Kristen Hawley

I'm a fan of companies with a strong focus, especially in a crowded market. Reserve's challenge of scaling quickly while maintaining the personal feel of a human concierge is a big one, but this new hire signals the company's ambitions to continue to grow.

In a country that some call over-restauranted, emerging markets overseas are the new frontier for U.S.-based chains.

Snapchat recently announced a feature called context cards, which are attached to images on Snapchat and provides additional context.

The September jobs report looks scary at first blush, down 100,000 in the food service industry. Before sounding the alarms, look at the context surrounding the report itself; it may not be so bad.

Bareburger found success serving the plant-based Impossible Burger in half of its locations, but to sustain a standalone vegan concept, the menu has to go much deeper than a basic burger.

In a competition for high-quality restaurant partners, Yelp has the advantage of leveraging a company's success on its platform of highly searchable user-generated ratings and reviews.

Long lines are part of the Shake Shack experience, but don't exactly project hospitality. Ironically, touch screens may be the solution to a frustrating problem.

Professional food styling and food photography are different than Insta-snaps, and the revered CIA will teach the former. They're not acquiescing to Instagram just yet, but don't be surprised when schools head that direction.

We're impressed by Danny Meyer's ideas and principles, so we're excited about what the real life application of these values means with the weight of a $220 million fund behind them.

This move is part of the larger trend of restaurant software companies streamlining and consolidating product offerings. With fewer systems, there's less room for error. Expect much more news like this.