NYC Steakhouse Workers Arrested for Fraud

NBC New York: More than two dozen current and former waiters and their associates from some of the city's top steakhouses have been arrested in an alleged identity theft ring, accused of stealing credit card numbers from wealthy customers, NBC New York has learned.

Several suspects are from top city restaurants like Smith and Wollensky, Capital Grille and Wolfgang Steak, as well as Morton’s in Stamford and the Bicycle Club in New Jersey, sources said.

The alleged scam targeted customers who often paid with American Express Black cards and other high-limit credit cards, according to sources.

Law enforcement sources said some restaurant workers used handheld scanners to copy the credit card information as they walked away to process the bill. Later, that information would be sent to leaders of the alleged fraud ring, who would forge new credit cards with the stolen information and test them out on taxis.

If the cards worked, the suspects would go on major shopping sprees, buying up expensive goods like Chanel goods and Jimmy Choo shoes. The thieves would then re-sell the luxury brand items for cash.

Officials estimate profits totaled at least $1 million, sources said.

NYPD officials and District Attorney Cy Vance were expected to announce details of the case Friday. Many of the suspects are also expected to be arraigned in Manhattan criminal court.

An NYPD spokesman declined to comment Thursday, as did a Vance spokeswoman.

Managers at Smith & Wollensky, the Bicycle Club and Capital Grille restaurants declined to comment.

A manager at one Wolfgang’s restaurant said he believed all workers on the schedule Thursday had arrived and was unaware of any law enforcement allegations against any worker.

A manager at Morton's also referred calls to its corporate headquarters.

Officials stress restaurant operators had no knowledge of the alleged crimes by the few employees.

Waitress Says She Was Fired for Wearing Tea Party Bracelet

Northwest Herald: Tea party members, conservative bloggers and radio hosts are rallying in support of a Woodstock (Illinois) waitress who says she was fired from the Crystal Lake Outback Steakhouse for wearing a political bracelet and admitting tea party sentiments.

Twenty-three-year-old Megan Geller of Woodstock said that a couple dining at the restaurant in early October took offense to a bright yellow bracelet with the words "Don't Tread On Me" imprinted on it.

Outback's Chief Legal Officer Jospeh Kadow said Geller was fired for her inattention to customers that evening.

"Megan Gellar was not let go because of her tea party bracelet," Kadow said in a statement to the Northwest Herald. "On the night in question two separate tables complained about her lack of attention."

When the manager spoke to Geller about these complaints, she responded by yelling at him with a hostile attitude and that led to her termination, Kadow said.

Geller says she told the diners her mother, Tonya Franklin, gave her the bracelet after Franklin received it at a tea party event. Those last three words incensed the couple, who then asked for the manager, Geller said.

Holding signs, and waving American flags and yellow "Don't Tread On Me" banners, a weekend protest outside the restaurant was held against what demonstrators called a violation of Geller's free speech rights.

Conservative bloggers and radio hosts also have spread Geller's story.

"They stirred up the wrong hornet's nest and messed with the wrong mama," Franklin said at the protest Saturday. "When mama's get mad, mama's get to work."

Megan said she feigned ignorance when the customers questioned the bracelet's meaning.

"I didn't want to talk politics at work," she said.

Geller claims she wore the bracelet "for months" with no prior warning from restaurant management and was never asked to remove the bracelet.

"She was not fired because a customer complained about her bracelet," Kadow said. "That would have simply been handled by asking her to take off the bracelet."

Documents from the Illinois Department of Employment Security provided by Geller state that she was fired for misconduct, but she should not have been denied unemployment benefits

"The evidence shows the claimant was discharged from [Outback Steakhouse] because they received a couple complaints from customers since she was wearing a bracelet with a political point of view," according to documents from the state agency. "Since the claimant's action, which resulted in her discharge was not deliberate or willful, the claimant is not ineligible for benefits."

Outback did not challenge Geller's unemployment claim, or submit any information regarding her claim, Kadow said.

Woman Feaks Out Over McDonald's Breakfast Menu

The Smoking Gun: When Shanaya Edgell arrived early yesterday morning at a McDonald’s in Janesville, Wisconsin, she was expecting to order from the fast food joint’s regular menu--Big Macs, french fries, Chicken McNuggets, and the like.

Except it was around 3 AM and the restaurant had already switched over to its breakfast menu--hash browns, Egg McMuffins, hotcakes, and the like.

This enraged Edgell, according to Janesville Police Department officers.

The 22-year-old--for some unexplained reason--turned on her boyfriend, biting him on the lip and tearing off his shirt. At some point during her meltdown, Edgell climbed atop the roof of her 40-year-old beau’s car and launched into a loud diatribe about McDonald’s.

