Lord I hope they don’t! Here is an interesting article about this “franken-food” from NPR…

Read The Full Article Here

Don’t miss the first annual StarChefs.com 2010 Chefs Week New York City. Monday, Sept 20 through Wednesday, Sept 22

It’s September: time for the StarChefs.com International Chefs Congress and the StarChefs.com New York Rising Stars Revue! But why pass up the potential to completely overrun the Big Apple with chefs in whites? There is a colossal wealth of opportunity for chefs to convene over the course of the week. Here at StarChefs.com, we feel it’s our duty to put out the APB: “Calling All Chefs and Wannabes! This Is Your Week!”

Join industry insiders and culinary icons during this week-long celebration of chefs. At StarChefs.com 2010 ChefsWeek New York City, food and beverage professionals crowd together in America’s culinary capital from across the city, the country and the globe, to chart the future of the edible landscape. This is an opportunity for forward-thinkers in food to powwow with their peers, all over this tremendous city, for one week full of non-stop events.

For the first time, 50 consumer passes available to the public!
ICC is a three-day culinary symposium where more than 70 of the world’s most influential and innovative chefs, pastry chefs, mixologists, and sommeliers present the latest techniques and culinary concepts to their peers. Rub elbows with Thomas Keller (The French Laundry), Albert Adria (Inopia Classic Bar), Tom Aikens (Tom Aikens Restaurant ), Dan Barber (Blue Hill), Martin Berasategui (Martin Berasategui), Dale DeGroff (Museum of the American Cocktail), Elizabeth Falkner (Orson), Dan Hunter (Royal Mail), David Kinch (Manresa), Geoff Kruth (The Farmhouse Inn and Restaurant), Johnny Iuzzini (Jean Georges), Normand Laprise (Toqué),Richard Melman (Lettuce Entertain You), Rick Moonen (rm Seafood), Charlie Palmer (Aureole), Michael Ruhlman (Ruhlman.com), Marcus Samuelsson (Red Rooster), Mindy Segal (Hot Chocolate), Bryan and Michael Voltaggio (VOLT & formerly of The Dining Room at the Langham) and many, many more. This year, StarChefs.com introduces the First Annual Pastry Competition and Somm Slam!

Another great outcome of the “foodie awareness” that is taking place in the country…upgraded food at sporting event concession stands!

NEW YORK – There’s been intense competition going on at the U.S. Open, and it has nothing to do with aces or foot faults.

Instead, five of Bravo TV’s “Top Chef Masters” have been working to create the best food of the tournament — something more elegant than hot dogs, pretzels and burgers.

Top Chef Masters Upgrade Food at US Open

“This is the U.S. Open; there is nothing like this,” said Miami-based chef Carmen Gonzalez, sitting with the rest of her culinary compatriots before Saturday night’s match between James Blake and Novack Djokovic.

“The people who come here they want good food.”

To that end, they created recipes like pulled pork tacos, from Los Angeles chef Susan Feniger, and Rick Moonen shrimp and tilapia burger.

“I do a shrimp version of a hot dog,” joked Moonen, who is based in Las Vegas.

All of the dishes have been on sale since the start of the championship last week, and the creator of the most popular dish will win $5,000 for their favorite charity. Jonathan Waxman’s Roast Chicken Panini with basil aioli and greens was the victor; his charity was City Meals on Wheels.

The contest was born after Tony Mantuano, the renowned Chicago restaurateur and favorite of President Barack Obama, challenged his colleagues to create a different kind of menu for the thousands of fans at the tennis grand slam event.

Mantuano had been at the Open for the past three years, creating specialties with his Wine Bar Food outpost, and hoped to do something on a grander scale.

“You have to keep evolving and innovating and making new things,” he said. “Why wouldn’t people want to eat this way?”

But creating Michelin-quality food at a sporting event — where sausage,  chicken fingers and fries are the typical go-to foods — created hurdles, the chefs admitted.

