Articles
Mar 18, 2011 – The Sun Times By Mark Brown
Still “some good do-ers” left
Sheila Burstein, 71, ate a late lunch one day last week at the Baker’s Square Restaurant in Wilmette and accidentally left behind an unmarked envelope containing $750 cash that she’d just withdrawn from the bank.
She didn’t know she’d lost it until a couple of hours later when she was back at home and going through her purse, and by then, she wasn’t quite sure where it might have gone, having run some errands in the meantime.
Burstein, who has been having health problems lately, had just left the hospital after a sleepless 36-hour stay for some tests. Her nephew, Avrum Lamet, who had stopped by her Skokie home to check up on her, helped Burstein try to mentally retrace her steps to figure out where she might have left the money.
To his surprise, he hit pay dirt on his first call.
“He said: ‘This is going to be a stupid question. Did you find some money?’ ” said Bakers Square associate manager Tina Coary, picking up the story.
Well, as a matter of fact, they had found some money, quite a lot of money, some might say.
Waitress Margaret Kras, 41, was the person who spotted the envelope full of cash as she cleaned off the table and took it to Coary, explaining to her that a customer must have left it behind and asking if she could put it in the office. Coary stored the envelope in the safe.
Now, let me interrupt this story right here to ask a question: Is this news?
Is it unusual in this day and age for people to do the right thing? Is it worthy of note that someone would be so honest, when it would have been a simple enough matter to stash the cash and deny, deny, deny? Or is this still the normal order of things, and therefore, by definition, not newsworthy?
Honestly, I’ve lost track. You get jaded in this business, and I don’t even know if it’s more jaded to think this is unusual or less so.
Read more: Still “some good do-ers” left
January 25, 2010 – Wallet Pop By Bonnie McCarthy
Look Out, Cupcake: 2011 Is the Year of the Pie
According to market research from the NPD Group, Americans ordered up 12 million more slices of pie at restaurants in 2010 than they did in 2009, while cake sales took a hit. Meanwhile, cupcakes experienced a sugar low (U.S. consumers surveyed said they ate 18% fewer cupcakes at home). Is the cupcake fad getting stale? Time to invest in pie tins?
Linda Hoskins, executive director of Illinois-based, American Pie Council, reports pie is definitely gaining in popularity. In fact, Hoskins told WalletPop this year's National Pie Day (Jan. 23) was the most successful ever, boasting increased participation, more contests, giveaways, coupons, activities and free pie (1,000 slices donated from Bakers Square to the frosty fans tailgating in nine-degree weather at the Chicago NFL playoff game).
Read more: Look Out, Cupcake: 2011 Is the Year of the Pie
October 21, 2010 – Nation’s Restaurant News By Ron Ruggless
Pies top 2011 restaurant trend list
Mini plates, fried vegetables among other trends, predicts consultancy group
Pies, both sweet and savory, will be the top restaurant trend in 2011, a California consultancy predicts.
Andrew Freeman, whose Andrew Freeman & Co. of San Francisco consults on marketing for restaurants and hotels nationwide, detailed some top trends in a webinar Wednesday.
“If I had one trend — one trend — of the year that I could predict, that’s why it’s in the No. 1 position, this would be the trend for pie,” he said. “I think that we’re going to make room for pie shops in the next year.” He said it follows on the heels of cupcake shops.
Freeman noted that Hill Country Chicken in New York City even sponsors a “Pie Happy Hour” to showcase its wide variety of pies from whiskey-buttermilk to apple-cheddar and more traditional banana and coconut cream pies.
“This is not just sweet pies, this is savory pies, bite-sized pies. They are even blended into milkshakes,” he said. “I’ll eat pie if I don’t get this one right at the end of the year.”
AUGUST 29, 2010 – Columbus Business First – New owners of Max & Erma’s consider closing restaurants, boosting marketing
Before Max & Erma’s gets bigger, it’s going to get smaller.
As many as 10 restaurant closings and a corporate office consolidation are among the first tasks facing Denver-based American Blue Ribbon Holdings LLC, which is expected to close its $28 million purchase of the Columbus-based chain Aug. 31. American Blue Ribbon Holdings on Aug. 16 won an auction for Max & Erma’s Restaurants Inc. in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Pittsburgh.
Read more: New owners of Max & Erma’s consider closing restaurants, boosting marketing | Business First
AUGUST 22, 2010 – Columbus Business First – Max & Erma’s new investors display turnaround legacy
Many observers and franchisees believed all Max & Erma’s needed was an experienced restaurant hand to guide it through what have become choppy industry waters in recent years.
Read more: Max & Erma’s new investors display turnaround legacy | Business First
AUGUST 21, 2010 – Post-Gazette.com Business – Blue Ribbon white knight:Court saves Max & Erma’s
Despite the drama of a last-minute bid Monday and various legal efforts in bankruptcy court Wednesday, Pittsburgh entrepreneur Gary L. Reinert Sr.'s contentious two-year ownership of the struggling Max & Erma's restaurant franchise came to an end this week.
Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10233/1081570-28.stm#ixzz169D1Zzrs