Friday, April 16, 2010

RIP, Restaurants & Institutions.

I've cursed it as a competitor since I started covering restaurants in 1981. But I was deeply saddened to hear that the parent of Restaurants & Institutions and Chain Leader has pulled the plug on those pubs. A heart-felt wish of good luck to the very talented people who were still on the mastheads of the final issues.

Here's the notice that's posted right now on R&I's website:

Restaurants & Institutions has closed
No additional print issues will be published, and this web site will close on April 30, 2010.

RBI Staff -- Restaurants & Institutions, April 16, 2010

Our parent company, Reed Elsevier, announced in July of 2009 its intentions to substantially exit its Reed Business Information-US publishing business, while retaining specific businesses. Over the past several months, multiple publishing brands were divested. As of April 16, 2010, the remaining publishing brands and their associated products and services have closed.

As a result Restaurants & Institutions has closed. No additional print issues will be published, and this web site will close on April 30, 2010

3 comments:

Granny J said...

I never thought that I would outlast R&I -- it's been 30 years since I said goodbye. So what was it -- hard times PLUS mismanagement?

Julie Woodman

Peter Romeo said...

Julie,
I just got back from the Restaurant Leadership Conference, one of the industry's major conferences. The theme was something banal like "Dawn of a New Day," a point of support for my contention that every event's theme is a variation on a theme that was actually used once by NRN's parent, "The Future Lies Ahead."

But the real topic of conversation was the demise of R&I and Chain Leader. I pass that along because it underscores what an important asset R&I was to the business. The contributions of peeople like you, Mike Bartlett, Lisa Bertagnoli,Laura Yee, Scott Hume and a number of others haven't been lost on this business. You guys provided intelligence and insight that was invaluable to the field we served, and operators appreciated that.

Feel good that the content of R&I (and Chain Leader) was very much appreciated. Too bad your management didn't read what you guys were writing about the best ways to manage businesses.

You guys should think about having a renegade event at the NRA show next month. I guarantee you that people would welcome the chance to recognize the contributions that you and so many others made.

Note that I'm not invoking the name of Jane Wallace, because that would just about make me cry.

Granny J said...

Peter -- in the old days, we would have organized a really big blow-out to mark the event, probably during the NRA show & at a major hotel. Jane wouldn't have had it any other way...