After Edgell dismounted from the vehicle, she was collared for disorderly conduct. Danny Davis, deputy chief of the Janesville police, told TSG that Edgell and her boyfriend had been at a bar prior to heading to McDonald’s. When questioned by an officer about her behavior, Davis said, Edgell copped to “freaking out” in the wake of the menu changeover, adding that she was “acting crazy.”

Edgell, pictured in the above mug shot, is being held in the Rock County jail in lieu of $150 bond. She is scheduled for a court appearance later this afternoon.

Popular Restaurants Going Social

IP Watchdog: It seems that no matter where you go these days, the likelihood is high that you will see a “Free Wi-Fi” sticker on the front door of the establishment. Whether you are going for coffee, meeting a colleague for lunch, stopping at a rest stop or waiting for an airplane, you can pretty much bet that you will be able to check your email and surf the web while you are there. But providing customers with free Internet access is just the beginning. Some of the world’s most well known brands are aggressively using social media as a marketing tool.

Many of the largest and most recognizable restaurant brands are starting to realize the power and potential of social media, not only for the use of their clientele but also in getting their message out in new and innovative ways. They have begun to realize that building larger online communities equates to higher numbers of restaurant sales. For this reason, media outlet Nation’s Restaurant News teamed up with an analytics and digital branding firm, DigitalCoCo to create the Restaurant Social Media Index (RSMI) highlighting the industry’s Top 100 each quarter.

The RSMI is a comprehensive tracking system that uses both an advanced algorithm of several third-party results indexes along with the DigitalCoCo Social Insights algoritm. It quantifies the social media efforts of 600+ restaurant brands using more than 23 million consumers and thousands of keywords, menu items and basic restaurant terms that have been indexed over past years. The RSMI is meant to help those in the restaurant business get a better understanding of how they can leverage social media to compete within today’s social world. And given that they do not simply tally numbers of followers and fans, the playing field is level, even for restaurants that are just beginning to emerge.

NRN analyzes a restaurant’s social footprint utilizing not only Facebook and Twitter but also other social media platforms such as Foursquare, Google+ and YouTube. Each brand is ranked on a 300-point scale that not only takes the number of fans and followers into consideration but also takes the following metrics into account:

Twitter Analytics are used to monitor each brand’s account activity and growth, consumer influence and sentiment as well as the level of engagement each brand shows towards its consumers.

Facebook Analytics are used to quantify each brand’s activities, fan growth and interaction on Facebook as well as each brand’s level of engagement.

Klout Analytics are used by applying numerical algorithms to the influence of a brand as an outside third party and takes into account engagement, reach, influencer connections and overall influence.

Using these analytics tools, NRN recently introduced the third-quarter of 2011 Restaurant Social Media Index: Top 100. I thought it would be fun to compare, analyze and discuss the top 5 of the list which includes Starbucks Coffee, Wendy’s, Chick-fil-A, McDonald’s and Outback Steakhouse.

1. Starbucks Coffee

Starbucks was rated as the number one restaurant brand with an overall RSMI score of 243.2 out of 300 as well as a Kout score of 84. What spreads Starbuck’s apart is the large margin between it and other large chains. Starbucks Coffee is top dog in Facebook likes and Twitter Followers. As of October 30, 2011, Starbucks showed an impressive 25.2 million likes on it’s Facebook page as compared to McDonald’s which only had 10.4 million likes. Starbucks dominance in Twitter followers is quite high as well with 1.7 million twitter followers to Subway’s 169,000 followers. The RSMI also shows a social consumer sentiment score of 72.

Starbuck Coffee, you may recall, used to be a Wi-Fi Hot Spot, where in order to access the Internet you had to pay a fee. But with the widespread “Free Wi-FI” availability at majority of their competitors, Starbucks must have realized that charging for Wi-Fi was pushing consumers away. Now not only do they offer free Wi-Fi, but they also actively engage consumers on Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare and YouTube. Starbucks also has their own blog in a social network format of sorts that they call My Starbucks Idea. The blog shares information but is also fully interactive in that, like most social networks, consumers are encouraged to share their ideas on anything relating to the company and its brand as well as the ability to see and respond to the ideas, thoughts and suggestions of others.

See: Starbucks on Twitter; Starbucks on Facebook.

2. Wendy’s

Wendy’s came in second this quarter with an overall RSMI score of 221.9 out of 300 as well as a Klout score matching Starbucks at 84. The RMSI shows a social consumer sentiment score of 59, but shows an incredible 86.5% Twitter growth since 2nd Quarter 2011.

Wendy’s uses social media platforms such as Twitter and Foursquare to offer multiple promotions to it’s consumers by driving traffic to their Facebook pages such as the Frosty’s Facebook Page where they post and actively engage consumers nearly every single day.

See: Wendy’s on Twitter; Wendy’s on Facebook.

