The Future of Hotel Dining Will Be Branded

March 7, 2019 by Leave a Comment

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“Paris-based Accor is one of the world’s largest hospitality companies, with more than 4,500 places to stay (homes and hotels) in 100 countries and 10,000 dining outlets that — according to Accor CEO of food and beverage and lifestyle, Amir Nahai — generate more than 5 billion euros, or $5.7 billion U.S. dollars, in revenue on an annual basis.

And now that SBE, the Los Angeles-based hospitality group whose hotel and restaurant brands include the Mondrian, SLS, Delano, Cleo, Katsuya, and Umami Burger, is partly owned by Accor, you can expect to see more of those thousands of restaurants and bars being rebranded under SBE.

Over the next seven years, Accor and SBE plan to open at least 100 Umami Burger restaurants worldwide, as well as focus on opening other SBE dining and beverage brands such as Carna, SkyBar, and Dandelyan within Accor properties.”

See more here.

Filed Under: Cooking, Customer Trends, Enterprise Insight, Operations, Your Restaurant Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

In New York City, Restaurants Welcome Tables for One

February 26, 2019 by Leave a Comment

Customers dine at Boqueria for lunch. The Spanish restaurant’s tapas, or grazing-style menu, appeals to solo patrons.

In New York City restaurants, the party-of-one is becoming a cause for celebration.

OpenTable, the online reservation platform, said that bookings by solo diners at restaurants in the city jumped by 80% from 2014 to 2018. And while OpenTable said those parties-of-one represent a very small slice of overall bookings, some restaurants said that business from solo diners can now account for up to 10% of their sales.

Even on Valentine’s Day, the most couple-oriented dining occasion of the year, New York restaurants are making room for patrons dining alone. OpenTable said that Valentine’s Day solo reservations in 2018 increased by 33% over the previous year. And perhaps for good reason: Restaurants said solo customers represent the ideal, as they are truly there for the food and experience rather than the social occasion.

“The way we approach it is that when we have a solo diner, it’s more of an honor than anyone else,” said Andrew Kuhl, the dining-room manager at Eleven Madison Park, the Michelin-starred restaurant in Manhattan’s Flatiron District.

Restaurants are doing their part to encourage such business. At such establishments as L’Artusi, an Italian restaurant in the West Village, and Odo, a Japanese spot in the Flatiron District, solo diners are given a free offering—say, a small serving of an off-menu item or a glass of sparkling wine. And on Valentine’s Day, some restaurants said they make an extra effort to welcome the solo crowd. For example, at Jones Wood Foundry, a food-driven pub on the Upper East Side, a communal table is set aside for party-of-one diners.

View more here.

Filed Under: Baking, Cooking, Customer Trends, Events, Heard on The Street, Local Market Buzz, Openings, Operations, Trending Now, Wine, Your Restaurant Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Restaurant Menu Trends: What to Expect to See on More Menus in 2019

February 7, 2019 by Leave a Comment

2019 restaurant menu trends

1. CBD (Cannabidiol) — up 99%!

It was only a matter of time before cannabidiol—or CBD—made its way into the restaurant industry. The non-psychoactive derivative from the cannabis plant has helped consumers looking for relief from inflammation, pain, anxiety, insomnia, seizures, spasms, and other conditions without the negative side effects of some pharmaceutical drugs.

According to the National Restaurant Association’s (NRA) What’s Hot Culinary Survey, a barometer of U.S. food and beverage trends, 650 professional chefs—all members of the American Culinary Federation—said infusing food and drink with cannabis and CBD could create unique cuisine opportunities and potential new markets for experiential dining occasions. Of the survey’s respondents, 77 percent identified cannabis/CBD-infused drinks as the number one trend in the restaurant industry right now, and 76 percent tapped cannabis/CBD-infused food as the second most popular trend.

Data from Upserve customers revealeda 99 percent increase in CBD menu items in 2018, setting up 2019 as the year of CBD. From baked goods to CBD-infused beverages, restaurants across the country are responding to a consumer demand to chill out.

