Final Blog Posting Contemp Issue

The experience is this class has been a very interesting one. The encompassing of blogs into the course instead of essays was in interesting change of pace for me. It opened my eyes to the digital newspaper and opinions of people all over the country. Topics from food trucks, to social media, to fusion food techniques and even the food trends of the coming year. All things put aside I was glad to take this course now and not when it was all essays. Instead of dreading the class it actually made it rather interesting.
In the future I will use blogging and possibly even this site in order to further my knowledge of the food service industry. I can only hope the ever growing popularity of social media, my topic of choice, will grow and allow others to follow their favorite whatever. In conclusion I am interested in following numerous blogs on the Internet but if to chose one it would most likely be: http://www.italianfoodforever.com/. This blog breaks down a lot of Italian dishes to there bare state and then brings it back up again, it is a very interesting blog to get involved. I highly recommend it.

Importance of Blogging

Blogging is a new, but useful tool in any industry. Being in the food and beverage industry is it crucial to be on top of your game and always learning and coming up with new ideas and trends. Blogging helps industry persons to just that, but in a new and different way other than just reading articles. The invention and idea of blogging allows people from all over the country and world to talk about topics and view their opinions and ideas. This is great because you can have the insight and help from others, not just cold hard facts and one opinion from an article. I also think that blogging is a great new trend because it is always changing. Everyday there is a new comment or topic to read or write about. Keeping things fresh and new is very important in our industry and especially these economic times. I have enjoyed blogging with my classmates and will use this social tool to help me as I become an industry professional.

http://landis.foodtrends.com/

blog conclusion

Food and Beverage Blog

I was worried about blogging assignment in this class. I don't like reading. So every time read a article and write down my opinion was my biggest problem. Also, finding a article was not easy for me. Blog posting assignment due coming was very stressful to me.

However, I learned how important it is to keep interest the food and beverage industry. Because, now I learned what is difference between fad and trend. Thes two is very important in food and beverage industry and I can get information from article. Shared to each group member's opinion was made me thought other side view. Blogging has made me interest about look up article and how much important to me.

Final Blog

http://www.blogtoplist.com/rss/food-and-beverage.html

Throughout this trimester I must say blogging was the one assignment that I dreaded. Reading is my least favorite thing to do, however through blogging, it has grown on me when it comes to articles regarding the industry. I have learned how important it is to keep up with the industry through articles, other blogs, and even magazines because you never know when the new fad or trend will hit. The hospitality industry is one that is constantly changing and we as providers must be able to be ahead of those changes in order to satisfy our guests.



Some things I enjoyed while blogging was getting everyone's outlook on the same article. It is one thing to read an article and have your own views, but to be able to share everyones opinion either really opens your eyes to a view you did not have before or agree to disagree. Some things I honestly did not like was having a weekly deadline. Although I do understand we are in a class, I think it would have been better to just have five blog postings in by a certain date.

In conclusion, I feel blogging has opened my eyes to alot of things I would have never took the time to read or undertstand before this class. I think I can use blogging when it comes to my future career due to the fact that my indutry is always changing and there are always new trends and fads. I feel blogging can help me either keep up with them or forsee what is to come to be ahead of those things to better satisy my customers and employees.

Epicurious Predicts Top 10 Food Trends //www.epicurious.com/articlesguides/blogs/editor/2009/11/epicurious-predicts-top-ten-food-trends-for-2010.html

When I began to read this article it brought me back to the conversation in class yesterday. They put things that will be coming into the light this year and place the trends of last year to the back burner. Though they are still popular they see them dying out later on this year. It interested me because they did not only talk about food, and health trends, but they also included jobs, drinks and cities. I must say this article really spoke of many subjects that we have covered in class or presentations in class so it was more so a refresher when it came to foods, health trends, and drinks. As far as the jobs and cities that was new to me and the explanations seem valid.

Hard cider makes a comeback

http://www.nrn.com/landingPage.aspx?coll_id=654&menu_id=1384

The article I felt had a great relevancy to the discussion we had in class today about the whole beverage trends. Hard Cider is starting to make a comeback in the states. In fact two weeks ago I visited a local bar and they had a hard cider as a special for the night. It was nice and mellow tasting, yet still had that nice mouth feel of apples and some spices. A chef in the article mentions that hard apple cider went from "nonexistent" to "finally on the radar", which is a good thing because a good hard cider is nearly as good as nice beer.

