Veggie Vans Roll Into New York City Food Deserts

July 11, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Refrigerated trucks carrying locally-sourced produce will begin driving through New York City’s food deserts, neighborhoods underserved by farmers markets and traditional grocery stores.  Called Veggie Vans, these trucks will offer local produce to residents at a reasonable price.

Residents sign up to participate in the program through participating community organizations, then have access to $10 bags filled with produce each week.  Residents can use cash, credit, debit, and food stamps to purchase the bags.  Veggie Vans will stop at senior centers, NYCHA buildings, nursing homes, and other locations each week so that all residents can have easy access.

The trucks will begin today in Manhattan’s Two Bridges neighborhood and expand to other communities, including Harlem and Washington Heights.  The program is open to anyone wishing to participate.

For more information, click here.

Filed Under: Local Market Buzz Tagged With: , ,

Panera Retires Pay-What-You-Can Meals at St. Louis Cafes

July 11, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Panera Bread announced this week that it will table its most recent venture in the pay-what-you-can model– a Turkey Chili in a Bread Bowl meal offered at all of its 48 St. Louis-area locations.   Guests at those locations were asked to pay what they could afford for the meal, which has a suggested retail price of $5.89, including tax.

Panera introduced the meal as a way to help the needy in the area, with those who can afford to pay above the retail price subsidizing the cost for those who could afford less.  While the program initially raised awareness for food insecurity and brought in revenues above the suggested retail price due, which Panera founder and chairman Ron Shaich credits to in-store marketing and educational campaigns, the program’s effectiveness began to dwindle, with payments dropping off and awareness dropping.

Shaich said Panera plans to bring back the program next winter in a reworked format in select markets as a seasonal program.  The nonprofit Panera Cares cafes, which operate on a completely pay-what-you-can-model and offer job training programs, will continue to operate as-is.

For the full story, click here.

Filed Under: Global Market Buzz Tagged With:

Free Webinar 7/18 on the Affordable Care Act and Hospitality

July 10, 2013 by Leave a Comment

In this free webinar, experts from Marsh & McLennan Agency and PeopleMatter will offer insights on how the Affordable Care Act affects foodservice, hospitality, and retail businesses and how to remain profitable while staying compliant.  They will particularly address what the Affordable Care Act requires, rules affecting enterprises with multiple locations, and tools to help owners manage benefits and labor costs.

The webinar is free and will take place July 18, 2013 at 1pm EDT.  For more information and to register, click here.

Filed Under: Events, Global Market Buzz Tagged With: ,

Yelp Launches Direct-Ordering Platform

July 10, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Yelp announced that it has launched a direct-from-site online transaction service, called Yelp Platform, that will allow Yelpers to order food directly from an enterprise’s Yelp page.  The service is available for restaurants already offering food delivery and pickup through online ordering platforms delivery.com and Eat24.  Yelp plans to expand the service to offer ordering from additional restaurants in the future, and eventually expand the transactions to other product categories such as salons and dentists, allowing users to book appointments online.

The transaction platform is the latest move by Yelp to streamline user interactions with its listed enterprises.  In 2010, Yelp integrated with OpenTable to allow users to make reservations through Yelp.  Earlier this year, Yelp integrated health inspection scores onto the listing pages for its San Francisco enterprises.

For the full story, click here.

Filed Under: Global Market Buzz Tagged With:

Specialty Food Association: Top Trends at Fancy Food Show

July 9, 2013 by Leave a Comment

The Specialty Food Association announced its take on the top trends from this summer’s Fancy Food Show, the association’s major semiannual industry trade show.  The top five new trends were:

  1. Innovative frozen treats, from smoothie pops to tea- and coffee-based popsicles.
  2. New uses of grains and seeds, including a quinoa sesame milk chocolate bar from Seattle Chocolate Co. and sweet potato, quinoa, and kale ravioli from La Pasta, Inc.
  3. Global meal starters and sauces incorporating flavors from Thailand to Greece to Africa.
  4. Retro redone, with new twists on retro favorites from banana pudding pancakes to classic southern cheese crisps.
  5. Cocktail ingredients for the at-home mixologist, ranging from tea-based mixers to artisanal bitters.

Continuing trends included single-serve snacks, Vietnamese flavors, chickpea and seaweed snacks, maple products, sweet and savory cookies, coconut, salted caramel, and gluten-free products.

For the full story, click here.

