Boing Boing: New Yorker documents every pizza slice he’s eaten for past nine years, shares hard data. “Since 2014, New Yorker Liam Quigley has been documenting and then consuming pizza slices and keeping track of their prices and quality. He’s currently got data on 464 slices.”
Ars Technica: Chuck E. Cheese still uses floppy disks in 2023, but not for long. “On Sunday, a Chuck E. Cheese employee named Stewart Coonrod posted a TikTok video that documents the process of installing a new song-and-dance show on an old Chuck E. Cheese animatronics system—a process that involves a 3.5-inch floppy disk and two DVDs. Coonrod says it is the last update before his store undergoes a remodel that will remove the animatronics altogether.”
University of Arkansas: Black-Owned Restaurants Impacted Disproportionately by COVID-19. “Yelp listings were then cross-referenced with visitation records collected by SafeGraph, a company that collects visitation patterns on points of interest through an estimated 45 million mobile devices. Overall, the researchers found there were statistically significant differential impacts between Black-owned and ‘ownership-unreported’ restaurants throughout the 20 cities, primarily measured by relative declines in visits.”
Digitaltrends: Snapchat now has restaurant reviews. Here’s how to view them. “On Friday, Snapchat announced a new map layer it has added to its existing Snap Map. The new layer was created in partnership with The Infatuation, a restaurant review site. Basically, the layer shows you recommended restaurants that are closest to you. With the new feature, you can view restaurant reviews from The Infatuation about the restaurants around you, save them to your favorites, or share them with your friends.”
Miami Herald: Hackers stole 20 million credit card records from Chili’s, Chipotle and others, feds say. “A hacking group targeted businesses across all 50 states and stole more than 20 million debit and credit card records from customers, federal officials said. Denys Iarmak, 32, from Ukraine, is the third member in the group’s scheme to face prison time, the United States Attorney’s Office in the Western District of Washington said in an April 7 news release.”
Medill Reports Chicago: Local restaurants struggle back to pre-pandemic ‘normalcy’. “Starting a restaurant is a monumental challenge at any time, but COVID-19 and the restrictions placed on dining in Chicago over the past two years have made the path to profitability for new and experienced restauranteurs alike difficult to navigate.”
Canadian Press: Quebec sugar shack owners say the COVID-19 pandemic saved the iconic industry. “The spring sugar shack experience — eating beans and ham at long tables with strangers, enjoying tractor rides through the melting snow and nibbling snow-chilled maple syrup on wooden sticks — was on the decline before the pandemic. But two years of COVID-19 lockdowns have forced the traditional industry to reinvent an outdated business model, and some say it is more sustainable than before the health crisis hit.”
KnowTechie: Google cheats restaurants out of delivery fees, says class-action lawsuit. “Google has recently come under fire over some alleged practices surrounding food delivery. A class-action lawsuit has been filed claiming that Google is making unauthorized landing pages and taking a cut of fees charged by delivery services.”
Newsday: Restaurant advocate: Replenish COVID-19 grant program for eateries, bars . “Long Island’s restaurants, bars and catering halls need Congress to replenish a pandemic-relief grant program, with some of them facing closure as their unpaid bills multiply, a top lobbyist said on Sunday.”
Associated Press: Thousands of people leaving restaurant industry. ” The volatility of the industry, the health risks associated with COVID and worker burnout have led to a loss of 1.8 million hospitality jobs in the U.S. since February 2020. Working in the service industry has never been easy. The hours are long, the customer interactions can be stressful and the wages are relatively low. But COVID introduced new problems, which pushed many people to reconsider their circumstances, Larry Barton, professor of crisis management and public safety at the University of Central Florida, said.”
Politico: The White House throws cold water on a restaurant industry bailout. “With the virus receding in much of the country, administration officials are deeply skeptical of adding more money for restaurants to a government funding deal. The White House is concerned it’s unnecessary and would inflate the package’s price tag, two people familiar with the discussions said.”
Food Navigator: ‘Beyond the usual suspects’: Report scrapes social media to identify emerging trends. “Founded by former Google executive, Alon Chen, and former tech leader at SimilarWeb, Eyan Gaon, the solution predicts changing consumer needs based on over 78,000 restaurants and delivery menus, 20 billion social interactions, and 115,000 home recipes online.”
New York Times: Sarah Palin, who is unvaccinated, recently dined indoors in New York City before testing positive.. “Sarah Palin, who is not vaccinated against the coronavirus, dined indoors Saturday night at Elio’s, an Italian restaurant on the Upper East Side of Manhattan that regularly draws celebrities, despite New York City’s requirement that all indoor guests show proof of vaccination. She tested positive for the virus on Monday.”
Daily Independent: Weathering the storm: Valley restaurants close, pivot amid COVID surge. “Michael Rusconi was looking forward to a new beginning for his restaurant in 2022 after nearly two years of pandemic- related hardships. But less than a month in, the new year hasn’t been forgiving to Rusconi’s American Kitchen. The fine dining establishment at 10637 N. Tatum Blvd. in Phoenix is perpetually shortstaffed, particularly in the kitchen, and is only open five nights per week. With the omicron variant leaving his older guests scared to venture out to eat again, Rusconi said he is considering scaling back his hours and doing away with Saturday brunch to fill staffing gaps.”
11 Alive: Metro Atlanta restaurants struggle with staffing shortages amid omicron surge. “Businesses across metro Atlanta are feeling the impact of surging COVID-19 infections as Georgia set pandemic records for new cases back-to-back last week. The unprecedented numbers are forcing restaurants to adapt yet again.”
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