"chains" news and stories

Photo: Buffalo Wild Wings

A weekly look at the draft selections in beer-friendly establishments across the country.

Craft beer at corporate chains? It may seem a bit like an oxymoron, but a lot of restaurants could learn a lesson from national eatery Buffalo Wild Wings.

Franchises in the Buffalo Wild Wings family are able to stock whichever beers they like, so when Sam Hookway took over as bar manager at the Indianapolis location back in February, he had one thing in mind: "to have the best draft beer selection in the city."

Since the restaurant is part of a large, nationwide chain, Coors, Miller and Bud Light will probably always top the Buffalo sales list, but Hookway saw opportunities in other areas: "I got rid of beers like Peroni and Molson, which aren't that different from the other light lagers we sell."

The plan has worked: About half the beer they sell is craft, enticing patrons who might otherwise not frequent such an establishment. And how about beer lovers who scoff at the notion of sipping indie suds on a corporate-controlled stool? "That's a battle I've been trying to fight," Hookway says.

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Effective immediately, a federal appeals court says that all New York restaurants must post their food's caloric information on menu boards, and should begin no later than tonight at midnight.

The bill will apply only to restaurants with 15 establishments or more, and demands that the calorie counts be printed in the same font and size as normal menu information (even if this means making the rest of the menu's text teeny-tiny).

Fines will be instated beginning July 18 if restaurant owners do not comply with the new law.

Restaurant owners will fight out the case again in court on June 9, when the showdown will likely begin again.

Source

Don't you hate it when you're sitting down in a Jack In the Box with a Sourdough Jack, large bacon cheese potato wedges and a Diet Coke and suddenly you get this urge to, oh, I don't know? -- check out who's left messages on your wall on Facebook -- and you can't get online?

Don't you hate that?

Not to worry anymore, as is it is seems that Jack in the Box actually offers free wi fi in their restaurants. All you have to do is look for a giant TV screen, snatch the five-digit code off the screen, and get online. It's not a rumor, because the wi-fi is actually available according to Knowzy, but Jack In the Box has not officially confirmed.

[via: Knowzy]

Speaking of fast food, we feel the need to take this moment and talk about burgers, and not just burgers, but a new burger that will be showing up on the Wendy's menu next year. It's the Philly Style Hoagie Burger, created by Ian Van Camp when Wendy's put out a challenge to the people to create a burger this past Spring.

Now, we're going to try to judge, but really, whom are we kidding? We're Slashfoodies and we're a little bit opinionated about food, particularly when it comes to piling salami and ham onto existing two -- not one, but two -- burger patties. Really? Really?

Now, we aren't saying that Ian's creation is a bad one. In fact, we are quite tempted to go out in the December weather, fire up our grills, and make this burger ourselves for our next Holiday BBQ, but really? Was salami and ham the most creative burger that we could come up with when there are far more interesting things to put on a burger like deep fried onion rings or in the burger to global-flavor-ify it like soy sauce? Of course not! There had to have been hundreds of thousands of entries, so does that mean the voting public chose the Philly Style Hoagie Burger?

The real question is, are salami and ham ingredients in a Philly Style Hoagie Burger?!?!

We are perplexed, but will re-visit when we see the burger on the menus.