PODCAST · history
Restaurant Rewind
by Restaurant Business Online
The industry’s past is packed with tales of scoundrels and heroes, big thinkers and pinheads, colossal successes and dismal failures, breakthrough moves and self-inflicted destruction. Few soap operas pack as much color and drama. Yet those yellowed snapshots provide insights relevant to the challenges of today. Join Peter Romeo, a 41-year veteran of the business with a penchant for restaurant history, as he explores those pivotal moments from the past.
Episodes
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Kentucky Roast Beef? When KFC was in the concept creation game
Editor's note: This will be the final episode of the Restaurant Rewind podcast. Thank you for listening. KFC recently opened Saucy, a chicken fingers concept that aims to compete directly with the fast-growing Raising Cane’s. But this isn’t the first time the fast-food chicken concept has created…
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Restaurants have had their share of true-crime horrors, including these
Restaurants are no strangers to violent crime, as any reader of local news would attest. Occasionally the offenses are so appalling that they snag national attention. And then there are the atrocities that can haunt the public for weeks because of the brutality. This week’s edition of Restaurant...
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How much updating can Chi-Chi's stand without losing its soul?
Before burritos became as commonplace on menus as sandwiches, Chi-Chi’s was selling the Mexican staple as something called a burro, a novelty to the consumer mainstream those many decades ago. The option shared space on the bill of fare with a chili pie, an item that’s hardly a must-have today…
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Meet the U.S. father of mac 'n cheese. You know him as Thomas Jefferson
Enough with all the adulation of Thomas Jefferson as a Founding Father. Don’t people realize he was also the hero brought mac ‘n cheese to the American dinner table? The safe answer is an emphatic “no.” Yet as this week’s episode of Restaurant Rewind reports, the author of the Declaration of...
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If past is prologue, what's next for Jersey Mike's?
Even after a year of hints that a deal might be in the works, Monday’s announcement of a change in control at Jersey Mike’s was a stunner, particularly for anyone who’s kept close watch on the sandwich chain. Few decisions of import have been made without the active involvement of owner Peter...
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Is that the Big Boy driving my Uber?
These haven’t been the easiest of times for the restaurant business, with chains closing hundreds of units and bankruptcy providing a last lifeline for former powers like TGI Fridays and Red Lobster. But those tribulations are nothing compared to what’s befallen the marketing icons who’ve filled...
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TGI Fridays needs to get its bad rep back
Plenty of restaurant upstarts pin their hopes on building a better mousetrap. They’re not so much bringing something new to the market as promising an improvement over what consumers already know and love. Look at the better-burger pack, or the now-wheezing fast-casual pizza market. TGI Fridays...
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Decades later, Jack in the Box's E. coli outbreak is still being recalled. Here's why
More than three decades have passed since the Jack in the Box E. coli outbreak, yet it’s still the yardstick used to gauge the impact of a food-safety crisis. Hours after McDonald’s revealed its problems with Quarter Pounders, commentators were already recalling the contamination in the Northwest...
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The pioneer of daytime dining is a chain you've likely never heard of
The widespread closings announced this week by family-dining chains underscore the transformation that’s underway in that venerable segment of the restaurant business. Old-guard brands are hacking off the dead wood of their systems in hopes of clearing the way for fresh growth. They’re striving…
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Don't be surprised if your kids may follow you into the restaurant business
If the restaurant industry is such a horrible place to make a living, why do so many youngsters follow their parents into the business? It’s a question that blunts dismissal of the field as the career choice of last resort. The second generation knows exactly what the work entails, having…
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Hurricane Milton was expected to be nearly as bad as Katrina. Here's why the comparison should scare restaurants
The devastating force of Hurricane Milton has drawn comparisons to the fury Hurricane Katrina unleashed on New Orleans and its famed restaurants nearly two decades ago. Indeed, the 2005 storm has become the benchwork against which all major hurricanes have been gauged in the years since. And...
