Chicago – Takeout service Grubhub will acquire independent North American online food-ordering Foodler.

Victoria - Johnny Rockets of Canada has opened its first two locations in Victoria, where it is offering employees a minimum wage of $15.

Canada is turning 150 years old this year and as we ramp up for the big event July 1, you can sense the momentum.

Toronto – The way small businesses are accepting payments has changed – it’s no longer just cash or even debit and credit – as mobile payments and digital currency have become even more prevalent in the retail sector. The Globe and Mail reports. | READ MORE

What does the word "Fine" mean coming from your pizzeria's customers? Customer service expert Shep Hyken takes a close look at the word and how it doesn't always mean your customer is happy.

Newton, MA – Targeting low-frequency guests is the key to a restaurant loyalty program's impact, suggests a report from Paytronix Systems, a rewards program provider.

Toronto – Centennial College's School of Hospitality, Tourism and Culinary Arts has partnered with the Toronto branch of the Canadian Association of Foodservice Professionals on a pilot project that will allow 12 graduating students to work in Toronto restaurants and be mentored by some of the city's most innovative chefs and restaurant managers.

Chicago – Convenience is a key reason delivery now represents 1.7 billion restaurant and food-service visits a year, suggests research from the NPD Group.

Ann Arbor, MI – Domino’s has partnered with and free web-based platform IFTTT to offer a free service that allows people to add and create connections between digital devices and services using simple conditional statements called applets.

Denver, CO – Chipotle Mexican Grill has launched a customized bachelor’s degree in business for its employees to help them advance within the company and broaden their horizons.

Toronto – Pizzeria Libretto Takeout & Delivery recently opened on College Street in Toronto. Libretto's fifth location, it is offering another service channel with the help of apps. The Toronto Star reports. | READ MORE

In my last column, I wrote about jazzing up the vegetable toppings on your menu and in this column I want to expand on that idea. Canadians are going through another big food and tastes transformation, and many are no longer satisfied with the usual pepperoni or ham and pineapple pizza offerings.

Taste for Luxury Rare and Precious Foods has a delicate cheese called Dolce Nuvola made with full-fat, pasteurized milk.

Barrie, Ont., entrepreneur Shelby Taylor has developed a chickpea-based pasta that ticks the boxes of several special diets.

Canadian operators can now upgrade their AMI jukeboxes by adding a music video kit to connect their NGX digital jukebox models to nearby televisions.

If you're looking to jazz up your charcuterie board, Piller’s has a new line of cured meats.

Mobile app and platform ClickDishes works with local restaurants to give customers in-app ordering, streamlining to-go ordering, dine-in eating and payment services.

Dragontail Systems’ Algo Dispatching System uses a patented algorithm to manage the food preparation process from order to delivery.

A novel staffing app aims to connect the restaurant and hospitality industry with skilled workers.

Food Profit, based in Moncton, N.B., has created software that categorizes restaurants' product invoice data into the seven primary food-costing categories to help them see the true cost of menu items.

Simply Milled, Ardent Mills’ new line of bread flour, all-purpose flour, pastry flour and whole-wheat flour, features products made without bleach, bromate or other additives, the company said in a press release.

EGE Marketing SEO service help small business owners turn traffic into leads and leads into sales.A new Toronto search engine optimization company that helps small business owners in Canada achieve higher Google rankings has seen their reputation catapulted due to their success rate.

Heckler Design has introduced its WindFall Coaster as a solution to the decline in table turn many restaurants have experienced as a result of phone distractions.

Regina – Among three different sets of owners, west Regina pizzeria Juliana Pizza has always had a Peter. Today, it’s Peter Yannitsos, who bought Juliana Pizza with his cousin-in-law Paul Howie back in September 2006. The Regina Leader-Post reports. | READ MORE

When you talk to Carlo Raillo get ready to listen because you will learn.

Thunder Bay, Ont. – The owners of a new restaurant on the south side of Thunder Bay, Ont. are hoping their business could be part of an entertainment revival in the area. CBC News reports. | READ MORE

New York – Scott Wiener loves pizza so much he gave up having a regular job to found a tour of pie hotspots in New York. He's so obsessed with it that he has collected over 1,300 pizza boxes from around the U.S. The Independent reports. | READ MORE

When in Rome, you do as the Romans do. For Roberto (Rob) Federici, owner of Ciao Roma in Woodbridge, Ont., that means sampling fresh, delicious pizza made in hole-in-the-wall pizzerias in the land of his heritage.

As a-ha moments go, the one that conceived Junior’s Handmade Sourdough Pizza in Bowmanville, Ont., was a quiet but significant one. It came when, after years of working in the restaurant industry, Jade Chaput and husband Victor Hanc Jr. planned to get into the pizza business.

Red Tomato Pies is crushing it when it comes to customer service. The fun-loving pizzeria with locations in Williams Lake and Golden, B.C., is a favourite pizza spot for locals and tourists alike.

Berlin – In the southeastern Kreuzberg borough of Berlin, a restaurant parodies Canadian culture and specializes in “Canadian Pizza.” The Globe and Mail reports. | READ MORE

Grace Yeh and Jean-Daniel Nadeau are seriously passionate about Neapolitan pizza.

