As a chef, I spend a lot of time trying different foods. Caviar with potatoes, oysters, shrimp and salmon in New York — it was delicious! Portuguese beignets with salted caramel and passion fruit curd in Lisbon — ditto. And that tamal with chipilín and local cheese made a superb breakfast in Chiapas, Mexico.
It's wine education week! Whilst wine does contain alcohol, every wine - be it red or white, still or sparkling - is the unique product of an individual recipe and set of processes. Just like the grape content, the alcohol levels vary from wine to wine. Speaking to senior portfolio manager at Cult Wines, Jack Chapman, he explains how alcohol content is created, measured and may vary.
Gluten free? Nut allergies? Vegan? Keto? Whole 30? … According to Forbes, a whopping 18% of surveyed consumers say they follow a specialty diet. Food producers, restaurants, and investors have all taken note of the growth in food sensitivities with specialty products and programs. The wellness industry is now worth $4.2T - more than global travel - and the segment growth is especially robust amongst the coveted millennial segment.
As young restaurateurs pave the way for the future of the restaurant sector, they are keen to adapt to their customers' and markets' needs and are ready to make F&B an innovative and experience-centered industry. How ready are they to take on tomorrow's challenges, such as adapting their business models to new delivery channels, digitalization or engaging in sustainability practices?
Your menu pricing strategy is directly tied to your bottom line. Which makes me wonder why so many restaurants overlook this important profit center.
In the world of wine, it is important to differentiate between individual reputation and collective reputation. Disassociating the two is crucial because it helps wine drinkers understand the price differences between two wineries that share the same appellation.
As it's not dependent on the natural attributes of a destination such as sun, sea and sand, food tourism can be an important tool for hospitality and tourism businesses, allowing them to attract tourists during off-peak times.
Winemakers seek to create 'balanced' and 'harmonious' wines, defined mainly by flavors which, when combined, produce the wine's complexity or 'structure', as well as 'roundness'. When appreciating wine, those flavors interact with each other and modify the way they are perceived. This effect could have an impact on the wine's balance itself.
There is currently a growing demand from customers for customization in various aspects of the food and beverage industry. Not only the product or service offered, but also the customer experience needs to be unique and feel personal.
Up until the hospitality industry started to change over half a century ago, everyone was accustomed to believing that a city's best restaurant would be found at a luxury hotel downtown. Such a property's premier restaurant would often serve as a perennial draw for both out-of-towners as well as locals, with reservations coveted and those seated immediately bestowing status upon their patrons.
While most wines can be enjoyed any time of year and ostensibly anywhere within sight of a corkscrew, the hot summer months present an opportunity to expand your beverage selection with great seasonal offerings, all in the pursuit of greater awareness and revenues.
Ever since Fred Harvey opened his first "eating house-hotel" establishment along the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (AT&SF) tracks in Kansas in 1878, food and beverage has become an integral part of the hospitality business in the U.S. Harvey's invention was a more formalized approach to what was served to guests of the grand hotels and smaller inns that dotted the landscape from Europe to Asia throughout eras before.
Opening a restaurant involves some heavy decision-making, and one thing that must be given a great deal of time and thought is the theme. It will have a major influence on how successful your restaurant becomes. Your chosen theme will attract or drive away customers and even change what foods you can put on your menu.
What does your wine list stand for? What's its elevator pitch? Is it meaningful for customers? Does it fit with the theme and business plan for the parent restaurant?
The tech era has highlighted the importance of data mining and has made this process critical when it comes to decision-making and even tactical execution. It is easy to assume that evidenced-based insights and models would only apply to business metrics and issues, but the burgeoning science of Human Resources shows that "big" data can help in "big" ways as it pertains to hiring the right talent for the right positions for optimally effective organizations. And in the restaurant sector, a high-performing operations leader is necessary for the success of the business and operation.
For many people who like to travel, experiencing the food of other cultures plays a big part when it comes to deciding what place they'd like to travel to next. Melbourne is a place that offers many options to its visitors - whether they'd like to enjoy fine dining, casual coffee drinking in one of its coffee shops or simply brunching in a cozy laneway restaurant, every food aficionado is sure to be pleasantly surprised by the diversity this city is known for. Let's take a look at the factors that shaped Melbourne into the culinary capital of Australia.
We've all been there. You finally wake up from the dreaming phase of the travel planning journey and pick on a destination to visit. Now the planning begins. We all have our go-to travel booking websites and apps, and they each present a lot of information, packages, and special offers convincing you to make a booking. Beyond just rate, hotel shoppers consider plenty of other factors, such as amenities, activities, and nearby restaurants.
Food halls are everywhere nowadays, from Florence's Mercato Centrale to Lisbon's Time Out Mercado da Ribeira, there is a good chance you stumbled upon one of these gigantic cafeteria-style public markets, where - under the same roof - you can taste different types of foods, see different chefs at work and even buy groceries. Food halls are doing more than just serving meals to hungry locals and tourists: they are designed as a curated experience, where guests can not only enjoy top-notch street-style foods, but fully grasp an authentic flair of the city they are in.
Quite the statement to kick off the In Vino Veritas series for 2019, but, sadly, it is too often true. To put it more politely, think of this in terms of a series of questions. What does your wine list stand for? Is it meaningful for customers? Does it fit with the theme and business plan for the parent restaurant?
Finding myself away at a mountain resort for a food and wine festival last year, it was the perfect opportunity to not only participate in a wine tasting conducted by a vintner from a prominent Oregon winery as well as reflect upon the staying power of these types of events.