3. Chick-fil-A

“Eat Mor Chikin”

Chick-fil-A came in third with an overall RSMI score of 213.0 out of 300 as well as a Klout score of 72. The RMSI shows a social consumer sentiment score that matches Wendy’s at 59 and they are also number 5 in on the list in terms of total Facebook Likes.

Incidentally, the Chick-fil-A Facebook fan page was NOT started by the company. When they decided to start their own Facebook page they realized that there was already a page in existence that was started by a rather enthusiastic fan of the company and already had more that 25,000 fans in place. They are currently co-admins with the orignal creator of the FB page where they leverage this media by offering promotions to consumers as well as engaging and listening to consumer thoughts, comments and concerns. They also utilize their website to give their consumers a voice through their Share Your Chick-Fil-A Story page.

See: Chick-fil-A on Twitter; Chick-fil-A on Facebook.

4. McDonald’s

McDonald’s took fourth this quarter with an overall RSMI score of 195.8 out of 300 as well as a Klout score matching Chick-fil-A at 72. The RMSI shows a social consumer sentiment score of 51, but also shows that they are number 2 in total Facebook likes and number 3 overall in Twitter followers.

McDonald’s recently reintroduced the McRib sandwiches to its menu. I’m sure you’ve seen the commercials of the newlyweds about to embark on their honeymoon. To create a buzz around the product, they have introduced a Facebook game “The Quest for the Golden McRib. Out of curiosity, I tried the game out. It is quite boring to say the least. But hey, nice try. Nonetheless, the director of social media for McDonald’s Corp., Rick Wion seems to get it. He says,

“It’s really not about how many people are following you, it’s about the level of engagement, really the strong connections you are making with customers.”

See: McDonald’s on Twitter; McDonald’s on Facebook.

5. Outback Steakhouse

Finally, the Outback Steakhouse is in fifth place out of 100 with an RSMI score of 192.6 out of 300 and a Klout score of 68. Although the RSMI shows only a social consumer sentiment score of 45, it also shows that they have seen a 54% growth in Twitter followers since last quarter.

Outback posts photos and information every few days on their Facebook Page to entice consumers and to create a buzz around it’s brand. They also actively monitor consumer tweets and Foursquare Check Ins and engage their consumers regularly as the comments are posted by consumers.

See: Outback Steakhouse on Twitter; Outback Steakhouse on Facebook

Conclusion

Gone are the days of relying solely on a real world marketing campaign. Leveraging the power of social media to continually build your brand keeps companies in the minds of their consumers, when done right even building a relationship with consumers. This leads to brand loyalty, good will and increased sales.

If powerhouse companies like McDonald’s and Starbucks are all in with social media shouldn’t you and your company be doing the same? It’s time to take your branding to the next level. With a sharp trademark, a quality product or service and a good social media campaign even modest resources can deliver rewards.

Seven Inappropriate Restaurant Names

The Daily Meal: Leonardo DiCaprio and Blake Lively were spotted this week, according to Page 6, eating lunch side by side at Pink Taco, an upscale Mexican restaurant in Los Angeles. The thing that sucks about Pink Taco, aside from its somehow chauvinist name, is that they recently painted a donkey pink in a publicity stunt that got them a lot of negative attention from animal lovers. But what do you expect from a restaurant with a title like that? Don't answer, it's rhetorical.

The question we did want answered was what other offensive restaurant names are out there. These are a few of our favorites; some are good enough to make Pink Taco blush...

1. Mother Clucker's
Iroquois, Ontario

2. A&K Lick-a-Chick
Bras d'Or, Nova Scotia

3. Dirty Dick's Crab House
Nag's Head, NC

4. Hooters
Every. where.

5. Big Pecker's Bar & Grill
Ocean City, MD

6. Thai Me Up
New York, New York

7. Hung Far Low
Portland, OR

Berlin Restaurant Serves Only Caveman Food

Daily Mail: At first glance, Berlin's Sauvage restaurant looks much like many of the German capital's other trendy eateries.

But take a closer look at the chalkboard out front and you'll discover they are embarking on a culinary shake-up that takes its inspiration from the Stone Age.

Proudly announcing a 'Real Food Revolution - Paleolithic cuisine!', there is no cheese, bread or sugar available, only fare accessible to our hunter-gatherer ancestors more than two million years ago.

The restaurant menu shows a stereotypical image of modern humanity's forbearer, the jutting profile of a hirsute caveman. Inside, diners eat at candle-lit tables with a contemporary cave painting hanging in the background, according to Spiegel Online.

Sauvage, which is also the French word for 'savage' or 'wild,' is part of the Paleolithic diet movement and claims to be first of its kind in Europe. That means serving only organic, unprocessed fruit and vegetables, meat, fish, eggs, nuts, seeds, and herbs.

The truly obsessed build an entire lifestyle around the concept, mimicking caveman-era exercise. This can involve lifting boulders and running barefoot, with some even emulating the blood loss they believe Stone Age hunters might have experienced in pursuit of their dinner by donating blood every few months.

