Grub Street reports on the growing ease and commonplace of opening up a local distillery. If producers source their raw materials primarily from New York State, they can apply for a farm-distiller’s license, reducing the annual fee, and as of next April, this will allow them to sell their wares at farmers’ markets.
Crowdfunding Helps Whole Earth Bakery Stay Afloat
December 7, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Peter Silvestri and his mom started the vegan Whole Earth Bakery in 1978, in SoHo.
After Hurricane Sandy, the loss of goods combined with mounting rent bills led Silvestri to LuckyAnt, a crowd-sourcing website to help support his shop, which is now on St. Marks place.
Retailers Are Adding Restaurants in Bid for More Shoppers
November 29, 2012 by 1 Comment
Would you like a salad with that shirt? In what seems an interesting return to the lunch counters and in-store dining so popular in the 1900s, retailers are adding restaurants to their outlets to capture more shoppers.
Next month in Manhattan, Tommy Bahama will add a restaurant to their flagship store.
Urban Outfitters serves ethnic cuisines to match its eclectic styles at its store in Westport, Connecticut.
J.C. Penney Co. plans to add juice bars and coffee shops.
Unique to the Tommy Bahama model, is that they’ve chosen to run the restaurants themselves, as opposed to license them.
Oysters, Lobsters, Po Boys, Oh My
November 28, 2012 by Leave a Comment
It seems since this summer there’s no shortage of clam shacks and shellfish joints opening up in New York City. We’ve been starting to make the rounds, and the list is growing.
Littleneck opened a popular clamshack this summer in Gowanus, and has just started serving brunch.
L&W Oyster Co. opened a few weeks ago, on 5th Avenue in Manhattan, “Just post-storm,” Eric Lemonides, an owner, told us. “When we conceived of this [concept] we were on the beach, kind of in a vacuum, but now it seems we’re part of a zeitgeist”. A happy one for us.
Kittery will open in Carroll Gardens next Tuesday, and their lobster roll has been getting advance press. With a New Englander at the helm of this ship, we’re especially curious.
As the Gift Guides Roll Out, a Strong Focus on Local
November 27, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Holiday gift guides are taking a strong slant on local this year, whether it means heading to local stores, or buying from local food purveyors.
The Washington Post‘s guide includes gift certificates for farmer’s markets.
The Boston Globe is all-New England gourmet.
Food Republic has a delicious round up of “Very Good, Mostly Local” depending on where you’re shipping to or from, the locavore spirit rings true.
Portola Coffee Lab Starts a New Take on Tea
November 21, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Portola Coffee Lab is launching Seventh Tea Bar in early December. Named for the Chinese belief that tea is the seventh of seven necessities, a new concept has been developed by Jeff and Christa Duggan, roasters who opened their craft coffee bar Portola last year in Costa Mesa, California.
Seventh Tea Bar will be located next to their main location.
For the full story click here.
Urbanspoon Goes Global
November 20, 2012 by Leave a Comment
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.
Is Mobile Money Green?
November 19, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Nation’s Restaurant News reports on mobile payment technology.
A growing number of large-scale brands are attaching their names to mobile platforms. Where do you stand?
paigepapers.com 