“There has been growing popularity and support around CBD, and if it makes people happier and less stressed, then why not give the public what they want?” says Nick Duckworth, owner of cafe Banter NYC. They currently only sell Dirty Lemon CBD, a packaged, CBD-infused drink, but will be expanding their CBD offerings in 2019, allowing customers “to add CBD drops to most beverages.”

View all 2019 Menu trends here.

Filed Under: Customer Trends, Events, Global Market Buzz, Heard on The Street, Operations, Organic, Trending Now, Your Restaurant Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Impact of Min Wage Increase / NYCHA Survey & Results

January 15, 2019 by Leave a Comment

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See here NYCHA Survey and Results on Minimum Wage Increase

Filed Under: Closings, Cooking, Customer Trends, employees, Enterprise Insight, Events, Global Market Buzz, Heard on The Street, Local Market Buzz, Openings, Operations, Opportunities, Retail Spotlight, Shopbuzz, Trending Now Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Fresh Marketing Ideas For A New Year

January 10, 2019 by Leave a Comment

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“Get charitable.
Retailers can bring in new customers by hosting charity nights. Work with local charities and offer them a percentage of sales for every customer who walks through the door. That should encourage the nonprofit to market to their staff, friends, and family, thereby bringing in new shoppers.

For a service business, you can increase your exposure by allowing a nonprofit to give away a free service from your company as a prize. Many charities have auctions, dinners with prizes, or other events where this type of offer would be appreciated.”

Read more here.

Filed Under: Events, Global Market Buzz, Heard on The Street, Opportunities, Shopbuzz Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Different Types Of Restaurant Menus

January 2, 2019 by Leave a Comment

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“Menu is essential for all restaurants and it plays an important role in promoting the business. A menu not only provides information about the food articles available at the restaurant along with prices, but also tempt the customer to order the food. Menu should be attractive and informative as in not long but it should be able to provide the necessary information.

Different restaurants have different approaches on serving the food and fixing prices for each item. Similarly different restaurants follow different menu styles. Here we are going to talk about the most commonly used five different types of restaurant menus.

Static Menu

This is the most common type of menu which has been accepted widely. Different food items will be categorized into different groups and subgroups such as appetizers, entrees, salads, soups, desserts etc. This type of menu will be kept laminated for easy cleaning and will contain several pages. Most of the fast food restaurants use this type of menu.

A’la Carte Menu

When different food items are sold individually, this type of menu will be the best. For example, when you order a steak, it will not accompany salads and potatoes. You will have to order them separately. In such restaurants, the prices of each item should be shown individually.

Table d’hote Menu

In some restaurants where food items are sold as multi course meals. Here the choices will be less and the charges will be for the meal not for individual items. Customer will not have a choice to order individual items. In such restaurants “Table d’hote” type of menu will be the best choice. This is also known as “Prix Fixe Menu”.

Read more here.

Filed Under: Baking, Cooking, Global Market Buzz, Local Market Buzz, Operations Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Key Ingredients For Successful Organizational Change

December 31, 2018 by Leave a Comment

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As we approach the end of 2018, many of you are probably planning business transformations for the New Year. However, the loftier the goals, the more care needs to be given to the process in achieving them. All organizations today face the need for more frequent and ongoing change in order to maintain their competitive advantages and relevance in the the marketplace. But change is exceedingly difficult in today’s more complex business battlefield. In the Navy SEAL Teams, we operated in what we referred to as VUCA environments: volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous. Sounds just like modern business doesn’t it?

Five Key Ingredients

Successful change formulas involve (1) vision, (2) benefits, (3) sponsorship, (4) resources and (5) methodology. If any of these five ingredients are left out, the outcome won’t taste all that great. For example, if aligned vision is lacking confusion sets in quickly. The key word being aligned. If senior leaders have varying ideas of what success looks like, things get messy really fast. When the benefits aren’t clear (or not clearly communicated), ambivalence occurs. Without full sponsorship from leadership, resistance spreads. Without resources, frustration. Without a clear methodology and approach, procrastination becomes the norm.