“The biggest challenge was getting to understand the numbers and the volume,” said Waxman, the bicoastal restaurant owner and author. “We deal in smaller numbers. (But) I don’t think there were any disasters.”

The chefs came up with their recipies, then worked with the cooking staff at the Open to translate the dishes to the masses. More than 20,000 people come to the tennis center daily during the two-week tournament.

Though the U.S. Open has expanded its food choices over the years to include sushi, Mexican and Indian, the master chef competition was its most ambitious culinary move.

“It’s a very sophisticated audience,” Waxman said of Open fans.

The five chefs all participated in a cook-off Saturday in front of fans as they recreated their dishes.

“People were waiting in between matches and they would stop,” Feniger said. “It was fun for them to watch us each doing preparations.” Typically, you don’t go to sporting events and expect to eat great food,” she said.

“The genius of Trader Joe’s is staying a step ahead of Americans’ increasingly adventurous palates with interesting new items that shoppers will collectively buy in big volumes.”    

I have always been a huge fan of Trader Joe’s and have visited their stores on both coasts many, many times. As most retailers are struggling with sales, profitability, competition from restaurants and QSR’s, Trader Joe’s just keeps chugging along and racking up year over year sales comps.

Last year the privately held retailer sales were roughly $8 billion! That is the same as Whole Foods with their massive stores and SKU’s (the average Trader Joe’s merchandises about 4,000 vs 55,000 for a typical big box grocery retailer).

One little side note…at an estimated $1,750 sales per square foot, Trader Joe’s  trumps Whole Foods sales numbers by more than double. Not bad for a company that most folks in Middle America have never heard of.

Trader Joe’s doesn’t pick up on trends – It Sets Them!

The concept so reminds me of our original thought process behind eatZi’s way back when…small SKU count, best in market offerings, and relentless pursuit of foodie nirvana!

Read the full article here – Trader Joes

Mark

It is almost overwhelming, the amount of social media sites and tools for chefs and restaurateurs to use to generate business. How do you choose which one to spend your valuable time?    

I am going to cover one of the more popular and useful sites out there… Yelp

Yelp is to restaurants as Tripadvisor is to Lodging, Love it, Hate it. It doesn’t look like they are going to go away any time soon, so restaurants need to use it constructively.



As with most review sites, there are always going to be folks who complain about everything! Some of the comments are valid, others may be completely out of the restaurant or its staff’s control.

But there can be a lot of good and constructive information gleaned from reviews. Yes, not every review is going to be divine inspiration of what you can do to better serve your customers,  but you can see and find trends if you do have even a dozen reviews. (and this goes for monitoring other review sites as well.)

Yelp gives restaurants owners (after they have claimed their business listings at http://www.yelp.com/business/unlocking ) the ability to both respond publicly and privately to reviewers and while many reviewers are anonymous, at least you have a venue to respond. Some of the other sites have no way for a business to respond or defend a less than stellar review.

To a restaurant, this is not just a one off comment, it should be clear that they are having some serious service issues and take steps to remedy this ASAP.

A Few Other Trends I Came Across Browsing Reviews From Around The US:

Specific menu items consistently were mentioned as being awful/terrible in many places. This should be a number one priority for restaurants monitoring their reviews to address and fix.

If 15 out of 18 reviews mentioned the fries were terrible, they tasted like cardboard etc. perhaps its time to change the brand you’re using or if they were frequently mentioned as soggy, your frialator may not be making temp or may need oil or frymax changed more often.

Several places had great reviews about the food and service but had repeat mentions that the coffee was terrible. Changing brands is one option, or if it’s a good product, look at how long before service the coffee is being brewed and has it been sitting on a burner for hours instead of being re-brewed frequently. Even the best coffee is awful with burner burn.

Another example: burgers here at night are always well cooked, don’t go for lunch, always over/uncooked (in a nutshell) several dozen reviews in one place about this. Do you think perhaps your lunch line cooks need a little education on doneness?

