Latest news with #menu
Wall Street Journal
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Wall Street Journal
‘Taste and Traditions' Review: Marvelous Menus
The quick-response code, or QR code, infiltrated American restaurants in 2020 as we emerged from the Covid-19 lockdowns and began, tentatively, to eat communally again. For diners, the advantage was that the codes were supposedly more hygienic. We simply pointed our phones at the postage-stamp-size hieroglyphs, pulled up the menu and, sometimes, could even place our orders. No need for human contact or touching a potentially contaminated menu. Originally invented in 1994 to help speed up Japanese car production, QR codes appealed to restaurants because they did away with printing costs and could even help expedite food ordering and delivery, leading to quicker table turnover. However, something was lost in this transition. In 'Tastes and Traditions: A Journey Through Menu History,' Nathalie Cooke elucidates the value of the traditional restaurant menu. More than a list of dishes, it is a medium that can amuse, flatter, educate and tantalize diners, elevating the restaurant experience. Ms. Cooke's copiously illustrated book is filled with color images of menus both ancient and modern, including a bill of fare made up solely of emojis (from a boundary-pushing 'immersive dining' restaurant in Bangkok). Some of the most over-the-top examples were designed by artists whose illustrations helped prepare diners for the meal to come. One of the earliest, a 1751 menu for a feast at Louis XV's 'country retreat' (read: palace), is bordered with hand-painted vines, musical instruments and little hunters chasing wild boars, signaling that wine, music and game would be part of the meal. The artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec's 1896 pre-Christmas menu for Paris's Le Suisse promised a holiday spree with tuxedoed gentlemen drinking champagne and carousing with scantily clad women. As technologies evolved, menus began to include photographs and then, for the ultimate in realism, sculptures of each dish, as in the startlingly accurate food models displayed outside eateries in Japan. Restaurants have long realized that their menus can serve as advertising. Ms. Cooke, a professor of English at McGill University, includes a 'souvenir menu' from Manhattan's old Shanghai Royal, which the restaurant promised to mail to any address the diner liked. In this case, one Bernie Marlin sent the menu to a pal in 1946 with the enigmatic notation 'First date—home 3:30.'
Daily Mail
5 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Boss of pizza chain admits prices are too high
When customers complained to a pizza chain that it was too expensive, you'd think the boss would fight back. But Mike Burns, CEO of &pizza, agreed, and yesterday he slashed prices and simplified the menu to win back diners. The chain, known for its oblong pies and bold branding, has dropped the price of its pizzas with unlimited toppings from to a flat $12. That's a drop from the previous $12.99 for specialty pies, plus $1.50 for each topping — or $13.99 for a build-your-own option that only included a few free toppings before extra charges kicked in. 'The restaurant industry has been nickeling and diming customers for years - including us,' Burns told 'We are stopping that. This is a permanent pricing strategy.' 'Previously one of our pies that was listed at $12.99 is significantly more expensive once you add additional toppings at $1.50 each. So in reality a $12.99 American Honey with, say mushrooms, was $14.49.' Knots, drinks, and cookies also got cheaper. Besides lowering prices, &pizza, which has stores in Washington DC, Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, announced its plans to begin franchising in March. Customers who walk into a store may notice its knots side option costing $6. Before the changes, the chain's knots were offered at various prices typically ranging between $5.99 and $6.49. 'Our knot pricing was also all over the place and I couldn't tell you a good reason why — so now they are all $6,' Burns told Their cookies are now available to purchase for $1, a 50 percent decrease from its original price. 'We were selling them for $3.49, and 'selling' was a loose term, because nobody's buying a cookie for $3.49,' the CEO revealed. The company opted to expand its price decreases for both beverages and food. While keeping the $3.49 Coca-Cola price tag, &pizza decided to bring other canned sodas down to $2. Besides price dips, &pizza introduced a $7 half cheese pie and a drink combo meal, designed to increase foot traffic. Founded in 2012, &pizza aims to have 300 units by 2030. Its popularity in the East has inspired the chain to look into franchising locations in the DMV and Mid-Atlantic regions. 'The ampersand stands for unity and bringing communities together, and we feel like in order to do that, the owner of those restaurants has to live in those communities,' Burns told QSR . 'So if we're going to develop in El Paso, Texas, or Tallahassee, Florida, or Charlotte, North Carolina, the person should live in that market because they know the people, they know the area.' Burns credited the chain's franchising process as one of the reasons why they explored the possibility of price drops. 