Read more in Forbes article here.

Filed Under: Enterprise Insight, Global Market Buzz, Operations Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Biggest Surprises in NYC Dining in 2018

December 28, 2018 by Leave a Comment

A dinner spread at Le Sia

“Serena Dai, editor of Eater NY: I suppose I shouldn’t be so surprised by this because the world is such a garbage fire, but it was interesting to see how quickly powerful people (and a lot of media) were to embrace the return of the Four Seasons Restaurant seemingly without any caveat. I guess I’m an optimist, which means I will always be a little bit surprised at how naive old-school power is. Did the 40 investors really think that Julian Niccolini’s past behavior wouldn’t impact perception of the restaurant among the new audience they were reportedly aiming to attract? Did they really think amazing food and a $30 million build-out could overcome years and years of baggage — now newly visible in the age of #MeToo — when nobody from the restaurant came out front to address the fact that the face of the restaurant is an admitted sexual assaulter? People can’t move forward without an apology, but here, there wasn’t even really that. Yes, it’s legendary; yes, it’s hugely influential. But we live in a different world now, and sometimes it is okay to pay our respects, and then lay a restaurant to rest.”

See more here.

Filed Under: Baking, Cooking, Events, Global Market Buzz, Heard on The Street, Local Market Buzz, Openings, Operations, Opportunities, Shopbuzz, Trending Now Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Hill Country Food Park Opens in Downtown Brooklyn

November 21, 2018 by Leave a Comment

“Marc Glosserman, who brought his Texas roots to New York and founded the various Hill Country restaurants, has turned what was his barbecue place in Brooklyn into a spacious food hall with an outdoor vibe. “I want it to be like a gathering of food trucks,” he said. Here, there aren’t trucks, but rough-hewed stalls to provide sustenance from morning (coffee and Du’s Donuts) until night (Van Leeuwen ice cream and cocktails). Fried chicken, including some new sandwiches, will be on offer, along with baby back ribs and other barbecue. And there’s Austino’s, for square pizza Texas-style; Bluebonnets, serving vegetable-forward sandwiches and salads; and Nickie’s Tex-Mex specialties, including tamales, nachos and burgers with salsa. Libations are soft, hard and in-between. On the second floor, a sprawling new version of Hank’s Saloon, a venerable dive bar that is closing in Boerum Hill, will be installed by early next year.

See more restaurant opening here.

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

The Top 10 Food Trends For 2019, According To Whole Foods

November 16, 2018 by Leave a Comment

“Twenty-six subject experts from Whole Foods have been convening for four years to predict what’s coming next to their own shelves and to the food world as a whole. These experts range from a master sommelier and global beverage buyer to a senior R&D culinologist to the president of the Whole Kids Foundation to a produce field inspector to a board-certified, internal medicine physician to a global meat buyer; some actually started out working at the store level.

Before I share their predictions with you, what is unsaid is that the chain, now owned by Amazon, has produced the biggest trend in grocery in decades: They have awaken a previously staid industry and revitalized it as chains both large and small are changing the way they look at grocery. Amazon/Whole Foods has also attracted new talent, some from Ivy League schools who might never have thought about a career in grocery, and led other grocers on the same path. For me one of the biggest trends for 2019 will be to watch where Amazon/Whole Foods leads us next.

Now on to Whole Foods’ top 10 food trends:

Pacific Rim flavors is the top trend, with Whole Foods announcing that its Market and 365 Everyday Value brands will launch a new line of products inspired by Pacific Rim fruits like a guava tropical vinaigrette, pineapple passionfruit sparkling mineral water, mango pudding mix and passionfruit coconut frozen fruit bars. It also expect to see ingredients like longganisa (a Filipino pork sausage), dried shrimp, cuttlefish and shrimp paste to appear on restaurant and home menus in dishes from breakfast to dinner. (…)”

See more here.

Filed Under: Global Market Buzz, Heard on The Street, Shopbuzz, Trending Now Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,
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