All Entries in the "Industry Trends" Category

Harvard Business Review – Life’s Work: Mario Batali (hbr.org)

The CEO in Orange Crocs – Mario Batali talks about leadership, the importance of teamwork,  and what makes an entrepreneurial partnership work.
To read the entire article click on this link <http://bit.ly/9AE3JR>

Restaurants See Slow Recovery From the Recession (nytimes.com)

“Restaurants all over the country are beginning to see signs of a potential recovery after a dismal 2009. Sales at some restaurants have risen in the last few months, and the industry has hired thousands of additional workers.
“There’s no question about this,” said Harry Balzer, chief industry analyst at the NPD [...]

R&I’s Top 100 Independent Restaurants: The New Normal

Top 100 Independent operators see a ‘new normal’ where exceptional guest service/experience is the key to driving their top-lines.
The “new normal” means doubling down on service, searching for innovative ways to market to value-conscious customers and making sure the restaurant yields every possible penny of profit.
“My sense is that our industry is confronting [...]

James Beard Foundation Awards 2010 Nominees

Impressive group!!!
Download the complete list of Award Nominees http://tiny.cc/gn40w

First-ever Canadian Chef Survey reveals top menu trends for 2010 [CNW]

TORONTO, March 4 /CNW/ – Local, sustainable and organic food choices top the list of what’s hot in Canada’s restaurant kitchens. The trends are revealed in a new survey of professional chefs conducted for the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association (CRFA).
Click here for the top picks for 2010

Lecours Wolfson is proud to be part of Terroir 2010

Join us for the hospitality industry’s leading education symposium and celebrate this year’s theme: inspiration and innovation. The day-long event includes internationally acclaimed keynote speakers (sign-up for our newsletter for keynote announcement), wine and food sampling, Chef demonstrations, panel discussions and business seminars. Don’t miss it!
Click here to buy your tickets now.

Arlene Stein on Terroir [...]

McDonald’s Has a Chef? [Time]

This is a very interesting excerpt from an article in Time about Daniel Coudreaut, a CIA trained Chef with Four Seasons experience, whose McDonald’s Director of Culinary Innovation & Menu Management.
“In 2004, Coudreaut arrived at McDonald’s headquarters, a sprawling, bosky campus in Oak Brook, Ill., outside Chicago. His kitchen, which is on the third floor [...]

Mind games on the menu: The psychological tricks restaurants use to part us from our money (The Independent)

William Poundstone’s new book, Priceless: The Myth of Fair Value (and How to Take Advantage of It), explains how restaurants, through ‘menu engineering’, compel us to choose certain items and spend more.
“It’s all too much to do: you’re sitting down at your restaurant table at the same time as trying to regale someone with a [...]

Baum + Whiteman has released their annual food and dining trends for 2010 – see excerpt below…

“How the downturn has altered consumer expectations and what it will take to lure diners out of their economic storm shelters. Emotional resonance and the left side of the menu. Going downscale to go upscale. Fresh = Local = Hand-Made = Safer. Why fried chicken is the new pork belly. Food additives are back, but [...]

‘PKF Forecasts More Guests in 2010 (With a Catch)’ – Hotel News Resource

PKF Hospitality Research (PKF-HR) today announced that, according to an advance release of the September 2009 edition of Hotel Horizons(R), nine consecutive quarters of declining lodging demand will come to an end in the second quarter of 2010.   ‘With the budgeting process underway at hotels around the U.S., the recovery of lodging demand is an [...]