They compliment food very well and should not be passed up for just another sh!tty beer. In addition hard cider is a great alternative to beer or wine, having all the flavor with a lighter alcohol content. Newport, Rhode Island is home to the Newport Vineyards which makes an astonishing hard apple cider called Rhody Coyote, which is reasonably priced at just under $10 a bottle. I can only hope that restaurants will pick up on the trend adding hard apple, raspberry, or pear cider to their menus.

Restaurant trends for 2010

www.mayoclinic.com/health/restaurant-trends/MY01169

“Restaurants and Institutions” magazine came up with 20 new trends they predict to come forth in this year. One of the first predictions they made which I found intriguing was that chefs are starting to provide cheaper cuts of meat. I can see how this will be affective because of the economy right now, but I also wouldn’t expect all restaurants to lower their standards in a way like that.
Another prediction they have made for this coming year, is about midday dining. They see the brown baggers dwindling and returning to the restaurant scene for lunch breaks. This change has occurred and will keep occurring because more and more restaurants are offering “express lunches” for business people. These meals are items like sandwiches and sliders with sides of chips and cookies and a drink, all for a flat rate.
The last trend that is new and incoming that I found to be very interesting is the fact that many chefs are finding more and more items to deep fry. With many people on health kicks you wouldn’t think that deep fried items would be a large hit. Unknown to popular belief chefs are deep frying items like chicken and apple pies to even pickles.

Einstein Bros. gives away bagels on Facebook

Einstein Bros. gives away bagels on Facebook

This article the two and a half days since it began a bagel giveaway on Facebook.com.

And this is increased that social networking website by nearly 70 fold.

Use popular social media website is make increased revenue.

And if you have small business, it is good for advertisements.

When consumers come into restaurant they will become key customers for life.

Social media is a fantastic way for each company to build relationships with their core audience in the fun, playful tone of their brand personality by allowing us to have a two-way conversation with them.

Social media website are “a good match” with those of the chain’s users.

The social media world and with the way this marketing environment works.

Restaurants sue POS firms over data theft, http://www.nrn.com/article.aspx?id=376668#

As I read this article all I could think back to was our discussion in class the other day when Professor Ross stated that 70% of identity theft happens during checkouts and restaurants. In this article several restaurants in Louisiana are suing their POS provider and makers for hackers being able to steal customers information. I find this to be interesting in many aspects one being that how do they know if it was hackers and not their own staff handling the cards. Also, if it is hackers why hasn't the software been updated to the point where its more difficult to hack into the software. This situation seems to have cost restaurants a lot of money due to them having to incur expenses for audit fees, charge backs, and fines. If this is happening in then restaurants I tend to wonder how supervised are the servers in the establishments. How safe is it to eat out anymore when not paying cash?

Restaurants sue POS firms over data theft

Social Media’s Top Restaurant Players

http://www.nrn.com/breakingnews.aspx?id=369526#

Social media is a trend that has started and sky rocketed in the foodservice industry. Many people are surprised to see that social media is doing so well for large restaurant chains down to small family owned restaurants. The marketing company Vitrue says, “that it’s all about the relationship with your guest.” By using social media sites such as Facebook, Myspace and Twitter, restaurants are bonding with their customers on a new and different level, but this is because they are keeping up with technology and the times of individuals today.
The top three restaurants who are benefited the most from social media is Starbucks as number one, Subway coming in at two and McDonalds coming in third. All of the large chain restaurants have grasped onto the kick of social media and run with it. Social media has shown results compared to quick service restaurants as instant gratification. This is a reason why it is so popular and hot trend at the moment.
Not only are restaurants using these sites to advertise their products and specials, but they are also including an interactive sense to the marketing pitch, an example of this was done by a smaller burger chain called Krystal. They had an advertisement called “The Krystal Giveaway Show”, this show was, “a live broadcast online, where the restaurant’s fans could answer trivia questions in real time by posting responses on Twitter and Facebook.” This is great because it gets the customer involved and it encourages people to come and check out the actual restaurant.
It is crazy to see how much of an effect this trend has had on the foodservice industry. When these sites were created many people felt they were a waste of time and not useful. Now though, marketers are proven those people wrong and made something out of nothing, to be in their favor. I also think it is awesome how people can even begin to think of these ideas of using social media as a marketing tool.

