Pizza Parlor in Iron River, #Wisconsin, is hardly the first restaurant to be accused of violating federal limits on the hours and tasks teenaged workers can be assigned, but several of the corrections it has agreed to make are literally of a different color.

As part of a settlement with the U.S. Department of Labor, or DOL, the pizzeria has agreed to put its teen employees in differently colored uniform tops, each hue indicating the age of the wearer. Different sorts of name tags can also be used to signal whether a youngster is too young to perform certain duties, like cleaning a meat grinder, driving deliveries to customers’ doors or tending the pizza ovens.

The deal calls for 14- and 15-year-olds to wear one color shirt or type of name tag, 16- and 17-year-olds another and employees 18 or over a third.

The unusual stipulation is intended to instantly indicate to management what duties a young staffer is legally allowed to undertake. Many employers complain that child-labor laws can be so complex in their jurisdictions, with state and local requirements complicating the federal guidelines, that violations are often inadvertent.

Hush puppies are coming back to #RedLobster.

The chain’s beloved cornmeal fritters are returning as part of a menu overhaul at the casual-dining seafood specialist. The new bill of fare launches Monday and is 20% smaller than before, but also features nine new items.

The menu seems designed to appeal to customers both old and new, with fan favorites like hush puppies alongside newcomers such as bacon-wrapped sea scallops, lobster bisque and lobster pappardelle pasta. Other additions include grilled mahi and Parmesan-crusted chicken.

The update is part of a wide-ranging refresh at the 545-unit chain, which filed for #bankruptcy in May after a series of challenges, including the pandemic, inflation and an ill-advised all-you-can-eat shrimp promotion. It emerged in September with a new owner, new CEO and $60 million to help fund its makeover.

When Michael Mina was about to start his restaurant group back in the early 2000s, chefs were getting a bit of backlash for expanding beyond one restaurant.

“The media asked, ‘Well who’s going to be in the kitchen if you have more than one restaurant,’” he related in a recent Menu Talk podcast.

Luckily, he forged ahead anyway, believing that the food of the country as a whole would benefit if chefs were the ones driving restaurant companies.

What’s more, “We’re not magicians … we’re not cooking for 80 people by ourselves. It’s the team that’s working and cooking together,” he said.

And the MINA Group was born in 2003. The company now operates more than 30 restaurants in the U.S. and others overseas.

California Pizza Kitchen (CPK) is opening franchised restaurants in the U.S. for the first time as it looks to return the brand to growth.

The casual-dining chain known for its unique pizzas is looking to expand in both existing and new markets with the goal of adding about 75 domestic locations through franchising over the next five years.

Currently, CPK has 131 locations in 27 states. About 17 of those are licensed locations in airports, and it franchises internationally.

CPK President Michael Beacham, who has been with the company for about a year, said management believes that franchising is the best way to grow California Pizza Kitchen.

Convenience always wins in the restaurant business. It’s a lesson the industry has learned over and over again.

The latest has been the advent of third-party delivery. The service was greeted with considerable skepticism throughout the business.

For a while, many operators used third-party delivery as a marketing tool, with the idea that you could convert those third-party customers into regular customers. But third-party delivery isn’t a marketing tool. It’s an ordering channel. And that channel is growing faster than the rest of your business.