Burgers are the hottest category on full-service menus right now, but can you really make your restaurant’s offerings stand out from the crowd? It can be done. Check out how Cheesecake Factory did it with its six-item “Glamburger” menu that will soon feature the winning entry from a design-one-yourself contest that drew 30,000 participants.

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How does celebrity chef Michael Chiarello handle nonstop requests from well-meaning fundraisers? He used to say “yes” to many of them, and he still will. But now the charity event will have to take place in his restaurant, and he wants to be guaranteed his usual take per customer—$60 per head. Think a lot of his fellow chef/restaurateurs will soon adopt this common-sense approach?

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For the past two months, our eyes have been glued to news of the Gulf Coast oil spill. With each day that passes, the oil company is buried deeper in a disaster that will surely be difficult to overcome. According to Maribeth Kuzmeski, what makes the situation worse is how BP has chosen to connect with the media and the public during these critical days—resorting to misleading information, poor communication and neglect to dodge responsibility for the spill.

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