Meet the "menu engineers" who optimize restaurant revenue. Consider the restaurant menu.
How assigned seats on Southwest Airlines could work: Wall Street analyst - Business Insider. This electric bike experiment could change how we design cities. “Sorry about the smell; it’s not usually this bad.”
- The Washington Post. Afar. In Europe, a tip is still considered a bonus for excellent service, as opposed to an integral part of someone’s livelihood, as it is in the United States.
For the most part, people working in Europe’s hospitality industry are either salaried or paid minimum wage (or more) and don’t depend directly on customers’ tips for a large part of their income. That said, tips are certainly widespread and widely appreciated by staff. While best practices in tipping in restaurants and hotels vary somewhat by country, here are a few simple rules that will serve you well almost anywhere in Europe. The basics Make sure the tip isn’t already included. In countries around Europe, a 10 to 15 percent service charge is generally included in your bill. Always tip in cash. Even if you pay your bill with a credit card, you should always have some smaller bills or coins for a cash tip.
The Mountain West Is Experiencing A Second Gold Rush. This Time They’re Mining Bitcoin. Theonion. The world's billionaires have so much money it's hard to fathom — here's how their spending compares to the rest of us. Shocker: Democrats’ predictions about the GOP tax cut are coming true. The U.S. government is set to borrow nearly $1 trillion this year, an 84 percent jump from last year. The National Debt Clock in New York City is shown last November.
The total is about $100 billion higher now. Oregon is producing three times more marijuana than it can consume. Oregon is producing three times more marijuana than it can consume with “formidable” amounts now ending up on the black market, officials have warned.
US Attorney Billy Williams told law enforcement representatives from across the US on Friday that the state, where recreational cannabis use is legal, had a serious overproduction problem. Mr Williams said officials needed a "bottom-line answer" on how much excess marijuana was being produced and how much of it ends up on the black market. In pictures: 4/20 Marijuana world rallies In a local newspaper column last month, the attorney warned huge surpluses were attracting criminal networks, causing money laundering and drug violence. Authorities in 16 other states have reported seizing marijuana produced in Oregon, while postal agents have intercepted more than 2,600 pounds of cannabis (1,179kg) and $1.2m (£850,000) in associated cash. Early Bird Specials in South Florida Are Dying, Thanks to Baby Boomers. The east coast of South Florida feels like purgatory.
There’s Miami, and there are beaches, but drive for 20 minutes outside of either, and it’s just vast plains of boxy, beige retirement villages, distinguishable only by their names, which all sound like euphemisms for a place you go when you die — Valencia Isles, Windward Palms, Mangrove Bay — and the relative elaborateness of their welcome fountains. The sky is a flat blue, and the temperature ranges from a chilled 62 degrees indoors to a muggy 85 degrees outside. Entire strip malls have been colonized by medical centers, generically advertising “Eye Care” or “Dermatology,” and every home purchase comes with a subscription to Nostalgic America magazine.
Facebook and Google are doomed, George Soros says. 11 American companies that are no longer American. Home - MacroPolo. Legal Weed Isn’t The Boon Small Businesses Thought It Would Be. The business of selling legal weed is big and getting bigger.
On the Darknet, Reputation Is Everything. Trust used to be a very personal thing: You went on the recommendations of your friends or friends of friends.
By finding ways to extend that circle of trust exponentially, technology is expanding markets and possibilities. Consider the darknet. It is creating trust between the unlikeliest of characters, despite a heavy cloak of anonymity. What the CVS-Aetna merger could mean for health care deals, drug prices, and Amazon.
CVS Health has agreed to buy Aetna for about $69 billion.
The merger, if completed, would be the largest health insurance deal on record and would combine the biggest US drugstore chain with the third-largest health insurer. It represents a new type of experiment in health care industry consolidation. Behind the Bottle: Vitalie Taittinger Pulls Back the Curtain on Her Family's Evolving Champagne Empire. For a nearly 300-year-old enterprise, the Taittinger Champagne house behaves remarkably like a startup.
