We've finally found something Rick Bayless isn't good at: anticipation. You'd think a guy who'd just won the inaugural edition of Top Chef Masters and who owns two perennially packed Mexican restaurants (Frontera Grill, Topolobampo) in Chicago would know that his next place would be instantly mobbed. But even Bayless was overwhelmed by the initial reaction to Xoco, his new Mexican street food restaurant that fits the fast casual mode. His business plan addressed every possible aspect of restaurant operations, except for one. "I hadn't based that business plan on a line that went out the door and down the block for 4 hours," he says.

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It's come to this: Restaurants are so inundated by requests for donations that a company has come up with a technology that enables operators to track and manage their charitable giving. We're not endorsing this product, even though right now the makers of the interactive Auction Item Request System (AIRS) say they are giving it away free to restaurant operators. But we’re strongly endorsing the idea of restaurant operators having a better handle on their charitable giveaways—both the who-gets-what and the how-much—and, particularly, of gaining control of the in-person and telephone solicitation that never seems to stop.

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The calendar doesn't lie. It's time to figure out what strategic moves your restaurant should make and next year and what kind of budget you'll need to support them. So what's 2010 going to be like? Denver-based National Restaurant Consultants has developed top trends for the year ahead from its latest research. Here they are:

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