Patricia Cobe

2 weeks ago | restaurantbusinessonline.com | Patricia Cobe |Bret Thorn

Bret Thorn, senior food & beverage editor of Nation’s Restaurant News and Restaurant Hospitality, joined the podcast fresh off of a trip to Las Vegas where he attended Starbucks’ Leadership Experience 2025, featuring 14,000 managers from the coffeehouse chain, as well as its top executives and other leaders. They gathered to reinvigorate the brand, which has faced declining sales for the past year, making it an outlier in the otherwise booming coffeehouse segment.

2 weeks ago | restaurantbusinessonline.com | Patricia Cobe |Bret Thorn

FacebookTwitterLinkedInMcDonald’s had been teasing the return of its chicken Snack Wraps on social media, but Popeyes beat them to the punch with the launch of similar wraps of their own. That was the big menu news this week that was discussed by hosts Pat Cobe, senior menu editor of Restaurant Business, and Bret Thorn, senior food & beverage editor of Nation’s Restaurant News and Restaurant Hospitality.

3 weeks ago | restaurant-hospitality.com | Bret Thorn |Patricia Cobe

Menu Talk: Pat and Bret discuss the latest flavor trends and share an interview with Danny Grant, chef-partner in Maple Hospitality GroupPeaches, guava and Persian flavors are trending on menus this week, according to Pat Cobe, senior menu editor of Restaurant Business, and Bret Thorn, senior food & beverage editor of Nation’s Restaurant News and Restaurant Hospitality, the co-hosts of the Menu Talk podcast. Bret observed that peach-themed drinks are making a comeback this summer.

1 month ago | restaurantbusinessonline.com | Bret Thorn |Patricia Cobe

FacebookTwitterLinkedInWith the National Restaurant Show in the rearview mirror, Bret Thorn, senior food & beverage editor of Nation’s Restaurant News and Restaurant Hospitality, welcomed a guest co-host to the podcast, Heather Lalley, managing editor of sister publications Restaurant Business, Supermarket News and CSP Daily News. With an expert in the retail space joining the show, Bret and Heather discussed the increasing presence of drinks made with cannabis in that channel.

1 month ago | restaurant-hospitality.com | Bret Thorn |Patricia Cobe

Menu Talk: Pat and Bret chat about the highlights from the National Restaurant Show and share an interview with Kyle Knall, chef-owner of Birch in MilwaukeeThe annual National Restaurant Association Show in Chicago concluded Tuesday, and both editors spent the last four days walking the show floor, sampling food and drinks from the thousands of exhibitors, recording podcasts and video interviews, and attending events.