There's been a lot of food news that crossed our radar this week. Here are a few of the stories we didn't snark on, until today.
Kraft Foods, You've Been Served: The legal team at Kraft Foods is going to be mighty busy in the upcoming year, if they keep getting sued at this rate. Earlier this week, a Florida woman sued Kraft for claiming that their "all natural" Capri Sun juice drinks are really all high-fructose corn syrup. Linda Rex said she didn't realize until she "got home and got out (her) glasses" that Capri Sun contained enough fructose to make the flesh of children as tender and succulent as veal. Maybe you should make a habit of taking your glases to the Piggly Wiggly, Ms. Rex. Your lawsuit has all the earmarks of a frivolous one. Now Kraft is being sued for patent infringement by Keurig, Inc. A division of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Keurig holds the patent for Kraft's Tassimo-brand single-serve coffee brewers, which apparently copy the Keurig design a little bit too much. Coupled with weak sales for the Tassimo, this looks like Kraft's version of the Edsel. Makes us doubly glad we own a single-serving French press and a cappucino machine.
Let's Hope These Don't Become Payday Loan Centers in Two Years: The South Side just got cooler with the news that a suburban couple plans on opening five Checkers Drive-in restaurants in the next five years. Curtis and Victoria Rowe are planning on opening their restaurants in an area bordered by 35th Street, Cicero Avenue, Lake Michigan, and South Chicago Heights. Now if only someone would open a Sonic franchise in the city, we might never go north of Madison again.
Snowbird Terrine: Ryan Poli, the executive chef at Greektown favorite Butter, recently quit to open a restaurant in Scottsdale, Arizona. Saying that the city is growing rapidly and is in need for quality dining, Poli is eager to fill the void in the Cactus League. Chicagoist is a big fan of Butter (as is a certain Vince Vaughn-infatuated Chicagoist alumna), and wish Poli the best of luck in his endeavors.
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"Let's Hope These Don't Become Payday Loan Centers in Two Years" Funny, but probably true. Seems like there are a few fast-food ideas that might work, but why choose to go with Checkers?!? The two locations that I can think of are both way, way out of business.
Sonic is nice, but I'd settle for a Jack in the Box.
In n' Out would be WAY too much to ask.
Bill V: From what I read from the Sun-Times link, Checkers has revamped its franchise agreements so that they aren't incurring most of the risk, which is why you saw so many boarded-up franchises dotting the landscape over the years. They also made the buy-in for franchising considerably less, making it more attractive for investors like the Rowes to start a business while keeping a low ceiling on start-up costs.
Either that, or if Chicago wins the 2016 Olympics, they want to make sure some part of the city reminds tourists of Atlanta, circa 1996.
Awwww. That's a shame about Poli leaving. I do not understand the appeal of Arizona. I just do not.