The bar climbs higher Thirty-five hotels totaling 9,600 rooms in New York City feature a rooftop bar, representing 12 percent of New York City's total hotel room supply. Lifestyle boutique hotels are still the most prevalent properties offering rooftop bars; however, international hotel chains have entered the rooftop bar arena, representing nearly a third of the total number of rooms.
Morgans Hotel Group Co. (NASDAQ: MHGC) ("Morgans" or the "Company"), today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to purchase a 90% controlling interest in The Light Group ("TLG"), a leading lifestyle food and beverage company currently operating numerous venues for MGM Resorts International ("MGM"). This acquisition, while being immediately accretive to the Company's earnings, also provides Morgans with a first class food and beverage platform, a creative and experienced management team, and renowned brand names.
"The Hotel F&B Zone was created to accommodate the sourcing needs of food and beverage executives from across the country who attend the IHMRS annually, offering them a defined, exclusive area in which to shop for products," said Lynn White, show manager. "This includes executives from casinos, hotels, military lodging, and resorts."
The article briefly outlines the challenges that food and beverage outlets in hotel have faced in the past, as well as recent and current trends that are occurring to address these challenges. the common hotel restaurant has undergone significant changes in the past decade as a result of shifting consumer tastes, economic trends, and perceived revenue-generating ability. What was once a basic amenity to satisfy the needs of travellers has begun to shift into a dynamic conceptually based restaurant that adds to the overall guest experience and increases local awareness and brand image...
Several weeks ago, we were invited to Marriott's Bethesda, Maryland headquarters to meet with hotel executives and experience the "belly of the beast," so to speak - the Marriott Test Kitchen, where dishes for the chains' more than 1,000 restaurants are created, tested and perfected. For this experience, we, along with several other food and travel bloggers, offered our opinions on dishes for the chain's new "Eat. Drink. Connect." Bistro concept, which was first unveiled 2007 and is expected to be implemented across all U.S. Courtyard hotels by 2012. At present, more than 338 hotels have the Bistro concept in place.
The transaction will convert CGM's long-term management arrangements to short-term cancellable management agreements for each property. CGM will continue to manage the operations for a transitional period while Morgans reassesses its food and beverage strategy. As part of the agreement, MHG's ownership interest in the Asia de Cuba brand, and all intellectual property connected therewith, will be transferred to CGM. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2011 and is subject to satisfaction of certain closing conditions.
Forget those late-night cheeseburgers ordered from room service. Hotels increasingly are filling menus with low-calorie, low-fat options so you can eat healthy on the road. Among nods to the health-conscious: Hilton will feature low-calorie, low-fat breakfast options at all its hotels by the end of April.
Caesars Palace Las Vegas and Nobu Hospitality announced that they have signed a non-binding letter of intent to develop the world's first Nobu Hotel, an innovative concept that will integrate an exclusive hotel tower with the first Nobu restaurant and lounge on the Las Vegas Strip. The planned development would further the tradition of world-class accommodations and service that is synonymous with the resort's luxury brand. In announcing this tactical relationship, Nobu Hospitality has reinforced its focused growth strategy, expanding through the complete hospitality spectrum.
Don't make the Black Angus steak, unless you plan to rock the Black Angus steak. It's not an ordinary steak, and the Class Act Restaurant would never treat it like one. Only the freshest quality ingredients are allowed in the kitchen of the Corridor's newest and tastiest restaurant.
Last year, Benchmark Hospitality International established the Bob Zappatelli Culinary Arts Scholarship in partnership with The James Beard Foundation, based in New York City. The annual scholarship celebrates the life of the company’s first vice president food & beverage, the late Bob Zappatelli, and serves as a memorial to his unforgettable magnetism and enthusiasm for the advancement of the culinary arts. Benchmark Hospitality is pleased to announce that Taylor Amara of Chatham, Massachusetts, is the first recipient of the Bob Zappatelli Culinary Arts Scholarship.
