Restaurant rage

Some ugly exchanges have erupted at restaurants this holiday season, in a few instances while patrons were still in their cars. Regardless of whether guests or employees were at fault, the spate of horror stories is sure to be bad news for an industry that’s been striving for decades to burnish its reputation.

Consider the developments of just the last week or so:

A 20-year-old employee of a Burger King in Detroit is facing murder charges because he allegedly punched an elderly man who’d tried to slug him during what was reported as a "disturbance." The deceased, a 67-year-old homeless person, fell to the ground and apparently struck his head. He died of blunt trauma.

A 21-year-old employee of a Wendy’s in Fort Myers, Fla., was reportedly arrested for attacking a customer whom she couldn’t hear through the drive-thru intercom. According to the local coverage, the staffer felt dissed because the patron didn’t speak up.

Simultaneously, a Wendy’s guest was being arrested in Jefferson, N.J., after throwing a Frosty at the employee who was working the drive-thru window. The nature of their friction was not reported. But stories noted that the customer parked her car and went into the restaurant to attack the employee after hurling the frozen drink. She wasn’t arrested for assault, but rather for being under the influence of marijuana.

You almost hope the kids who burned a Boston Market employee in Riverside, Calif., had been smoking something. Otherwise, they were just doorknob-dumb criminals, though no one’s been arrested, and it doesn’t seem as if a warrant’s been issued. The Einsteins pulled up to the restaurant’s drive-thru window and ordered a dish of sautéed spinach. They then flung it back at the employee who handed it to them, yelling, “Fire in the hole!,” a gag that’s been waging for years. The 21-year-old employee had to be treated at a hospital for second-degree burns.

Meanwhile, a woman filed a lawsuit against McDonald’s because an employee in Chicago allegedly spat at her a year ago because she’d ordered a cheeseburger while the breakfast menu was being offered.

The only ones who’ll benefit from any of this: Lawyers. Otherwise, you have victim and victim—a dead man, but a 20-year-old whose life has just taken a catastrophic turn.

And let’s not forget the owners of the restaurants, and the industry in general. It’s not exactly a jolly image to pin to the trade.

Party on, Texas Roadhouse

Restaurateurs’ arms must be getting sore from all the self-flagellation.Luckily the truly spasmed can pass the rod to any number of would-be de Sades for a few more licks, from investors to health advocates, politicians, animal-rights groups, eco-terrorists, chain haters or your garden-variety scold. This is no time for high spirits or a positive outlook on a business so hard-pressed,or at least that’s the prevailing sentiment.

That’s why you have to give a big woot-woot to G.J. Hart and his team at Texas Roadhouse, the publicly traded steakhouse chain. Last week the company spent upwards of $2 million to gather 1,000 chain standouts for a five-day fest in San Francisco. They stayed at The Fairmont and The Ritz-Carlton, enjoyed events like a barbecue and a Summer of Love-themed party, and cheered on the five contenders in the annual Roadhouse Meat Cutting Challenge (the top cleaver heaver wins $20,000 and a year’s worth of bragging rights for his store.)

The celebration was so out of sync with the dourness of the times that it snagged coverage on CNBC’s Squawk Box, the financial network’s primetime show for investors. Reports also showed up on the CBS affiliates of major cities and in media like the High Plains Journal in Sioux Falls, S.D., and station KXMB in Bismark,N.D.

The coverage posed an obvious question: Isn’t this kind of indulgence inappropriate for the times? Was the 325-unit chain pulling the sort of move you might have expected from an AIG?

“People are the biggest asset we’ve got,” CEO Hart explained on Squawk Box. “The investment in our people will yield us big returns.”

He indicated that the investment may be even bigger than other coverage let on. In addition to spending from $2 million to $2.5 million of the company’s travel budget on the five-day event, another $1 million in supplies and effort would be put into local charities; a full day would be spent by the participants in a giveback to the host community, even though Texas Roadhouse has only three restaurants in all of California. Just one is in the greater San Francisco area.

But giving back, Hart explained, is part of the company’s philosophy and culture. It’s all about feeding that spirit and nurturing a sense of hospitality, which will ultimately help with sales and traffic.

Gauging the effects on morale and motivation while the conference was still underway, Hart told Squawk Box that he was already seeing “a great return on investment.” You have to raise a cold longneck to leadership like that.