'We've had dozens of discovery days with potential franchisees, and across each a common question has been 'can we reduce pricing?' Or 'your pricing structure is too high.' So we listened,' Burns explained. There are no plans to open restaurants on the West Coast anytime soon, but the process itself has been moving faster than expected. 'It just shows that there's passion for the brand. We feel we're different than normal fast-casual pizza, but we hope that the people out there see that potential to grow their personal wealth,' the CEO added. &pizza's cost decrease comes after restaurant chains hiked prices for reasons such as inflation and tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump. The financial strains have also taken a toll on business owners, including a Pizza Hut franchisee who put 127 restaurants up for sale last year . A &pizza competitor, Pizza Hut has suffered financial hits over the years and its same store sales shrank by 2 percent in the first three months of 2025. Several fast casual restaurants who weren't at risk of closures were found to have significantly raised prices over the last 5 years. Experts discovered that Waffle House increased prices by 96 percent . Its competition has also been financially strong, including CAVA, a Mediterranean 'Chipotle' set to open between 62 and 66 US locations this year.
Daily Mail
5 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Boss of giant pizza chain admits prices are too high: 'We just felt we were nickel and diming people'
When customers complained to a pizza chain that it was too expensive, you'd think the boss would fight back. But Mike Burns, CEO of &pizza, agreed, and yesterday he slashed prices and simplified the menu to win back diners. The chain, known for its oblong pies and bold branding, has dropped the price of its pizzas with unlimited toppings from to a flat $12. That's a drop from the previous $12.99 for specialty pies, plus $1.50 for each topping — or $13.99 for a build-your-own option that only included a few free toppings before extra charges kicked in. 'The restaurant industry has been nickeling and diming customers for years - including us,' Burns told 'We are stopping that. This is a permanent pricing strategy.' 'Previously one of our pies that was listed at $12.99 is significantly more expensive once you add additional toppings at $1.50 each. So in reality a $12.99 American Honey with, say mushrooms, was $14.49.' Knots, drinks, and cookies also got cheaper. Besides lowering prices, &pizza, which has stores in Washington DC, Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, announced its plans to begin franchising in March. The restaurant chain lowered the prices months after announcing its plans to start franchising Customers who walk into a store may notice its knots side option costing $6. Before the changes, the chain's knots were offered at various prices typically ranging between $5.99 and $6.49. 'Our knot pricing was also all over the place and I couldn't tell you a good reason why — so now they are all $6,' Burns told Their cookies are now available to purchase for $1, a 50 percent decrease from its original price. 'We were selling them for $3.49, and 'selling' was a loose term, because nobody's buying a cookie for $3.49,' the CEO revealed. The company opted to expand its price decreases for both beverages and food. While keeping the $3.49 Coca-Cola price tag, &pizza decided to bring other canned sodas down to $2. Besides price dips, &pizza introduced a $7 half cheese pie and a drink combo meal, designed to increase foot traffic. Founded in 2012, &pizza aims to have 300 units by 2030. Its popularity in the East has inspired the chain to look into franchising locations in the DMV and Mid-Atlantic regions. 'The ampersand stands for unity and bringing communities together, and we feel like in order to do that, the owner of those restaurants has to live in those communities,' Burns told QSR. 'So if we're going to develop in El Paso, Texas, or Tallahassee, Florida, or Charlotte, North Carolina, the person should live in that market because they know the people, they know the area.' Burns credited the chain's franchising process as one of the reasons why they explored the possibility of price drops. 'We've had dozens of discovery days with potential franchisees, and across each a common question has been 'can we reduce pricing?' Or 'your pricing structure is too high.' So we listened,' Burns explained. There are no plans to open restaurants on the West Coast anytime soon, but the process itself has been moving faster than expected. 'It just shows that there's passion for the brand. We feel we're different than normal fast-casual pizza, but we hope that the people out there see that potential to grow their personal wealth,' the CEO added. &pizza's cost decrease comes after restaurant chains hiked prices for reasons such as inflation and tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump. The financial strains have also taken a toll on business owners, including a Pizza Hut franchisee who put 127 restaurants up for sale last year. A &pizza competitor, Pizza Hut has suffered financial hits over the years and its same store sales shrank by 2 percent in the first three months of 2025. Several fast casual restaurants who weren't at risk of closures were found to have significantly raised prices over the last 5 years. Experts discovered that Waffle House increased prices by 96 percent. Its competition has also been financially strong, including CAVA, a Mediterranean 'Chipotle' set to open between 62 and 66 US locations this year.