But guests at Sauvage can try 'Paleo' without feeling obligated to take on a strictly Stone Age lifestyle. Sauvage's Boris Leite-Poço told Spiegel Online of the growing interest in caveman cooking.

He said: 'Many people think the Paleolithic diet is just some hipster trend, but it's a worldwide phenomenon, with an online community that spans the globe. The trend is probably strongest in the United States, where people who have had enough of the fast food way of life and generations of illness have taken it up.'

The menu includes salads with olives, capers and pine nuts; gluten-free bread with nut-based butter or olive tapenades; smoked salmon with herb dressing; and other various meat and fish dishes. Gluten- and sugar-free cakes, like a spicy pumpkin pie, are available for those Stone Age diners who don't want to skip desert.

Earlier this year, thousands of people rated the Paleo diet the best way to lose weight, despite a report claiming it was ineffective. A U.S. News and World Report said the regime, otherwise known as the Caveman diet, would 'likely disappoint... and was the least effective for weight loss.'

But a poll beneath the review revealed that 3,292 people said that the diet had worked for them, compared with just 85 who said that it didn't.

Dining Out Alone? There's an App for That!

Washington Post: Heather E. Henderson sat down for lunch one recent afternoon at Bourbon Steak, the Georgetown Four Seasons restaurant where she’s a regular. She ordered raw oysters, Singapore noodles and one of the head bartender’s house-made apple sodas.

Then, she engaged her lunch companion: the iPhone that has commanded — or at least divided — Henderson’s attention on countless eating excursions.

Swipe, tap tap.

Swipe swipe, tap tap tap.

“I’m a multi-tasker,” said Henderson, the 39-year-old co-owner of an event-management company, who was Facebooking and tweeting throughout the meal. “I’m a bit of a foodie, but most of my friends are not. If limited myself to only going out with physical dining companions, I wouldn’t go out nearly as often as I do.”

Dining out alone? There’s an app for that.

In just about any restaurant these days — even fancier places where the multi-course proffer is something like performance art — you’re likely to find parties of one fiddling with their digital devices. (That’s to say nothing of people texting at the table, or otherwise checking their phones, when they’re sharing a meal with others, a related, more widely reviled phenomenon.)

The lonely experience of passively reading while waiting for the bread basket has given way to e-mailing or playing Angry Birds before attacking a 28-ounce, dry-aged, butter-poached slab of prime porterhouse ($65 at Bourbon Steak).

“It’s almost rare now that a single diner will walk in without some type of device,” said Mark Politzer, Bourbon Steak’s general manager. “It’s really changed the experience for single diners. It’s less awkward for them, but they’re more engaged in work or whatever else they’re doing on their device than in having a conversation with us or focusing on the meal.”

The development churns some restaurateurs’ stomachs. At Rogue 24 — a theatrical, envelope-pushing Washington restaurant, where the chefs work at the center of the 52-seat dining room — proprietor R.J. Cooper has even banned electronic devices. But some diners have gone, well, rogue.

“There’s not a lot we can do,” Cooper said. “They’re paying our bills. Here’s the thing: People are so attached to their damn smartphones and tablets that they’re going to use them regardless. We’re not cops about it. We can’t make them turn them off.

“I do understand it gives solo diners something to do besides eat. But we have a lot going on. Our dining experience is so interactive. ... It bothers me if they’re tweeting and Facebooking and not really getting into the experience.”

Politzer, the Bourbon Steak general manager, is more sanguine. In fact, he went shopping recently for cordless chargers that diners could use at their tables. “Ten years ago, I might have found this appalling, but restaurants have to be open-minded and adjust,” he said. “This is a common practice now and it isn’t going away.”

Eric Ziebold sees it all the time from his kitchen at CityZen, his four-star restaurant at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Southwest Washington: Solo diners with smartphones, tablets, even laptops.

Taco Bell Fire-Bombed For Lack of Meat

Meat Shortage?

WESH: "Where's the beef?" took on a whole different meaning after an unsatisfied customer fire-bombed a Taco Bell in Georgia over too little meat in his Chalupas.

The Molotov cocktail left a large burn mark on the wall under the restaurant's drive-through window, Albany, Ga., TV station WALB reported.

A police officer spotted the small fire just before 5 a.m. Sunday.

The restaurant manager told WALB that an irate customer phoned them a few hours earlier to complain over the lack of meat.

The caller made racial slurs and threatened to "redecorate" the building, police said.

Police said they recovered a melted plastic bottle with what's believed to be gasoline inside.

McDonald's to Launch In-Store Channel

Los Angeles Times: McDonald's customers will soon be able to have local school sports, movie previews and heartwarming human interest stories to go with their fries — McTV is here and in high definition.

