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Ponderosa restaurants to get makeover [Dayton Daily News, Ohio](Dayton Daily News (OH) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Nov. 17--Staff Writer Mark Fisher offers the following item about a familiar name to many area residents: Ponderosa Steakhouse -- the restaurant chain that once called Dayton its home and which is closing in on its 50th birthday despite a tumultuous history -- is headed for a significant makeover. Ponderosa has survived countless ownership changes and a brush or two with bankruptcy over its 48 years, and it still operates two buffet restaurants in the Dayton area: on Airway Road in Dayton and on Taywood Road in Englewood, as well as locations in Urbana and near Tri-County Mall. But as we old-timers know, Ponderosa's glory days were decades ago and had a distinctly Dayton flavor: In 1974, the steakhouse chain opened a new steak-shaped corporate headquarters near Dayton International Airport, just two years after the company became a Wall Street darling when its stock price jumped from $8.50 to $119.50 per share. By 1989, it operated 736 restaurants worldwide, more than any other steakhouse chain, and that same year, it merged with the second-largest steakhouse chain, Bonanza, which had 579 units. After emerging from bankruptcy proceedings in 2008, the Ponderosa-Bonanza marriage remains intact, under the parent company Homestyle Dining LLC, based in Plano, Texas. The number of units in the combined company has shrunk to 223. And Homestyle just unveiled plans last week for a "brand refresh and culinary revitalization" for both steakhouse chains that includes a new line of flavored steaks, new seafood offerings, and several new "Light 'N Healthy" menu items. There will also be an "interior refresh" to all restaurants nationwide, company officials said. White House honor Last week, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the Networking and Information Technology Research and Development program honored Miami Twp.-based Teradata for its efforts to use data analytics to improve society. "Teradata is honored to be recognized by the White House for our focus on data philanthropy," said Sherri Morgan, Teradata community relations director, in a statement. "Our data philanthropy initiative is a way for Teradata to use our unique resources and capabilities in giving back to society." Through a partnership with the non-profit DataKind, Teradata's data scientists and others help non-profit and non-governmental organizations with their data needs. Employee turnover Employers: Get ready. The Hay Group predicts that employee turnover will rise sharply next year after being flat for the past several years. The number of workers who will leave one job for another is expected to rise nearly 13 percent to 161.7 million worldwide in 2014, the firm said. "As the economy recovers and global employment becomes less volatile, dissatisfied workers are a significant flight risk for organizations across the world," said Mark Royal, senior principal at Hay Group. ___ (c)2013 the Dayton Daily News (Dayton, Ohio) Visit the Dayton Daily News (Dayton, Ohio) at www.daytondailynews.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |