Restaurants at New York’s Hudson Yards Have a Big Plan to Feed Office Workers

October 12, 2018 by Leave a Comment

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“More details are emerging about the dining roster at the $25 billion Hudson Yards project, and as a food editor who also happens to be a native New Yorker, I can say that it’s time to get very excited. By mid-March the megaproject’s 25 restaurants and food concepts, from José Andrés’s Mercado Little Spain food hall to the fish temple Estiatorio Milos, should be open.

Hudson Yards anticipates more than 40,000 employees arriving to work daily—a new epicenter of Manhattan supporting companies from Steve Cohen’s Point72 Asset Management to Tapestry, VaynerMedia, and Alphabet’s Sidewalk Labs.

The question of feeding all those workers, as well as the thousands of residents and tourists who will be flowing through the 1-million-square-foot space, has obsessed Kevin Stuessi, vice president at Related Companies LP, the real estate company developing the project. He’s determined that most of the restaurants will have continuous service, starting at about 11:30 a.m., with late-night menus planned.

Following an exclusive hard hat tour in early September, Stuessi and Related Urban CEO Kenneth Himmel shared some of the most exciting details of the project’s signature concepts.”

Read more here.

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IHOP’s Menu Redesign Boosts Sales

January 24, 2014 by Leave a Comment

A video from Bloomberg Businessweek explains how IHOP’s new menu increased sales by 3.6%. IHOP hired design experts to revamp the menu after customers complained about seeing too much text, which was ultimately overwhelming. due to customer complaints, the too many choices. too much text. The menu redesign experts suggested IHOP included more pictures; people love to see pictures of what they’re going to eat, and this is a great way to break up the page while promoting new menu items. Secondly, boxes are a requisite. Organizational, eye-popping boxes remind customers that they can order sides. Lastly, colors are a bonus. Color-coded categories help customers navigate through the menu, and the extra browsing that customers might not have otherwise done allows them to find something in the middle or back of the menu.

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Poultry and Pork Prices Expected to Fall in 2014

November 14, 2013 by 2 Comments

Poultry and pork prices are expected to fall 5-9% and 4-13% next year, respectively. The decrease in chicken breast meat prices could result in cheaper menus at fast casual and fast food retailers including McDonald’s, who recently abolished the Dollar Menu. The price of pork reached a record high this year, so the dramatic price cut will come as a relief. Bloomberg News attributes the price decrease of poultry to the 20% decrease in the price of corn, a dietary staple for chickens. On the contrary, beef costs will most likely not decrease until mid-2015 at the earliest, according to a report by purchasing co-op SpenDifference LLC.

Here are some tips for controlling costs:

  • Because of the predicted drop in wheat prices, look at breads and identify savings.
  • Both canola and soy oil are forecast to increase in 2014. If possible, take coverage at today’s levels to add price protection.
  • Take coverage in the front half of 2014 to protect from seasonal increases in the back half of the year for cheese.
  • Draft a food-cost purchasing forecast to identify areas of savings and potential cost increases.
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“Copycat Cuisine”: Is it Sharing or Stealing?

November 14, 2013 by 2 Comments

Nancy Kruse of Kruse Company, a company that analyzes food and menu trends, debates whether chefs’ culinary creations should be protected under “trade dress” intellectual property rights. Some wonder why recipes do not have the same legal protection as other operational attributes like logos, signage and decor. Trade dress currently protects authors and musicians, but chefs do not benefit from the same security.

In all fairness, the restaurant world has shrunk. Chefs respond to trends similarly and consequently use the same seasonal and/or trending ingredients to accommodate their target market. It’s no wonder resembling recipes appear in multiple venues, probably in an unintentionally sinister way.

Certain chefs advocate for recipe copyrighting because developing a recipe can be a lengthy process. Seeing their idea on another chef’s menu feels like a violation, understandably. Other chefs however, like Eric Ripert of Le Bernardin and Ferran Adrià of the former elBulli, perceive recipe imitation as a form of flattery. In fact, Chef Adrià encourages the free sharing of recipes and ideas amongst the chef community, and Chef Ripert admits to borrowing ideas from fellow chefs, including Chef Adrià.

