The Biggest Restaurant News of 2019

A roundup of some of the most important happenings of the year. For Food and Wine.

Rachael Ray Has A New Cookbook, A New Show, And Soon You Can Order Her Food

Rachael Ray has a lot of balls in the air, but occasionally one of them falls.

Sun Basket To Close Midwest Plant And Focus on Profitability

On Friday, June 7th, Sun Basket closed one of its three packing facilities to make way for automation

Selling Garlic Noodles to the Rich and Famous

At Thanh Long and Crustacean, the An family changed how America saw Asian cuisine. For Eater

Tenacious Women Make Veuve Clicquot's Champagne Taste So Good

Discover Gaelle Goosens and Madame Clicquot, two woman winemakers determined to beat the odds.

Food & Wine's Best New Chefs 2019 Are Decisively Diverse, But Mostly Delicious

This list of impressive culinarians includes folks from all walks of life, but the progress is not the point. The food is.

Want To Minimize Your Food Waste? There's A Company For That

Quest is saving the planet by helping brands figure out where they're making mistakes. 

Can Food and VR Combine to Create Art?

At her "Asian in America" dinner series, Chef Jenny Dorsey blurs the lines. 

Alison Roman Wants You To Use Better Kitchen "Materials"

Celebrity recipe developer Alison Roman is now a strategic adviser to the hot kitchenware brand. 

Women Changing Culinary Culture One Meal At A Time

Discover The Table, a group of women working to create leaders in the kitchen

Curbing Food Waste at the Bar

How can increased communication allow restaurant brands to waste less food and make more creative drinks?

How Does Trevor James Travel the World Eating for a Living?

Get the inside scoop on The Food Ranger, a YouTuber who showcases the best of international street food.

Can Coffee Leaf Tea Change The World?

Wize Monkey makes tea out of coffee leaves, which could change the multibillion dollar industry forever.

Is Resy's Acquisition of Reserve a Win for Restaurants?

Resy has built its brand on treating restaurants as partners, and they hope to continue doing it with the acquisition of Reserve.  

Blake Tomnitz and Five Boroughs Brewing

How did one young entrepreneur go from homebrewing in his dorm to the Forbes 30 Under 30?

Can New Tech "Clarifi" the Restaurant Industry?

I speak with David Cantu of HotSchedules about their new integrated restaurant product, Clarifi.

How To Cake It: Sweet Success on YouTube 

When their Food Network show was canceled, this 3-woman-team turned to YouTube.

What the Heck is Battle Chef Brigade?

I review a weird and wonderful video game about cooking and saving the world, for Vice.

Arby's Head of Sandwiches

Arby's is in the midst of a big rebranding, so here's some musings on their new ads.

Masienda Heritage Corn

Corn is America's favorite crop. Did you know it comes in colors other than yellow? 

Hosting an Orgy? This 1970s Cookbook Has You Covered.

The remarkable story behind Cooking for Orgies and Other Large Parties. For LitHub.

At Wynn Las Vegas, Sandy Shi Serves Serious Dumplings With A Smile

Discover the intrepid dim sum chef whose permanent grin only disappears in the kitchen.

The Hilarity and Humanity of Hot Ones

On Hot Ones celebrities have no choice but to show their true selves as they eat progressively hotter hot wings.

Restaurant Websites Made Easy With BentoBox

When Krystle Mobayeni started making websites for restaurants, she noticed a lot of them had the same problems

Mikol Hoffman Builds Edible Infrastructure For A Living

In other words: What's up with Puerto Rico two years after the hurricane?

Getting Sober As A Bartender Means Quitting The Clown Act

Nectaly Mendoza on getting sober and staying that way in the bar world, for Vice

Shaq Joining The Papa John's Board Is A Strong Political Statement

Shaquille O'Neal is the new face of the struggling pizza brand. 

Doesn't Matter The Scale: Bakers Are Looking To The Past

From La Brea Bakery to il Buco Alimentari e Vineria, bread is in the midst of some ancient innovations.

How Macaroni Grill Invested In Its Employees To Revitalize Its Brand

Macaroni Grill CEO Nishant Machado has given everyone assistant manager and up access to equity.

