The toilets in higher-end eateries have become seriously designed conceptual comfort stations, with restaurants attempting to outdo one another. Relieve yourself at The Federalist in the XV Beacon hotel on Beacon Hill, and you’ll find a grotto atmosphere of cobblestones, discreet stalls with floor-to-ceiling doors, and white porcelain sinks raised off the counter so no spills dampen clothing or purses. With two-ply toilet paper rolling freely and waffled-cloth hand towels amusingly stacked like mini Mayan temples, the Fed has got to be Boston’s poshest public powder room, followed by The Four Seasons, with new restaurant Sibling Rivalry in the running. [Read more…] about The throne room .. no kidding
Archives for December 2004
Milk's Makeover
https://www.qsrmagazine.com/issue/69/milk.phtml
Today milk is the second most popular beverage in America and number one in homes, according to Milk PEP. Indeed, it seems milk is everywhere, featured on television and in magazines and filling the shelves in convenience stores and supermarkets. There are even single-serve milk vending machines. But there is one place where milk remains conspicuously absent : restaurants.
Sure, there have been a few isolated incidents, but for the most part, milk’s place in foodservice has been in crates in the back of the kitchen. Kurt Graetzer, CEO of Milk PEP, says that while milk is present in 97 percent of restaurants, it only represents a 5 percent volume share of all beverage sales. But how could this be, one might ask.
Showing the Frennch how to run a cafe….
Paris exceeds Starbucks’ expectations
Starbucks brewed its first cup of coffee in Paris in January, and by month’s end will have nine stores up and running in the French capital. “We have a solid and sound basis that operates well,” says Starbucks’ general manager of the Paris operations. The coffeehouse chain has no plans to expand into other areas of France at this time.