Celebrity Chef John Besh To Open New Restaurant LUKE In New Downtown Hotel Later This Fall…

Chef Besh has been a fan of San Antonio for many, many years. Being an avid quail hunter, he and his wife have visited the Alamo City often and now he has decided to expand his restaurant empire a bit more by opening up LUKE on the Riverwalk soon.

He see’s this restaurant as being a throwback to the old brasserie’s and beer-halls. A comfy place where a family can feel comfortable dining without all of the pretense of high-end dining. He has assigned the post to one of his longtime chefs and business partners.

Stay tuned for more detail!

Mark

I recently read that Jewel-Osco is testing a new “urban prototype” 16,000 sq, foot store in the upscale Lincoln Park community. The smaller format store will merchandise a large variety of ready-to-go meal solutions and a limited offering of fresh meats and seafoods.

The space was occupied by former organic market concept Sunflower Markets. It’s interesting to see Supervalu (parent company of both Jewel-Osco and the mentioned shuttered Sunflower Markets) reacting quickly to disappointing sales at the former organic market and catering to the more successful and popular prepared foods concept that consumers want.

More independent organic markets should take note!

Mark

Normally on this section of the website, I highlight new restaurant concepts or new restaurant openings.

However, I read a recent article by Tom Van Riper at Forbes.com that highlights an ominous wave of restaurant closures yet to come in this country.

Mainly casual dining chains will feel the impact. Their operations are expensive. Casual dining chains require more dining and kitchen space than fast-food joints, not to mention more people to cook and serve food. At the same time they lack the premium prices that upscale restaurants use to generate larger margins per table. Caught in between, the Bertucci’s and Country Kitchens of the world rely on volume–tough to draw consistently during a recession.