In one of the most unusual twists in niche programming, the global fast-food chain is launching the McDonald's Channel, a digital network of exclusive original content targeted at dine-in customers. The programming will be customized to specific communities around the individual restaurants, and will include local news and entertainment features, such as spotlights on upcoming films, albums and TV shows.

McDonald's move is part of a broader digital-age strategy by corporate America to create its own platforms to speak directly to customers in an environment uncluttered by other media. Just as individuals have flocked to social media to tell their own stories, McDonald's is the latest in a growing number of image-conscious corporations and institutions that will reach out to consumers by acting as their own studio and network.

"While they're in line getting their hamburger there is no escape," said Allen Adamson, a managing partner of Landor Associates, a firm that specializes in brand building. So-called in-store networks are "one of the last bastions where you have a captive audience," he added.

Indeed, in the era before cable and the Internet, the three broadcast networks — CBS, NBC, and ABC — had a 90% share of the prime-time television audience. Now it is a free-for-all among the broadcast networks, hundreds of cable channels and new competitors for eyeballs such as Netflix, Hulu, YouTube and Facebook.

"The podiums where companies can tell their stories have eroded … after the Super Bowl the list gets very short very fast," Adamson noted.

The McDonald's channel, being rolled out slowly during the next few months and will soon be up in 800 McDonald's restaurants in Southern and Central California, is being spearheaded by ChannelPort Communications LLC, a Los Angeles-based company specializing in entertainment content, technology and brand management. Programming will be anything but low-key and grass-roots: Reality TV mogul Mark Burnett ("Survivor," ""The Apprentice," "The Sing-Off"), BBC America and KABC-TV Eyewitness News are on board to provide content for the new network.

The venture, which has already been tested in L.A., San Diego and Las Vegas, is expected to reach 18 million to 20 million people a month, which ChannelPort executives said would be one of the largest daytime audiences in the region. If successful, the project, which will also include interactive elements on Web and mobile platforms, may expand nationwide.

"The intention is to catch and engage the customer, and then enhance their experience," said Leland Edmondson, founder of ChannelPort. "The McDonald's customer is everyone, and we want not to be passive viewers but to be active and participatory with this network."

The new restaurant TV channel marks another public space where the individual will have trouble escaping the small screen or advertisements. As corporations find new ways to promote themselves, even routine tasks such as taking a cab, pumping gas or riding an elevator require enduring some form of media.

It used to be that "the television didn't move," observed Alison Trope, an associate professor at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism. Now, she said, corporations "can tap into anyone's consumer behavior at every of the day and brand their message."

One key content provider for McDonald's will be Vimby, Burnett's Van Nuys-based digital production company that uses a network of more than 150 filmmakers in 40 cities to generate original programming for the Web, portable devices and television.

"We believe there are so many screens in America that people are able to watch on and aggregate," Burnett said. "And it's more than sitting at home watching TV. Our company can do digital content on a national scale but with a local focus."

The dining areas of participating restaurants will be fitted with two high-definition 42- to 46-inch screens that will be visible from 70% of eating areas. Audio will be heard from the screen or ceiling speakers. Those who do not want to see or hear the channel will be able to eat in "quiet zones."

The programming will be shown in a one-hour cycle consisting of installments or "pods" lasting 20 to 22 minutes. Each component will have several segments that include "The McDonald's Achievers," which will profile local high school and college athletes; "Mighty Moms," a focus on local moms juggling home life with careers in sports such as coaching or training; "McDonald's Channel Music News" about musical acts, tours and new releases; and Burnett's "Vimby," which will cover fashion, art, music, night life, lifestyle and culture news.

About eight minutes an hour will be devoted to advertising, and McDonald's ad participation will be only a minute and a half, Edmondson said: "This network is not intended to be all about McDonald's. It is all about the consumer."

He noted there may be segments about McDonald's centering on features of the food operation or about philanthropy efforts by Ronald McDonald House Charities.

McDonald's executives also see their new channel as a way to make their restaurants more than just a place to grab a quick bite — about 70% of the restaurant's business is drive-though. The programming will offer another reason to spend more time visiting with families and friends in the restaurants, many of which feature playground areas and cafe elements, officials say.

"People today are using our restaurants differently than they have in the past," said Danya Proud, a spokeswoman for McDonald's USA. "They've become more of a destination. With McDonald's restaurants offering Wi-Fi, we've become more relevant and contemporary."

Meet New York's "Coffee Nazi"

New York Post: It was after the third “act of violence” at Ninth Street Espresso (left) in the East Village that owner Ken Nye held a staff meeting. The strict policies of the coffee shop — including the refusal to sell espresso to go — had so enraged one customer that he threw a tip jar across the store in protest.

Now, the to-go espresso “is not a die-hard rule — it’s just a very strong suggestion,” says Nye, who may be the city’s original “coffee nazi,” as he was dubbed by the press when his shop first opened in 2001.

