Chef Bowien to Curate Brooklyn Taste Talks Festival

July 23, 2014 by Leave a Comment

The Taste Talks food festival will be back in Brooklyn this September 12th-14th for the second consecutive year. Top talent in the food industry from chefs to critics to writers will be gathering to discuss and reflect on the future of taste. It will be featuring three days of workshops, discussions, tastings and symposiums. The festival will be presented by Chef Mario Batali and the Northside Media Group, and curated by James Beard Award winner Chef Danny Bowien of Mission Chinese and Mission Cantina. Last year April Bloomfield (Spotted Pig, The Breslin) hosted Taste Talks and acted as the Master of Ceremonies.

Events that will be hosted by Chef Bowien include:

Mother of Pearl: an cocktail hour featuring an Island Creek oyster and Champagne pairing which will lead into a multi-course sit-down dinner at Villain Restaurant in Williamsburg.

Taste Talks All-Star BBQ: Over 20 star chefs including Dale Talde, Christina Tosi, Alex Guarnaschelli and Andy Ricker amongst others will prepare a barbecue feast along the East River Park.

The panels that will be hosted at Taste Talks include topics such as photography and media, the future of food culture, the future of food magazines, expert food photography for everyday cooks and many others that will be concluded by a private chef’s dinner at Fitzcarraldo in Bushwick. Taste Talks will then migrate to Chicago for the first time on October 4th and 5th and will be curated by Paul Kahan of Blackbird and Avec.

To purchase tickets click here, and to read more information about the festival’s upcoming events click here

 

Filed Under: Events, Local Market Buzz Tagged With:

Tara Berman on Heritage Radio’s “All in the Industry”

July 22, 2014 by Leave a Comment

Tara Berman, managing partner of Tarapaige Group, will be featured on Heritage Radio’s show, “All in the Industry” on Wednesday July 30th. The show is hosted by Shari Bayer, Founder and President of Bayer Public Relations, a full-service marketing agency specializing in the culinary and hospitality industry. The radio show focuses on providing insight into the process behind opening a restaurant by bringing in restaurant industry experts.

Tara Berman is a leading industry expert on business planning, conceptual development, accounting and financial management, operations and overall strategic guidance for early stage brands and growing enterprises. The episode series touch upon the aspects needed to make a restaurant truly successful beyond the food; this can include location, marketing, staffing, and atmosphere amongst other important factors.

Tara earned her Certified Public Accounting license in 1997 from a public accounting firm and later progressed to working in investment banking with JP Morgan in trading and sales for the capital markets division. A few years later, after her completion of culinary school at the Institute of Culinary Education, she began her tenure in the kitchen of the French Laundry with The Thomas Keller Restaurant Group.

Tara continued to work with TKRG in management at Bouchon Bistro, Per Se and Bouchon Bakery. Tara is also a guest lecturer at the New York University Food Studies Program. In 2013, Tara earned her Executive MBA at NYU’s Stern School of Business.

 

Tune in to the broadcast on Wednesday July 30th at 4PM to hear all the advice and insights Tara has to offer to aspiring and established professionals in the field.

 

Filed Under: Events, Local Market Buzz

New Shake Shack Dumbo

July 18, 2014 by Leave a Comment

The new Shake Shack location in Dumbo opens today on the corner of Fulton St. and Water St directly across from the Brooklyn Bridge Park. This location’s décor has a nautical vibe with sailboat images hung on the cedar plank walls that were stripped from old New York rooftop water towers. The burger chain’s new Dumbo location is the first to offer their Frog’s Leap “Shack Red” and “Shack White” wines on tap and not just in bottles. There are also a few other features that are only specific to this location. For instance:

 

  • The “Caramel Carousel,” made with a vanilla frozen custard base with bananas, caramel sauce, sugar cone pieces, and sea salt was inspired by Jane’s Carousel; a nearby tourist attraction.
  • The “Brooklyn Pie Oh My” consists of vanilla frozen custard blended with a slice of Four & Twenty Blackirds pie. Currently the Brooklyn Pie Oh My features a slice of strawberry-balsamic pie; the pie flavors will rotate.
  • Although not convenient in the summer, the gas-burning fireplace in the front window will definitely be a bonus come winter!
  • 5% of proceeds from the location-specific beverages will benefit the nonprofit “Badass Brooklyn Animal Rescue.”

