Food & Beverage Opinion Articles

August 9, 2021

HVS Monday Musings: Indian Restaurant Industry – Riding Out The COVID-19 Storm

The Indian restaurant industry has been on a roller coaster ride, with several lows and few highs since the onset of the pandemic. The strict lockdown regimes of the first and second pandemic waves in the country have had a severe and long-lasting impact on the dine-out culture, with industry associations estimating that 25-30% of the outlets have shut down in the last year. However, with the easing of restrictions in the last couple of months, the restaurant industry is gradually getting back on its feet, though subdued customer sentiment on in-restaurant dining is still a major roadblock.

By Mandeep Lamba and Dipti Mohan

India

Opinion Article

August 6, 2021

The Recipe For Hotel Food And Beverage Profitability

Getting the alchemy just right for food and beverage service in a hotel is challenging, but necessary if the hotel is to be successful.

By Guy Maisnik, Partner, Vice Chair, Global Hospitality Group®, JMM

Opinion Article

August 6, 2021

Seven Wine Museums To Put On Your Travel Bucket List

As we once again begin to cautiously consider future travel plans, the experts at Cult Wines round up some of the best wine museums around the world, from state-of-the-art facilities to the brilliantly quaint.

By Andrea Marino, Senior Fine Wine Buyer, Cult Wines

Opinion Article

July 26, 2021

Sustainable Food: A Guide For Seasonal And Regional Food Shopping

How much does the impact of your diet weigh on your carbon footprint? How can you eat more sustainably? How to make an informed choice at the supermarket? All of these questions seem overwhelming at the start but can easily be addressed with a bit of research and new habits. In the following text I’ve tried to give you my take on some of these questions of sustainability without any guarantee of completeness. It's a hot topic where many of us agree or disagree, however, there are three inescapable things we should all agree on when it comes down to a more sustainable way of living: reduce, reuse, recycle.

By Ehrhard Busch, Chef de Partie, EHL

Switzerland

Opinion Article

July 26, 2021

HVS Monday Musings: Growth Of Cloud Kitchens In India

Technology has become a part of every industry, and the foodservice industry is not far behind. Online ordering has become the norm as the convenience of one-click orders, timely delivery, and integrated payment systems are available from the comfort of your home. As per a recently released report, the Indian foodservice delivery market has grown at a CAGR of 33% during FY18-FY20 to US $5.2 billion in FY20 and is further expected to expand to US $13 billion by FY23. With the increasing penetration of food delivery services, the concept of cloud kitchens or delivery-only outlets, also known as ghost kitchens or virtual restaurants, has gained momentum in India.

By Mandeep Lamba and Dipti Mohan

India

Opinion Article

July 19, 2021

Drink Trends 2021: What Exactly Is Bubble Tea & Why Is It Successful?

Have you ever walked past a bubble tea shop and noticed hordes of young people queuing up outside – even in a pandemic – and asked yourself what all the fuss is about? Time to explore what makes this Taiwanese beverage so popular among its drinkers and such a viable business for its vendors. Interview with Roberto Panto, CEO of the quantum leaping Swiss brand, MYO Bubble Tea.

By Beatrice Venturini, Hospitality Insights content editor, EHL

Opinion Article

July 15, 2021

Epicurean Ventures For The Travel Recovery

We’ve always espoused the mantra that the core of any property’s success is their F&B. Some golf, some are into wellness, but everyone eats. As demonstrated by a property we acted on as asset manager a few year’s ago, a property can even overcome deficiencies in their rooms’ product through a focus on exceptional dining.

By Larry Mogelonsky and Adam Mogelonsky

Georgia, United States

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Opinion Article

July 15, 2021

How Hospitality Can Close the Food Gap

There is a disparity today between food knowledge and food preparation skills. The pre-pandemic state of affairs, which is reasonable to expect will return as vaccines become more available and cases decrease, provided us the opportunity to experience a wide variety of types and preparations of food without actually doing the cooking.

By Norman Van Aken, Consultant, Strategic Solution Partners

Opinion Article

July 12, 2021

Bordeaux 2020: What Economic Dosage For The Vaccine Vintage?

This article aims to analyse the Bordeaux wine market's current state and estimate reasonable release prices for the current en-primeur campaign. (1)

By Dr Jean-Philippe Weisskopf and Philippe Masset

Opinion Article

July 8, 2021

America's Great Restaurant Rebound

The pandemic has hit America’s food and beverage industry hard, with restaurants and cafes bearing the full brunt of social gathering restrictions. Many were forced to offer takeaway only during the lockdowns. When they reopened, they had to adhere to capacity restrictions. While some were able to endure the difficult period by securing funds through the Paycheck Protection Program, other establishments were not so lucky and closed permanently. It is clear, however, that Americans are eager to return to their favorite restaurants and bars, and the sector is poised to make a formidable comeback this summer. The U.S. restaurant industry continues to evolve and innovate, and there are several important trends to keep an eye on.

By Rodney Clough, President - HVS Americas, Denver, HVS

United States

Opinion Article

July 5, 2021

How F&B Data Can Drive More Revenue For Hotel Groups

For hotel groups, the F&B side of business is no longer just an additional revenue stream: it’s becoming a proper customer acquisition channel. At the restaurant, diners get a broad stroke of what they can expect from the brand. If their experience is positive, they're more likely to stay at one of the hotels during future trips.

