Don't look now but...

Because of Twitter, you can get a heads-up on restaurant developments long before they’re covered in the traditional sources of industry news. But the story behind the news story is a different matter. Consider, for instance, these little-noticed wrinkles in two heavily covered recent events.

Danny Meyer is selling splinters of his empire. The famed restaurateur drew tremendous coverage (including here) when he disclosed in a cookbook that he had agreed to sell his Eleven Madison Park to the starched outpost’s manager and executive chef. Less noticed was the bombshell that he’d served up another piece of his business, this time to the company led by the owner of the Miami Dolphins, Stephen Ross.

Ross’ Related Cos., perhaps best known as the developer of New York’s chi-chi Time Warner Center, acquired an undisclosed stake in Meyer’s Union Square Events catering and restaurant-management operation for an amount that wasn’t revealed. The purpose is to pair the two companies’ expertise in developing real estate complexes worldwide, but the process is starting with the partners’ backyard.

They’ve announced that they’ll be part of the 26-acre Hudson Yards project in New York, a venture that aims to turn the old train tracks and industrial space on Manhattan’s Far West Side into a new hub of consumer activity. Few details have been revealed about the foodservice aspect, but Meyer isn’t known for peddling the same ol’ same-old.

Taco Bell redefines who’s a competitor. No, this has nothing to do with the much-covered Cantina Bell menu, which has been identified in virtually every news story as the Mexican giant’s response to Chipotle’s success. I’m talking about the new breakfast menu, a.k.a. the First Meal bill of fare, which is studded with names that vie with Taco Bell for share of stomach and franchisees.

The roster includes a pastry item from Cinnabon, Focus Group’s bakery chain, and coffee from Starbucks branded as Seattle’s Best (curiously, a former sister of Cinnabon). You can find those brand names in a number of locations beyond their namesake stores. Seattle’s Best, for instance, is also available in Burger Kings, Subways and plenty of other foodservice outlets.

There’s even a Seattle’s Best coffee flavored with Cinnabon-brand cinnamon. Clearly licensing has become a big business for each.

But each still has a sizeable network of its own retail outlets. At one time, the industry would’ve clutched its chest at such brand-name mixing. Certainly franchisees would have. Then they would’ve dialed their lawyers.

It’s part of a new wave of cross-branding—led at least in part by franchisees. A Burger King franchisee, for instance, is serving as the test partner for a new collaboration with Friendly’s. The ice cream chain hopes to open at least 10 downsized Friendly’s Scoop fast-casual-style outlets this year. The first is co-branded with a Burger King store run by New Jersey franchisee.

Bet you might’ve missed that angle in all the coverage of Friendly's comeback efforts.

Danny Meyer's 4-star break with convention

I’ve witnessed some amazing things in 27 years of covering restaurants. What Danny Meyer is doing with Eleven Madison Park is definitely on that list as of today—ironically, the very day Michelin awarded the midtown restaurant a third star.

Meyer will have a chance to relish the resulting upsweep in business, but not for long. As New York Times reporter Glenn Collins reported in a Times blog, Meyer is selling Eleven Madison to its manager and executive chef.

The reason? The pair admitted to the famed restaurateur that they hoped to build something of their own while still on the payroll. Meyer wasn’t comfortable with his employees doing double-time as competitors. But he didn’t like the idea of parting with the duo because they were critical to maintaining Eleven Madison’s quality and success. It has a four-star rating from the New York Times, which is harder to land than a rent-controlled two-bedroom apartment with a doorman. In Gramercy Park.

So, Meyer said, he decided to sell them the place. No bidding war, no pitting suitor against suitor. Just a deal hammered out between mentor and protégées.

One more extraordinary thing: The turn of events is spelled out not in Meyer’s blog, but on the galleys of a book that will be published next month. Meyer provided the account in the forward to “The Eleven Madison Park Cookbook.”

He stopped short of revealing the specifics of the deal, like the price. But Collins reported that the transaction is expected to close by Jan. 1.

Big names to profit from OpenTable stock offer

OpenTable should’ve pushed up the start date of its initial public offering and just auctioned off the shares at the Beard Awards. Many of the sellers were likely there, including Danny Meyer (selling roughly 69,000 shares, keeping around 124,000), Tim and Nina Zagat (selling all 155,000 of their shares), Rich Melman and Kevin Brown of Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises (selling about 26,000 shares through their partnership). 

Securities documents indicate the online reservation service expects to sell about 3 million shares for its stakeholders at an anticipated price of around $13 each.  

The filings show that OpenTable lost about $1 million last year on revenues of $55.8 million, after making more than  $9 million in 2007. Last year’s intake represented a 31% jump from the ’07 revenue figure.  The company was profitable during the first quarter of this year, according to figures cited in the prospectus.