Urbanspoon Goes Global

Urbanspoon, the online local restaurant guide, announced international expansion yesterday. They are partnering with online reservation services Dimmi and Livebookings.  Now, Urbanspoon diners worldwide will have the ability to book reservations at nearly 7,000 restaurants with the addition of Livebookings and Dimmi reservation inventory.  In the US alone, Urbanspoon is now seating over 2 million US diners per month, a number that has doubled in the last 6 months.

“Our goal is to give diners the best tools along every step of their dining experience, from finding the right restaurant, to making a reservation and giving feedback on their meal,” said Kara Nortman, Senior Vice President, Consumer Businesses, CityGrid. “Partnering with other great companies, like Dimmi and Livebookings, extends our reservations coverage to millions of Urbanspoon diners internationally.”

“Partnering with Urbanspoon highlights our commitment to provide our restaurant customers with access to more traffic,” Guy Halfhead, Vice President of Sales, Livebookings. “Urbanspoon’s user base represents high-quality diners looking to find and book reservations; matching them with our reservation inventory makes perfect sense to our business.”

Dimmi’s goal is to provide our restaurant customers with access to the best diners in the region and driving new reservations through Urbanspoon allows us to deliver even more value to our restaurants,” said Stevan Premutico, founder and CEO of Dimmi. “Urbanspoon is a popular source of premier restaurant content in Australia and we’re excited about integrating our high-quality reservation product with their website and mobile app.”

Urbanspoon’s expansion into the international market also began with coverage in Ireland, putting information and reviews on more than 2,000 restaurants at the fingertips of Irish (and lucky visiting) diners.

Urbanspoon aggregates restaurant content from across the Web including newspapers, professional food critics, bloggers and diners. It allows diners to make restaurant reservations through its online booking service, both on the Web and mobile. Urbanspoon also offers restaurants Urbanspoon Rezbook – a reservation and table management system built to run on the Apple iPad.

Food Fight: Take a Stand on the Great Food Debates of Our Time

Should a donut be glazed or filled? Should brunch be sweet or savory? Does barbecue mean ribs or brisket? Is the ultimate fried chicken dark or white? In 3 weeks you can cast your deciding vote.

From 6:30 – 9:00 p.m. Tuesday December 11th, Tasting Table invites you to taste and vote your way through 10 epic culinary rivalries and help raise funds for the Food Bank For New York City.

Buy tickets here.

Tea Picks Up More Steam

We had written earlier this year about Starbucks’ search for tea, it ends and begins with a purchase of Teavana for $620 million cash.

Adding to the list of Teatailers in New York this week is Palais du Thés, a French tea importer and retailer, started in 1987 by François-Xavier Delmas. The chain has 28 boutiques worldwide. The 29th is its first in the United States and the first outside France that is not a franchise.

A Look Inside Red Hook’s Fairway As They Rebuild

Fairway Market was amongst the businesses in Red Hook that sustained extreme damage during Hurricane Sandy. They’ve made a video that shows the cleared out market and discusses their plans for the rebuild.

Fairway General Manager Andy Zeluta Gives a Look Inside Red Hook’s Cleared Out Fairway

Support Downtown NYC with the New Amsterdam Pickle Festival this Sunday, November 11th.

PECK SLIP PICKLE FESTIVAL
Sunday, November 11 
11:00AM to 5:00PM
New Amsterdam Market
South Street between Beekman Street & Peck Slip
 
New Amsterdam Market’s second annual Peck Slip Pickle Festival will take place this Sunday so please come out and show your support as the Seaport neighborhood recovers from damage caused by Hurricane Sandy. Over 20 pickle and fermented food producers will join our regular roster of market vendors and our hours will be extended until 5:00PM.  

New Amsterdam Pickle Festival

NY Foodies Brand Event 12/6 with speaker Julie Cottineau of BrandTwist

Save the date for the next NY Foodies happy hour on 12/6 at 6pm, location TBD. Please RSVP to NYFoodies@peeledsnacks.com.

The speaker is Julie Cottineau, Founder of BrandTwist and former VP of Brand at Richard Branson’s Virgin (one of the most successful entrepreneurial empires on the planet). She’ll help explore 5 Key strategies to build and promote brands for maximum impact, leveraging examples from Virgin and other entrepreneurial brands. Julie has an incredible background, working with many iconic brands and as a professor at Columbia and Cornell.

Grow NYC is here to Help Recovery efforts to Victims of Hurricane Sandy

Tropical Storm Sandy changed a lot of things but it didn’t change how GrowNYC responds when the City most needs a sense of normalcy.

