Brooklyn Smorgasburg and The Flea’s Winter Home

September 29, 2014 by Leave a Comment

Beginning November 8th, Jonathan Butler and Eric Demby, co-founders of the outdoor food courts and markets, will be moving a similar version of The Brooklyn Flea and Smorgasburg to a 30,000 sq ft space on Dean Street in Crown Heights for the winter. The Dean St space is around the corner from their brand new beer and food hall, Berg’n. The winter market will have a very similar layout to the way it was set up in Williamsburg. Over 100 vendors from The Brooklyn Flea and Smorgasburg will be present in the space on 1000 Dean Street on weekends starting in November and running through till March 2015.

Commenting on the neighboring Berg’n, Jonathan Butler states, “We wanted to have a business that wasn’t just on weekends and wasn’t reliant on the weather.” Berg’n will have a similar feel in atmosphere as the outdoor markets. Eric Demby states, “I think people really appreciate the way we have kind of creatively transformed the feeling at the outdoor markets, which is impossible to concentrate into a brick-and-mortar space in the literal sense.”

To read more about the Flea and Smorgasburg’s vendors’ new winter home and the new Berg’n beer and food hall, click here

Filed Under: Events, Local Market Buzz Tagged With: ,

The Good Batch Bakery Opens in Clinton Hill

September 26, 2014 by Leave a Comment

A new bakery, The Good Batch, opened September 9th in Clinton Hill. Some of you may be familiar with The Good Batch as their team has been present at Smorgasburg serving up delicious ice cream sandwiches. The Good Batch in Clinton Hill serves morning pastries, cakes, ice cream sandwiches and many other delightful sweets and treats. The bakery has also been working hard to grow their new wholesale line. The bakery has a small  cafe in the front of the shop that has been warmly welcoming neighbors since their opening.

Be sure to check out the shops latest ice cream sandwich creation from Sous Chef Chloe: The Crispy. The Crispy is a gluten-free caramel rice crispy cookie filled with vanilla ice cream. Other items on the menu this weekend include the Goodwich (oat chocolate chunk cookie, sea salt, drizzled fudge, vanilla ice cream), the gluten-free Almond Toffee (almond toffee macaroon, toasted almonds, burnt sugar caramel, toffee candy, vanilla ice cream) and the Coffee Caramel (brown butter salty cookie, caramel cream, crushed espresso beans, coffee ice cream).

To check out some pictures of The Good Batch at 936 Fulton Street and their goodies, click here

Filed Under: Local Market Buzz, Openings Tagged With: , ,

Making Your Restaurant Last

September 26, 2014 by Leave a Comment

The New York State Restaurant Association and NYC Business solutions are hosting a course on how restaurant owners can keep ahead of the curve and continuously be successful in their operations. If you own a food enterprise and have had a successful run so far and would like to keep up the momentum then this course will be very beneficial. The topics will be presented by a legal firm that focuses mainly on the restaurant industry, Helbraun & Associates.

The class will focus on best practices, warning signs, what not to worry about, and will go over the top ten things that restaurant/bar owners should be aware of in order to continually grow their business in a controlled fashion. This knowledge is important as the food industry is known to be rapidly ever changing. The course will take place on Thursday October 2nd, from 3PM-5PM at NYC Business Solutions in the Brooklyn Center: 9 Bond Street, 5th Floor Brooklyn, New York.

To register online for the course or contact the NYSRA for any questions or clarifications, click here

Filed Under: Events

Risk Management for Foodservice Business

September 25, 2014 by Leave a Comment

Foodservices.insureon.com is a microsite that was launched by Insureon which aims to provide risk management resources to small foodservice business owners. The site includes a set of step by step guidelines on how to best manage their risk exposure. The site was particularly designed for restaurants, bakeries, cafes, food trucks, caterers and other food service businesses as a whole. One flowchart on the site shows businesses who to identify which insurance policies would be the most effective at mitigating their risks; it also shows some sample quotes so the business owner can get an idea of what cost can be expected.

