Aren’t you glad it’s too warm — and Blue Ivy’s too big — for papa Jay and mama Bey to hide her under blankets anymore? Sounds creepy, we know, but we just love seeing the chubby cheeked heir to the Carter throne so much we can’t hide it. And neither can the paparazzi — even though they have different motives. Regardless, we’re glad they caught this footage of the adorable 16-month-old playing around in a Paris restaurant with Beyonce and Jay-Z last week.

Looking like she grew a full foot since we last saw her, the little one seemed oblivious to all the cameras outside the Septime restaurant watching her every move. When all was said and done, she pretty much only had eyes for daddy. Check out the video above. Isn’t she growing so fast??

Source: WENN

From The Grio

Diana Ross, the legendary Supremes frontwoman, allegedly made a scene last Thursday at a Beverly Hills restaurant after refusing to wait to be seated.

According to the New York Post, upon arriving at Italian restaurant La Scala for lunch, Ross was told she would have to wait to be seated until her daughter arrived.

Ross reportedly refused, and walked to a booth and sat down.  Management informed the diva of their seating policy: Incomplete parties will not be seated unless a reservation has been made.  She was also told that if “she cut the line and sat before her daughter arrived, she would not be served.”

See what happened once Diana’s daughter arrived on The Grio.

Image: Comstock

A Los Angeles restaurant, Eva Restaurant, is offering diners a five percent discount off their bill if they agree to turn over their mobile phones to the hostess at the beginning of the meal. The restaurant’s chef/owner, Mark Gold, estimates that 40 to 50 percent of patrons have taken advantage of the deal. For him, setting aside the cell phone is part of the restaurant’s experience.

“Eva is really about family and being at home. We just want people to connect again,” he told CNNMoney.

Another restaurant in D.C. also had a policy prohibiting mobile phones until about six months ago, which they enforced with a two-page contract. Now, they’ve decided that the quick, occasional phone check isn’t so bad. The Instagram photos might actually be good PR for the restaurant.

Loud conversations and mobile phone sounds certainly can be an unwelcome distraction in a restaurant dining room. But there is a fine line that restaurant owners are walking with their customers when they try to impose rules about personal conduct.

There are parents and business professionals who want to be accessible in case of an emergency. There are some who, taking the hard line, simply think that if they’re paying for the experience, they should be able to use their mobile devices. And then there are the habits of a mobile population.

A recent study found that participants on average check their mobile devices 34 times per day. At this point, scientists say it’s done out of habit more so than need. Which could mean that relinquishing the device for a couple of hours would be a good thing. Or it could mean that being without their mobile would send some people over the edge.

Which side of the issue do you fall? According to OpenSignalMaps, if you’re in these 10 cities, it won’t make a difference because the your phone probably won’t work anyway. Sorry Oklahoma City.

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theblaze.com

If it’s not one thing, it’s another. This time, protesters are calling for a boycott of chicken chain Chick-fil-A after the company’s president, Dan Cathy, made a very telling statement against same sex marriages. While speaking to Christian website Baptist Press earlier this week, Cathy was clear on his stance:

“We are very much supportive of the family — the biblical definition of the family unit. We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that.”

As you may have very well guessed, his comment traveled rather quickly and almost immediately, Facebook posts and tweets were popping up at a rapid pace denouncing his comments.  Long time supporters of Chick-Fil-A, which first opened in 1946 in Atlanta, who are also supporters of gay unions have signed a petition which states, “…we can no longer stomach your intolerance and disrespect for countless LGBT citizens. Until your company’s values reflect the freedoms and dignities that all American citizens are due, we will no longer eat at Chick-fil-A!”   The Mayor of Boston even said that he would seek to block Chick-fil-A from opening there if they continued to take that stance.

By Thursday, it appeared the kitchen had gotten a little hot for the powers-that-be. Chick-fil-A reps finally released a statement via Facebook regarding Cathy’s comments by saying, “…The Chick-fil-A culture and service tradition in our restaurants is to treat every person with honor, dignity and respect – regardless of their belief, race, creed, sexual orientation or gender.  Going forward, our intent is to leave the policy debate over same-sex marriage to the government and political arena.”

Now on the one hand, most people who’ve been to Chick-fil-A know how staunchly conservative the company is and has always been. They’re closed on Sundays for worship and family time, for goodness sakes. If that doesn’t automatically tell you what side of the fence they’re on then you’re too blinded by their chicken biscuits and lemonade to see it.  And yes, the rest of the country seems to be moving – at least at face value – towards progression but it doesn’t mean that any company must move with it if those aren’t their beliefs.

On the other hand…grow up, Dan Cathy!  First, not all views need to be expressed, particularly when you run the second largest quick service chicken chain restaurant. I mean, Sir, gay, lesbian and transgendered people have likely eaten from one of the 1,600 restaurants scattered across the country. If nothing else, show some respect for that. Second, remember that just because you do an interview with and for one group of people, it doesn’t mean someone else won’t pick it up.

Where do you stand?  If you support same sex marriages but you also patronize Chick-fil-A, can you see yourself letting it go for the bigger cause? Is it just not that serious to you?  Have you ever boycotted a company because of their views or rules?

Source

patch.buckhead.com

After 14 years in the restaurant business, Diddy is moving on to other endeavors. The mogul has closed his once wildly successful Buckhead restaurant “Justin’s” that specialized in Southern and Caribbean food.