Boston Pizza Partners with Mobile Ordering Provider - Restaurant News - QSR Magazine

Boston Pizza Partners with Mobile Ordering Provider - Restaurant News - QSR Magazine

Boston Pizza International is a casual restaurant chain with close to 400 stores throughout the United States and Canada. They were looking for a new outlet for customers to order food, which is smart for any business in todays world. Having the upper hand over competing customers is essential for business success.

The company partnered with ONOSYS, a provider of both online and mobile ordering technologies for restaurants. The company sets up a page for a restaurant with graphics and a logical order flow making it easy for any person to order food. This will increase any restaurants off-premise sales, because it is giving the customer a whole other experience with the restaurant.

ONOSYS partnership with Boston Pizza is the company's first one with a casual-dining organization. Other restaurants would be wise to get with the company in order to produce more revenue. I feel as though the this technology has been out there for a while it is just that people were hesitant to use because it is not in the norm. I do know that when I open up my own business later in life I will be using ONOSYS or a similar company to ensure the success of my establishment.

8 ways to build full-service sales

http://www.nrn.com/article.aspx?id=378598

This article  are eight ways full-service restaurants can build their business in a flat segment of the industry.

The first, offer value. Frequent-dining or loyalty programs are likely to be more popular. The second, use social media. now most people use social site such as Facebook and use of social sites are expected to increase this year. The third, market via e-mail. Forty one percent of customers say they try a new restaurant because of e-mailed promotions, and fifty four percent learn about restaurants on the internet.  The forth on is create events. Restaurants can offer private tastings or events. The fifth is boost off-premise offerings. Nearly three in every 10 adults  take-out food is essential to the way they live, so to-go and catering has sales-growth potential. The sixth is market green initiatives. About four in 10 consumers said they were likely to pick a restaurant based on its conservation practices, and about seven in 10 were more likely to choose a restaurant if it featured locally produced ingredients. The seventh is tap technology. Online ordering offers room for growth and less than 2 percent of full-service restaurants provide a tableside ordering or payment option. The last one is emphasize health. Half of adults surveyed said table-service restaurants provide easy ways for them to choose portion sizes.

I think during recessionary periods is that the higher-income households. This eight ways that table-service operators can weigh the odds of recovery in their favor and build much-needed sales and helpful.

Three Golden Rules to Going Green in 2010

Three Golden Rules to Going Green in 2010: "Three Golden Rules to Going Green in 2010"


The article touches base on three particular things that businesses should keep in mind in order to potentially go green. Its goal is to help companies, especially restaurants, save money and lower its environmental impact, which is one of the most sought after goals of the new year.

It talks about companies stepping back and taking a look from outside. Each company if it hopes to lower paper and product waster, should do so in order to be successful. Paper and product waste should always be at the top of every companies list to reduce for the savings would be vast. Next is that all employees should be involved in the environmental impact of the company. Meetings that involve employees from all over the organization will also do great for ideas, because one never knows who is going to think of that next big idea.

The last rule is to get involved with your suppliers. Staying in close contact will allow an organization to better assess its products and services for the customers. Better Eco-friendly equipment is an easy way to lower the carbon footprint of a restaurant to as simple as not using water to wastefully.

All three rules are important and if all done efficiently any company will be able to lower its carbon footprint and save an ample amount of money for itself; and is not that every organization's goal?

Diet shocker: Food calorie counts are often off

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34751054/ns/health-diet_and_nutrition/

The accuracy of nutritional information including calorie count published for restaurants is an extremely important matter. In my opinion, I feel that nutritional values should be as accurate and clear as the labels disclosing peanuts and soy in products. People need to be able to trust producers and should feel comfortable knowing that nutrition labels are accurate and not misleading.

People who are genuinely interested in eating healthy and controlling weight do not eat restaurant or processed food that much, if at all. It is generally understood that restaurant food, especially the fried fast food type as well as most processed foods are unhealthy in the first place. However, should this statement give producers the leniency to mislead the consumer?

The study by Susan Roberts discovered that calorie counts were an average of 18 percent more than the values disclosed. This is a significant difference for someone who may be trying to account for their caloric intake. Using the posted nutrition charts and reading labels give people a sense of being in control. These labels should be scrutinized by the government to ensure that they are in fact accurate. Although I realize that they will not be exact, they should be within 3-5 percent of what is published.