CEO of Insureon, Ted Devine, recently stated in a press release that business insurance may seem daunting, and that “small-business owners are told they need it, but that’s all they hear. They might not have any idea which policies they need, why they need coverage, what they get in exchange for the premiums they pay, or how to reduce their overall risk. We’re fixing that problem. Restaurant owners and caterers come here and they can find out pretty much anything they want to know about insurance and risk management for their business.”

To read more about Insureon’s new site foodservice’s.insureon.com as a resource for foodservice business owners, click here and to visit the newly launched site click here

Filed Under: Global Market Buzz

Welcome Autumn With Cider Doughnuts

September 25, 2014 by Leave a Comment

With the change of seasons and arrival of Autumn comes a certain craving for all that is pumpkin spiced, but also for delicious apple cider doughnuts. If you are not able to take the trip upstate New York to try different farm stands’ delicious apple cider donuts, below is a selection of the best places to satisfy this seasonal craving right here in Manhattan. From food trucks to bakeries and green markets there are many spots to find cider doughnuts in the city.

  • Dough: This bakery can be found in Bed-Stuy, with a first Manhattan location in the works.  Dough is launching a pear-apple cider doughnut next month that promises to be very special.
  • Doughnuttery: This bakery can be found at pop ups such as Maddison Square Eats, but also has a home at the Chelsea Market. Doughnuts can be purchased by the bag in seasonal flavors such as tart mulled green apple or sweet red apple.
  • The Cinnamon Snail: This food truck actually carries a delicious cider doughnut year round! This prize-winning food truck makes their doughnut with local cider, fried in organic oil, and topped with cinnamon and sugar.
  • Carpe Donut: Another food truck, Carpe Donut came to New York last year and made its way into Cheap Eats 2013. You will be tempted by the FroDo, a doughnut sandwich with a vanilla ice cream middle. Follow @CarpeDonutNYC on Twitter to see when and where you can get your hands on a FroDo!

To see more places throughout New York to get your Fall Doughnut fix, click here

Filed Under: Local Market Buzz Tagged With: ,

Single Concept MatchaBar in Williamsburg

September 24, 2014 by Leave a Comment

Matcha is a powdered green tea that has almost as intense of an energy kick as caffeine. Additionally, the finely ground matcha powder is full of all the same nutritional benefits as green tea. This traditional Japanese drink is currently offered in a few Japanese coffee shops throughout Manhattan (for example Bosie Tea Parlor in the west village). Now, however, it can be found in the new single-concept MatchaBar that opened in Williamsburg!

Owners Max and Graham Fortgang (brothers) import matcha directly from farms in Nishio, Japan and have created a menu based around the matcha powder. A few items that can be found at MatchaBar include matcha lattes, matcha tea, and a few dessert and food items that include matcha in the recipes catered by Watty & Meg, a farm to table neighborhood restaurant in Cobble Hill.

Beginning in a few weeks, the MatchaBar space will also double as a speakeasy at night. Check out the space at  93 Wythe Avenue, Brooklyn (near North 10th Street). To read more about the opening of MatchaBar and to view some photos of the food and beverages, click here

Filed Under: Local Market Buzz, Openings

Leveraging Mobile Technology

September 24, 2014 by Leave a Comment

Retail TouchPoints and MicroStrategy have partnered together to show new ways retailers can leverage mobile technology at a competitive advantage. Having a sound mobile app strategy can help to improve revenue, productivity and loyalty while also controlling and managing costs.  The average consumer will glance at their mobile device over 150 times per day, so being able to leverage mobile technology will definitely create an impact on revenue. Below are five important benefits of a winning mobile app strategy:

  • Boost customer loyalty.
  • Achieve operational efficiencies.
  • Drive Sales
  • Enhance customer experience

The Container Store and Gucci are two very different brands that both use MicroStrategy Mobile to improve store operations and transform the customer’s experience. To watch two great videos on how these brands have leveraged mobile app technology to improve productivity and revenue, click here

Filed Under: Global Market Buzz Tagged With:

Enterprise Insight: Being Present

September 23, 2014 by Leave a Comment

The restaurant business is fundamentally a service business, one that requires attention to the guest and constant execution on their wants and needs. Thus, this month, we are going to discuss being present for your guests; what it means and why it is important.

