle opened its first Digital Kitchen in New York, a location with no dining room that is largely closed off to walk-in customers.

“The Digital Kitchen incorporates innovative features that will complement Continue reading

Continue reading...

September 17, 2020

According to data collected and analyzed by Yelp, nearly 163,700 businesses have closed since the start of the pandemic in March. This marks an increase of 23 percent from July when Yelp last released statistics about closures. To make matters worse, about 98,000 of those businesses will remain closed permanently. 

More than 32,000 of those shuttered businesses are restaurants, 61 percent of which have closed for good. Yelp claims that restaurants like pizzerias, delis, food trucks, and bakeries Continue reading

Continue reading...

Over the last few weeks, restaurants and retailers across the country have gradually reopened with limited capacity, plexiglass barriers, and other anti-Covid restrictions. According to a recent study of the review site Yelp, however, approximately 140,000 listed businesses that closed in March remained shut down in June. What’s more, 41 percent of those companies have closed for good. Retailers accounted for the highest number of closures at 27,000. Coronavirus lockdown measures also majorly hurt restaurants, with 53 percent of closed Continue reading

Continue reading...

August 15, 2019

In 2017 Ricky Lopez opened a Top Round franchise in San Francisco’s Mission District. With all sorts of well-established competition in the area already, the chef and entrepreneur says that his roast beef business lost tens of thousands of dollars in its first eight months. Then last year a representative from Uber Eats informed Lopez that his area had a high demand for burgers and ice cream that was going unmet. To take advantage of this opportunity, the food delivery Continue reading

Continue reading...

August 10, 2017

restaurantThe U.S. economy has managed to add thousands of jobs so far this year thanks to big gains in industries like construction and health care. But even these substantial sectors can’t compare to the robust growth of the restaurant industry, which has gained nearly 200,000 new jobs in 2017 alone. And unlike manufacturing or construction work, these jobs aren’t localized to a few lucky cities scattered across the nation. Instead, nearly every American metropolis has seen a boom in restaurant Continue reading

Continue reading...