 

To read more about the opening of Shake Shack’s new location, click here

 

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

Olive Garden’s Re-Branding Strategy

July 17, 2014 by Leave a Comment

In an effort to gain back customers from newer fast casual chains such as Panera Bread or Chipotle, Olive Garden is rolling out a two phased re-branding strategy. Olive Garden has always advertised themselves to be the family-friendly neighborhood Italian dining option; now they will strive to maintain the same family-friendly vibe just at a slightly more sophisticated level. Darden Restaurants, Olive Garden’s parent company, announced last March that the brand was in need of a ‘renaissance,’ which would include updated décor, a new logo, smaller lunch portions, online ordering and speedier dine-in service.

Olive Garden’s new décor has a more modern feel to it and has parted ways with the monotone dull interiors. They are literally tearing down walls as part of the remodel to give the spaces a more open feel, redecorating with pop colors and modern art. The logo had not been updated in over fifteen years so Lippincott, a design firm, assisted in simplifying the old brand logo and replacing the tagline with “Italian Kitchen” rather than “Italian Restaurant” to connote a faster, higher-quality operation.

Hopefully these efforts will not be in vain and the chain can win back some of its customers. To read more about the changes and updates taking place at Olive Garden, click here

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

Coffee Operators Driving Revenue Through Mobile Payments

July 16, 2014 by Leave a Comment

There is a definite compatibility between specialist coffee shops and mobile payments due to the fact that their primary product is purchased at such a high frequency. Consumers purchase coffee daily (often multiple repeat purchases per day) and would benefit from a streamlined payment method and loyalty programs such as can be offered by mobile payment solutions. The consumer demographic is also most likely to participate in the mobile payment methods as it consists mostly of young students interested in technology and consumers who have easy access to mobile technologies.

While Starbucks was the first to launch its well-known loyalty program and mobile payment app years ago, third-party mobile payment technologies are now cropping up targeting independent coffee shops to help them drive revenue and better compete with larger chains such as Starbucks. CUPS is one example of a third-party mobile payment apps designed to engage consumers by providing incentives through loyalty programs that offer discounts and special offers based on their purchase history. BeansUP is another recently launched innovative app that allows consumers to set coffee pick-up times; this will allow for an enhanced consumer experience as the product is prepaid and the guest can avoid peak hour lines and pick up their coffee directly at the counter.

The increased demand for efficient, streamlined transactions will only continue to grow and these mobile technologies definitely help meet this need. In order for consumers to adopt mobile payment methods they must first be intrigued by the incentives and sign up for a subscription to their preferred coffee shop’s mobile app. As consumer engagement increases so too will the use of mobile payments and therefore help to drive traffic and revenues.

To read more about these two new innovative mobile payment technologies, click here

 

Filed Under: Global Market Buzz, Local Market Buzz, Operations Tagged With: ,

Rescue Plan for Crumbs Bakery

July 14, 2014 by Leave a Comment

Marcus Lemonis, star of the CNBC show and CEO of Camping World and Good Sam Enterpries, decided to take action when Crumbs Bakery closed their doors last week. Lemonis is devising a plan to attempt to rescue the bakery by partnering with owners of ice cream brand Dippin’ Dots to not only loan money but also to outline a new strategy which involves incorporating more products into a larger sweets shop beyond just cupcakes.

For the moment Lemonis is financing the chain to get their doors back open but is still working on a plan to really bring the company back to life. The owners of Dippin’ Dots are already investors in Crumbs whose ultimate goal is to buy the company. Lemonis is seeking to involve the founders of Crumbs, Mia and Jason Bauer, throughout the process even if it is only at an advising capacity.

Lemonis, who hosts a reality show based on helping troubled companies return to turning a profit, stated,  “I don’t believe a single (product) cupcake business is viable in the long term,” Lemonis said. “It was originally envisioned as a bake shop.” Hopefully Lemonis’ plan will be successful and enable Crumbs Bakeshop to recover, stay open and do a complete turnaround.

