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New Online Accessibility Act introduced to Congress would require businesses to make their website and mobile apps accessible

Article shared courtesy of NRN.com Joanna Fantozzi | Oct 02, 2020 The Online Accessibility Act — legislation that was introduced to the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday by Reps. Ted Budd, (R-N.C.) and Lou Correa, (D-Calif.) — would officially extend the Americans with Disabilities Act to consumer-facing digital accessibility. Under the extension of the ADA, businesses would have to make their websites and apps accessible to the visually impaired. Currently, the law only applies to “public accommodations,” which only extends to physical locations. “Retailers want to serve all customers, and that includes those who are blind or visually…

Restaurants maintain steady service sentiment even as recovery slows

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Article shared courtesy of NRN.com Image shared from article courtesy of Getty Images Entertainment Restaurant sales improved again in August. But even though August’s same-store sales growth is the best result for the industry since February, it revealed a slowdown in the pace of restaurant recovery. This latest Black Box Intelligence™ data suggests that in upcoming months, and likely into 2021, the recovery will continue to look more like a sluggish climb instead of the rebound to pre-coronavirus sales levels we’d all like to see. Although the economy is recovering, millions of people remain unemployed, extended government relief packages are still…

Jack in the Box reports 6.6% increase in same-store sales thanks to check growth and menu innovation

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Article shared courtesy of NRN.com New CEO Darin Harris discussed how the company quickly pivoted during the coronavirus pandemic to come out on top at a rough time for the industry Joanna Fantozzi | Aug 06, 2020 Jack in the Box reported a 6.6% increase in same-store sales to round out a strong third quarter ended July 5, 2020, despite the company’s “substantial decline in traffic.” New CEO Darin Harris — who just came on board in June, replacing Leonard Comma, who announced his exit in December — attributed the company’s positive results, even with COVID-19-related traffic struggles, to average check growth of…

Wingstop Q2 same-store sales soar 31.9%

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Fast-casual restaurant brand credits digital sales as it opens more ghost kitchens Ron Ruggless | Jul 29, 2020 Wingstop Inc., with its reliance on digital delivery and carry-out sales, excelled amid coronavirus pandemic restrictions with a 31.9% increase in domestic same-store sales in the second quarter, the company said Wednesday. The Dallas-based fast-casual brand, in releasing earnings for the second quarter ended June 27, said the sales gains, which were on top of a 12.8% same-store sales increase in the same quarter last year, pushed average unit volumes to near $1.4 million amid favorable wing commodity prices. “The topline momentum in our…

Large restaurant chains have mostly recovered from the effects of COVID-19, while the rest of the industry still struggles, Bank of America study says

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A study of Bank of America credit card spending since March emphasizes the widened gap between recovery for large restaurant chains and small businesses Joanna Fantozzi | Jul 10, 2020 National restaurant chains have largely recovered from the detrimental effects of plummeting consumer spending during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a study of credit card spending from March to July 4 from Bank of America. The research compares the expenditures trajectory between large restaurant chains and the rest of the restaurant industry (which includes small chains and independent restaurants). At the beginning of March just before pandemic-related lockdowns had started to be implemented, consumer…

Restaurants Rise: How marketing is changing in a post-COVID-19 world

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This article is shared courtesy of NRN.com and can be found at the following link: https://www.nrn.com/marketing/restaurants-rise-how-marketing-changing-post-covid-19-world Written by Joanna Fantozzi - June 8' 2020 As consumer confidence and priorities change, so should restaurant strategies. What might have worked as an on-brand marketing message before the pandemic hit could be tone-deaf or miss the mark in what has become a changed industry. On day four of Nation’s Restaurant News and Restaurant Hospitality’s Restaurants Rise digital summit, Chris Hollander, chief marketing officer of Panera Bread, and Gje Greene-Wallace, director of marketing for 20-unit, Texas-based seafood chain Fish City Grill and sister concept…

Al fresco dining becomes solution for full-service restaurants…

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This article is shared from nrn.com and was written Mark Hamstra | May 29, 2020 https://www.nrn.com/restaurants-ready/al-fresco-dining-becomes-solution-full-service-restaurants In states and cities where the lifting of dine-in restrictions is still potentially weeks away, outdoor dining has increasingly become a bridge solution for full-service restaurants. Perhaps spurred by growing evidence that the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 does not spread as easily outdoors in fresh air, some states — including Minnesota, Maryland, Ohio, Illinois, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and others — have either limited full-service restaurants to al fresco dining only or specifically encouraged restaurants to serve guests outdoors in their reopening plans. Related: CDC…

Hospitality Icon Saves 3 Ellicott City, MD Businesses-Headquarters Homestate News

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Hospitality Icon Gordon Ramsay recently visited and restored 3 hospitality businesses in Historic Ellicott City, MD in a special edition of his show 24 Hours to Hell & Back: Save Our Town. Check out this article, written by Beth Haven and published at: https://heavy.com/entertainment/2020/05/gordon-ramsay-ellicott-city-businesses/ Image credit goes to: Jeff Neira / FOX. © 2020 FOX MEDIA LLC. Three Ellicott City Businesses are Rescued by Gordon Ramsay In a special episode of Gordon Ramsay’s 24 Hours to Hell and Back titled “Save Our Town,” Ramsay and the crew renovate three separate businesses in Ellicott City, Maryland, a town that was hit by massive floods…

Restaurants Adapting and Opening!

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ServSafe, the nation’s leader in food safety training, today released ServSafe Reopening Guidance: COVID-19 Precautions, to help restaurant and foodservice employees learn best practices to employ during the coronavirus outbreak. The course provides best practices for employees of a restaurant preparing to reopen a dining room following a state shutdown. The ServSafe Reopening Guidance: COVID-19 Precautions training includes: Knowing the symptoms of COVID-19 Preventing the spread Recognizing actions to reduce employee and guest risk Keeping guests and employees safe Guidelines for face coverings, hand washing, hand sanitizer use, and food handling Guidelines for cleaning, sanitizing, and disinfecting Changes to maintain…

Masks, gloves, plexiglass barriers, limited capacity and even expensive air filtration systems become the new normal for dine-in service…

Patrice

Socially distant dining: Here’s how reopened restaurants are updating operations.... By Lisa Jennings, shared courtesy of NRN.com At three Smokey Bones restaurants in Georgia, both servers and kitchen line workers now wear face masks. Tables are spaced at least six feet part, and only 10 guests per 500-square-feet of space are permitted at one time in each restaurant. The limited food options are printed on disposable menus for one-time use, and utensils are disposable and come to the table pre-packaged. At an Applebee’s in Tennessee, restaurant workers wear masks and gloves. Guests were directed in the parking lot to avoid…