By Nezar Kadhem, Co-founder and CEO, Eat App

Opinion Article

July 5, 2021

EHL's Chocolate 'Moelleux' Lava Cake Recipe

In celebration of World Chocolate day, the EHL Preparatory Year students impress us with more lactose-free and gluten-free chocolate delights of their making. These 'moelleux' lava cakes have just won the EHL summer bakery challenge and are currently being produced for sale at the prestigious M Bar.

By Julien Boutonnet, Senior Lecturer - EHL Lausanne - Meilleur Ouvrier De France, EHL

Opinion Article

July 2, 2021

Champagne tasting: how to pair Laurent-Perrier with food and art

As Laurent-Perrier EHL Alliance Ambassadors, we recently had the pleasure to conduct a wine tasting with the Oenology Professor Gildas L’Hostis. During our conversation, we discussed the characteristics of Champagne in general and the tasting profile of Laurent-Perrier Blanc de Blancs Brut Nature, one of the prestige cuvée of the Maison Laurent-Perrier. Last but not least, we turned our attention to the similarities of wine with music and art. Professor Gildas L’Hostis provided us with some suggestions on how to match wine with the right masterpiece. Read throughout the article to find the answer to all of our questions.

By Alice Pedrinelli and Camille Buob

Opinion Article

July 1, 2021

In Vino Veritas LXXXIV: You Can’t Learn Wine In A Day

As with selling most other things, it certainly helps to be both well-informed and passionate about a given item in order to convince a customer to make a purchase. With wine, a specific challenge restaurateurs and servers face is getting patrons to opt for a more expensive glass or bottle because this takes confidence and proficient knowledge in the subject matter. And one cannot become conversant in a day, meaning that continued education is necessary to increase alcohol sales.

By Larry Mogelonsky and Adam Mogelonsky

Opinion Article

June 21, 2021

How To Make EHL's Guilt-Free Gluten & Lactose-Free Chocolate Brownie Recipe

Currently kicking up a storm in the EHL food court, these deeply rich chocolate brownies should please everyone's palate since they are devoid of the commonly-known troublesome ingredients.

By Julien Boutonnet, Senior Lecturer - EHL Lausanne - Meilleur Ouvrier De France, EHL

Switzerland

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Opinion Article

June 17, 2021

How Top Swiss F&B Businesses Use Resillience To Overcome Economic Crisis

How have restaurants survived this pandemic year? Through surveys and interviews with popular restaurant owners, we were able to get a better understanding on how they managed to work through the difficult year of 2020, how they are remaining positive for 2021 and what we as consumers can look forward to.

By Joana Dickinson and Lukas Lauber

Opinion Article

June 14, 2021

How to make EHL's easy three-cheese fondue recipe

Taken from the French verb to melt - fondre - fondue is an easy to prepare and highly convivial cheese treat. Named Switzerland’s national dish in the 1930s by the Swiss Cheese Union in order to increase consumption of the large amounts of cheese that the country was producing, fondue has become an icon of 'Swissness' at home and abroad.

By Beatrice Venturini, Hospitality Insights content editor, EHL

Opinion Article

June 11, 2021

SMEs: Business Dynamics In The Food And Beverage Industry (Margarita Cruz)

The pandemic COVID-19 has made apparent managers’ need to better understand the dynamics driving performance in their company. With businesses shut down repeatedly, often for several months at a time, hospitality managers were pushed to reinvent themselves in a short period of time. Nonetheless, while this has been an imminent need for nearly everyone in the industry, this is particularly true for small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) in the food and beverage industry, where companies are especially vulnerable to changes in their external environment (Johnson et al., 2017).

By Margarita Cruz, Associate Professor of Corporate Strategy and Entrepreneurship EHL Hospitality Business, EHL

Opinion Article

June 10, 2021

5 Key Issue The Wine Industry In Switzerland Is Currently Tackling

In 2020, EHL and Changins wine school launched a study on Swiss wines and the impact of Covid-19. Since a semblance of returning to normal is taking shape, the time seems opportune to summarize this project, taking care to place the Covid-19 crisis in a more general context. The aim is, in particular, to tackle the fundamental problems that affect Swiss wines and to try to identify possible solutions. The following analysis is based on interviews conducted with wine producers and key market players during the second half of 2020.

By Dr Jean-Philippe Weisskopf, Philippe Masset, and Alexandre Mondoux

Switzerland

Opinion Article

June 8, 2021

Foodservice Management: Designing Solutions Through Diversified Perspectives (Marc Stierand)

Foodservice is of increasing strategic importance as a differentiator for many hospitality businesses, and as a management subject it is core in all hospitality degrees. A crisis, like COVID-19, however, demands alterations to course content, because the effects of this and similar future crises are expected to have drastic and long-lasting effects. COVID-19 has been particularly damaging, because it did not result from core business activities gone wrong, but was a sudden and exogenous shock for which it was impossible to prepare (Hällgren, Reuleau & De Rond, 2018). Nevertheless, looking forward, adjustments can be made to the field of foodservice in order to better educate the industry’s future leaders.