The Sun
7 days ago
- Business
- The Sun
Family favourite restaurant chain with 49 sites launches all-new breakfast menu and prices start at just £5
A POPULAR restaurant chain with 49 locations across the UK has launched an all-new mouthwatering breakfast menu. TGI Fridays will wave in customers with the selection of dishes to start the day - with some offerings as cheap as a fiver. 2 2 The 'Rise and Dine' menu, which begins on July 4, will feature an Oreo Crunch Pancake Stack, the All-American Slam breakfast and Steak & Egg. Veggies can join in the delicious fun too, as its Garden State Slam comes complete with plant-based chicken, smashed avocado, Cajun-spiced corn chips, fried eggs, hash brown bites and toasted ciabatta. Punters keen not to break the bank can sink their teeth into a Bacon Ciabatta. The breakfast classic made affordable at just £5, with crispy bacon, Monterey Jack cheese, and fresh tomato on a warm ciabatta. Diners can accompany their meal with a thirst-quenching beverage, with fresh apple, cranberry, orange and pineapple juice available, as well as a choice of 'Sunrise Sips'. The chain's facelift comes after TGI Fridays plunged into administration in September, putting all 87 locations at risk. Since its debut in Birmingham in 1986, TGI Fridays quickly expanded nationwide, winning over diners with its casual American bistro-style experience. Serving staff were known as Dub Dubs, and taught the art of entertaining their customers with jokes, banter, and other gimmicks like juggling and magic tricks, all performed with impeccable table craft and cheeriness. A decade ago, the chain was acquired by a private equity firm, which rebranded it by removing all punctuation, changing the name from T.G.I Friday's to TGI Fridays. In 2021, the company was spun off into Hostmore, which was a publicly traded company on the London Stock Exchange until the recent administration led to its being delisted. I went to TGI Fridays for bottomless brunch - the service was super quick and two things really shocked me Recently, the chain's fortunes have waned, with Hostmore reporting that UK sales have dropped by more than 10% this year compared to last year. TGI Fridays' biggest market is the US, where it operates 128 restaurants, including franchised sites. It also operates more than 270 restaurants in countries around the world. I'M LOVIN' IT It comes after McDonald's made mornings even tastier with its first-ever Breakfast Saver Menu. The bargain meals are launching in selected branches across the country with bites starting from as little as 79p. The fast food is serving up favourites like the Cheesy Bacon Flatbread (£1.99), Saver Bacon Roll (£2.19), and porridge pots (£1.69). The Sausage Sandwich is an exciting new addition to the morning offerings and costs just £1.99. There is a variety of snacks on offer, including apple slices (79p) and hash browns (£1.59), which can be washed down with Tropicana apple or orange juice (£1.89). The Breakfast Saver Menu launched on May 7 across 332 UK restaurants in the North of the country.
Bloomberg
27-05-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Inside the Test Kitchens Helping Restaurants Navigate the Trade War
On a recent weekday morning in downtown Chicago, chefs inside a test kitchen prepared a five-course meal featuring tostada verde with jalapeño gouda and trout on focaccia. The chefs usually cook these spreads to help customers of Sysco Corp., the largest US restaurant supplier, create or tweak menu items. These days, they're also coaching eateries on substitutes for imported ingredients hit by President Donald Trump's tariffs. That's why the gouda cheese came from Wisconsin instead of Europe. So, too, did the fish, which might otherwise have been imported from Asia.
