Enhancing the Dining Experience in Hotels
The guide covers 12 strategies including technology integration, seasonal menus, loyalty programs, and sustainable practices to boost hotel dining revenues.
By Nasir Zahir
Opinion Articles
Food Service Supply Chain: Manage Complexity to Protect Performance
Rising regulatory demands, globalization, and efficiency-driven models are making food service procurement a strategic risk that directly impacts hotel and restaurant profitability.
By Paulina Schmidt, Food and Beverage Copywriting Specialist, EHL
The Anchor Effect - Hotels Used to Compete on Rooms. Now They Compete on Restaurants.
Hotels with culturally relevant dining see 18.6% RevPAR growth as F&B transforms from cost center to the primary differentiator driving bookings and community.
By Andrew El-Bayeh, CEO, Example
When a Word Salad Becomes the Most Delicious Special of the Day!
The article contrasts two servers at a Japanese-Korean fusion restaurant to illustrate how product knowledge and storytelling elevate dining experiences.
By Roberta Nedry, President, Hospitality Excellence, Inc.
Mastering mobile ordering: 10 best practices to drive ancillary revenue and free up staff time
IRIS shares 10 strategies for hotels to maximize F&B revenue through mobile ordering, from strategic QR code placement to staff training and data analytics.
By Kate Fuller, Head of Marketing, IRIS
The Restaurant Floor: Life in the Fast Lane
Using road trip metaphors, an F&B professional shares insights on managing restaurant operations, team coordination, and maintaining service flow during busy periods.
By Andrew Hopson, Food and Beverage Leader, Andrew Hopson
Serving the Future: What the 2025 Global Foodservice Outlook Tells Us
The first global foodservice study reveals operators struggle with integration despite progress in innovation, sustainability, and digital tools across 1,207 businesses worldwide.
The Trends Reshaping How We Eat and Drink in 2026
CEO of Concrete Hospitality Group predicts 2026 F&B trends will emphasize bar culture revival, smaller curated menus, Southeast Asian flavors, and theatrical desserts.
Hotel Food and Beverage Thrives on People, Who Are the Best Investment
The article argues hotel F&B success depends on investing in people through career development, ongoing training, and technology that enhances rather than replaces human connection.
By Stephen Wittman, Vice President, Food & Beverage, Remington
A New Analytic for Hotel Restaurant Real Estate: Transitioning Square Footage into Signature Experiences
Hotel food and beverage isn’t simply a service line—it’s the second-largest revenue engine in the building (1) and, increasingly, the brand’s cultural calling card.
By Trip Schneck, Managing Partner, Colicchio Consulting
More Than a Hotel Restaurant: Takeaways from Hilton Anaheim's Culinary Reinvention
When I stepped into my role as Executive Chef at Hilton Anaheim, it coincided with the largest renovation in the hotel’s 40-year history. But this wasn’t just a chance to update dining spaces or reimagine menus; it was a rare opportunity to fundamentally rethink how hotel food and beverage can engage today’s guests, drive revenue, and foster long-term loyalty.
By Prabeen Prathapan, Executive Chef, Hilton
Wine and Health: Debunking the Myths and the Algorithms
This year’s “Vine to Mind” Symposium was hosted at EHL Hospitality Business School. The international event brought together statisticians, neurologists and winemakers to explore a topic that continues to spark debate across cultural and policy circles: wine and health. The discussions revealed a complex interplay between tradition and technology, with special focus on the algorithms that are increasingly shaping our perceptions of what is supposedly ‘good’ for us. This article unpacks the myths surrounding wine and health, and how today’s ambiguous digital narratives are redefining our relationship with wine.
From check-in to checkout: How great operators keep every moment on brand
Hospitality is built on execution. Every detail—from the greeting at check-in to the follow-up after checkout—either reinforces your brand promise or erodes it.
By Melissa Burghardt, CEO, Axonify
Budget season 2026: Why digital F&B ordering is your hotel’s best investment
As hotels prepare their budgets for 2026, leaders are under pressure to maximise returns on every investment. Today’s operators are looking for solutions that don’t just cut costs - they drive measurable revenue, streamline operations, and elevate the guest experience.
