Snack foods are becoming an integral part of strategies to strengthen consumer spending at restaurants.

Convenience stores score solid marks for providing a variety of tasty, high-quality items, but there is room for improvement in the area of healthy foods, say consumers.

What if we could become smarter … just by owning a smartphone?There’s no denying that today’s technologies present so much opportunity (capability) and information.

Though the recession took a toll on most restaurant sectors in 2009, fast-casual chains benefited from consumers trading down from full-service restaurants to lower-priced ones.

The Top 100 limited-service sandwich chains grew sales by 8.6 percent in 2008, to $20.3 billion.

Less was definitely more at restaurants last year.

The chef contestants on Bravo’s popular reality TV show “Top Chef” compete against each other each week by completing culinary challenges. These tasks include everything from designing a menu for a finicky bride and groom to getting a restaurant up and running in four hours.