Filed Under: Global Market Buzz, Trending Now Tagged With: , ,

Fast-Casual Build-Your-Own Pizza Segment Heating Up

July 9, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Fast-casual pizza concepts are growing, both in terms of sales and number of enterprises, according to the latest report from Restaurant Hospitality.  Fast-casual pizza has grown to a $31 billion segment in the last 20 years.  Adding in casual dining Italian enterprises, the pizza market balloons to a $50 billion industry.

Inspired by the rise of fast-casual giant Chipotle, build-your-own pizza enterprises in the fast-casual segment are positioning themselves as artisanal, high-quality brands where guests are in control of their own experience.  Even major chains are recognizing the trend and offering more high-quality specialty toppings.

Many of the big players in the pizza market, such as Sbarro, are also entering the build-your-own space alongside independents, making the pizza landscape highly competitive for the foreseeable future.

For a full roundup of the space’s key players and an in-depth assessment of the trend, click here.

Filed Under: Global Market Buzz, Trending Now Tagged With: , , ,

Changes to NYC Letter Grade System Announced

July 9, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Some changes are in store for the New York City letter grade health inspection system, the city announced this week.  The proposed changes include:

  • Reducing fines issued to enterprises by 15%.
  • Eliminating fines for those enterprises who appeal their letter grade rating and receive an A grade.
  • Establishing an oversight office within the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to hear complaints about the system or inspections.

The letter grade system has been criticized by many since its inception three years ago.  Enterprise owners in the city have alleged that the city’s system is arbitrary and unnecessarily harsh.  City Councilmembers have expressed concern that the system is harming small businesses in the city and is no longer focused on food safety. “’Food safety is no longer the focus,” said City Councilman David G. Greenfield (D-44th.) “The focus, really, is about making a quick buck.’”  Fines collected from restaurants have jumped from $30 million annually to $50 million annually since the letter grade system began.

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said she hoped the reforms would strike a balance “’between protecting the health and safety of New Yorkers and easing the unfair burden on all of the restaurants out there.’”

While the Bloomberg administration stands by the effectiveness of the program, citing a decrease in salmonella cases across the city, it indicated that it was open to reforms amidst complaints from enterprise owners.

For the full story, click here.

Filed Under: Local Market Buzz Tagged With: ,

Free Webinar on 7/11: Connecting with the Mobile Customer

July 8, 2013 by Leave a Comment

FastCasual.com will offer a free one-hour webinar on connecting with guests via mobile devices on Thursday, July 11 at 2pm.   Topics covered will include the “why” of mobile outreach, how to measure your return on investment in mobile, and a success story from Rita’s Italian Ice.

For more information and to register for the webinar, click here.

Filed Under: Events

Merchants Hospitality Opens New Food Venues at Pier 15

July 8, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Over the holiday weekend, Merchants Hospitality opened two new food venues at the East River Waterfront Esplanade near Pier 15.  Pop-up taco stand Oaxaca Express is the latest addition, opening July 3 at 70 South Street between Fletcher Lane and Maiden Lane.  The stand has waterfront patio seating for 150 with views of the Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Williamsburg bridges and will be open daily for lunch and dinner through the fall.  Oaxaca Express’s fare will include soft-shell tacos, chips, salsa, guacamole and a full bar.

It joins other recently-opened enterprises in the area from Merchants Hospitality, including ice cream shop Cones Cafe, which serves Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, and Watermark Bar, which serves classic American fare such as hot dogs, hamburgers, and lobster rolls.

The East River waterfront area was hit hard by Sandy, but has begun developing again and “‘becoming a neighborhood of its own,'” said Abraham Merchant, co-owner of Merchants Hospitality.

For more information about the new enterprises and area development, click here.

Filed Under: Local Market Buzz, Openings Tagged With: ,

Shake Shack London to Open Friday

July 3, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Shack Shack’s London location is set to open Friday in Covent Garden.  In keeping with their philosophy of adapting each location to its environment, the space looks slightly different from stateside Shacks, and the menu has been adapted.

While many familiar favorites will remain on the menu, Danny Meyer’s team has, as they frequently do, created some new items specific to the new location using local purveyors.  Savory items include a Cumberland Sausage, made with a rare breed of pork, and a ShackMeister Sausage, an upgraded Cumberland Sausage with cheese sauce and beer-marinated shallots.  Burgers will use Scottish grass-fed Aberdeen Angus.  They have also partnered with St. JOHN Bakery and paul.a.young chocolatier to offer some special Concretes, including the Union Shack and Drury Lane Jam.

Check out these links for a look at the space and the food.

Filed Under: Global Market Buzz, Openings Tagged With: ,
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