#RestaurantsToo: Beginning with Ronan Farrow’s courageous reporting in October 2017 around the multiple sexual assault allegations against film executive Harvey Weinstein, other U.S. industries have had their share of the same, including restaurants. Now, New Yorker correspondent Helen Rosner has interviewed dozens of women who work in restaurants, from fine-dining to fast-food burger flippers, as she puts it, to try and get a sense from them of what they’d like to see to change the culture of harassment embedded in their industry.
“I used to get my car fixed at this one place,” a former Applebee’s manager told Rosner, after describing the “exhausting” sexual harassment at that franchise location. “They had signs up that said, ‘We are such-and-such trained’—it was something like, ‘Everyone that works here has had this training, and this training means that we respect women.’ If that was more of a presence in the restaurant, signs saying, ‘This is what we do here, this is the culture we’re creating here,’ it would work.” Which begs the question: what kind of meaningful steps should/are hotel restaurants taking to meaningfully participate in creating that kind of culture? —Chloe Riley
Cannabis, sour, the Stans: If you want a forward-thinking, out-of-the-box view of what’s new in F&B, especially from a U.S. perspective, this annual forecast is a fun read from a New York writer and consultant who lives and breathes F&B. Recommended read from this editor. —Jeff Weinstein
Strange bedfellows: With a leading Republican senator suggesting on Thursday that Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered by Saudi operatives, it’s interesting to read how Saudis are some of the best customers at Trump hotels and real estate holdings. Draw your own confusing conclusions. —J.W.
Young explorers: Kids these days – it’s social media this, let’s schedule that cruise to the Galapagos that. More and more, Travel Market Report says, children are driving the itinerary for their family vacations. The little influencers are getting their ideas from social media, choosing destinations that – surprise – are visually interesting enough for them to post about on social media and burnish their own personal brand, because kids have those, now, too. One travel agent says she’s creating proposed itineraries for review by the kids, not the parents. —Barbara Bohn
Memories in the ruins: The BBC features a short but haunting piece about Lebanon’s Grand Sofar Hotel, an opulent destination for princes and celebrities for 100 years until the country’s civil war took its toll. Closed for 40 years, a British artist has reopened the famed hotel – but not for overnight guests. Watch the video. —B.B.