Yes, coffee can incite near-riots for caffeine-starved New Yorkers who want their brew exactly how they’re used to it — and fast. Just ask Alec Baldwin. Last week, the actor threw a tantrum in a Starbucks on 93rd Street over the apparent “attitude problem” of an “uptight barista” who couldn’t get his order right.

But serious — some might say uptight — coffee culture, which has roots in the Pacific Northwest, has been picking up steam in New York. Often referred to as “third-wave coffee,” its proponents take roasted beans as seriously as wine. At these serious locales, you don’t want to order your coffee light and sweet, deli-style. Or commit the sin of drinking your espresso out of a paper cup. (Both ordering habits ruin the flavor.)

Nye, who now operates three Ninth Street Espressos (the first at 700 E. Ninth St.; plus two other locations), is proud to be an early adopter of the specialty coffee movement. “[Ten years ago] there was no commercial coffee culture in NYC,” says the native New Yorker. “Not a single high-end specialty coffee place. It was chain places, delis, diners.”

Still, not everyone appreciates the passion of the self-professed “coffee geek.” When the store opened, “I literally got called a coffee nazi!” he exclaims, still sounding slightly hurt.

“Which, I guess there was truth to, because I would definitely say no to customers on a pretty regular basis. I would say no [to something] every day. But not to be elitist — I would be willing to share my understanding and explain to them why I thought that.”

His most famous “no” was espresso to go. “Espresso over ice was another one. Then there’s just all the clichés created by the big-chain coffee companies, where you can ask for 40 specific things, like ‘tall skinny half-decaf, extra-hot . . .’ We’d just listen to them, let them finish, and we’d just say no. And [then] we’d explain why.”

Alec Baldwin, consider yourself warned.

The Next Hot Beverage Craze: Premium Tea

Daily Finance: Remember when Starbucks was special? Long before there were baristas making lattes at every corner, premium coffee really was an exclusive sipping experience.

It's a different world these days. You can now get a pretty darn good cup of joe from doughnut shops, smoothie stands, and even drive-through burger joints. You also don't even have to leave home anymore. Green Mountain Coffee Roasters championed the Keurig platform, where you're only a K-cup refill and a push of a button away from a single cup of freshly brewed exotic java.

Wouldn't it be neat if there was a ground-floor opportunity for another hot beverage on the rise? What if there were a play in premium tea, paralleling where Starbucks was more than a decade ago?

Say hello to Teavana.

Tea in the Teavana for Two
If Teavana isn't a household name it's because the company just went public a month ago. There are only 179 locations, but they're coming along quickly. Teavana expects to open 50 new stores this fiscal year.

Teavana isn't a teahouse the way that Starbucks is a coffeehouse. Teavana is a mall retailer, selling the fancy tea-making equipment and stocking more than 100 varieties of loose-leaf teas.

Teavana isn't cheap, but it's clicking with well-to-do mall shoppers. Net sales climbed 36% to $31.3 million in its latest quarter, fueled by heady expansion and an 8.7% increase in comparable-store sales. Margins widened, with earnings soaring 78% higher.

We're still early in Teavana's growth cycle. The ritzy retailer added 18 new stores during its latest quarter, targeting 50 new openings for the entire fiscal year. It also just announced a development deal to get its stores going in the Middle East under a largely risk-free franchising program.

In short, there's still plenty of upside here.

Hot beverages Are Heating Up
Consumer appetite for warm drinks has never been hotter. Dunkin' Donuts parent Dunkin' Brands (DNKN) was a scorching IPO this summer, more on the strength of its popular brews than its Bavarian cream-filled treats. However, premium coffee is already everywhere. Stroll the supermarket aisle and you'll find dozens -- if not hundreds -- of premium blends available. An appreciation for more than just traditional or green tea is just starting to percolate.

Teavana isn't cheap. It trades for less than 60 times the $0.42 a share to $0.44 a share it's targeting to earn this year. Starbucks, on the other hand, only fetches 25 times this year's projected profitability.

Teavana also won't corner the market on premium teas. Starbucks has its Tazo line of teas. Green Mountain offers several flavors of tea that brew perfectly well in its single-cup coffee brewers. However, few will go out on the kind of limb that Teavana has in building its model entirely on the tea beverage.

I appreciate Starbucks, and I can see it at the very least keeping up with the market over the next few years. Teavana, on the other hand, is taking homerun-caliber swings -- and swigs -- in the on-deck circle.

I'll stick with Teavana.

Fukuburger Hitting the Streets in Los Angeles

Vegas Chatter: Vegas food trucks got prime time exposure over the weekend when the latest episode of "The Great Food Truck Race" on the Food Network ended up featuring quite a few of the city's best meals on wheels. Now at least one popular food truck is making tracks to Hollywood to seek even greater fame and fortune.