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Norman Brinker also ran a pretty good CEO prep school
Many of the recent hires for restaurant CEO positions share a common listing on their resumes: Somewhere along the way, they logged time at Yum Brands, parent of Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, KFC and The Habit. For reasons that go beyond the sheer size of the franchisor, it’s become a major prep school…
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Carl Karcher's rags-to-riches story would make a killer mini-series. Here's the outline
The restaurant industry abounds in rags-to-riches stories, but few of the accounts illustrate the theme as vividly as the tale of Carl Karcher, the onetime feed store worker who founded Carl’s Jr. In the process, he pioneered practices and policies that are still being adopted 83 years later.…
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How the restaurant industry winced when butts were kicked
The restaurant business has had its share of pitched political battles, but few were as intense as the industry’s futile effort to fend off smoking bans. The issue divided the trade and put many operators on the wrong side of a movement that was not to be stopped. It may be difficult to imagine...
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Winston Churchill's role in winning World War II is well known. His launch of a restaurant chain, not so much.
Anyone who’s ever taken a history class covering World War II (or watched more than hour of the History Channel) is likely aware of the crucial role Winston Churchill played in saving Great Britain. His leadership skills and mastery of the English language kept hope alive, even during what he...
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Meet the reclusive force behind casual-dining standouts Hillstone and Houston's
Ask any veteran of the casual-dining market to name the segment’s best-in-class operation and they’ll likely cycle through two or three dominant players before a dark horse comes to mind: How about Hillstone or its previous incarnation, Houston’s? They know the restaurants as the standout…
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How 3 years of union organizing has changed Starbucks
Three years ago, the restaurant industry was stunned by the news that the employees of several Starbucks units in upstate New York had banded together to form a union. The drama deepened as store after store followed the lead of those Buffalo stores. Before long, the unionization effort had…
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Has there ever been a CEO change as bold as Starbucks' appointment of Brian Niccol?
Starbucks’ coup in stealing Brian Niccol from Chipotle to serve as CEO had the restaurant industry abuzz this week. Seldom has the restaurant industry been as enthralled by an executive change. Or maybe we should say never. Has there ever been a high-level appointment that matched the sizzle of...
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Here's what the industry may have forgotten about Buca di Beppo
If half the people who read about Buca di Beppo’s bankruptcy filing had frequented the concept, the operation might never have hit a financial skid. Despite the brand’s initial market splash 30 years ago, it’s hardly top-of-mind among today’s dining-out public. Few consumers know more about the...
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Here's what happened in McDonald's past attempts to go big
McDonald’s has tried for decades to come up with an oversized premium burger that would slide easily into its operations and win a following among consumers accustomed to paying far less for a Golden Arches meal. News arose this week of yet another stab, a limited test of a new option called the...
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If you don't know the name 'Joe Lee,' stop right now and listen
Red Lobster has certainly been in the news lately. But not one of the stories recalls the remarkable person who built it into an institution deserving of so much ink. And, no, it’s not Bill Darden, although he gave the brand its start. The individual who turned Darden’s concept into the cultural...
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Good thing Paul McCartney didn't live to see these restaurant tales take hold
As we’ve learned firsthand, if some yahoo airs a myth or outright lie about your operation, fellow wingnuts are going to listen and believe it, no matter how outrageous the assertion might be. Remember the reports that Paul McCartney had died? Restaurants seem particularly vulnerable to those...
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Think we're seeing deep discounts today? Here's when the price shifts really hit the fan
With traffic ebbing through much of the business, restaurant chains are resorting to the sort of deep discounting the industry hasn’t seen for a while. Sonic is hoping it can win back lapsed users with the enticement of a $1.29 chili cheese hot dog. Applebee’s is touting 50-cent fried-mozzarella...
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Looking for relief from inflation? History taught us this isn't the remedy
Imagine if the inflationary pressures forcing restaurants to hike menu prices were halted with the swipe of a pen. As far-fetched as that might sound, a government-directed halt to all cost increases was tried once, roughly 50 years ago. And the results didn’t exactly meet expectations. There’s a...
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Maybe restaurateurs need to worry about their own health more
The restaurant industry has lost two standout talents in less than two weeks: Solomon Choi, the founder of 16 Handles and an investor in other ventures, and James Kent, the gifted New York City fine-dining chef. Choi was 44, and Kent just 45. Both apparently died from heart issues. Misfortune…
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Thermometers say its time to give air conditioning its due
Restaurants’ appreciation of air conditioning is likely to be at a high point this week as a major heat wave rolls across the country. For at least the next few days, and likely at a significant number of additional points during the summer, no other piece of technology is likely to be as highly...
