Where does the U.S.’ uneaten food go? Every year the country’s 312.7 million people are disposing of approximately 80 billion lb. of food waste—that’s more than 250 lb. of food per person being thrown out and buried in landfills annually.The National Restaurant Association has partnered with the Grocery Manufacturers Association and the Food Marketing Institute…

While much of the country digs out of the snow, California is facing a severe drought, likely the worst and most prolonged period of dry weather since record-keeping began there more than 100 years ago. The state had no precipitation in January, normally its rainy month, and state officials say California’s reservoirs are 20% lower…

The national dialogue to raise the minimum wage, boosted by legislation in more than a dozen states, continues in the United States. But the conversation and controversy are not confined to the U.S. The Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association is warning that the Ontario government’s boost to the minimum wage will result in fewer jobs…

It just got a little easier to navigate the rules, regulations and red tape of the New York restaurant scene for the city’s diverse operators. An updated version of the Restaurant Owner Manual provides user-friendly guidance to more than 24,000 operators and their largely immigrant workforces on the how-tos of operating within New York. The…

Apparently, a lot of voices want to be heard on regulating trans fat. Because of a larger-than-anticipated number of stakeholder requests for speaking time, the U.S. Federal Drug Administration is adding another 60 days to the comment period on its preliminary determination that partially hydrogenated oils, the primary dietary source of artificial trans fat in…

New Year’s Day brought good tidings and higher hourly wages for workers in the 13 states that increased their minimum wage on Jan. 1. Of the 2.56 million workers estimated to benefit from the increase, 1.4 million will be directly impacted as they currently earn the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour and will…

California is taking it slow on the state’s new law banning bare-hand contact with prepared food. At the urging of the California Restaurant Association, the two agencies in charge of enforcing the new law (the California Department of Public Health and the California Conference of Directors of Environmental Health) agreed to implement a six-month “soft”…

Thousands of restaurant and foodservice managers across Illinois who are just starting to navigate changes to the state’s Food Handling Regulation Enforcement Act are getting some help from a partnership between the Illinois Restaurant Association and the National Restaurant Association’s ServSafe food-safety certification program. The act, passed last August, makes changes to existing requirements for…

After victories in his battles against tobacco, trans fats and soda, outgoing New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is waging one last battle with his city’s restaurant industry. His administration is pressuring the City Council to ban foam packaging, such as cups and takeout containers, from stores and restaurants.   Last February, the mayor said…

As we wrote after our annual FER President’s Preview E&S Market Forecast meeting in late July, we are quite optimistic about growth of the foodservice equipment and supplies market next year. John Muldowney (our forecasting partner and a marketing executive at The Boelter Cos.) and I forecast current dollar growth of 4.8% for the E&S…