8 Aug. 30, 2013

1 Potbelly IPO

Potbelly, home of hot sandwiches, warm cookies and painful live music, filed for a $75 million public offering. But the chain has historically grown slowly and methodically. Will Wall Street expect Subway-like expansion? [Crain’s]

2 Dating’s brutal no matter what

Mobile dating apps like Tinder and OkCupid are all the rage, but traditional matchmakers say newfangled setup services aren’t cutting into their business. [Grid]

3 A tour of Englewood

Rep. Bobby Rush took Sen. Mark Kirk on a tour of Englewood yesterday, including passing the spot where a woman was shot outside a school during lunch. Afterward Kirk said the solution to gun violence in Chicago is to crush the gangs. Rush dismissed that and said the South Side needs investment and jobs to quell gang shootings. [Sun-Times]

4 Trotter: Plunge my toilets — or get out

Chef Charlie Trotter apparently lost it with some high school students, who were in his now-closed restaurant at his invitation. The students say he insulted them and kicked them out after their teacher refused to make them plunge the toilets. [Sun-Times]

5 Concussion question

The NFL agreed to pay $765 million to ex-players who developed post-career dementia and other brain disorders. But now that the league has dealt with former players, Rick Morrissey asks what will be done to protect current and future athletes. [Sun-Times]

6 Guesthouse warrior

Meet a North Side landlord who converted his apartments into guesthouses, which are neighborhood hotel rooms. It hasn’t been easy — he has to choke down a 16.4 percent hotel sales tax and compete with unregulated Airbnb rentals — but he says profits are double what his apartments netted. [Grid]

7 Better than Hardee’s!

McDonald’s may have been hit by another wage-protest Thursday, but according to Glassdoor.com, the world’s biggest burger slinger’s former employees rate it higher than chains like Hardee’s, where one employee complains that the food was greasy and co-workers were stoned (and this was a surprise?). [Businessweek]

8 Where’s the outrage?

All week we resisted. But here’s a post about Sunday night’s Miley Cyrus fiasco that’s actually thoughtful. Step Up Women’s Network boss Cassandra Gaddo points out that while Cyrus has been roundly vilified for her sexually over-the-top (but not very sexy) VMA performance, the man who performed with her, Robin Thicke, has gone unscathed. This despite his history of misogynistic lyrics and videos. [Today’s Chicago Woman]