Restaurants had dirty silverware, glasses and/or plates. (repeated mentions) This should be a clear tip off to management that you have problems in two areas (possibly three) your dishwasher is not checking flatware and other items for cleanliness, your actual dish machine may need some attention and as well your waitstaff and/or bartenders aren’t paying attention when they are doing table resets or pouring drinks.

Any type of comment that is mentioned more then once (even the positive ones) need to be monitored and tracked. Yes Yelpers can be a thorn in any restaurants side, but it can be useful as well because it is a voice of the customer. While the customers may be not your cup of tea necessarily, they are the paying public and more then a dozen foodies mentioning your drinks are watered is a problem (usually with your bartender).

Use Yelp constructively to improve issues in your restaurant, you don’t have to like it but you do need to listen to it and learn from it how to improve your business.

Until Next Time,

Mark

To Further Add To Your Marketing Workload, I Have Compiled A List Of The Top Restaurant Review Sites. For Many Of My Colleagues and Clients, they realize that mobile marketing is going to be huge for restaurants.

If someone has never been to your establishment and finds you in a local search on their mobile phone, reviews from other customers will factor into their decision of where to dine.

Here is a list of restaurant review sites in alphabetical order (With links).  It is my gift to you.

10 Best  http://10best.com

11870  http://11870.com

All Menus  http://allmenus.com

Always Hungry NY  http://alwayshungryny.com

AZ Central  http://azcentral.com

Bacon and Bakin http://baconandbakin.blogspot.com

Beer Advocate  http://beeradvocate.com

Behind the Burner  http://www.behindtheburner.com

Boorah  http://www.boorah.com

Brian X http://brianx.com

Center Stage Chicago  http://centerstagechicago.com

Chef Seattle  http://www.chefseattle.com/restaurants

Chicago Reader  http://chicagoreader.com

Chowhound  http://www.chowhound.com

City Guide AOL  http://cityguide.aol.com

City Guide MSN  http://cityguides.msn.com

Citysearch  http://www.citysearch.com

Cosmo Tourist  http://cosmotourist.com

Delishhh  http://www.delishhh.com

Detroit Pizza Restaurants  http://detroitpizzarestaurants.com

Dex Knows  http://dexknows.com

Dine.com  http://www.Dine.com

Dinesite  http://dinesite.com

Ding Out with Rob Balon  http://www.diningoutwithrobbalon.com

Dishola  http://dishola.com

Durham Cooking  http://durhamcooking.com

Events NY Times  http://events.nytimes.com

FastNosh http://www.FastNosh.com

Fodor’s http://fodors.com

Foodieview  http://foodieview.com

Foodie Universe  http://foodieuniverse.blogspot.com

Foodio54  http://www.Foodio54.com

Food Seattle  http://www.foodseattle.com

Fork and Bottle  http://www.forkandbottle.com/restaurants/seattle/seattle.htm

Foupons  http://foupons.com

Foursquare  http://foursquare.com

Frommers  http://frommers.com

Gastronormous  http://gastronormous.com

Gayot   http://gayot.com

Go City Kids – Parents Connect  http://gocitykids.parentsconnect.com

Good Rec  http://www.GoodRec.com

Google Maps  http://maps.google.com/

Grub Hub  http://grubhub.com

Guidespot  http://guidespot.com

Half Baked Seattle  http://www.halfbakedinseattle.com

Happy Cow  http://happycow.net

IgoUgo  http://www.igougo.com

Insider Pages  http://www.insiderpages.com

Jaunted  http://jaunted.com

Judy’s Book  http://www.judysbook.com

Just One Dining  http://justonedining.com

Kudzu  http://www.kudzu.com

LA Youth  http://layouth.com

Lilaguide  http://lilaguide.com

Local Platter  http://localplatter.com

Local Platter  http://localplatter.com/

Menuism  http://www.menuism.com

Menu Pages  http://www.menupages.com

MenuPix http://www.menupix.com/

Menutopia  http://menutopia.com

Merchant Circle  http://www.merchantcircle.com

MetroMix  http://metromix.com

Minube  http://minube.com

