Culinary Institute creates industry leadership division

Posted by A4R_jesse in Management

New branch will ‘demonstrate how CIA teaching, research add value to industry’

The Culinary Institute of America has created a new organization to spearhead its initiatives on topics not directly related to food instruction.

The Industry Leadership and Advancement Division, jointly led by Victor Gielisse at the Hyde Park, N.Y., campus and Greg Drescher at the Greystone campus in St. Helena, Calif., will oversee corporate and alumni relations, strategic partnerships, conferences, new media and consulting services, and also coordinate the culinary school’s initiatives in health and wellness, sustainability, culture, professional excellence and innovation.

Restaurants favor caramel in fall desserts

Posted by A4R_jesse in Food

Caramel is proving to be popular this fall, with numerous chains adding menu items featuring the cooked sugar, and independent restaurants responding to the colder weather with sticky, chewy desserts.

Social media strategies for success

Posted by A4R_jesse in Marketing & Trends

An NRN webinar tackles brand engagement and mobile marketing for restaurants

Social media has grown into an increasingly important tool for restaurants, experts said Wednesday during a Nation’s Restaurant News webinar, making the strategies behind those efforts a key driver of brand success.

The webinar, “The State of Social Media: Where It All Clicks for Restaurant Operators,” included panelists Paul Barron, founder of DigitalCoCo; Tonia Ries, founder of Modern Media; B.J. Emerson, vice president of technology at Tasti D-Lite; and Andrew Bates of EyeTraffic Media. The panel was moderated by Sarah Lockyer, director of digital content for the Penton Restaurant Group, which publishes Nation’s Restaurant News and sister publications Restaurant Hospitality and Food Management. EyeTraffic is also a division of Penton Media.

A Thing Done Well – Magic?

Posted by paul.letendre in A4R News

A thing done well

John Updike, when referring to baseball great Ted Williams,  once wrote: “Williams is the classic ballplayer of the game on a hot August weekday, before a small crowd, when the only thing at stake is the tissue-thin difference between a thing done well and a thing done ill. Baseball is a game of the long season, of relentless and gradual averaging-out.”

I think that the same could be said of restaurant greats.  The restaurant business is one of a relentlessly long, often unending season.  The difference between being pretty good and being great usually happens on those slow Tuesday nites when the covers are few and there is a “tissue-thin difference between a thing done well and a thing done ill.”

Consumer Picks: What guests really think

Posted by A4R_jesse in Restaurants

In an uncertain economic climate and an ever-changing industry, the customer experience has never been as important to restaurants as it is today.

To better understand the elements that diners value in their dining experiences, Nation’s Restaurant News and WD Partners of Dublin, Ohio, developed the Consumer Picks survey, a comprehensive study of customer attitudes toward 139 restaurant brands in different segments. The results, which were culled from 6,800 responses, are presented exclusively in our Sept. 5th issue of Nation’s Restaurant News, with much of the information available at the Consumer Picks page on NRN.com.

Restaurants and a possible double dip

Posted by A4R_jesse in Marketing & Trends

Analyst: Consumers hold the cards when it comes to restaurant industry’s fate

Whether the restaurant industry finds itself a victim of any double-dip recession rests mainly on consumer sentiment and spending, according to a Tuesday research note by restaurant securities analyst Larry Miller of RBC Capital Markets.

Those consumer trends, according to RBC’s latest data, are not trending in a positive direction.

“It is possible that we are headed for a double-dip recession,” Miller wrote, “and for better or worse, the tipping point looks to be the U.S. consumer.”

Legal tips for a digital world

Posted by A4R_jesse in Marketing & Trends

Seven sure steps for restaurants to avoid the legal risks of digital marketing

Digital-marketing tools make it easier than ever for restaurants to reach their customers, but these technologies also bring new risks for violating trade and advertising laws, according to Seattle-based law firm Davis Wright Tremaine LLC, whose restaurant practice includes Starbucks Coffee, California Pizza Kitchen and Carlson Restaurants.