Miscellaneous

📖 Joanna Fantozzi, Senior Editor at Nation’s Restaurant News since August 2021, has over seven years in the restaurant industry. Her journey includes roles at Insider and The Daily Meal. She holds degrees from The College of New Jersey and the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism. Joanna's work also appears in The New York Times and Forbes. As a moderator at industry events like MUFSO, her insights impact food and cultural discourse.

🎨 In rural Wisconsin, an artist reflects on the transformative power of creating art in personalized spaces. This year involved crafting 20 portraits, leading to a sense of ownership marked by graphite and charcoal smudges. The emphasis is on the value of well-loved spaces with character, as seen in spaces like Morning Glory Farm. Mixing antiques with new elements is key for a vibrant atmosphere. Embrace messiness for authentic creativity.

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📖 Author Priyanka C. Agarwal has contributed to The South China Morning Post, SilverKris, Her World, The Michelin Guide, and Time Out. She has developed content for brands like Sentosa, Mediacorp Special Projects, and IKEA. Her areas of expertise include food, drink, wellness, luxury, and travel.

🍱 The Seafood Ristorante in St Andrews launches a new Autumn/Winter menu on November 20th. 🍽️ Executive Chef Davy Aspin emphasizes responsibly sourced seafood and local ingredients. Highlights include Orkney Scallops and East Neuk Lobster Spaghetti. The à la carte and set lunch menus offer flexibility, with lunch priced at £40 for two courses or £45 for three. Available 12pm-2:30pm daily, the menus reflect Scotland's seasonal bounty. Reservations at www.theseafoodrestaurant.com.

🧂 CMOs face scrutiny similar to restaurant owners justifying salt's ROI. Salt enhances dishes like brand boosts business. Isolating brand ROI is tough; it's foundational, improving marketing, sales, and product appeal. Yet, executives demand tangible proof, akin to performance marketing. Attribution models and brand lift studies try to satisfy this, but they miss the point. Brand, like salt, enhances overall success. Its true value lies in its subtle, essential presence, not isolated metrics.

🛩 Dec 19, 2025, global issue: airline business-impersonator scams surge during high-stress flight disruptions. Fraudsters, using fake customer-service numbers and AI tools, exploit search ads to extract payments and data. Regulatory data shows a significant yearly increase in scams and losses. Complex customer service and over-reliance on automation push travelers to unsafe channels. Prevention now focuses on travelers verifying official sources, with clear communication reducing risk. Source: Bloomberg.

📈 World Inequality Report reveals 0.001% of the population holds triple the wealth of the bottom 50%. Since the 1990s, billionaire wealth has grown 8% yearly, double the rate of the poorest half. Top 10% cause 77% of private capital carbon emissions, while the bottom half causes 3%. Women earn 61% of men's hourly wages, dropping to 32% when unpaid labor is counted. India's travel market to grow significantly by 2030 despite economic challenges.

🍴 Bret Thorn is the Senior Food & Beverage Editor for Nation’s Restaurant News and Restaurant Hospitality since 1999. He studied at Tufts University and Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, and worked for ABC News in Beijing during Tiananmen Square protests in 1989. He was president of IFEC in 2005 and inducted into Disciples d’Escoffier in 2014. Thorn's columns won the 2006 Jesse H. Neal Award. He lives in Brooklyn but is originally from Denver.

📈 November 2025, the U.S. unemployment rate rose to 4.6%, the highest since 2021. The economy added 64,000 jobs, despite a 43-day government shutdown. Eating and drinking places added 5,600 jobs in November, marking five consecutive months of growth. The industry gained 120,000 jobs in the last five months, surpassing pre-pandemic levels by 196,000 jobs (1.6%). Idaho, Utah, South Dakota, and Nevada saw the highest employment gains, while 17 states remain below pre-pandemic levels.