Miscellaneous

📰 Joanna Fantozzi, a senior editor at Nation’s Restaurant News, boasts over seven years of experience in the restaurant industry. She joined Informa’s Restaurants and Food Group in 2018. Her expertise includes industry news and cultural issues. Joanna has held positions at Insider and The Daily Meal. Her educational background includes a bachelor’s from The College of New Jersey and a master’s from CUNY. Her editorial work is featured in The New York Times, Forbes, and more.

🍴 During the US Foods event last week in Las Vegas, Matt Bruenderman discussed 10 hidden costs in restaurant operations, emphasizing strategic planning, brand clarity, customer data, effective training, technology adoption, and preventive maintenance. He cited TGI Fridays' past mistakes and highlighted potential savings like a 3% labor cost reduction via scheduling platforms. Emphasizing culture's impact on turnover, he advised listening and feedback. Proper packaging and a focused menu can enhance efficiency and customer retention.

📈 UK, since October: Hospitality sector faced 88,964 job losses, making up 53% of the UK's total 164,641 job losses. This is over thrice the 50,000 predicted by the OBR due to National Insurance Contribution (NICs) changes. Hospitality job loss rate at 4.1% (1 in 25 roles) is seven times higher than the national average. UKHospitality urges government intervention in the upcoming Budget to alleviate this impact by adjusting NICs, VAT, and business rates.

🍺 Week after week, 100 bottles sold out within hours. The bottle caps weren't twist-off, requiring manual opening with care. A college-aged customer, confident despite warnings, attempted to open his own, resulting in a soda explosion. Twenty minutes later, he returned drenched, yet thrilled by the chaotic experience, describing it as "sick" with "serious rizz." Despite the mishap, the excitement and novelty seemed to triumph over the mess.

🍽 Restaurants are shifting to direct delivery systems to regain control over customer data and relationships, moving away from third-party platforms. A national poke chain adopted this model to reduce platform costs and gain insights into customer behavior, enhancing their ability to engage directly with patrons. This strategy emphasizes building direct connections without relying on third-party apps that prioritize their own customer loyalty, promoting competing restaurants and limiting direct contact.

🍴 Bret Thorn is the Senior Food & Beverage Editor at Nation’s Restaurant News since 1999. He contributed to The New York Sun from 2005-2008 and was IFEC president in 2005. A Tufts University alum, he studied at Le Cordon Bleu and in China during 1989. Thorn's awards include the 2006 Jesse H. Neal Award. He lives in Brooklyn, having previously worked in Thailand. Thorn also authored entries for the Oxford Encyclopedia in 2012 and 2015.

🍴 In 2024, CAAM + Arquitectos opened Sōko, a Japanese teppanyaki restaurant in Querétaro, Mexico. The design features a vaulted metal roof and brick walls, referencing the area's industrial character. The building's layout includes outdoor gardens, private dining areas, and a teppanyaki bar with rust-colored countertops. Industrial materials like brick and metal are softened by wooden furniture and lighting. Designed for sensory engagement, the space incorporates visual effects using shadows and water reflections.

📑 Ron Ruggless, senior editor at Informa Connect's Nation’s Restaurant News and Restaurant Hospitality since 1992, previously worked at the Dallas Times Herald (1982-1991) and edited the Zagat Dining Guide. Based in Dallas-Fort Worth, he moderates industry events worldwide. His expertise covers foodservice mergers, acquisitions, and marketing. Follow Ron on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and TikTok @RonRuggless.

📈 Restaurant traffic is down despite increased menu innovation and consumer-facing technology. In Las Vegas, David Henkes highlights low consumer confidence, which has dropped 14 index points since 2023, as a major factor. A 10-point decline in confidence could reduce traffic by 0.5% to 2% within two months. From 2023-2025, inflation and layoffs further erode confidence. July's menu prices rose 3.9%, surpassing a 2.7% CPI increase. QSR prices rose 1.3% YoY in Q2 2025, slowing from 10.6% in Q2 2023.

🏨 Hospitality ON provides an expert look into hospitality. Membership grants access to exclusive content, jobs, and more. The image URL suggests a possible focus on hospitality-related visuals, but no specific statistics, dates, or detailed events are mentioned in this excerpt. The article emphasizes the benefits of becoming a member for comprehensive insights into the hospitality industry.