Elvis Is No Longer The King, Al Gore Reminds Us O f Eggs, And Mom Is Still No. 1

Elvis Is No Longer The King, Al Gore Reminds Us Of Eggs, And Mom Is Still No. 1

Imagine What Else You Might Discover If You Kept Track of America's Daily Restaurant Specials

September 10, 1997

Rosie O'Donnell reigns supreme as the celebrity

most often found among U.S. restaurants' daily specials, followed by

Ellen Degeneres, Elvis, John Wayne and Dolly Parton (Yes, Rosie and

Ellen beat out Elvis). As for the connection between Al Gore and

eggs, even BigYellowSM can't explain why nine times out of 10, eggs

are an ingredient in a daily special named for the Vice President.

BigYellow (bigyellow.com), the nation's leading online shopping

service that lists almost every business, including restaurants, in

the United States, recently polled restaurants nationwide about their

daily specials. BigYellow's "Belly Barometer" uncovered various

eating trends around the country, as well as the impact of outside

influences on the daily specials that are offered.

Mom is No. 1! The survey found that mom, mother or mother's is the

No. 1 word used in the naming of daily specials. What's more, daily

specials named after mom tend to be 15 percent higher in price than

those without it. Not only are these maternal specials costlier,

they are also an unbelievably 43 percent higher in fat than their

no-name counterparts.

According to the Belly Barometer, even political affiliation has an

affect on the daily special offerings in each city. For instance,

cities with a Republican mayor have 15 percent more red meat specials

than those with a Democrat at the helm, which tend to serve more

fried food, goat cheese and pesto.

Even though talk shows and food columns are filled with light summer

fare, red meat and heavy sauce specials actually rise in popularity

when summer temperatures flare above 90ºF. And, according to the

survey, Fat Tuesday will have to be renamed, since it's actually the

lowest calorie day of the week, 40 percent less caloric than

Thursday, the fattiest day of the week.

Finally, investors who want to strike it rich on Wall Street may now

want to look to the prices of area restaurants' daily specials before

making any costly decisions. The Belly Barometer uncovered a

correlation between daily special prices and the Dow -- when special

prices decrease we've seen the Dow go up, and when specials prices

increase we've seen the Dow go down.

An informal survey, the Belly Barometer was developed to showcase

BigYellow's latest technology, which will soon enable restaurants to

post their specials online everyday. "With BigYellow's latest

upgrade, restaurateurs can go beyond a description of the static

attributes of their restaurants -- location, credit card policy and

decor -- and include changing aspects like menu specials, daily

events, and even the prices of their signature dishes," said William

Wise, president of Bell Atlantic Electronic Commerce Services,

providers of BigYellow.

The Belly Barometer team polled numerous restaurants in seven major

metropolitan areas around the country (Boston, New York, Atlanta,

Miami, Chicago, Dallas and Los Angeles) over a two-week period from

July 21 to Aug. 3.

Belly Barometer results will be posted in BigYellow's Dining Section

on Sept. 17.

With thousands of advertisers, and millions of visitors each month,

BigYellow continues to lead the online shopping industry in combined

sales and usage. Having provided electronic directory services for

more than a decade, Bell Atlantic launched its first online directory

in 1991 and was first on the Web with a national directory in October

1995.

In addition to its 17 million U.S. business listings, BigYellow

features 100 million U.S. residential listings, a national directory

of 15 million E-mail addresses, and links to directories in 39

foreign countries. BigYellow has strategic relationships with

Infoseek, Inc., NBC, Four11, and CNN Interactive, as well as more

than 40 content partners for the most popular topics on its service.

Unique in the industry, BigYellow employs a full-time Customer

Services staff that answers calls during business hours at

1-888-BIGYELLOW.

The new Bell Atlantic, formed through the merger of Bell Atlantic

and NYNEX, is at the forefront of the new communications, information

and entertainment industry. With 40 million telephone access lines

and 5.5 million wireless customers worldwide, Bell Atlantic companies

are premier providers of advanced wireline voice and data services,

market leaders in wireless services and the world's largest

publishers of directory information. Bell Atlantic companies are

also among the world's largest investors in high-growth global

communications markets, with operations and investments in 21

countries.