Restaurants Adapt to Increased Demand for Specialty Coffee

August 28, 2013 by Leave a Comment

While the popularity of specialty coffee has been on the rise for years, with coffee retailers from Starbucks to the corner cafe adapting to the trend, restaurants have been slower to offer specialty beans or advanced brewing methods.  Recently, however, restaurants are beginning to realize that many consumers will in fact seek out and pay more for these elevated brews.  Many restaurants are now even offering pour-over coffee, a specialty method favored by a number high-end roaster/retailers and coffee bars.

For the full story on how restaurants are adapting to this trend, click here.

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Heritage Radio Network Interview with Vendy Award Managing Director

August 27, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Heritage Radio Network recently sat down with Helena Tubis, Managing Director of The Vendy Awards.  She is joined by food writer Siobhan Wallace, author of New York a la Cart, and Christine Chebli of Toum Food Truck.  The program discusses the increasing amount of high-quality street food in New York, shares street food stories from Wallace’s book, and talks about the history of The Vendys and the Street Vendor Project.

For the full story, click here.

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Great Things Come in Small Packages: Smallbox Retail

August 12, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Bigger isn’t always better. Would 200 square feet work for your business? Smallbox retail could be the answer. Many retailers seek out diminutive spaces, food courts, fairs, and the like to launch their product or brand.

Crain’s has in interesting take on the trend, which focuses on Baked By Melissa, Simply Sliders, Bisous Ciao Macarons, Meatball Obsession, Screme, and Imperial Woodpecker Sno-Balls. All based in New York, several cite Smorgasburg as making small seem possible.

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More “European” Stateside Eats to Keep You Buying “Local”

August 12, 2013 by Leave a Comment

In a follow-up to the Prosciutto-born Iowa story, we couldn’t help but drool over this list of USA-made eats hailing from European origin. Locavores can proudly buy close to home from this list of edibles of Spanish, Italian, and French origin from Grub Street.

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One Ethiopian Bean’s Path to Specialty Roasters

August 6, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Digging through the NPR summer archive, this story is a Coffee Week gem about a gem of a bean and how it got to Specialty status.

 

 

 

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Food Sherpas: Bringing a City’s Culinary Secrets to Light

August 1, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Here’s a culinary profession that’s new to us: Food Sherpa. We’re ready for this brand of travel, even from our desk chairs.

The New York Times highlights this profession, which has been around for awhile, but never with the menu of offerings we’re currently seeing.

 

Filed Under: Global Market Buzz, Trending Now

Joe Becomes a Roaster Retailer, Launches “Waverly” Espresso

July 30, 2013 by 1 Comment

Joe , the New York coffee shop enterprise, after 10 years in business, is becoming a roaster-retailer. Sprudge‘s Alex Bernson talks with Director of Roasting Ed Kaufmann about their path, and how they’re making the transition.

Read the article here.

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Chopped Salad in the Starring Role

July 17, 2013 by Leave a Comment

In today’s New York Times, William Grimes focuses on the popularity of chopped salad as the de facto lunch option in the Northeast.

He likens ordering a chopped salad to buying a car. “You start with a base price that includes a limited number of toppings, usually four or five. After that, each addition costs extra. How much depends on the ingredient. At Chop’t, tomatoes, black beans and chickpeas each cost 59 cents, feta cheese costs 99 cents, smoked bacon costs $1.49, and steak tops the list at $3.49.”

How did the concept become so popular? Some say it’s about having choice of ingredients, others about control.

Read the full story here.

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U.S. Franchises Enjoying New Growth Abroad

July 12, 2013 by Leave a Comment

CNN Small Business reports that U.S. franchises are enjoying newfound interest and success abroad, as the hard-hit U.S. economy has made domestic expansion harder.  U.S. franchises are growing decidedly faster abroad than they are in the United States, where growth was flat at best between 2010 and 2012.

At the franchise expo in New York City this year, one fifth of attendees were from foreign countries, including Kuwait, Peru, Bangladesh, China, and the United Arab Emirates.

The increased interest and opportunity for growth has allowed U.S. franchises to demand more favorable terms from franchisees, as well, such as requiring them to open multiple units.

For the full story, click here.

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Chefs Expanding Restaurant Empires at Break-Neck Pace

July 12, 2013 by Leave a Comment

The Washington City Paper profiled several D.C.-area chefs who are rapidly expanding the number of restaurants to their names, often opening new enterprises every two years or less.  Those profiled include Mike Isabella and Spike Mendelsohn.

The chefs interviewed say the pressures to build an “empire” are coming from multiple sources, from the new definition of a successful chef perpetuated by the Food Network (which now includes blogs, book deals, shows, and merchandise), to the hype generated from new concepts, to the shortage of cooks and the need to create a place for talented staff to move up and not on.

For more on this trend, read the full article here.

Filed Under: Global Market Buzz, Openings, Trending Now
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