Starbucks rolls out Italian-style bakery concept

August 2, 2018 by Leave a Comment

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“The Italian-style bakery will feature breakfasts including baked eggs and pastries; pizzas, soups, salads and sandwiches at lunch; deserts and breads. Coffee will include a Starbucks blend designed for the bakeries, and espresso beverages. It will also serve cocktails, beer and wine — the latest effort in Starbucks’ ongoing quest to drive sales in the afternoons and evenings.”

“In 2016, Starbucks then-CEO and executive chairman Howard Schultz tapped Milanese baker Rocco Princi as a food purveyor for the company’s new high-end retail formats, including its showpiece Roastery and Reserve stores. These are part of the Siren Retail strategy Schultz devised to appeal to coffee connoisseurs and bolster the broader brand cachet.”

View more here.

Filed Under: Enterprise Insight, Heard on The Street, Openings

Dunkin’ debuts $2 snack menu to boost all-day sales

August 1, 2018 by Leave a Comment

“Having mastered the coffee-and-doughnut breakfast trade, Dunkin’ Donuts is looking to expand its appeal at other times of the day.

The chain is going to offer what it calls a Dunkin’ Run menu aimed at take-out customers. Part of its appeal will be price — $2 per item for five products like its Donut Fries, doughnut strips that mimic the look of french fries, and chicken tenders with a waffle-like coating.”

Read more here.

Filed Under: Heard on The Street, Openings, Opportunities

McDonald’s Takes Aim at Big Labor Problem

July 26, 2018 by Leave a Comment

Quick-service giant McDonald’s, which employs some 850,000 individuals across the U.S. either directly or through its franchise partners, is beginning to craft thoughtful, calculated solutions to a problem affecting its restaurants and other businesses across the country.

As a large and prominent U.S. employer, McDonald’s understands it has a leading role to play in addressing the soft skills gap, Kersey says. To that end, the Chicago-based corporation has already taken action to modernize its training programs for restaurant employees, including the debut of digital training that places a greater focus on hospitality and prioritizes teaching people skills like customer service and teamwork while emphasizing attitude and communication.

Soft skills developed in first jobs, Kersey says, establish a strong foundation from which employees can build upon over the course of their working lives, which heightens the value of McDonald’s efforts—and those of many others—to address the soft skills gap.

View full article here.

Filed Under: Enterprise Insight, Heard on The Street, Operations

Yelp to go national with health inspection program

July 26, 2018 by Leave a Comment

Yelp is planning to bring more than just user-generated reviews to your screen.

Yelp will be nationally expanding its LIVES program, which displays health inspection information of various businesses. Launching the program in 2013 for San Francisco-area restaurants, Yelp collaborates with local governments and HDScores, a platform that aggregates health inspection reports nationwide, to display health scores on a 0-100 scale to users.

Since the launch of LIVES, Yelp has inserted health scores to 200,000 business pages. The company said in a blog post that this number will more than triple, as it added data for more restaurants in New York, California, Texas, Illinois and Washington, D.C., today. Yelp plans to continue to roll out updates across various states in the coming months.

See more here.

Filed Under: Heard on The Street, Operations, Opportunities

Restaurants Near the Steam Pipe Explosion Are Losing Tens of Thousands of Dollars

July 24, 2018 by Leave a Comment

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“Flatiron restaurants are losing tens of thousands of dollars in the days following the steam pipe explosion in the neighborhood — an incident last week that sprayed asbestos throughout the area and forced dozens of buildings to evacuate.

Taj II, a two-floor lounge and popular private events space on 21st Street, is in its fifth day of closure since the explosion on Thursday morning. Operations director Christopher Collins canceled several private events over the weekend, including a bar mitzvah, and two brunch services that would have had more than 400 people at each. He lost more than $100,000 in the process, he says.

Besides restaurants and other businesses, the steam pipe explosion impacted residents in the area, many of whom still couldn’t return home by Sunday night. Though only minor injuries were incurred with the incident, many people are fearful of the longer-term health impact. The city and ConEd, which operates the pipe, has yet to figure out what caused the explosion.”

Read more here.

