Category: Restaurants

Hotel E-Commerce: Navigating the Complex Hospitality Digital Marketing Landscape

By Leora Halpern Lanz It’s challenging to be a hotel market today, let alone one who needs to understand and masterfully manage digital marketing for one or more properties. How do the hotel marketer and revenue manager ride the endless wave of online travel agency (OTA) distribution, commission structures, and rate parity? How much should […]

Disruption from the Inside-Out: Innovation in the Restaurant Industry

by Makaela Reinke Opening the door to the highly acclaimed fine-dining restaurant Eastern Standard is akin to drawing back the curtain of a Broadway musical: the lights are dimmed, the music starts, and your attention is captivated by the beautiful set before you. Your spirit is soothed by the muted ruby reds and royal purples […]

The Bleacher Bar at Fenway Park: Transforming a Former Indoor Batting Cage Into a Unique Eatery and Bar

By Graham Ruggie As one of the oldest cities in the United States, Boston is steeped in rich history. Many of the city’s most successful restaurants and hotels embrace the architectural heritage, while still providing modern conveniences including The Liberty Hotel, The Kendall Hotel, and Chart House restaurant. In fact, Boston’s Fenway Park offers one […]

Hotel Crowdfunding Grows Up

By Joshua Bowman In July 2014, Zack “Danger” Brown famously launched a crowdfunding campaign on the Kickstarter website. To his surprise, he raised ten times the desired amount in the first day. Within a few months, Mr. Brown raised over $55,000 from 6,911 different complete strangers. Mr. Brown’s idea? Potato salad. Mr. Brown’s crowdfunding campaign […]

From Patrons to Chefs, a History of Women in Restaurants

By Jan Whitaker American women have long been involved in public eating places. In Early America a common pattern was set as wives partnered with husbands in operating dining rooms in taverns and inns – and then carried on alone. Elizabeth Fraunces, wife of Samuel Fraunces whose career is commemorated in New York City’s historic […]

The Customer is Always Right, Right? A Look at How Yelp Has Taken Hold of the Boston Restaurant Industry

By: Rachel DeSimone Photography: Kristen Tieg Formal restaurant reviews made their debut back in 1941 when Duncan Hines, known today for his boxed-cake mix, put out his first restaurant guidebook, Adventures in Good Eating. The intention was, “to guide travelers and protect them from eating poisonous food from unsanitary places,” according to his biography by […]

Product Life Cycle: Moving from Theory to Practice

By: Stanley I. Buchin, D.B.A. Last year, restaurant trends stretched from a rise of dining in retail stores to paleo and gluten-free menus. According to Baum + Whiteman 2015 Food & Beverage Forecast, this year’s trends will include technology like tablets immersed into the dining experience, expanding on diners restless palates who have had enough […]

I Dream of Doughnuts: One Family’s Sweet Saga of the American Dream

By: Rachel DeSimone At the historic intersection of Cambridge Street and Brighton Avenue in Allston, Mass., you might find yourself wondering if you’ve been blasted back in time, say, to the ’50s. Before you stands a small retro-diner style building with a shiny silver overhang and an enormous sign towering over the roof that reads, […]

Delivering Food to the Front Door: A New, Or Very Old, Convenience?

By: Christopher Muller, Ph.D. A century of commercial competitive conflict between the grocery (food at home or “FAH”) and restaurant (food away from home or “FAFH”) distribution channels is now being fought on an unexpected but previously contested battlefield: who will own the “convenience” of delivery in the consumer’s mind. Just one hundred years ago […]