It’s thanks in part to Vitalie Taittinger, the art school-trained daughter of the business’s president, Pierre-Emmanuel Taittinger. For the past 11 years, Vitalie has helped steer the company toward new and exciting possibilities. It’s something that might have seemed impossible just over a decade ago when Champagne Taittinger slipped from family hands and into those of an American private investment firm, a devastating move that to many aficionados seemed at odds with producing high-quality Champagne. One year and considerable maneuvering later, the elder Taittinger succeeded in wresting back control of the company.
Ever since, the family has labored to restore Champagne Taittinger to its former glory — and then some. Mr. Money Mustache, UBER Driver. Special Surprise: Did you know there is now an MMM Android App? It’s really good. Beautiful offline reading. Found: a viable, alternative model of the firm? In recent years, many things have gone wrong with the conventional ways of organising and conducting business. And the problems persist; indeed they have spread and become endemic. Dollar General Hits a Gold Mine in Rural America - Bloomberg. On a Friday in April, Bob Tharp, the mayor of Decatur, Ark., takes me to see what used to be the commercial heart of his town. There isn’t much to look at beyond the husk of a Walmart Express: 12,000 square feet of cinder block painted in different shades of brown.
The glass doors are locked, as they’ve been for 14 months. “For so many people in this town, to have to see this empty building every day, they couldn’t drive by without getting tears in their eyes,” Tharp recalls. The store had opened on a frigid morning in January 2015, just days into his mayorship. “Pinch yourself and it is true,” he’d posted on Facebook the night before. Economy Of Vacation Town Apparently Entirely Run By Overwhelmed High Schoolers. OCEAN CITY, NJ—Noting the total absence of adults with any apparent role in local commerce, visitors to Ocean City, New Jersey, told reporters Friday that the economy of the vacation town seemed run entirely by overwhelmed high schoolers. 10 Things You Learn In Restaurant School - Food Republic. After almost five years spent working on the editorial team at Food Republic, I devoted my last nine months to a full-time, graduate-degree program studying Restaurant Management at the Institute of Culinary Education in New York City.
While in school, which was targeted towards eventual first-time restaurant owners, I learned about the day-to-day operations of the business side of restaurants via units such as menu design and concept, marketing, food safety, staff management, purchasing, financials and accounting and wine certification. Germany is successful and happy because its values are the opposite of Silicon Valley's — Quartz. Here’s How Much of Your Taxes Have Gone To Wars. Previously unreported Pentagon data shows how much the average U.S. taxpayer has paid for combat operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, and now Syria. Toshiba empire crumbles as talent, morale drain away- Nikkei Asian Review. TOKYO -- Toshiba on Wednesday finally decided to sell its prized memory unit to a consortium led by U.S. investment fund Bain Capital, with South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix and Apple also on board.
But the Japanese conglomerate faces a fresh set of challenges, including possible legal action and damage to key assets. Psmag. Japanese land prices still shaking off deflation- Nikkei Asian Review. TOKYO -- Even as prices of Japan's commercial and industrial land finally bottom out after more than two decades of deflation, the residential real estate market still struggles to make gains outside urban areas. An annual government report released Tuesday shows the average price of residential land nationwide down 0.6% in the year through July 1. How Restaurants Are Adapting to the Food Delivery Boom - Eater. Hurricanes Harvey and Irma Will Relieve the Fed's Financial Woes. The Federal Reserve may get its wish for inflation.
What’s The Deal With Pappy Van Winkle? The Bizarre Story of Piggly Wiggly, the First Self-Service Grocery Store. Self-serve grocery stores saved shoppers money and made financial sense. 10 Coolest Brothels & Bordellos (brothels) 8 Worst Business Screw-ups (business fails) Why WeWork Thinks It's Worth $20 Billion. House flippers triggered the US housing market crash, not poor subprime borrowers.