To read more about Lemonis’ involvement in resuscitating the bakeshop, click here

 

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

New Amsterdam Market Comes To An End

July 14, 2014 by Leave a Comment

The New Amsterdam Market has ended having hosted its last market on June 21st. The market will no longer be taking place on South Street in Lower Mahattan on the site of the Old Fulton Fish Market. Unfortunately, Robert LaValva, founder of New Amsterdam Market, informs the public that they did not manage to raise the funding necessary to ensure the survival of the organization. Sadly, more than one acre of the public space will soon be property of a suburban shopping mall developer.

The market had been growing in frequency ever since its opening seven years go. The market consisted of a community of businesses who prioritized fair trade and sustainable food production. The market created over 350 jobs and supported 500 food entrepreneurs during the 88 times the market was held. The New Amsterdam Market also hosted numerous events to celebrate regional fare and products.

To read more about the market’s fate, click here

Filed Under: Closings, Local Market Buzz

Root & Bone: Southern Mecca in Alphabet City

July 11, 2014 by Leave a Comment

Root & Bone, a traditional Southern food restaurant, opened last week in Alphabet City. After having worked together in Miami at the popular southern food restaurant Yardbird, Jeff McInnis and Janine Booth, both previous Top Chef contestants, partnered together to open their own restaurant in New York City. The menu is focused on a revival of rural and coastal American cooking that uses seasonal, locally-sourced ingredients of only the highest quality.

This concept has been long in the works and is finally open and creating a lot of buzz. Menu items include a fried chicken brined in sweet tea and served with tabasco honey, the classic southern shrimp and grits, a blue crab Waldorf salad and of course fried chicken and waffles. In case you weren’t salivating yet, Crystal Cullison, pastry chef at Root & Bone, is also offering delicious southern sweets such as Mississippi mud pie, coconut layer cake and a kitchen sink sundae!

The antique/farmhouse looking restaurant also has a takeout counter (The Little Root Market) which offers many options such as buckets of chicken, pie, sandwiches and soft serve from lunch through to late night. To take a look at the menu and some photos of the space, click here

 

Filed Under: Local Market Buzz, Openings Tagged With:

Momofuko Milk Bar Baking Classes

July 8, 2014 by Leave a Comment

Momofuko Milk Bar is offering a baking class series so participants can learn to make their sugary staples such as the legendary crack pie, birthday cake  and truffles. The class will be taught using the recipes out of the momofuko milk bar cookbook and will also include some newer recipes. Each class will be provided with the tools and ingredients to make the magic happen. Classes are open to all ages and culinary levels of expertise. The baking will take place at the Williamsburg production kitchen at 383 Metropolitan Ave between Marcy Ave and Havemeyer. The best part about these classes may be that participants can take home everything they bake… Here are the class hours:

Birthday Cake & Truffles:

  • Saturday July 12th, 11AM-1PM
  • Saturday July 19th, 11AM-1PM
  • Saturday July 19th, 3PM-5PM
  • Saturday July 26th, 3PM-5PM

Crack Pie & B’Day Truffles:

  • Saturday July 12th, 3PM-5PM
  • Saturday July 26th, 11AM-1PM

Classes cost $95 per participant and enrollment is open at any time. To read more about the bake the book series, click here

Filed Under: Events, Local Market Buzz Tagged With:

Up-Sell to Push Sales at Noodles & Company

July 2, 2014 by Leave a Comment

Kevin Reddy, Chief Executive of the chain Noodles & Company, believes it is important for fast casual enterprises to compete not just on speed but on service as well. In order to push for more sales at dinner, Noodles & Company will be adding a free-floating server whose sole responsibility will be to up-sell. The server will approach customers and attempt to entice them with coffee, dessert, beer, wine, etc. The server will bring the items to the table and will not collect gratuity. This position will be considered as the Up-Sell specialist. Kevin Reddy believes this position will boost sales by 3 per cent.

For the past couple years Noodles & Company has been testing the up-sell service and expects to have these servers in all locations by the end of 2016.  Teddy believes the implementation of this position is stores is, “going to create a new niche at the high-end of fast casual that allows us to get some of the most important consumer needs from casual dining, a little elevated service, into a fast-casual concept.” Essentially the personalized service combined with a low-cost menu will help drive more consumers to the shop for dinner.

To read more about the Up-Sell specialist click here

Filed Under: Global Market Buzz, Local Market Buzz
«Previous Page
Next Page»