Fermented Foods Are Up 149% - As Long As They're Unfamiliar

Why is kombucha consumption growing while sauerkraut stays stagnant?

Mary Sue Milliken: Chef, Activist, Futurist

Learn about Mary Sue Milliken, a culinary pioneer since the 80s who's still making waves

Why Don't People Eat in Science Fiction?

From abundance to scarcity, what food in sci-fi says about the real world. For Literary Hub.

The Future of Food Trucks

Where is the mobile food industry headed? It looks like it's only getting bigger from here.

How Grillo's Pickles Made Its First $1 Million from a Street Cart

Travis Grillo started selling homemade pickles to make ends meet after college. Ten years later, his spears are in major supermarkets nationwide.  

Is AccelFoods Ushering In The Foods Of The Future?

The story of AccelFoods, a VC firm changing the grocery aisles. Above photo is from Garlic is as Good as Ten Mothers, a film I mention in the article.

Anthony Bourdain's Terrifying Final Work

I review Hungry Ghosts, the last piece of writing Anthony Bourdain published, for Vice.

Can Muuna Make Cottage Cheese Cool? 

The story of CEO Gerard Meyer and Muuna, the cottage cheese company he's so excited to be in charge of. 

Is Plate IQ the Future of Restaurants?

Automating accounts payable could revolutionize the restaurant industry, or at least that's the plan at Plate IQ

Epic Meal Time

My Forbes blog explores the world of food and the internet. Check out the first post about mega-channel Epic Meal Time. 

The History of Baby Food

What is baby food? How did the industry start? What does it look like today?

Changing Lives, One Meal At A Time

The Southern Baja Foodways Alliance gives underserved communities a nutritional lifeline. For In Good Tilth.

Come Home With Marcus Samuelsson In "Our Harlem"

The celebrity chef's new audiobook is a testament to the versatility of the form.

Entrepreneurship Advice from Jeni Britton Bauer

The queen of $12 ice cream on how to build a passion into an opportunity

Your Cocktail Has a Story, and Caroline Rosen is Ready to Tell It

Discover Tales of the Cocktail and the hardworking woman who makes the organization tick

How Do The Changes To H-2B Visas Impact Maryland Crabs?

Last year, the state's famous crab industry was threatened. Will the new visas help?

Elle Simone Scott Can't Wait To Be Culinary Oprah

And she's also the first Black woman to appear on America's Test Kitchen.

Food & Wine Launches New Restaurant Industry-Focused Section

F&W Pro will interrogate questions of what it means - and ought to mean - to work in the food world. 

It's 'Live': Bon Appétit Has A New Streaming Service

I got to talk to Brad Leone about Bon Appétit's new free streaming channel!

Are Lemons An Indicator Of Upward Mobility'?

According to Harold Edwards, CEO of the largest lemon grower in California, they might just be.

Frank's Red Hot, Binging with Babish, Free Stuff, And The Super Bowl

Put that 🌶️  in your Tweets for free prizes, and more importantly, check out this badass YouTuber's recipes.

How the "Tacos for Teachers" Campaign Embodies Los Angeles

The story of a fundraiser for the LA teachers' strike and how it what it says about the city. For Vice Munchies.

A Multimillion Dollar Business In Mail-Order Maryland Crabs 

Learn the story of Cameron's Seafood, a company that's tripled its business in the past year by shipping fresh crabs around the country.

How Are Food Influencers Changing Restaurants?

The answers in this report from SevenRooms and YouGov might surprise you.

How Do You Describe Hannah Hart's Career? It's Complicated

Hannah Hart's career may have started with comedic cooking videos, but it has morphed into so much more since 2011. 

Martha Stewart and Christina Tosi Go Back To School

Musings on Cherry Bombe University, an educational weekend for female food entrepreneurs. 

A Banker-Turned-Tea Sommelier

Learn the story of Tanya Tandon, a young entrepreneur who wants you to drink better tea.

Take a Bite Out of Your Favorite Movie On "Binging With Babish"

Learn all about the internet's favorite cooking show in this piece for Forbes.

Gabrielle Hamilton and the Spotted Pig

Gabrielle Hamilton is leaving the Spotted Pig. Why?

Food Wars

Some musings on Food Wars, a strange, hypersexual cooking anime,

for Vice.