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How Domino's broke new ground with a tell-all ad campaign
Domino’s is tweaking its ad strategy to tout the quality of its food—a complete 180 from the ground-breaking campaign it ran 16 years ago in what proved a seminal move by the pizza giant. Back then, it acknowledged that its pies were abominable; the ads spotlighted customers who asserted the…
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Here's why restaurant chains are selling one another's products
A&W fast-food restaurants in Canada will start serving Pret A Manger-branded products this fall, under a just-announced 10-year collaboration deal. A cross-selling situation like that might have been inconceivable 20 years ago, as this week’s episode of Restaurant Rewind reports. But, as the...
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Never mind Endless Shrimp. How about all the booze you can hold?
All-you-can-eat deals can be risky, as Red Lobster’s current plight attests. But there was a stretch 50 years or so ago when the danger extended beyond business fallout, to actual physical peril for customers and neighbors using the same roads. This week’s episode of Restaurant Rewind looks back…
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The restaurant business has produced its share of criminals, including these
Federal regulators have brought a new battery of charges against Andy Wiederhorn, chairman of Twin Peaks and Smokey Bones parent Fat Brands. It’s not the first time he’s been accused of violating federal security regulations. Nor is he the lone high-level restaurant executive to have served jail...
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At age 59, San Francisco's Scoma's restaurant still defers to its elders
The Beatles were still newcomers to the music scene when Scoma’s served up its first bowl of cioppino on San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf. The Fab Four would disband in less than a decade, but the restaurant remains a star of the local restaurant scene at age 59, the payoff from navigating the...
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How we all came to scream for ice cream
With summer just a few heatwaves away, the restaurant business is within a Maraschino cherry toss of prime ice cream season. Is there any better time to retrace how a treat that began as honeyed snow has morphed into an all-American restaurant staple? This week’s episode of Restaurant Rewind is...
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There's enough color in TGI Friday's past for a month of Sundays
Even the name suggests a climb out of a rut: TGI Friday’s, as in it’s time to cut loose and have some wicked fun. The casual-dining trailblazer didn’t disappoint, aiming from Day One to offer a different sort of experience to children of the conformity-conscious '50s.
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How the Restaurant Leadership Conference came to be
If you’ve been in the chain restaurant business for an appreciable stretch, chances are you’ve either attended or heard about the Restaurant Leadership Conference. It’s the top-to-top event where you might see Magic Johnson jump off the stage to give someone a hug, two chain builders lay the...
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In a business of nonconformists, Popeyes founder Al Copeland broke the mold
Popeyes is emerging as a tough bird to beat in the quick-service fried-chicken market, a distinction that would have delighted its late founder, the flamboyant and pugnacious nonconformist Al Copeland. Had Copeland done nothing more than create Popeyes, he’d deserve a prime spot in a restaurant...
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The saga behind the illegal Jell-O shot
It’s probably a myth that tax-code writers refine their knack for inscrutability by taking a whack at state and local liquor regulations. The complexity and illogic of the rules governing alcohol sales are enough to make a restaurateur long for a seat on the other side of the bar, knocking back...
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Remembering the best of restaurants' April Fool's Day pranks
America loves its pranks, as fast-food chains learned years ago in turning April Fool’s Day into a major marketing opportunity. Consumers have brought considerable gullibility to the day, while big brands like Taco Bell, Burger King and McDonald’s have gone to extreme lengths to hoodwink the...
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The industry is abuzz about dynamic pricing. Maybe it forgot these examples
After Wendy’s charge and retreat on dynamic pricing, the restaurant business can’t seem to talk about anything else. Perhaps that’s because variable pricing is as much a part of the business as knives and forks. Indeed, you may not be aware of the various forms dynamic pricing has taken over the...
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True crime fans may not know how a restaurant figured into an infamous murder
True crime stories have become a major entertainment genre, delivered in big numbers by podcasts, streaming TV shows and even several whole networks. It’s about time Restaurant Rewind, Restaurant Business’ retro-focused podcast, made its contribution to the field. In this week’s episode, we look...