What

Being present seems like an obvious concept; management and servers interacting with guests must be present in order to do their jobs, correct? To a point, yes, but that is the difference between good service and great service. Every point of contact with a guest needs to be treated as both an opportunity and a threat. For example, glancing at the next guest in line or trying to communicate with another server while helping a guest destroys the sense of connection and gives the guest the impression that you’re not paying attention. Repeated violations of this sort, and the guest will lose interest in the experience and distrust in the team.

Conversely, if the server is giving his/her full attention to the diner, you can create an opportunity—to upsell, to educate, to build rapport with the guest. In the above example, let’s say the guest was curious about the difference between two signature coffee roasts. As an opportunity, the team has the chance to wow the guest with their knowledge and maybe sell them on the more expensive cup. At the very least, the team has showed the patron that they’re listening, and they’re there to help. This is, in essence, the ethos of Danny Meyer’s enlightened hospitality; put your team first, so that the team can concentrate on going above and beyond for the guest. Small gestures from small conversations with your guests can lead to big raves—which they will share with their friends.

Why

The reasons for being present should be more obvious: it’s good service, and good service is good for business. The actual “ROI” on attentive service and guest connection is hard to calculate, but the implications are not. When your team is truly present and keyed in to the operation of the restaurant, guests are happier, the team is more efficient, and, ultimately, the business will reflect that in positive ways—word of mouth, good reviews, and busier nights. Ultimately, every single guest interaction has a tiny impact on the bottom line that will, eventually, build or erode your business.

 

The foodservice business is inherently busy and sometimes chaotic. The guest, though, should never feel as though the team is not paying attention. Being present for the guest is fairly simple—paying close attention and executing efficiently. However, the difference in being and not being present is the different between great service and poor service, success and failure.

 

 

Filed Under: Enterprise Insight Tagged With:

Webinar: Trends in Retail Food Marketplace

September 22, 2014 by Leave a Comment

On Wednesday October 15th the National Restaurant Association is hosting a panel discussion webinar event that will touch upon the current trends in the retail food marketplace. This will include discussing the growing threat of ready made foods commonly sold by traditional grocery and convenience stores. The panel discussion will help you learn about the competition and consumer behavior driving this move, overall trends and strategies for competing in this new food marketplace.

Time will be allocated for questions directed to the panelists where you can get answers for issues relevant to your business. To register free for the webinar event, “The Grocerants are Eating Your Lunch: How Grocery Stores, C-Stores, Drug Stores & Home Delivery are Taking Away Market Share,” online click here. The event will take place from 4PM-5PM EST.

Filed Under: Events Tagged With:

New York Taste 2014

September 22, 2014 by Leave a Comment

New York Taste is a gastronomic gathering of experts in the New York restaurant scene that has been running since 1998. New York Taste is partnered with City Harvest, a food rescue charity dedicated to feeding the city’s hungry men, women and children. City Harvest works by collecting excess food from different segments of the food industry and delivers via truck or bicycle free of charge to roughly 400 different community food programs throughout the city. New York Taste has partnered with City Harvest for this charity event in the past and this will be their sixteenth run together. The diverse menu at the event will be curated by culinary editor Gillian Duffy and promises an evening full of delicious food and drink tastings from over 40 different restaurants, chefs and mixologists.

The general tasting event will take place Monday, November 10th at the Waterfront building (269 11th Avenue) from 7PM-9PM, with a special preview for VIP ticket holders from 6PM-7PM. Tickets are open to attendees of 21 years or older and are only available for purchase through TicketWeb, here, for $108.88 for general admission. For an extra cost, VIP tickets are available which include the special preview hour, access to the VIP Lounge and an event gift bag.

Learn more about the event and the different restaurants, chefs and mixologists that will be attending here

 

Filed Under: Events
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