Webinar Opportunity: Millennial Coffee Drinkers

S&D Coffee and Teas is hosting a webinar on Young Coffee Drinkers (YCD) Wednesday, July 13th 2016, 2pm ET.

The seminar focuses on how Coffee-drinking millennials—consumers ages 18 to 34—represent untapped opportunities and have the potential to make coffee an integral part of their lifelong consumption patterns.

In order to reach these consumers, food retailers need to understand the distinct ways in which they perceive and talk about coffee.

YCDs, for example, grew up in a “Starbucks world” and are more savvy about coffee. Their expectations are higher. At the same time, they are concerned about how the coffee got here and how it was made. Sustainability is therefore a very important value.

The webinar intends to address these issues and others so that views gain a new way to think about the coffee industry and insight into updated sales strategies.

 

 

To learn more and register, click here.

All Pizzas To Be Cooked By Robots?

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A former Silicon Valley executive with a love of pizza and robots is on a quest to make a better pie and deliver it faster than the big chains can. Alex Garden is making robots that make pizza and they are coming for Domino’s.

The future of pie delivery, argues Garden, is being pioneered by robots at his Zume Pizza, and Bloomberg got a look inside the new company. The process seems to involve a team of enormous and very expensive-looking robots preparing pies that then get baked by a giant bank of ovens en route to customers.

One of the robots (her name is Marta) expertly spreads sauce “perfectly but not too perfectly, so it looks just like an artisan product.” Another, named Bruno, then “gently, without disturbing it,” moves the pizza into an 850-degree oven to prebake. Traditional humans are still required for tasks like sprinkling cheese, driving the delivery truck, and walking sealed boxes to customers’ doors, but these seem like minor obstacles, really. After all, even Domino’s has robots that warm pies on the road and diligently hunt down customers using GPS.  Pizza seems the ripest for full automation within fast food, so it’s safe to assume the whole industry is steadily moving toward the all-robot business model.

Right now, Zume’s pies only appear to be available in Mountain View, but Garden warns his company is targeting massive chains like Domino’s and Pizza Hut, which he says he’ll be able to dethrone by offering “the best-tasting pizza in the country delivered in 15 minutes for the same price as any of the other chains.”As Bloomberg points out, there’s “a lot of profit in robot-made pizza.” Just envision one of the major pizza franchises but with “virtually no” humans, Garden calmly instructs everyone. “It would be like Domino’s without the labor component. You can start to see how incredibly profitable that can be.”

What Are You Printing For Dinner?

3d printed food

Peter Callahan, a celebrity caterer credited by Martha Stewart with inventing the bite-sized slider, bought his first 3-D plastics printer two years ago to wow guests at a holiday party. Today, he has his sights trained on printing the food itself. He imagined drumsticks with edible bones; could they be made of celery? Blue cheese? Hot sauce? Callahan already makes an edible cracker spoon to use with caviar, but he envisions an entire line of cutlery, plates and menus that could be printed and consumed at parties. He sees mini-milk cartons made of chocolate and Asian-style takeout boxes formed from wontons.

“People like new,” he says. But when it comes to food, most of us still cook like cavemen, over fire. Kitchens are “the most primitive thing in our house,” says Hod Lipson, an Israeli engineering professor at Columbia University, who was a pioneer in the field of 3D printing, and food printing in particular. But soon, Lipson claims, we’ll be able to download and print dinner.

Food printers use powders (mostly sugar) or pastes (cooked or uncooked pureed meat, vegetables, grains). The most advanced models have multiple syringes, like printer cartridges, each containing a different ingredient. The syringes extrude the ingredients layer by layer, allowing the printers to build elaborate, computer-generated shapes that would be difficult, if not impossible, to shape by hand or mold. Currently, the food needs to be cooked either before or after printing. But scientists, including Lipson, are working on a printer that cooks as it prints.

Read more here.