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What you might not know about Jacques Pepin
If Mad Men’s Don Draper was trying to impress a prospective client, he may have taken the target to New York City’s cathedral of French cooking, La Pavillon—the 1960s landmark, not the modern reincarnation opened by Daniel Boulud. There, he would have sampled the fare of a young French chef who’d...
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Think recent closings were dramatic? Here's the whole chain Darden had to shutter
The restaurant industry has seen a number of big-name chains reveal widespread closures within their ranks in recent weeks. Outback parent Bloomin’ Brand alerted Wall Street that it intends to close 41 stores, while adding another 45. Denny’s recently acknowledged that it had shut about 60 stores...
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When reports of a restaurant-Mafia connection were more than rumors
As any fan of "The Sopranos" knows, mobsters love good food almost as much as they relish ill-gotten money. No wonder organized crime is constantly rumored to be intertwined with the restaurant business. For veterans of New York City, those insinuations are far from fanciful. Long-timers know the...
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Who was this James Beard guy?
Restaurants will be hearing the name again and again as one of the industry’s premier awards program draws closer to its early May conclusion for 2024. Yet few in the business may know who James Beard was, now that he’s been gone for nearly 40 years. This week’s episode of Restaurant Rewind…
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Remembering a social crusader named Bill Darden
Tipping has been villainized by organized labor as a vestige of slavery, an assertion that strains credibility. What makes the assertion even more difficult to accept is the background of the restaurant company that’s likely more dependent on tipping than any other employer in the business. Bill...
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How the once-mighty are falling in casual dining
Casual dining roared back as pandemic conditions lifted and dining rooms reopened, dispelling assertions the segment was cooked. But that doesn’t mean the full-service chain market has been on cruise control, as this week’s episode of Restaurant Rewind attests. The retro-focused podcast looks…
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Having C-suiters spend time in stores is great—provided they know what's really going on
It’s not unusual for a newly hired restaurant-chain executive to spend time in a unit as a line-level employee. Seeing an operation from the perspective of a customer or worker often provides insight and a reality check c-suiters might not get otherwise. In general, being in stores is a great…
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How customers came to be routinely asked, 'Cash or credit?'
About 84% of the United States’ adult population carry a credit card, or roughly 191 million American consumers, according to the research company Experion. That shouldn’t be a surprise to today’s restaurateurs, who’ve seen the use of cash be challenged pointedly in recent years by the surge in...
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How popular diets have rewritten restaurant menus
Restaurants have been pressed since at least the 1970s to provide menu options for customers looking to lose weight and eat more healthfully. That pressure might reach its peak every January, when patrons are hellbent on following a set diet in hopes of shedding a few pounds. What diet might that...
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Long before diversity became an industry goal, these women were delivering it
The restaurant industry seems as if it’s going backward in its efforts to promote diversity within its top executive ranks. If it goes all the way back to the mid-20th century, it’ll find that the role of women in particular was far more pronounced in those formative years. Indeed, women played…
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CosMc's wasn't McDonald's first attempt at a second concept
McDonald’s created a stir last week with the opening of a second concept, a drive-thru drinks operation called CosMc’s. But it’s far from the first time the Golden Arches has tried to find gold from a second venture. It’s been tinkering with possible additions to its single-brand fold almost from...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
The industry’s past is packed with tales of scoundrels and heroes, big thinkers and pinheads, colossal successes and dismal failures, breakthrough moves and self-inflicted destruction. Few soap operas pack as much color and drama. Yet those yellowed snapshots provide insights relevant to the challenges of today. Join Peter Romeo, a 41-year veteran of the business with a penchant for restaurant history, as he explores those pivotal moments from the past.
HOSTED BY
Restaurant Business Online
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Restaurant Rewind have?
Restaurant Rewind currently has 128 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Restaurant Rewind about?
The industry’s past is packed with tales of scoundrels and heroes, big thinkers and pinheads, colossal successes and dismal failures, breakthrough moves and self-inflicted destruction. Few soap operas pack as much color and drama. Yet those yellowed snapshots provide insights relevant to the...
How often does Restaurant Rewind release new episodes?
Restaurant Rewind publishes regularly with 128 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to Restaurant Rewind?
You can listen to Restaurant Rewind on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Restaurant Rewind?
Restaurant Rewind is created and hosted by Restaurant Business Online.
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