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Brunch is back in vogue. NPD’s research finds brunch sales up 8% through August versus last year. Not much else in foodservice is up 8% this year. Why the increase? Perhaps because brunch is a relatively cost-effective way to get the family together for a meal away from home. Or maybe it’s because burgers have [...]

The premise of the entertaining blog FancyFastFood.com is that fast-food meals can be deconstructed and reassembled into something much more appetizing. That there’s criticism of fast food on the site and not just fun is clear from the blog’s subtitle: “Yeah, It’s Still Bad for You—But See How Good It Can Look.” Recently, for example, McDonald’s Chicken McNuggets [...]

A collateral benefit of build-your-own-burger concepts’ popularity is that operators and diners more clearly understand that a good burger is the sum of its several parts. Beef quality counts, of course, but so do the bun, cheese and condiments.     Spreadable toppings are the language in which most signature burgers are written. The Umami Burger [...]