Start-Up Spacious has a Vision for New York Restaurants

As more and more businesses (particularly in the tech start-up sphere) forego traditional offices, the demand for alternative working spaces will continue to increase. The new start-up Spacious seeks to capitalize on that, by turning dinner-only restaurants into co-working space during the day. Spacious owner Preston Pesek sees it as a way to “reclaim the city for creative professionals.”

A Spacious membership costs $95 per month, and includes unlimited access to their available workspaces, as well as WiFi, coffee, water, and conference rooms. Currently their only actual space is Daniel Boulud’s DBGB Kitchen and Bar, so Spacious is offering a 20% sign-on discount for members who join now. Eventually they hope to add more options throughout the city, and possibly include lunch in the offer as well.

The benefit to the restaurant (besides exposure) is a profit-sharing agreement, but in some cases the exposure might be enough to justify the risk. According to a  DBGB manager, the partnership has already brought more dinner traffic to the restaurant from Spacious members who see the space during the day and invite back larger crowds at night.

To read more, click here.

6/17: Request for Proposals due for Snack Bar in Columbus Park

The NYC Parks Department has issued the following request for proposals (RFP) for a snack bar in Columbus park, due Friday June 17th.

In accordance with Section 1-13 of the Concession Rules of the City of New York, the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation (“Parks”) is issuing, as of the date of this notice, a significant Request for Proposals (“RFP”) for the renovation, operation, and maintenance of a snack bar at Columbus Park, Brooklyn.

All proposals submitted in response to this RFP must be submitted no later than Friday, June 17, 2016 at 2:00 PM. There will be a recommended site visit on Monday, May 23, 2016 at 11:00 AM.  We will be meeting in front of the snack bar on Joralemon Street, between Court Street and Adams Street, Brooklyn.  If you are considering responding to this RFP, please make every effort to attend this recommended site visit.

Hard copies of the RFP can be obtained, at no cost, commencing on May 6, 2016 through June 17, 2016, between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., excluding weekends and holidays, at the Revenue Division of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, which is located at 830 Fifth Avenue, Room 407, New York, NY 10065.

The RFP is also available for download, commencing on May 6, 2016 through June 17, 2016, on Parks’ website.  To download the RFP, visit www.nyc.gov/parks/businessopportunities, click on the link for “Concessions Opportunities at Parks” and, after logging in, click on the “download” link that appears adjacent to the RFP’s description.

For more information or to request to receive a copy of the RFP by mail, prospective proposers may contact Zoe Piccolo, Project Manager, at (212) 360-3495 or at zoe.piccolo@parks.nyc.gov.

TELECOMMUNICATION DEVICE FOR THE DEAF (TDD) 212-504-4115

 

Parks Department Issues Request for Specialty Mobile Food Units

See below for the full Request for Proposals.

In accordance with Section 1-13 of the Concession Rules of the City of New York, the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation (“Parks”) issued, as of April 20, 2016, a Request for Proposals for the sale of specialty food from mobile food units at various locations citywide.
All proposals submitted in response to this RFP must be submitted no later than Tuesday, May 31, 2016 at 3:00 pm.
Hard copies of the RFP can be obtained, at no cost, commencing on April 20, 2016 through May 31, 2016, between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., excluding weekends and holidays, at the Revenue Division of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, which is located at 830 Fifth Avenue, Room 407, New York, NY 10065.
The RFP is also available for download, commencing on April 20, 2016 through May 31, 2016, on the Parks’ website.  To download the RFP, visit www.nyc.gov/parks/businessopportunities, click on the link for “Concessions Opportunities at Parks” and, after logging in, click on the “download” link that appears adjacent to the RFP’s description.
For more information or to request to receive a copy of the RFP by mail, prospective proposers may contact Santiago Zindel, Project Manager, at (212) 360-3407 or at santiago.zindel@parks.nyc.gov.
TELECOMMUNICATION DEVICE FOR THE DEAF (TDD) 212-504-4115

Slow Food NYC and Brooklyn Uncorked

Chickens-773x580Looking for an opportunity to help grow the urban farming movement, and score some tickets to a great event at the same time? If you contribute to Slow Food NYC’s urban harvest program this week, you’ll be entered to win two tickets to Brooklyn Uncorked – Edible magazine’s annual local wine fest, taking place May 26th.