Fukuburger is hitting the road with plans to roll into LA this September, but Vegas foodies shouldn't mourn the loss of its mouth-watering burgers. The food truck will stay in Sin City, but Fukuburger -- the restaurant -- will pop up near Sunset and Hollywood. The eatery will have 60 seats and will serve full-size versions of the sliders we've come to love.

Fukuburger first hit the streets of Vegas last July. In case you've ever wondered in between mouthfuls, fuku means "luck" in Japanese.

Florida Waitress Swindled Customers for $5,000

New York Daily News: It's just one more reason to be kind to your server.

Kathryn Shana'e Perez, 25, told Pasco County detectives she used credit card skimming device on overly-demanding diners at a Mugs N Jugs restaurant in Port Richey, Fla.

"During an interview, she identified the people she skimmed as the ones who ran her around, made her work real hard," Detective John Suess told local television station WTSP 10 News. "Maybe she's scared of a hard day's work."

Detectives say the waitress got the tiny skimming device from her cousin, 25-year-old Brandon Quillen, who used the information she ripped off to make new credit cards.

He gave the fraudulent credit cards to his ex-girlfriend, 22-year-old Rebecca Pixton, who used them to buy more than $5,000 worth of stuff from Radio Shack and Walmart.

She sold the goods for cash, detectives said.

Perez is believed to have used the skimming device to rip off at least nine diners between May 30 and June 23, but police said there could be more victims.

One victim, Denise Remington, said her bank account was nearly depleted after her credit card racked up more than $3,000 in fraudulent charges.

Remington, who once worked in a bank's fraud department, told WTSP that Perez wasn't exactly the most attentive waitress.

"She couldn't look you in the face when she waited on you. She didn't greet you. She took a long time to come back to the table. She didn't say thank you," she said.

Perez, Quillen and Pixton all face multiple charges, including fraudulent use of a credit card.

Chicago Burger King Closed for Insect Infestation

Chicago Burger King

My Fox Chicago: Do you want flies with that? The city has closed a South Side Burger King with so many flying insects that inspectors were “afraid to open their mouths.”

The Dumpster Task Force closed the Burger King at 1701 W. 95th St. Tuesday because of a flying insect problem so bad that one inspector said they were afraid to open their mouths during the inspection, according to a statement from the city’s Department of Streets & Sanitation.

More than 200 flying insects of various types were found throughout the eatery on the walls, ceilings, clean dish shelving, around the sink, in the food storage area, in a dry storage area, on the tubing of boxes of soft drink syrup and in front of the drive-up window, the city said. A wasp nest was also found just over the rear door.

Additionally, an outside grease container was encrusted with grease on the lip and grip, and grease was found splattered on the ground and on the wall behind the container, the city said.

“Pest control was woefully inadequate and poor housekeeping fueled the infestation of flying insects at the Burger King near 95th and Ashland,” said Josie Cruz, deputy commissioner of Street & Sanitation’s Bureau of Rodent Control. “We closed this location for the critical violation of inadequate pest control and they won’t be allowed to reopen until they clean and pest-proof their restaurant, revamp their pest control and housekeeping plans, and then pass a tough re-inspection.”

The Dumpster Task Force, created in 1994 to assist with the enforcement of sanitation code, learned of the insect problem from a complaint.

Iowa Restaurant Offers 'Obama Burgers'

WQAD: The chalk sign outside the Barrel House welcomed President Obama on Tuesday, with the new downtown bar and eatery cooking up "Obama Burgers" in honor of the President's overnight stay at the Hotel Blackhawk, one block away.

"I did a little research and found out he's a big fan of brown mustard. We are using local favorite, Boetje's, and we do a little kick and add on fried jalapenos on the top of it," said restaurant owner Michael DeWitte.

"I've been tweeting him all day, throwing it out there'', said DeWitte. "To have the President of the United States come here, would be a dream come true. Or carry-out, he can get it to go."

Starbucks' Secret Menu

Captain Crunch Frappuccino

MyGloss: We know that many chain restaurants have secret menus — most Los Angeles-area fans of In & Out Burger are well aware of the chain’s infamous “secret menu” which isn’t that big of a secret anymore. But Starbucks’ secret menu? That was news that our friends over at TheDailyMeal.com shared with us.

So what’s on Starbucks’ secret menu? Here’s a quick look at a few of the items — head over to TheDailyMeal.com’s slideshow for a full list and a closer look.

Chocolate Dalmatian — A White Chocolate Mocha with java chips and chocolate chips sprinkled in.

Cake Batter Frappuccino — Perhaps a little deceptively named, as there are no actual piece of cake or cake batter in it, this beverage adds vanilla and almond syrup to a Vanilla Frappuccino.

Green Eye — A Red Eye or Black Eye, sure — that’s one and two extra shots of espresso in a regular drip, respectively. But those that go for green get a sure-to-jack-you-up three shots of espresso boost to their cup of coffee.