St. John's – The co-owners of Kono Pizza in St. John’s, N.L., are through their first quarter and ready for more. Their food truck operation specializes in pizza to go, in cone form. The Telegram reports. | READ MORE

Windsor, Ont. – Volcano Pizzeria, one of Windsor's best known pizzerias, opened in the late 1950s. CBC News traces the restaurant's history. | READ MORE

The team at Zolas Restaurant do a dizzying amount of good in their community, and they are the first to say they don’t do it alone.

Here are the answers to Michelle Brisebois' Marketing Insights trivia:

Cambridge, MA – Researchers from MIT’s Tangible Media Group have created flat sheets of gelatin and starch that, when submerged in water, instantly sprout into three-dimensional structures, including common pasta shapes such as macaroni and rotini. The innovation could save on shipping costs. MIT News reports. | READ MORE

Troy, OH – Commercial food equipment manufacturer Hobart has announced the winners of its recent custom-painted mixer and food processor giveaways.

Pizza chefs seem to have an endless appetite for finding ways to improve their crust. Ancient grains are getting a lot of attention in the baking world these days, and including them in your pizza crust may be one way to make your pizza rise above the crowd and appeal to customers with adventurous palates and a keen interest in nutrition.

Food smoking is an artful way to add flavour and it’s not just for protein anymore. Learn how your pizzeria can tap into this hot trend.

Portland, OR – Inspired by the 2014 movie Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which features a 99-cheese pizza called the “Novantanove Formaggio," Scottie's Pizza Parlour in Portland, Ore., has created a pizza using a total of 101 different cheese varieties. The Independent reports. | READ MORE

Canada – Red Sun Farms of Dublin, Va., has an exclusive license on an organic grape tomato called Terneto in Canada. HortiDaily reports. | READ MORE

Canada – The Canadian Food Inspection Agency's recall of Robin Hood brand flour linked to an E. coli outbreak has been expanded to the entire country. CBC News reports. | READ MORE

Las Vegas – Justin Wadstein of Pizza My Heart in Los Gatos, Calif., went home the World Pizza Games masters champ after wowing judges and an enthusiastic audience with his acrobatics at Pizza Expo on March 29. Wadstein narrowly edged out this year's champion, Scott Volpe of Fiamme Pizza Napoletana in Tuscon, Ariz.

Las Vegas, NV – Hobart has announced it will give away a custom-painted Legacy HL662 Pizza Mixer valued at $20,000 during the 2017 International Pizza Expo next week in Las Vegas.

Verona, Italy –With one gold medal more than last year, Italy improved its share of the medals to defeat Spain 12-3 in the duel between the world's best extra virgin olive oils this week in Verona.

This recipe appears courtesy of Robyn Gleason, @simplyfreshdinners, and was developed for Chickapea Pasta.

Toronto – A study of Canadian online shopping patterns by measurement and analytics company Comscore has found Canadians like to order their pizzas with their phones. The top three delivery sites – Dominos, Pizza Pizza and Pizza Hut – all showed year-on-year growth of at least 25 per cent. Mobilesyrup reports. | READ MORE

Orlando, FL – Restaurants and grocery stores will continue to steal ideas from one another, with grocery stores adding more prepared foods and cafés and restaurants adding more retail items both in their own restaurants and on grocery store shelves. This is one of 10 trends explored by Aaron Allen and Associates. | READ MORE

If you’re looking to gain an edge for your pizzeria, an industry event like the International Pizza Expo is a great place to start.

Toronto – Cucinato online food magazine is hosting a Tuscan wine and olive oil tasting event on May 15 at the Market Kitchen, overlooking historic St. Lawrence Market in Toronto.

Chicago – Canadian retailers continue to compete with restaurants for mealtime customers. Grocery stores are improving and expanding their selection of ready-to-eat or ready-to-heat foods and beverages, and consumers are recognizing these improvements, according to a new report from Technomic.

Miami, FL – Two high school sweethearts who tied the knot in December in Miami decided to forgo the traditional wedding cake and served their guests a tiered pizza “cake” instead. The Huffington Post reports. | READ MORE

Chicago – The use of mobile apps, text messages, and the Internet to order food from a restaurant or food-service outlet grew by 18 per cent last year in the U.S. and now accounts for 1.9 billion food-service visits, global information company NPD Group said in a news release.

Vancouver – Bakery, restaurant, food service and grocery chain operators will have a chance to network with suppliers at the Baking Association of Canada’s Bakery Congress 2017 in Vancouver in April.

Mississauga, Ont. – The Restaurants Canada Show, which took place Feb. 26-28 in Toronto, marked Canada’s 150th birthday by celebrating the diversity of Canadian food culture and the unity of the foodservice industry along with its challenges and strengths.

Simcoe, Ont. – To celebrate National Pizza Day on Feb. 9, we submit for your approval the top five reasons independent pizzerias rock!

Chicago – Technomic has identified five themes that will define consumer food-service behaviour in the U.S. this year is a leaning toward modern, unique twists on classic items.

I have yet to meet anybody who won’t be glad to see the backside of 2016. The world appears to be scared and angry and – politics aside – to agree it’s time to drop the mic on this wacky year. Travel has been negatively impacted by social unrest and terrorist attacks. Investors don’t seem sure as to whether they are happily anticipating a Trump presidency or not.