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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.

Leadership

Someone forgot to tell Gene Lee this business is for losers

 By Peter Romeo on Jun. 23, 2023

Reality Check: The retiring Darden Restaurants chairman blazed a career that should shush assertions the restaurant industry will take you nowhere.

Workforce

Get ready for a new push to raise wages

 By Peter Romeo on Jun. 15, 2023

Reality Check: With housing costs at nosebleed levels, pressure is building to adjust pay rates accordingly.

Operations

The restaurant industry appears to be losing it

By Peter Romeo on Jun. 14, 2023

Reality Check: If a friend or relative were acting the way restaurateurs recently have, we'd all be calling someone.

Workforce

These teens couldn't be more eager to work in restaurants

By Peter Romeo on May 05, 2023

Reality Check: Indeed, they wouldn't mind owning one. They were already working hard toward that goal at the National ProStart Invitational competition.

Operations

The restaurant of tomorrow sounds a lot like yesterday's

By Peter Romeo on Apr. 20, 2023

Reality Check: With the pandemic fading, it may be back to the future for broad-market restaurant concepts. Just ask participants of a CEO's panel at the Restaurant Leadership Conference.

Workforce

Restaurants show their best and worst as employers

By Peter Romeo on Apr. 07, 2023

Reality Check: McDonald's sets a new low with virtual layoffs, while Jersey Mike's wins the public's favor.

Workforce

The restaurant industry may have grown a spine

By Peter Romeo on Mar. 31, 2023

Reality Check: After two years of wimpy defense, the industry has come out swinging at its labor adversaries.

Financing

Developing a restaurant? Why not just hit your head with a hammer?

By Peter Romeo on Mar. 23, 2023

Reality Check: The industry's rebound is being hampered by a host of construction and permitting issues. And the near-term outlook isn't good.

Operations

Meet a new catering powerhouse named Cracker Barrel

By Peter Romeo on Mar. 03, 2023

The family-dining chain has set a goal of hitting the $100 million sales mark for big to-go orders this summer. As executives attest, so far, so very, very good.

Operations

Restaurants' standard defense against food poisoning is drawing fire

By Peter Romeo on Jan. 19, 2023

Reality Check: A union-affiliated group is blasting ServSafe as an underhanded way of defeating pro-employee legislation. What exactly is the deception? And what about the program's benefits?

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