2001 The Year in Review

Nation's Restaurant News, Dec 17, 2001 by Ron Ruggless

And the industry lost several high-profile restaurateurs. Warner LeRoy, the flamboyant restaurateur and owner of Tavern on the Green in Manhattan, died of lymphoma at a New York hospital. He was 65.

Gus Boulis, the founder of the Miami Subs chain, was killed in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., by gunmen Feb. 26. Police were investigating the death as murder by hired killers. Boulis was 51.

MARCH

Operators and trade groups prepared to battle proposed federal ergonomics standards, rules promulgated for fall implementation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

The rules were intended to reduce repetitive-motion and stress injuries or help people avoid them. Critics called them the most intrusive regulations ever from the OSHA.

"The whole thing is basically an anti-employer piece of legislation," said Tom Thompson, director of risk management for Papa John's International.

Health concerns abroad raged as more cases of mad-cow and foot-and-mouth diseases were discovered among livestock overseas. Britain suspended all exports of live animals, milk and meat products after 27 cases of foot-and-mouth disease were detected in pigs and cattle.

Mad-cow scares in Europe punched a hole in McDonald's Corp.'s expectations for earnings. European sites represent about 20 percent of McDonald's 28,000 units and account for about a third of its annual total of $3.33 billion in operating income.

McDonald's, meanwhile, tested "The McDonald's with the Diner Inside," a new dining concept with more than 120 items for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The first unit, a 124-seat prototype in Kokomo, Ind., offered comfort foods, such as meat loaf and mashed potatoes, and table service.

Some significant closures also punctuated the month.

The original Spago, in West Hollywood, Calif. closed its doors on the last day of the month, with waiters scrambling to find enough service wares-turned-souvenirs. The star-studded "California cuisine" pioneer, opened in 1982 by the husband-and-wife team of chef Wolfgang Puck and designer Barbara Lazaroff, also melded Italian influences with cuisines from around the world. The newer Spago Beverly Hills and several other branches carried on the Puck-Lazaroff tradition.

Also in Los Angeles, chef-owner Michel Richard closed his noted Citrus restaurant after 15 years because of lease-negotiation problems.

Acclaimed chef Jean Banchet sold his Le Francais restaurant in Wheeling, Ill., and planned retirement.

Veterans of Regas Restaurant, an 82-year-old dining institution in Knoxville, Tenn., reopened the establishment, which originally closed in 2000.

Despite the slowing economy, attendees at the 28th annual Chain Operators Exchange in Las Vegas remained optimistic.

Debt-strapped CKE Restaurants Inc. of Anaheim, Calif., agreed to sell its 125-unit Taco Bueno quick-service Mexican chain to an investment firm for $72.5 million.

The Supreme Court rejected Pizza Hut Inc.'s bid to press its false-advertising challenge of an appeals court ruling that permitted Papa John's International to use the slogan "Better Ingredients. Better Pizza."