By Graham Rushin, Deputy CEO, IRIS
Vine to Mind 2025: Where Data and Wine Form the Perfect Blend
Organized by EHL Hospitality Business School and the Harvard Data Science Initiative, the second iteration of the Vine to Mind conference took place on EHL’s iconic Lausanne campus in June 2025. Discussions centered on the role that data science plays in the wine industry. Drawing participants from over 20 countries, the conference featured presentations rooted in academics, data science and in-the-vineyards insights. The conference put forward a clear and informed message: the evolution of the wine industry now depends as much on advances in data science as on traditional expertise in viticulture, winemaking, and business.
By Andrew Brenner and Philippe Masset
Swiss Beer Inspires Innovation in Traditional Industries
For centuries, industries such as beer, wine and whiskey have been built on foundations of heritage and craftsmanship. Over time, these products have become precious, cultural artifacts, deeply tied to regional identity. The botti used for ageing Barolo wine in Piedmont, the ancient recipes used to produce beer in Germany, or the oak used for aging whiskey all carry symbolic meaning beyond their technical purpose. Entrepreneurs entering these fields quickly learn that innovation often means challenging industry traditions that entire regions have held sacred for generations. The price of novelty can be high: reputational risk, resistance from loyal consumers, even rejection from local communities who see innovation as an attack on authenticity. Inspired by research on the Swiss beer industry, this article proposes strategic ways of weaving centuries of tradition into new interpretations.
By Margarita Cruz, Associate Professor of Corporate Strategy and Entrepreneurship EHL Hospitality Business, EHL
Women in Wine: Careers in the Industry
Wine has long been perceived as a male-dominated world. For centuries, symbolic authority, from inheritance in family domains to the role of the “master winemaker”, has largely been coded as masculine. Women were present, often as vineyard workers or “wine widows” taking over after a husband’s death, but their visibility and recognition were limited. Today, the landscape is changing. In some oenology programs, women now make up the majority of students, and in countries such as Spain and Italy, close to a third of wineries are led or owned by women. Yet this presence is not evenly reflected across positions of leadership and prestige.
By Alicia Gallais, Assistant Professor in Wine Management, EHL
Reimagining the Hotel Minibar: How Bartech’s Automation Technology is Powering a Profitable, Guest-Centric Comeback
For decades, the hotel minibar has stood as a symbol of indulgence and convenience in the hospitality industry. For guests, a cold soda or their favorite late-night snack was always within easy reach. With this in-room convenience, there was no need to get dressed to go to the hotel restaurant, lobby bar or grab-and-go counter, or even make a call to room service to satisfy a craving. Yet in recent years, this once-prized hotel amenity has come under fire. A recent CNBC feature, which has been widely circulated in hospitality circles, labeled the minibar a “dying breed,” portraying it as a relic of hospitality’s past. The reporter makes a case that most minibars are overpriced, underused and expensive to maintain.
By Bruno Agrario, Executive VP of Sales, Bartech International, Bartech Systems International Inc.
How Mobile Ordering transforms multi-generational family holidays
Family holidays are all about making memories, relaxing together, and enjoying quality time - but anyone who’s travelled with a mixed-age group knows it’s not always as simple as it sounds.
By Kate Fuller, Head of Marketing, IRIS
Artificial Intelligence-Driven Personalization in Restaurant Guest Experiences
Artificial intelligence is fundamentally transforming the restaurant industry, with personalization emerging as perhaps one of the most significant developments. Unlike basic personalization that might simply remember a customer’s name or birthday, Artificial intelligence-driven personalization leverages advanced algorithms, machine learning, and large datasets to anticipate needs, personalize offerings, and create seamless experiences uniquely crafted for each individual. As reported by Statista the global food service market, valued at $2.52 trillion in 2021 and projected to reach $4.43 trillion by 2028, is increasingly embracing these technologies. So how will AI-driven personalization in restaurants reshape guest experiences over the next five years? What are the current applications, emerging trends, technological elements, and implications for businesses and consumers?