New Feature – The Today’s Restaurant News Forum
I recently watched a documentary about Hugh Hefner, the founder and publisher of Playboy Magazine. It was fascinating because, in many ways, I encountered similar start‑up challenges when launching Today’s Restaurant—though, of course, without the girls. Hefner’s story is a reminder that great ideas often begin with determination, creativity, and a few dollars left in the bank. His journey shows how a single bold decision can change the course of a business, and in his case, the entire publishing world.
The first issue of Playboy featured the biggest star in the world at the time—Marilyn Monroe. Many people wonder how a fledgling magazine could afford such a coup. In the 1940s and ’50s, pin‑up photos were sold by agencies to publications, much like buying stock images online today. Hefner, sitting alone in a coffee shop and down to his last fifteen hundred dollars, spotted an ad for a photo of Monroe taken before her rise to fame.
He walked into the agency with a thousand dollars in cash, hoping to buy the rights. The agent quoted six hundred dollars—steep for Hefner at the time—but as he turned to leave, he asked if five hundred would seal the deal. 
The agent agreed, and history was made. That single image launched a publishing empire and became one of the most iconic magazine covers of all time.
Over the years, Playboy introduced many innovations—the fold‑out centerfold, the Playboy Forum, and a new kind of reader engagement that encouraged conversation, debate, and personal expression. While we won’t be using a fold‑out centerfold, we are excited to introduce our own version of that interactive spirit: The Today’s Restaurant News Forum.
This new feature will be a place for the foodservice industry to speak freely—to comment, question, or even complain about anything that matters to you. Whether it’s business frustrations, personal challenges, politics, love, or the everyday chaos of running a restaurant, we want to hear it. The restaurant world is full of passionate, multidimensional people who face the same ups and downs as everyone else. That’s why this forum will be open, honest, and occasionally humorous—a space where our readers can connect beyond menus, marketing, and equipment.
The foodservice industry is one of the most diverse and fast‑moving fields in the country. Owners, chefs, managers, franchisees, suppliers, and reps all bring different experiences and perspectives. Many of you have owned multiple restaurants, changed concepts, expanded into new territories, or reinvented your careers entirely. This industry is built on movement, creativity, and resilience. The Forum will give you a place to share those experiences, vent your frustrations, celebrate your wins, and ask questions that only fellow industry members truly understand.
To get started, we invite you to submit your questions, observations, or complaints—business or personal—to info@trnusa.com. Each month, we’ll publish selected posts and responses in Today’s Restaurant News at www.trnusa.com. If our editorial team can’t come up with a solution or a witty reply, we’ll turn to our network of industry experts from our two networking groups (www.trnusa.com/network‑group (trnusa.com in Bing)) for insight. Between our contributors, partners, and readers, we have a wealth of experience to draw from.
The goal is simple: to create a conversation that reflects the real lives of those who make the restaurant industry thrive. So don’t be shy—send us your thoughts, your frustrations, your questions, and your stories. Getting it off your chest might just help someone else in the business who’s facing the same thing.
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