Jeanne O'Brien Coffey

Offering health benefits may seem costly, but the benefit common to so many outside of the restaurant industry may end up being more cost-effective when considering that hiring and training someone new can cost time and money—$3,500 for a single hourly employee. Plus, it’s a major way to keep talented team members from looking elsewhere.
“Turns out, taking care of the people who take care of your customers is good for business,” says Christine Cikowski, co-owner of Chicago fast-casual restaur...

Reports of the death of the independent bookstore have been gravely exaggerated, to paraphrase the old Mark Twain saying. As communities and proprietors know, these welcoming spots are much more than just places to buy something to read.
“When I walk into a local bookstore, it’s my way of connecting with and supporting my community,” says Ryan Raffaelli, an assistant professor in the Organizational Behavior Unit at Harvard Business School who studies technology reemergence, which is the scien...

So things haven’t gone as planned this year, and your heart is full of revenge instead of bliss. Send an array of bitter chocolates or drinks, to show you’re so over it (not).

The rosé wave has given birth to a whole range of lovely pink drinks, from gin to hard cider. Some have a long history (Like Laurent-Perrier), and some are newcomers to our shores (I'm looking at you, Beefeater Pink) From wine to gin, here are some to explore.

Mount Mansfield and sister Spruce Peak are the main attractions in Stowe, a ski town as unassuming—in a perfect New England way—as it is storied.

Business
Spindrift founder Bill Creelman wants to upend the seltzer industry and do for carbonated water what Sam Adams did for beer. And he’s starting by asking what the competition is really made of. —By Jeanne O’Brien Coffey
On a brisk day just after the new year, Bill Creelman, founder and CEO of Spindrift, sets a shiny, unlabeled aluminum can on his desk at the seltzer company’s new headquarters in Newton. The unassuming gesture is ripe with anticipation: Inside is Spindrift’s newest fla...

Chef, restaurateur, and author Barbara Lynch shares her holiday in Gloucester

It’s a hot-button issue. There is no question that the restaurant industry has a harassment problem. According to Equal Employment Opportunity Center data crunched by Buzzfeed last year, full-service restaurant industry workers reported far and away the most incidences of sexual harassment between 1995 and 2006.
“It’s a big problem in the hospitality industry,” says David B. Jordan, a Houston-based attorney and co-chair of the Hospitality Industry Group at Littler Mendelson, the world’s large...

Director Steven Soderbergh faces down the regulatory gauntlet to sell his new spirit, Jeanne O'Brien Coffey reports.

Tucked into an office tower in Boston’s Financial District, Common Vines packs a lot into less than 900 square feet. A marble counter, used for daily tastings, dominates the space, backed by a couch and a children’s nook. Floor-to-ceiling racks line the walls, with 450 selections especially strong in smart finds in the $15-to-$25 range, like Gen del Alma’s Ji Ji Ji, a blend of pinot and malbec from Mendoza, at $17. There are also plenty of off-the-beaten-track finds like Kiralyudvar’s dry fur...

Kingsley. Apple Orchard. Cambridge-Ellis. Ask around this brainy town, and parents will swear a happy life begins with the right preschool. But how early should the rat race really start? Clue: It’s younger than you think.

The Conductor’s Building, a standalone sliver of brick off Harvard Square, was the 1912 headquarters for the Boston Elevated Railway. When Les Sablons opened in the building, sommelier Lauren Daddona designed a wine list around what was in fashion when the structure was built. It’s a bucket list of wines from Bordeaux, Burgundy and Germany, like Haut-Brion, and Barth Rheingau rieslings. They play well with chef Jeremy Sewall’s continental cuisine, like the crisp potato pancake topped with a g...

Service included is a hard road for pioneers, but as restaurateurs struggle with the best way to deal with rising labor costs and fair compensation for the back of the house, everyone is eventually going go this route or disappear, says Amanda Cohen, owner and chef at Manhattan’s Dirt Candy.

Check out the filmmaker's other iPhone movie, this one aimed at proving singani is not brandy, and deserves a place alongside tequila and pisco.

Evan Hennessey, whose favorite kitchen tool as chef/owner of Stages at One Washington is probably tweezers, is the first chef from New Hampshire on Food TV's Chopped -- and he was tasked with to impressing judges by cooking with leftover lo mein. How will that go?