The AJC reports:

“There was speculation that Justin’s was shut down for renovations and would reopen. Not. Once known for “Martini Mondays” and celebrity-filled weekend nights, Justin’s fell off in recent years and was unable to relocate its early magic.

Combs’ first Justin’s restaurant, in New York, closed after 10 years in 2007.

Bad Boy Worldwide Entertainment Group (BBWEG), founded by Combs, said in a statement that Justin’s was closed in order to pursue “other business ventures in music, television, fashion, fragrance and spirits.” It added that is is “actively exploring business opportunities in Atlanta” and promises “to have a strong presence in the region.”

Diddy isn’t the only entertainer to have his restaurant close in recent years. Usher, Ludacris and Jermaine Dupri’s restaurants have all reached the same fate.

In fact, Gladys Knight’s and Ron Winan’s chicken and waffle joints make them the only entertainers left thriving in Atlanta’s restaurant industry.

This isn’t the first time this restaurant has made headlines. In 2009, the restaurant reportedly owed the IRS $8,000 dollars in back taxes. And last summer, Tony Austin (former A&R man for Def Jam and President of Russell Simmons Music Group) sued Diddy for “failing to maintain a safe environment” after Austin was shot multiple times in the restaurant’s parking lot in 2010. Sheesh!

No one likes to see a black-owned business fail, but we’re pretty sure Diddy isn’t hurting for money. Last year, Forbes magazine estimated his net worth at $500 million dollars, making him the richest figure in hip hop.

Have you ever visited Justin’s in Atlanta? Why do you think these entertainer-owned restaurants don’t survive in that city? 

Alissa Henry is a freelance writer living in Columbus, OH follow her on Twitter @AlissaInPink 

This incident is why black folks can’t get out from under the stereotype of being bad tippers. Jasmine Marks claims that she and her family were locked inside a Houston restaurant when they refused to tip the servers after the bill came. And though that sounds ridiculous and all types of wrong, Marks wasn’t totally innocent in this situation.

The thing is, Marks and her family made up a party of five, which meant that an automatic 17% gratuity would be added to the bill, as clearly stated on La Fisherman’s menu. When the bill came though, Marks felt the waitress didn’t earn that much of a tip due to missed orders and poor customer service and asked how the gratuity could be removed. The manager told her there was nothing they could do and when Marks refused to pay the tip, the restaurant’s doors were locked and the police were called.

“She said, ‘That’s fine. If you don’t want to pay the gratuity we have HPD outside,’” Marks told KPRC. “I asked the police officer twice, maybe three times, is it against the law if we don’t pay the gratuity and he never gave me a straight answer.”

Eventually Marks and her family paid the 17% to avoid any further problems—like being arrested—but the situation has attracted the attention of the Better Business Bureau, who is now looking into the incident and insists costumers need to be made aware of a restaurant’s policies before they sit down for a meal. Did someone forget this policy was right on the menu?

I can understand not wanting to pay for bad service, but you don’t handle that situation by attempting to only partially pay. You ask to speak to a manager, get an entrée comped, or something like that. This little incident has me thinking someone didn’t read the fine print.

What do you think about this situation? Who was wrong, the restaurant or the family?

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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Oh how I feel for the over-worked but underpaid employee in customer service. Been there, done that. A mall rat I was, in retail of all places, which is full of incessant folding and unreasonable demands. But I did my job, and I did it well. I can see and understand the struggle people go through trying to keep your sanity while catering to the needs of complete strangers. But there’s a difference between customers giving an employee in customer service a hard time, which might warrant an attitude, and an employee just coming to work with a chip on their shoulder just because. You know what your job entails, and just because you don’t like it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it. And I’ve received that vibe more and more these days the younger the workers get (what’s that about!?). But it’s more than just attitude, so I made a list of the trifling infractions and thought I’d share them with you. Feel free to add your own bad customer service pet peeves in the comments below.

by Charlotte Young

Jamawn Woods may have won “America’s Next Great Restaurant” on NBC, but so far he’s having a hard time winning the title in the real world.

Eater reports that after one month, Wood’s healthy soul food restaurant Soul Daddy has closed its locations in New York and Los Angeles. Mixed reviews on Yelp called the newbie chain “gross” and too much like Chipotle. Now only Soul Daddy in Bloomington, Minnesota’s Mall of America remains.

Three restaurants in three cities was the grand prize boasted on the competition show, which captivated an average of 4.52 million viewers. Show judges even had great faith in the project; Bobby Flay, Curtis Stone, Lorena Garcia and Chipotle founder Steve Ells were all reported investors in the grand venture.

Soul Daddy is Woods’ first attempt at running a restaurant. Before appearing on the seven-week long show he was the chef and owner of the small catering company W3′s in Detroit.

The PR team for the healthy soul food chain states that “the realities of running a restaurant are very difficult,” especially with several locations.

Soul Daddy’s new strategy is to focus on the remaining location in the Mall of America and develop brand and business operations from there.

A white man from Georgia who beat a black female Army reservist as her young child looked on and begged him to stop has been released from jail early.

Please read more of this disgusting situation here.

(Crain’s) — Chicago is the next target for a vegetarian advocacy group seeking to ban new fast-food restaurants in the city.

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine this week began a city-by-city campaign with a letter to the mayor of Washington, D.C., urging a moratorium on new fast-food outlets as a contributor to heart disease-related deaths.

Read More…