Food & Beverage News

Restaurants, and other companies in the United States, with fewer than 500 employees are now required to pay employees who miss work due to issues related to the novel coronavirus pandemic, following the signing into law on March 18 of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. That includes sick leave and, in most cases, leave…

In the battle to keep their New York City restaurant going despite sharp restrictions during the coronavirus outbreak, the owners of Il Posto Accanto tried something Beatrice Tosti di Valminuta would have considered sacrilege in normal times. That was offering their traditional Italian dishes for delivery “which never, never, never, ever, ever, ever happened before,”…

The Institute of Food Technologists has canceled the IFT20 annual meeting and food expo due to the evolving coronavirus (COVID-19) situation. The event was scheduled for July 12-15 at McCormick Place in Chicago. IFT20 will now take place as a “virtual event experience,” said Pam Coleman, president of the IFT. “Working in an industry responsible…

Organizers of the annual National Restaurant Association Show have canceled the 2020 convention in Chicago over coronavirus pandemic uncertainty, they said. The organizers, in a post to the show’s website said they were making the decision “after many weeks of monitoring the evolving situation” by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Illinois governor’s…

Grubhub on Friday announced it is temporarily suspending collection of up to $100 million in commission payments from impacted independent restaurants nationwide. The suspension is in response to the impact of COVID-19 on restaurants. Statistics vary, but some estimate that dine-in traffic is expected to slow up to 75% over the next few weeks. “Independent restaurants are the…

After a rocky few years involving a multimillion-dollar family Lawsuit and a family bankruptcy, storied steakhouse chain the Palm is no longer in the hands of the family who launched it in New York City 93 years ago. Massive Houston-based Landry’s — billionaire Tilman Fertitta’s company behind restaurants ranging from Morton’s the Steakhouse to Rainforest Cafe — has purchased the…

With markets roiled once again over the coronavirus pandemic, public restaurant companies saw their share prices continue to slide. At midday, the Dow 30 was down more than 9%, the Nasdaq down more than 8% and the S&P 500 — which triggered a technical halt in trading earlier Thursday, following another one Monday — was…

Leaders at restaurant chains began reaching out to customers via email about the coronavirus, providing information on how their companies are responding to the pandemic. Every brand emphasized heightened cleaning and hygiene standards. At McDonald’s, that includes “enhancing our McDelivery procedures to ensure order packaging remains safe” before it’s filled, according to a letter sent…

McDonald’s has canceled its in-person biennial convention for its worldwide franchisees due to the coronavirus outbreak. The four-day event, scheduled for April, was supposed to take place in Orlando, Florida. It will now occur virtually. CFO Kevin Ozan told analysts on the earnings call in January that the convention typically costs between $25 million to…

Early day impacts from the coronavirus outbreak are starting to show for restaurant operators. Industry insights platform Black Box Intelligence released Wednesday a special update outlining some of COVID-19’s effect so far. It’s the first of what Black Box said will be weekly snapshots monitoring the situation. The next is planned for March 17. Here…