Torri Donley

Texas Restaurant Association Adds Tech and Leading Restaurateurs to 2021 Board of Directors

Torri Donley 2 weeks ago

AUSTIN, Texas, Oct. 13, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — The Texas Restaurant Association (TRA) is proud to announce its Officers and new Directors for the upcoming year. The current board met in San Antonio last week and approved 30 new Directors representing every facet of the restaurant, food, and beverage industry.

Gary Johnson, Director of Operations, Frontier Enterprises (San Antonio), will serve as Chairman of the Board of the Texas Restaurant Association, supported by Vice Chair Leo Duran, Owner, L&J Café (El Paso), Treasurer Jonathan Horowitz, Founder, Convive Hospitality Consulting (Houston), and Immediate Past Chair John B. Gessner, SVM Productions and Fox Rothschild, LLP (Dallas).

“With more than 50,000 entities employing 1.3M people and with sales of more than $70B prior to the pandemic, this is a critical time for our industry as we continue to navigate the crippling impact from

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Did someone say free food? Companies are getting creative with WFH perks

Torri Donley 2 weeks ago

Free food at the office used to make a stressful day better.

But with so many employees still working remotely, how can bosses show their appreciation?

I asked companies what they are doing to keep the office culture alive in a virtual world.

E-commerce checkout company Fast said it’s sending gift cards to employees for a weekly team meal, along with a weekly snack box.

Another company, UKG, which offered its working parents a virtual summer camp for their kids, is now offering after-school help this fall. It’s a win-win situation: kids are entertained, while parents get a break so they can be more productive at work.

And San Francisco-based Splunk is offering an extra 30 “pandemic days,” to give workers extra time to care for themselves and their family.

Click here to read about more creative perks companies are offering.

Dropbox is going remote …. kinda

Dropbox says it’s

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Mexican restaurant in Phoenix features recipes spanning 3 generations

Torri Donley 2 weeks ago

Rito’s Mexican Restaurant does more than just serve a good traditional meal in a tin container and brown paper bag.

PHOENIX — Rito’s Mexican Restaurant has been serving up family flavor to hungry Phoenix diners since it first opened its doors in 1977, and the family behind the food spans three generations.

“Following my mom’s footsteps, I mean she’s the one that started this, Rosemary, that’s my mom,” Charlotte said. 

“I always wanted to keep this going for my children to make sure that they know who they are where they came from.”

Rosemary, a Glendale native who moved to the Garfield District in Downtown Phoenix, fell in love with the community and wanted to serve up something special. 

So she got in the kitchen and cooked up some recipes from scratch, which are still used to this day.

“We would love to have a lot of different location around

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Bojangles apologizes after North Carolina cop says worker pretended to spit in her drinks

Torri Donley 2 weeks ago

Bojangles apologized to an Eastern North Carolina police officer who said a worker pretended to spit in her drinks.

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Authorities are investigating after Jillian Wenderoth, a Jacksonville police officer, said she experienced discrimination at a drive-through at the fast-food chicken restaurant, WCTI reported Monday.

In a Facebook post last week, Wenderoth said a Bojangles employee cursed and started laughing with a coworker when she pulled up to the pick-up window. She said one of the employees “made the motion to spit in the drinks” he was preparing for her.

“I had the privilege of being judged and discriminated because of the uniform I wear,” the officer wrote about the events she said unfolded at a Bojangles on Halltown Road in Jacksonville. The restaurant is near the Camp Lejeune Marine base.

In a statement to McClatchy News, Bojangles said it fired the workers involved.

“We became aware of the

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Solano County legalized home food popups. But chefs still can’t sell

Torri Donley 2 weeks ago

When Solano County approved a new California law that would legalize home-based kitchen operations in April, it seemed like Cheska Kistner’s plans to open a restaurant in her Benicia home would finally come to fruition. The measure, California’s AB626, allows for what are known as microenterprise food businesses, which Alameda County also made inroads toward legalizing yesterday. But no Bay Area county has yet fully implemented the 2018 law, leaving entrepreneurs like Kistner in limbo.

Solano County legalized home food popups. But chefs still can’t sell

Home kitchen entrepreneur Cheska Kistner makes food at her home in Benicia. Kistner is among as many as 100 entrepreneurs waiting for Solano County to finish implementing a law that would allow them to establish legal home kitchen businesses.


Solano County legalized home food popups. But chefs still can’t sell

Home kitchen entrepreneur Cheska Kistner makes food at her home in Benicia. Kistner

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Owner says Portland restaurant was shot at for being ‘pro-police’

Torri Donley 2 weeks ago

A restaurant in Portland, Ore., had been warned that “something” would happen to it because of their apparent pro-police stance before someone shot through the windows days later, a report said.