Is recipe borrowing menu plagiarism, or just that— borrowing?

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Four Ways to Optimize Online Presence

November 8, 2013 by Leave a Comment

FastCasual compiled a list of four ways to maximize your business’ online presence. These concepts are straightforward and include goals that every business, no matter how small, should aspire to. Gone are the days when the only visible online platform for a business was a company website. Aggregating information has never been faster or easier with the aid of online review guides and search engines. For this reason, it’s especially important to ensure your business’ information is accurate, prevalent and caters to your target market. These are the four ways to achieve an ideal online presence:

1) Be everywhere. Don’t just market yourself through your company website and social media platforms. Having a strong presence on third-party sites like Yelp will give your concept a sense of legitimacy and draw more businesses.

2) Centralize business listing updates. Services like Locu, recently acquired by GoDaddy, provide a simple solution to consolidating your business’ information, promoting consistency and accuracy, and sending this information to third-sites.

3) Improve your presence on third-party sites. Don’t just advertise the basics like hours of operation and location; it’s crucial to also feature menus, photos and promotions, to name a few. Branch out to social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter.

4) Search for your business online. A first priority is to make sure information is up-to-date and accurate. Accuracy and consistency leads to earning your customers’ trust.

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Panera Plans to Improve Speed

November 4, 2013 by Leave a Comment

The St. Louis-based fast casual chain Panera Bread Co. is making changes to improve efficiencies since analysts reported that company comps remain weaker than expectated and below Panera’s historic track record. While same-store sales rose, most of the increase was attributed to higher prices and mix, not increased traffic.

Steps Panera plans to take include extending restaurant workers’ hours, streamlining its menu and upgrading equipment to prevent slow throughput. Panera added thirty-five hours of labor to each at $15 million per year.

Additionally, Panera plans to condense its bakery-café menu “to reduce the complexity and degree of difficulty of operating a high-volume Panera café,” detailed Shaich.

Speed is a primary factor in fast-casual restaurants’ success, especially in such a competitive environment. Co-founder and CEO Ron Shaich recognizes that “when potential customers walk in, see the line and decide to leave, sales growth potential is lost.”

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McDonald’s Nixes Dollar Menu

November 4, 2013 by Leave a Comment

In recent times, McDonald’s once very successful Dollar Menu has been hurting business. McDonald’s CEO Don Thompson explained the benefits of the new “Dollar Menu & More,” explaining that the menu “gives customers a value ladder of sorts, so that based upon their discretionary spending, they have multiple offers at McDonald’s.”

In conclusion, $1 items will remain, but the focus has shifted to $2 and $5 items. Many wonder why the “Dollar Menu & More” isn’t just called “the menu”.

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Gourmet Menus Leads to Increased Sales

November 3, 2013 by Leave a Comment

In the fast casual world, the pressure to keep up with the competition is increasing with the introduction of high-end options. A basic ham-and-cheese sandwich is no longer enough to satisfy the masses; customers now prefer gourmet options.

Fortunately, the gourmet trend in fast-casual restaurants doesn’t have to break the bank. A little goes a long way in this case, and product branding has more of an impact than the quantity of the product actually used.

Flatburger, for example, recently introduced the Grey Poupon Dijon Mustard Mushroom Swiss Flatburger. The key ingredients: mayonnaise, Grey Poupon and sautéed mushrooms, are not expensive. In fact, Kraft produces the Grey Poupon mustard that Flatburger uses. However, branding the sandwich with “Grey Poupon” in the title leaves the customer with the impression that they are investing in a “gourmet” product, which is ultimately what they prefer.

Small steps like rebranding products to include “gourmet” names may lead to increased sales.

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Thanksgiving Menu Success and Distress

November 22, 2012 by Leave a Comment

If you’re celebrating the holiday, it’s unlikely that you’re still stumped as to what to make for Thanksgiving, but The New York Times has created a clever menu generator for any style of cook.
Visit the Thanksgivingerator.

If the menu’s all planned out and you need help with the finer points, you can reach out to their Thanksgiving Help Line.

We hope you have a wonderful and delicious Thanksgiving.

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