We’re keeping Greenmarkets and Youthmarkets open and collecting and delivering food to those in need.

We’re getting back up and running – our home office on Chambers Street has reopened – hopefully with phone and heat soon but already filled with no shortage of willing and enthusiastic staff. Please check our blog for updates on compost and textile collections, Greenmarkets and other events.

We’re grateful for all the well wishes and concern you have expressed to us and we’re grateful for what many of you have already done, be it volunteer your time, donate money and cleaning supplies and other essentials or purchasing a bag of Greenmarket produce to donate.

Here’s how we can help you – and you can help New Yorkers and GrowNYC:

1) Buy local and enjoy the bounty of the season while supporting family farms – shop at any one of the 50+ Greenmarkets or 11 Youthmarkets open for business. For a complete list go to grownyc.org/greenmarket

2) Donate-A-Bag opportunities are available at many Greenmarket locations from now through Thanksgiving. Help feed hungry New Yorkers, those affected by Sandy and relief workers by purchasing an extra bag of produce and bring it to the Market Information Tent. We’ll get it where it needs to go. For an up-to-date schedule of markets where you can Donate-A-Bag go to grownyc.org/blog/

Customers are donating harvest season items in record numbers in response to the immense need for hunger relief that Sandy created. Over 10,000 pounds have found their way to community kitchens, churches, shelters, food pantries and others serving victims of the storm.

3) Please consider a donation to GrowNYC when you are thinking about how to help New York City recover – many of the City’s community and school gardens suffered damage and need assistance, our compost infrastructure took a hit and many items need replacing, additionally, GrowNYC will continue to provide the kind of education and services that help us understand and combat climate change through education, recycling, tree planting and care, storm management best practices like rainwater harvesting systems and more. To make a donation, go to grownyc.org/donate now and help us get NYC back on its feet.

Thank you from all of us at GrowNYC

Emergency relief forum for NYC Small Business

NYC community board 3 Your Business Affected By Hurricane Sandy?

Apply For Fema Relief And Emergency Loans Join the following: Congresswoman Nydia M. Velazquez Speaker Sheldon Silver State Senator Daniel Squadron Assembly Member Brian Kavanagh Council Member Margaret Chin Council Member Rosie Mendez

U.S. Small Business Administration FEMA NYC Department of Small Business Services Lower East Side Business Improvement District (LES BID) Community Board 3

Friday, November 9, 2012 9:00 am – 11:00 am Houston Street Center 273 Bowery Street (Corner of East Houston & Bowery next to Whole Foods)

LEARN ABOUT THE EMERGENCY LOAN PROGRAMS AND OTHER SERVICES TO HELP SMALL BUSINESSES IMPACTED OR INTERRUPTED BY HURRICANE SANDY If your business was impacted or interrupted by Hurricane Sandy, this is a great opportunity to learn about relief available to small businesses. The U.S. Small Business Administration, NYC Business Solutions, and the Small Business Development Center will be present to provide important information regarding these processes. You will learn about FEMA relief and emergency loan assistance – long and short term assistance. RSVP not required. Lower East Side Business Improvement District 54 Orchard St, NYC 10002 y 212-226-9010 y http://www.lowereastsideny.com

Red Hook, Brooklyn Needs Help from Sandy Aftermath

Red Hook, recently revitalized neighborhood in Brooklyn with coffee bars, restaurants, Fairway and Ikea in its backyard now needs a new revitalization. After Hurricane Sandy rolled through, all along Van Brunt Street, the air was thick with the steady thrumming of sump-pumps all the way up and down Van Brunt, every building having had its basement flooded, the arriviste businesses and long-time residents finding one another at a kind of clean-up block-party-meets-wake, counting the cost of Sandy’s devastation, soldiering on in the knowledge that whatever they’ve suffered has been suffered by all their neighbors too. Sometimes, it takes a disaster to remind folks that they’re part of a single community whether they choose to recognize it or not.

Red Hook Apocalypse: How Sandy Undid an Up-and-Coming New York Neighborhood

Kobricks Coffee Roaster Rebrands and Launches 1 pound Bags

The 92-year-old artisanal coffee roaster Kobrick Coffee rebranded to introduce itself to the general public. The 1-lb. bag features a hand-applied blend label on the front panel; the brand story on the right gusset; the founder’s signature on the left gusset; and notes on quality and brewing instructions on the back

Kobricks new look in 1 pound coffee bags