All posts by Brian Hampton
Too tired to go out? Not interested in splurging on takeout? Why not reach for your Blue Apron subscription box that comes right to your doorstep and cook your own Korean-style tofu brown rice bowl with kimchi and marinated carrots, using the ingredients and recipe inside. Blue Apron, a service that delivers ready-to-cook dinners to subscribers, is a popular player in the rapidly expanding field of food subscription and delivery boxes — a field that includes everything from monthly gourmet baby food shipments, to a box loaded with a variety of pickles, and everything in between.
Science isn’t just for the lab; It has a place in the kitchen as well. Food-tech, the nexus of food and technology, is making headlines for new ways to plant and develop agriculture; new ways to order and deliver food; and even the creation of brand-new foods (like lab grown meat). These are just a handful of the ways that the high-tech community contributes to feeding the world. In addition to improving the quantity of food, food tech researchers are working on delivering higher quality and healthier meals.
The new normal in restaurant lingo is restaurant protective products. From protective barriers, social distancing products, cashier shields and more, the list of COVID-19 restaurant protection products is on the rise. Designed to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus and to provide a safe-as-possible dining-out experience, many of the new restaurant supplies on the market today are being grabbed up by businesses large and small alike.
What’s on the menu these days? Capitalizing on a proven business strategy, restaurateurs are buddying up with retail to help boost sales. From Coca Cola and 7UP to McDonald’s and Burger King, collaborations with clothing brands, sports companies, shoe retailers, and the worlds of beauty and cosmetics have created some of the most fruitful and lasting business partnerships in history. If you work in the food or beverage industry and want to increase your visibility, create excitement, and attract new customers, consider partnering with another company.
As restaurants around the world continue to struggle for survival amidst the COVID-19 crisis, hope is on the horizon for restaurant owners, chefs, and other foodservice providers. The industry has already demonstrated its resounding resolve, transforming entire business models and modes of operations practically overnight. And, as the concepts of ‘dining out’ and ‘dining in’ continue to be redefined, restaurateurs are now re-examining their marketing strategies with the goal of attracting consumers and boosting sales despite the pandemic.
Continue reading on how to market your restaurant business →
Drive-thru restaurants, a pure Americana tradition from the 1950s, have been making a comeback. Decades after reinvigorating the dining-out scene, the old-school paradigm is dominating once again. Only this time, rather than being the exclusive property of American fast-food joints, the take-out service has come to the fore as a champion of the foodservice industry overall. While the rise to fame over the past two years can be attributed to the pandemic, restaurant insiders claim that the drive-thru trend began long before – however, thanks to the pandemic, in the words of David Portalatin, NPD food industry advisor “we’ve really just fast-forwarded years into the future in a very short period of time…” . Continue reading on drive-thru restaurants →
If you work in foodservice and are wondering what the future of the industry will look like, here is what some experts are forecasting. In their crystal ball, a proliferation of new automated services are on the horizon for restaurants, paving the way for a new landscape in the short term and possibly a ‘new normal’ going forward.
As with many other businesses world-wide, the restaurant industry has been deeply impacted by the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). In a global milieu where work from home, self-quarantine, traffic restrictions, and rampant business closures have become the norm, restaurants have been thrust into an unprecedented limelight.
It’s breakfast time, America, and it’s a new day for restaurant owners, caterers, chefs, and the food industry. Responding to consumer demand, the global breakfast and brunch markets are expected to grow exponentially. Attributed in part to rising concerns for healthy diet, breakfast is once again being promoted as the most important meal of the day.
Did you know that there are now 80 million Millennials in the U.S.? This group of individuals born between 1982 and 2000 now outnumbers the Baby Boomers — previously holder of the title, “Largest Generation Ever”– and makes up a full quarter of the nation’s population, according to the United Census Bureau.