Of course, you can still buy tickets to the 10th annual Uncorked, which will feature over 25 wine and food vendors ranging from the Brooklyn Winery to Orwasher’s Bakery to our friends and colleagues at Nobletree Coffee. But consider donating as well – you’ll help student farmers learn about eating locally, healthfully and sustainably at Slow Food’s tuition-free farm in East New York.

To read more and donate, click here. For tickets to Brooklyn Uncorked, click here.

Request for Snack Bar/Cafeteria Operators in Corona Park, Queens

The parks department has put out a request for proposals for the operation of a snack bar/cafeteria at Parks’ Olmsted Center, and a kiosk at David Dinkins’ Circle, Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens. See below for the full RFP:

In accordance with Section 1-13 of the Concession Rules of the City of New York, the Department of Parks and Recreation (“Parks”) is issuing, as of the date of this notice, a RFP for the operation and maintenance of a Snack Bar/Cafeteria at Parks’ Olmsted Center and a Food Kiosk located at David Dinkins’ Circle, Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens.

All proposals submitted in response to this RFP must be submitted by no later than Friday, May 6, 2016 at 3:00 p.m.to Parks’ Revenue Division.  There will be a recommended on-site proposer meeting and site tour Friday, April 15, 2016 at 3:00 p.m.  We will meet at the proposed concession site at Olmsted Center which is located at 117-02 Roosevelt Avenue, Flushing, New York 11368. If you are considering responding to this RFP, please make every effort to attend this meeting and site tour.  To obtain directions to the proposed concession site, please call (718) 760-6600.

Hard copies of the RFP can be obtained, at no cost, commencing Monday, April 4, 2016 through Friday, May 6, 2016, during the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., excluding weekends and holidays, at the Revenue division of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, which is located at The Arsenal, 830 Fifth Avenue, Room 407, New York, NY  10065.

The RFP is also available for download commencing Monday, April 4, 2016 through Friday, May 6, 2016 on Parks’ website. To download the RFP, visit www.nyc.gov/parks/businessopportunities, click on the link for “Concessions Opportunities at Parks” and, after logging in, click on the “download” link that appears adjacent to the RFP’s description.

For more information, contact Revenue Project Manager Glenn Kaalund at (212) 360-1397.  You can also email him at Glenn.Kaalund@parks.nyc.gov.   Thank you.

TELECOMMUNICATION DEVICE FOR THE DEAF (TDD) 212-504-4115

4/20: Food Labeling Workshop With Brooklyn Foodworks

On April 20th, Brooklyn Foodworks will be hosting a crash course in food labeling requirements – essential knowledge for any entrepreneurs in the food industry. Attorneys from Goodwin Procter LLP will discuss key issues in food labeling, including liability claims (and how to avoid them) and regulatory requirements. The event will also be a great opportunity to network with other entrepreneurs in the food and beverage industry, all for free sponsored by nonprofit Start Small Think Big.

To register, click here.

4/2: Smorgasburg is Back

JvP_092714_1132_print.jpgWith the return of Spring comes the return of outdoor markets, and April 2nd/3rd is the first weekend you can catch Smorgasburg and the Brooklyn Flea, now in Fort Greene, Dumbo, Williamsburg and Prospect Park. Smorgasburg, which began as a spin-off of the Brooklyn Flea and now includes 100+ local and regional food vendors, is open Saturdays in East River State Park at Kent Ave. and N. 7 St., and Sundays in Prospect Park at Breeze Hill (both days from 11 to 6). Brooklyn Flea itself has two additional locations. The markets will be open rain or shine, but fingers are crossed that April showers bring May flowers (and sunny days) soon.

Vendors can still apply to be part of both markets for the season. For more information, click here.