Hungry diners craving a Chipotle burrito may soon have to fork over a bit more cash.
Denver-based Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. is considering raising its prices to combat high food costs, the company said. Expect more companies to follow suit. Chipotle is a top brand, so if they are struggling can you imagine what going on in the rest of the industry.
read more | digg story
Archive for September, 2008
Beef O’ Brady’s restaurants are spreading the word on water conservation.
Nearly 50 franchise owners gave a big boost to the Southwest Florida Water Management District’s free Water Program for Restaurant Outreach, or Water PRO for short.
With conserving natural resources all over the country seeming to be the minds of everyone today, it seems fitting that a chain restaurant concept has finally stepped up to the green revolution. Just last year, Subway introduced a “Green” store to open in Florida. With all the waste that goes on in a restaurant such as water, paper, plastic, food, etc, it is refreshing to see that there are companies that are looking to make a change.
For years, it was only Ben & Jerry’s that was pushing the green movement. They even put language in their mission statement. But now more and more companies are seeing the benefits of becoming green and so are job seekers as well.
So has the tide turned, or is this just a fad? Would you be more willing to shop at a “green” store? What are your thoughts?
Pssst. The secret’s out at KFC. Well, sort of. Colonel Harland Sanders’ handwritten recipe of 11 herbs and spices was to be removed Tuesday from safekeeping at KFC’s corporate offices for the first time in decades. The temporary relocation is allowing KFC to revamp security around a yellowing sheet of paper that contains one of the country’s most famous recipes.
Shrouded in secrecy, you would think that the folks at YUM! were part of the Da Vinci Code conspiracy. Apparently there are only 2 top execs at KFC who really know the entire recipe and a third who knows the secret combination to the lock to get into the safe. Even all of the suppliers who formulate the recipe are not in the know. There are several manufacturers who only make parts of the recipe and are sworn to a secrecy agreement.
I tried to find out if the famous Todd Wilbur, author of Top Secret Recipe Books, doesn’t have a “clone” recipe online – but does have one of the famous Big Mac!
With so much word of this on the internet and KFC themselves releasing this in a press release, you really have to wonder how secret is this recipe anyway? This recipes has make billions of dollars for the company and they want to hold it close to their chest, but in the same conversation they let the whole world know that it will be temporarily out and be relocated. Sounds more like PR spin then anything else.
I thought that parent company YUM! could be more creative then this.
With all the talk from the past couple of weeks at the Republican and Democratic conventions, all I have heard is how each of the candidates will be an agent of change and bring a different perspective. With Obama as the first Black to be nominated on a major party ticket and Sarah Pallin nominated as only the second female to be on a presidential ticket, something new and great will be coming about in November regardless of whether or not you are a Democrat or Republican.
Unfortunately, I am not sure if I can say the same of the current state of some restaurant chains these days. Just the other day in the Sunday paper, I came across a coupon for Macaroni Grill’s frozen dinner. With slumping sales at the restaurants, I was dumbfounded to see that maybe Macaroni Grill was trying to capture consumers at home. Maybe the thought is that since many consumers are staying away from dining out, maybe they should try to get them at home instead.
Just last month, Brinker sold off a majority stake of Macaroni Grill to Golden Gate Capital. But what I think Golden Gate Capital and others have a chance here is to make some bold changes to very tired brands. Ruby Tuesday’s is a prime example to shedding away an image that made them famous, but was no longer relevant in 2008. I love the recent television ad where the waiter says to the tiffany lamp, “The 70’s called and they want their lamp back.” Or better where the one waiter yanks off the referee jersey from off the other waiter’s back!
Desperate times means desperate measures. And it will take real vision from our leaders to take many of the brands to new levels.
Let me know your thoughts.