From the opening words of his online biography, even a casual observer might detect the subtle wit and la dolce vita approach to life inherent in Paolo Monti. The veteran chef/educator/promoter/entrepreneur has endeared himself to thousands of visitors frequenting his "Cucina Italiana" cooking school in Lucca, Italy. For nearly a decade, Chef Paolo has also exported his authentic, understated style to students, faculty and friends of Kirkwood Community College in Iowa. By turns host and guest, Monti has infused his learned and lived culinary wisdom to hundreds from the Hawkeye State.
Contrary to the fears of many restaurateurs, the comments on electronic restaurant review sites tend to be fair and reasonable, according to a hospitality study published in the November 2010 issue of the Cornell Hospitality Quarterly (CQ). The featured article, "Electronic Meal Experience: A Content Analysis of Online Restaurant Comments," by Ioannis S. Pantelidis, can be viewed online.
A ROOM WITH A (CULINARY) VIEW: New Kirkwood teaching hotel features an innovative space for learning, demonstrations and wide potential connections. Tucked into the back of a pioneering educational facility is a classroom that can stop a tour group in its tracks, a place designed to be at once functional, flexible and impressive. By the late summer of 2010, the room will be tested for all those attributes and more.
– Grand Hyatt New York is changing the face of hotel room service and dining with the launch of Market, its new instant-gratification food and beverage venue slated to open on Monday, April 5. Situated in the New York City luxury hotel’s lobby, Market will bring the best of New York’s tastes and treats to the Grand Central neighborhood including Roasting Plant, Tisserie, Chickalicious and Macaroon Café NYC.
Restaurant entrepreneur Sheila Laderberg will be the featured speaker in the Conversations with Entrepreneurs series to be presented next Tuesday, February 23, by the Leland C. and Mary M. Pillsbury Institute for Hospitality Entrepreneurship at Cornell University. Laderberg will present from 4:15 to 5:30 p.m. in 198 Statler Hall. She will dine with selected students after the event and meet with students, staff, and faculty the following day.
Shopping mall operators must take into account consumers' food-service preferences as malls are redeveloped in the current economic landscape. A new study from the Cornell Center for Hospitality Research connects customer demographics to consumers' preferences for the arrangement and types of food outlets at shopping malls.
SO exclusive is this restaurant on an industrial stretch of Queens Boulevard in Long Island City that it isn’t open to the public and it doesn’t even have a name. But: linens? Check. Floral centerpieces? Check. Sleek gold-ish décor? Check. Daily printed menu? Why certainly: a recent luncheon offered white bean soup with Parmesan crisps and grilled salmon with ratatouille sauced in Provençale herb emulsion. This restaurant’s existence goes to the heart of an issue that could dominate New York’s first major restaurant labor donnybrook in years: the capability of the staff at Tavern on the Green, members of New York Hotel Trades Council.
Hilton Worldwide’s focused-service Hilton Garden Inn and Homewood Suites brands have redone their menus recently to better serve guests while also saving on costs. aAccording to Mark Nogal, Hilton Garden Inn vice president of brand performance and sales support, “We have engineered three different menu options for our hotel operations, meaning that we have worked with the main food purveyors to look at products that are regularly stocked with a long shelf-life to create meals that are nutritious as well as cost effective for hotels to offer.”
The American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute (EI) has revised its Certified Food & Beverage Executive (CFBE) professional certification program to better reflect current food and beverage trends and standards. EI added new content areas and competencies to all six CFBE knowledge domains based on input from more than 60 industry subject matter experts and the EI Certification Commission. The domain areas covered in the program are: managing food operations, managing beverage operations, marketing and sales management, financial management, leadership, and human resources management.
To promote community supported agriculture and the best practices of the slow food movement, the Central New York chapter of the Cornell Hotel Society and alumni from the Culinary Institute of America will gather for "Reap the Harvest: Celebrating the Slow Food Movement." The event, which will be held September 26 and 27 at the Beaver Hollow Conference Center in Java Center, New York, is hosted by Kathy Snyder Egan Hotel '83, CIA '85, executive vice president of sales at Beaver Hollow Conference Center and CSA owner and operator.