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Reality Check

Peter Romeo

The blog from award-winning journalist, RB Editor-at-Large Peter Romeo. Peter taps into his decades of experience covering the restaurant business at a variety of publications to discuss any number of issues related to the operations and general direction of restaurants.

Marketing

There's plenty happening at the high end of the pricing barbell, too

 By Peter Romeo on Jun. 19, 2024

Reality Check: Decadent meal choices are also proliferating, for a lot more than $5.

Operations

Trend or fad? These restaurant currents could go either way

 By Peter Romeo on Jun. 14, 2024

Reality Check: A number of ripples were evident in the business during the first half of the year. The question is, do they have staying power?

Marketing

Where are Simone Biles fans going to eat this Olympics?

By Peter Romeo on Jun. 03, 2024

Reality Check: Restaurants will be competing for attention this year with the Summer Games and political advertising. It could be a test of whether digital marketing, and loyalty programs in particular, can deliver on their promise.

Financing

Red Lobster needs a buyer. How does Darden sound?

By Peter Romeo on May 28, 2024

Reality Check: The casual dining giant sold Red Lobster in a cloud of controversy a decade ago. Here's why a return to the fold may not be as crazy as it sounds.

Leadership

The Restaurant Show has come a long, long way on diversity

By Peter Romeo on May 20, 2024

Reality Check: You wouldn't believe what passed for acceptable in earlier iterations.

Financing

Here's a business tool to keep restaurant executives employed after a tough Q1

By Peter Romeo on May 10, 2024

Reality Check: The first three months of 2024 weren’t easy on restaurant chains, but spin-doctoring proved to be. Indeed, there must have been a run on shovels.

Financing

Surprise, surprise: California kept its full-service restaurants in the dark for months

By Peter Romeo on May 08, 2024

Reality Check: The state attorney general had refused to clarify the scope of the state's pending anti-junk-fee law. It's one more smack in the face to the trade.

Marketing

Meet the restaurant industry's new government adversary

By Peter Romeo on Apr. 29, 2024

Reality Check: The FTC wants the business to change several longstanding operating conventions. Has it heard why that's a bad idea?

Operations

Hitting resistance elsewhere, ghost kitchens and virtual concepts find a happy home in family dining

By Peter Romeo on Apr. 24, 2024

Reality Check: Old-guard chains are finding the alternative operations to be persistently effective side hustles.

Operations

Everybody talks about rising restaurant crime. Maybe it's time to do something about it

By Peter Romeo on Mar. 26, 2024

Reality Check: Well-intentioned efforts like bail reform may not be delivering what proponents envisioned. It's not reactionary to fix the fix.

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