Mojo Pages  http://mojopages.com

MySpace  http://myspace.com

NY Mag  http://nymag.com

NYC  http://www.nyc.com

Open Table  http://reviews.OpenTable.com

OutsideIn  http://Outside.in

Pizza is Delicious  http://pizzaisdelicious.com

Qype  http://qype.com

Realeats  http://www.realeats.com/

Restaurant Guide  http://restaurant-guide.com

Restaurant.com  http://www.restaurant.com

Restaurantica  http://www.Restaurantica.com

RestaurantRow  http://restaurantrow.com

Restaurants on Uptake  http://restaurants.uptake.com

Reviews MetroGuide  http://reviews.metroguide.com

Roadfood  http://roadfood.com

Route 66 LA  http://route66LA.blogspot.com

Seattle.net  http://www.seattle.net/entertainment/restaurants

Seattle Dining  http://www.seattle.com/restaurants

Seattle Foodster  http://www.seattlefoodster.com

Seattle Mag  http://www.seattlemag.com

Seattle Met  http://www.seattlemet.com/eat-and-drink/restaurant-reviews

Seattle PI Dining  http://www.seattlepi.com/dining

Seattle Times Restaurant Reviews  http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/restaurants

Seattle Travel  http://www.seattletravel.com/restaurants/best-restaurants.html

Seattle Weekly  http://www.seattleweekly.com/restaurants

Table Finder  http://www.TableFinder.com

Tasting Menu  http://www.tastingmenu.com/restaurants/seattle

The Guide LA Times  http://theguide.latimes.com

The Stranger  http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Food

Timeout  http://timeout.com

Top Table  http://www.toptable.co.uk

Top Restaurants  http://www.toprestaurants.com/seattle.htm

TravBuddy  http://travbuddy.com

TripAdvisor  http://www.tripadvisor.com

TripAdvisor India  http://tripadvisor.com

Trusted Places  http://trustedplaces.com

Twitter  http://twitter.com

UofEating  http://www.uofeating.com/

Urban Spoon  http://www.urbanspoon.com

Viewpoints  http://viewpoints.com

VirtualTourist  http://virtualtourist.com

WCities  http://wcities.com/seattle

We 8 There  http://we8there.com

WitU  http://www.witu.com

Worst Pizza  http://www.worstpizza.com

Yahoolocal  http://local.yahoo.com

Yellowbot  http://yellowbot.com

Yelp  http://www.yelp.com

Yummy Eats  http://yummyeats.com

Zagat  http://www.zagat.com/

Zealotofza  http://zealotofza.com

This is not the complete list.  In your local search area there are many more.  You will have to do your own research or hire someone to find the opportunities and set up your online presence.

Please don’t leave it to fate.  Don’t sit and wait for the remarks to build willy-nilly.  Make the invitation and give them great choices to give feedback.

A year from now there will be two restaurants online side by side.   One has dozens of reviews and the other has a few.  The first took action and the other waits.  A hungry person will be viewing the reviews on their mobile device.  They will be thinking:  “Which to choose?”.  Which will they respond to?  Which is yours?

Mark

One of my favorite resource magazines for trends and “outside the box” entrepreneurs and companies recently picked their Top Ten Innovative Food Companies…Take a look and leave me your comments.

Read The Full Article Here – Fast Company 10 Most Innovative Food Companies

Fast Company is searching for 2010′s Most Influential Person Online. Could You Be Them? Click on the link and find out…

http://fcinf.com/v/c2fv

You are more influential than you think.

You may have seen them on the corner while you are stuck in traffic. Those guys and girls waving, spinning, tossing, and generally having fun with a company’s logo or directional sign.

Here is a short video and article about the success of these campaigns with local restaurants and small businesses here in San Antonio.    

Article and Video:

Mark

One of my favorite and most frequented restaurants is absolutely killing it in sales and profitability AGAIN this past quarter. (Why oh why did I not invest in this thing back in 1995??!!)

You can read the full article here at Nation’s Restaurant News

Mark