Filed Under: Closings, Heard on The Street, Retail Spotlight

FreshDirect Debuts State-of-the-Art South Bronx

July 19, 2018 by Leave a Comment

FreshDirect Debuts State-of-the-Art South Bronx Campus Ecommerce

“FreshDirect, the Northeast’s leading online fresh food grocer, has opened the FreshDirect Campus (FDC), a state-of-the-art facility in New York’s South Bronx community. Featuring such grocery technology as robotic pick towers and smart routing technologies, as well as 9 miles of conveyor belts, the environmentally friendly, energy-efficient campus reimagines farm-to-fork food distribution and manufacturing, which the e-grocer believes will allow it to deliver even higher-quality, fresher food to customers.”

FreshDirect delivers directly to customers in seven states, including the New York and Philadelphia metropolitan areas, and the District of Columbia. In 2016, FreshDirect launched FoodKick, which caters to urban residents with a curated selection of food, alcohol and essentials, all delivered in as little as an hour.”

View more here.

Filed Under: Events, Heard on The Street, Opportunities

Energy drinks get a healthy makeover with help from MatchaBar

July 18, 2018 by Leave a Comment

On Tuesday, MatchaBar released the first sparkling matcha energy drink. The brand is known for its ceremonial grade matcha, which can be found in 1,000 retailers nationwide as well as its three namesake cafes in New York and Los Angeles. Available in regular or sugar-free, the new product contains 120mg of caffeine per can, which is similar to a Red Bull.

The difference, of course, is the ingredients. It incorporates tea as well as antioxidant-rich juice extracts, thereby making a healthier version of its more chemical-laden competitors. See a MatchaBar story below.

 

To celebrate the new launch, MatchBar partnered with Whole Foods and Facebook for a social media campaign dubbed “Gift The Hustle.” Fans can now send a coupon for a free can of MatchaBar Hustle through Messenger to their friends, redeemable at the nationwide retailer.

 

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Filed Under: Enterprise Insight, Events, Global Market Buzz, Heard on The Street, Local Market Buzz, Meet The Owner(s), Openings, Opportunities, Shopbuzz, Trending Now

Inside Danny Meyer’s New Sky-High NYC Restaurant

July 16, 2018 by Leave a Comment

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“Whenever world-renowned restaurateur Danny Meyer walks into someone else’s dining establishment, he takes immediate note of how the place affects his mood. “Even before I’m ooh-ing and aah-ing at the light fixtures and the bar, the tabletop design, all the decisions that most restaurateurs labor over, I’m just asking myself how I feel,” Meyer says. “You either feel good or you don’t—you can tell within a second.” It’s that keen ability to read and riff on the elements of winning restaurants that the hospitality mogul has again demonstrated with the newest addition to his empire, Manhatta.”

See more here.

Filed Under: Enterprise Insight, Heard on The Street, Retail Spotlight

A Guide to the East Village’s Booming ‘Chinatown North’

July 12, 2018 by Leave a Comment

“The historical hub of Polish pierogi, Ukrainian borscht, Indian vindaloo, and Japanese ramen has recently become an epicenter of Chinese and Taiwanese restaurants, both homegrown and imported — from Flushing and (much) further east. Here, where to find the neighborhood’s newest Yunnanese, Hunanese, and more.”

View more here.

Filed Under: Events, Heard on The Street, Openings, Trending Now

Queens Night Market Might Be the New Yorkiest Food Fair of All

July 10, 2018 by Leave a Comment

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“Queens Night Market is midway through its fourth season behind the New York Hall of Science in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park. When you first arrive a little before the gates open at 6 p.m., the alfresco food bazaar seems, with its concrete lot and frenzied vendors bracing for the mob, much like any other. But as the evening progresses, you start to notice the distinctions: the diverse crowd, both in ethnicity and age; unexpected amenities like portable sinks and a curtained ATM; the calm and patient geniality of the vendors, happy to explain their food and culture; the aromas permeating the lot, uniting farflung points on the globe in one gloriously multicultural cookout.”

Read the full article here.

View more details about the event here.

Filed Under: Events, Heard on The Street, Opportunities, Trending Now, Uncategorized
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