U.S. retailers hit as immigration worries weigh on Hispanic spending. Start Saving Now: Half of U.S. Wineries Will Be Up for Sale Within 5 Years. The Ruthless Lives of ‘Social Influencers’ Zahav Settles Servers’ Tip-Sharing Lawsuit for $230K - Eater. Increasingly anti-business, Republicans have just about dismantled the Texas Miracle. As California’s labor shortage grows, farmers race to replace workers with robots - Los Angeles Times. During ‘Made in America Week,’ President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club applies to hire 70 foreign workers.
One in eight U.S. homes uses a programmed thermostat with a central air conditioning unit - Today in Energy - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) Self-Disruption or Self-Destruction — Can Wall Street Tame the Blockchain? How Panera Pioneered Fast-Casual Dining - Eater. What It Means to Be a Working-Class Clothing Brand in America Today. Men and Republicans Are the Best Tippers - Bloomberg. What happened when Walmart left. Theconversation. Which State Is Most Dependent on Government? - Foundation for Economic Education - Working for a free and prosperous world. Senate Bill: Do Premiums Go Up or Down? - FactCheck.org. How Maine Has Managed an Amazing Lobster Comeback. President Trump’s claim Medicaid spending in Senate health bill ‘actually goes up’ Guess What? There Are No Cuts in Medicaid - Foundation for Economic Education - Working for a free and prosperous world.
What It Actually Costs to Open a Restaurant in San Francisco - Eater SF. Uniform Controversy Just Latest Headache for Tailored Brands - Bloomberg. The Practical Case Against Most Volunteer Work - Foundation for Economic Education - Working for a free and prosperous world. The Market Is Necessary, but Not Sufficient, for Virtue - Foundation for Economic Education - Working for a free and prosperous world. The death of the electric guitar - Washington Post. A ‘very credible’ new study on Seattle’s $15 minimum wage has bad news for liberals. Visualizing the global income distribution. Picking up the slack in chile cultivation. Millennials are killing chains like Buffalo Wild Wings and Applebee's. Taibbi on Republicans and Democrats Blocking Drug Reimportation - Rolling Stone.
Gaius Publius: The Dying Fossil Fuel Industry. Opinion: $25 oil is coming, and along with it, a new world order. Can We Really Eat Invasive Species into Submission? Obama, Geithner and the Missing Six Trillion Dollars. Your Friendly Neighborhood Drug Dealer. F*ck the Poor: An Experiment in Compassion. The State, the Deep State, and the Wall Street Overworld. Jaron Lanier: The Internet destroyed the middle class. The Rise of Anti-Capitalism. Stop Currency Manipulation and Create Millions of Jobs: With Gains across States and Congressional Districts. The Math That Predicted the Revolutions Sweeping the Globe Right Now. The Economics of Star Trek — Editor's Picks. James Surowiecki: The End of Brand Loyalty. Peak shopping and the decline of traditional retail.
As Inequality Worsens, Millionaires Are Pulling Up the Drawbridge Behind Them. The sub-prime crisis was predictable, and we're making the same mistakes again. Why the multimillion dollar retirement is not for the middle class. Capitalism vs. Democracy. Capitalism vs. Democracy. A Prosperous China vs An Imperial US. Recent Study Shows That Wine Ratings Hurt Consumers. The mystery of China’s fading inflation, explained - Quartz. Excellent Lecture on Our Indefinite Growth Based Economic System: Problems and Solutions with David Harvey.
Financial astrology: can the stars affect stocks? Silicon Chasm. Massive Fire Started By Angry Workers Destroys Factory That Supplied To Gap, Wal-Mart In Bangladesh. Bitcoin Explained: FAQ For Newcomers. The Bitcoin Bubble, or Is It? Two Charts, Historical Price Movement, and the Conspiracy. The Looting of America. Switzerland To Vote On Radically Limiting CEOs' Pay Nationwide. The Biggest Scam In The History Of Mankind (Debt Ceiling Truth) The Man Who Lives Without Money. Rather than savage cuts, Switzerland considers “Star Trek” economics. U.S. Shutdown May Be Driving Traffic To 'Sugar Daddy' Sites : All Tech Considered.