Zebra Mocha — Sometimes also called a “Penguin Mocha,” this drink combines the white chocolate mocha with the regular mocha for those who can’t pick a favorite. Or, if you really want to take it to the next level, ask to have raspberry flavoring added for something called the “Red Tux” Mocha

Captain Crunch Frappuccino —Fans say that the combination of hazelnut syrup (though some folks contend it should be toffee nut) in a Strawberries and Creme Frappuccino is a dead ringer for the flavor of Captain Crunch cereal.

No Extra Charge...

The Smoking Gun: About a week before Dunkin’ Donuts made it’s initial public offering, a New Hampshire employee of the donut and coffee chain made a very different--very foul--offering of another sort to two cops.

According to a Jaffrey Police Department affidavit, when Detective Joseph Hileman and Lieutenant Terry Choate stopped by Dunkin’ Donuts for coffee on June 19, server Christopher Hildreth grabbed cups and headed to the back of the store to fill their order. This the cops found “odd as they had never seen him go to the back of the store to make coffee in the past.”

Watching Hildreth, 20, on a monitor in the front of the restaurant that allows a view to the back of the store, they observed him make their beverage and then allegedly “put nasal mucus into their coffees.”

Believing there was snot in their drink, they contacted the manager who joined them in a viewing of the store’s surveillance tape which made it "even more obvious that he placed nasal mucous into their coffees.”

Hildreth was fired and then hit with two misdemeanor counts of attempted assault. He will be arraigned in district court on September 15 for his repulsive act.

The World's Most Expensive Hot Dog?

At $80, the new foot-long 'McMullen Dog' at Brockton Roxstadium in Massachusetts may be the world’s most expensive hot dog. Food and beverage manager Sander Scotland describes it as "redneck meets the rich and famous.'

According to Scotland, the McMullen Dog was named after Atlantic City chef Ryan McMullen who came up with the idea. The offering features a half-pound all-beef sausage rolled in truffle oil, coated with the dust of pulverised porcini mushrooms and topped with white truffle shavings.

The roll is hand-made buckwheat blini from one of Cape Cod's most exclusive bakeries. Instead of the usual ketchup and mustard, the McMullen comes with a caviar and creme fraiche dressing and salmon roe.

World's most expensive hotdog: MyFoxBOSTON.com

McDonalds to Supersize for London Olympics

Daily Mail: Hungry London 2012 Olympic spectators look set to pile on the calories when the world's biggest McDonald's opens in time for next summer's games.

Having worked up an appetite, Olympic ticket holders will be able to feast on Big Macs and fries, served up at the Supersize two-storey outlet, set to open at Stratford's Olympic Park site.

The 3,000-square-metre restaurant will dwarf the other 32,000 stores across the globe, and will be one of FOUR McDonald's, including one located in the athlete's village.

The junk food retailer is set to employ 470 staff, who will serve an estimated 50,000 Big Macs and 100,000 portions of fries during the games, and make an additional 30,000 milkshakes.

The fast food outlet's UK chief executive Jill McDonald has called the announcement 'hugely exciting.'

Meanwhile, Olympic chiefs have moved quickly to reject claims that the new McDonald's will deter from aims to promote a healthy and active lifestyle, which London chiefs have been pushing since winning the Olympic bid.

A member of the Olympics team told the Daily Mail: 'McDonald's has been a committed Olympic sponsor and has a wide range of programs to encourage people to keep fit.

'There will also be a wide range of foods available to members of the public.'

The fast food chain are set to announce details of their new flagship store today.

Next year's London Olympics will be the ninth consecutive games where McDonald's has acted as the event's official restaurant and the only branded food service retailer feeding the athletes.

In April, McDonald's reported a soar in global profit of $1.2bn (£730m), up 10.9 per cent from the previous year with revenue rising by 9 per cent to $6.1bn.

Taco Bell Manager Serves Up F-Bomb

NewYork Post: His exit strategy was strictly outside the bun.

A fed-up Taco Bell manager who had a simmering beef with his bosses got even with an F-bomb resignation beaming from the drive-in's sign.

In neon letters, the disgusted worker wrote: "I quit - Adam / f--k you," and signed it with a smiling emoticon.

Adam, a shift manager at the Depew Taco Bell/KFC outlet near Niagara Falls in upstate Erie County, claimed he had allegedly worked 22 days straight and wanted time off for the Fourth of July, a worker told WIVB-TV.

The night manager got hot under the chalupa when his bosses refused to give him a break, even though other employees were give the day off.

That's when Adam, whose last name was not released, decided to take the job and shove it on the lit-up message board.

Thursday, Adam broadcast his notice of resignation, mostly to delighted passers-by.

"This is how you should quit your job," one appreciative wag tweeted yesterday.