The owner of Heroes American Café, John Jackson, told The Oregonian that someone called the burger joint last Thursday to say it was on a list of establishments that are pro-police and they should expect something to happen.

“We kind of dismissed it as whatever,” Jackson, 55, told the newspaper.

But on Sunday, vandals targeted the restaurant, shooting out two windows and smashing a third with a baseball bat, according to the report.

The vandalism came the same day a demonstration dubbed a “day of rage” on fliers hit the streets of the city. There have been a string of destructive protests in Portland since the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May.

“It looked like a planned

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The new Happy Hour? Curfew sparks a rush for drinks before closing time with average spend rising by more than a quarter between 9-10pm

Torri Donley 2 weeks ago



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© Provided by This Is Money
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The Government’s 10pm curfew for bars and pubs has spawned a rush for drink orders before closing time, data suggests.

On some nights, Britons have been spending a quarter more than usual in what is now the last hour of trade. 

Last Friday, customers spent an average of £23.78 per transaction in the last hour before hospitality venues were forced to shut – up 27 per cent on the £18.70 typically spent on Fridays in September, according to data from banking app Revolut, which has 3million customers. 



a person cooking in a kitchen: General manager Michael Rogerson rings for last orders in the Horseshoe Bar in Glasgow on Friday before it had to close at 6pm for two weeks

© Provided by This Is Money
General manager Michael Rogerson rings for last orders in the Horseshoe Bar in Glasgow on Friday before it had to close at 6pm for two weeks

When the Government’s curfew was announced on 24 September, spend between 9-10pm rocketed, as people crammed in a last hour drinks splurge. 

On

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Sustainable food SPAC Natural Order Acquisition files for a $250 million IPO

Torri Donley 2 weeks ago

Natural Order Acquisition, a blank check company focusing on technologies and products related to sustainable plant-based food and beverages, filed on Tuesday with the SEC to raise up to $250 million in an initial public offering.

The Weston, MA-based company plans to raise $250 million by offering 25 million units at $10. Each unit consists of one share of common stock and a whole warrant to purchase one-half of a common share, exercisable at $11.50. At the proposed deal size, Natural Order Acquisition would command a market value of $313 million.

The company is led by Chairman Sebastiano Castiglioni, a Partner at Blue Horizon Group, founder and Director of private investment fund Dismatrix, and an active investor in the global plant-based food and beverage sector. He is joined by CEO and Director Paresh Patel, who has managed his own private investment office, Sandstone Investments, since 2014, and 

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THE BLIND HORSE BECOMES FIRST RESTAURANT IN THE UNITED STATES TO INSTALL FAR-UVC LIGHT … | Money

Torri Donley 2 weeks ago

“The Blind Horse is exhausting all procedures, products and processes to create a safer hospitality experience and to lessen the impact of our current climate,” said Nye. “Everyone is seeking a positive way forward to inspire our struggling industry. The cost, especially for a small business, is daunting. Our customers and staff appreciate all the time, money and effort to create a safer environment.”

In addition to the recent installation of Healthe products, the business has added and implemented the following activations that exceed CDC guidelines:

– Additional real-time mitigation support on property with the installation of two BigAssFans Clean Air System (www.bigassfans.com).

– Shock & Shield Protection Program by Green Up Solutions (www.greenupsolutions.org) of Milwaukee, Wis., incorporating ultraviolet light treatment and antimicrobial protection 90-day treatment plan (third application set for November). 

– Nightly ozone treatment of all indoor spaces.

– Operating indoor air filters.

– Increased outdoor seating capacity

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Starbucks Is Giving Out Free Drinks Today & Nearly Everything Is Up for Grabs

Torri Donley 2 weeks ago



a close up of a coffee cup

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Starbucks happy hours have been coming far less frequently since the spring, but the company’s popular free coffee deals are still popping up from time to time.

On October 8, Starbucks happy hour is back from 2-7pm local time. Place your to-go order (while wearing a mask) and you can get a buy-one-get-one-free (BOGO) deal on all handcrafted drinks, size grande or larger. While “handcrafted drinks” has a sort of vague ring to it, you’re able to get almost anything that’s not pre-bottled or drip coffee. 

Here’s how to get the deal: Open the Starbucks app on your phone to find the offer in your inbox. You don’t have to be a rewards member to snag the BOGO deal, but you do have to have the app. However, if you are a rewards program member, you’ll land points toward more free drinks. Signing up is free, less

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