I also wonder that if people who show that they have been attempting to diet using these products could sue if they had health related problems. It seems reasonable that if they are being falsely informed about a product nutritional content, that they should be able to get some relief from the purveyors of that product.

6 Ways to Use Twitter to Market Your Small Businesshttp://www.newmediamavensblog.com/2009/07/6-ways-to-use-twitter-to-market-your-small-business.html

In this article they speak about how smaller business are using social media way more then large businesses and they give them six tips on how to be successful in utilizing Twitter. I tend to wonder how harmful this will be to larger businesses in the future due to the fact that smaller businesses are making a greater personal connection with their customers than the larger businesses.

Although large companies already have their loyalty base of customers; communicating their daily specials and discounts personally via Twitter means a lot to a customer instead of having to search through the paper for a coupon. It is no surprise that social media is rapidly growing and helping small businesses create the customer base they need to be successful, but is it a threat to the larger businesses? I tend to wonder if people are going to begin going to the local cafe because of the personal connections they create and leave larger businesses like Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts to dry.

7 Keys For Your Restaurant's 2010 Social Media Strategy

http://www.runningrestaurants.com/articles/restaurant-social-media-strategy-2010

This article really breaks down the process of getting social media on the map for someones restaurant. I feel that although some restaurants and fast food locations have begun to do these seven steps it could be a way better approach to also look into what they are not doing within their company as far as social media goes and improve. Once the fan base or customer base is there it can only get better. Some restaurants give out toll free numbers to complete surveys for a chance to receive a discount on your next meal. With the times changing I think if they put their Facebook instead guest would be more prone to take the survey. They would be getting the feed back they Need and build customer loyalty as well in the process.

SNA Releases 2010 Legislative Issues Paper

http://www.schoolnutrition.org/Blog.aspx?id=13463&blogid=622


I thought the article was short and to the point. It did not waste the readers time, which is always plus. The School Nutrition Association is a company that I had no idea existed. It helps meals provided by schools to become more nutritional and healthy for the children eating them. I took notice to nutrition in schools when I graduated high school when practically all junk food and soda vending machines were removed.

This topic is not something to take lightly. The well being of our children is most important, they are truly the future of the country. My generation was filled with healthy and unhealthy young adults, I myself for a good portion was one them. The next wave of kids have the chance to start and continue to be healthy. This would help bring down the rate of strokes, heart attacks, and diabetes simply by establishing a healthy eating regimend for them.

Most times the reason children break the habit of eating healthy is because they are given a much larger out pour of options at school to sink their teeth into. By limiting the choices you are guiding the children down a path to serenity and not obesity. I can onyl hope that the money given by the government will be put to use in a good way to make this program be a success.

Restaurants Adjusting to the Digital Age

http://www.masslive.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2010/01/restaurants_adjusting_to_the_d.html

Social media is one of the newest and hottest trends in the restaurant/food service industry. Although the invention of the internet is an amazing thing, it can also be harmful. With millions having access to view and create their own sites and send out information, false information is sometimes circulated. This article briefly states how social media has really begun to help restaurants come out of this economic slump, but it also states how social media is not always a positive thing.

I feel that social media tactics with advertising and promoting restaurants, or any company for that matter, has its ups and downs. The problem with social media is that many people have access to it, which is great for exposure, but people also have ways of spouting their own opinions about the restaurant. If a site is not monitored constantly this can be a huge issue for companies.

For example, in this article it says there was a case where disgruntled employees from Dominos Pizza used social media to, “Trash a restaurant's reputation. The damage from one YouTube prank video can, as Domino's Pizza discovered, be immediate and widespread.” When seeing examples of events like this harming the reputation of a restaurant, one wonders if the exposure of social media is even worth the aggravation and frustration of trying to keep everyone honest.

As stated in the article, “Successful use of social media is a high maintenance proposition; stale, out-of-date information is toxic in the Internet world. This is an excellent and truthful statement. Anything that is put out into the internet can be read and seen by all with a reputation on the line one false move and everyone knows." This is why I agree with this article. I believe social media is not always the great and wonderful thing many make it seem. There are negative sides to social media when the information being put forward is not monitored and watched closely.

Forrester Research analyst on social media

Forrester Research analyst on social media

This aritcle social media technologies will create a new societal and business paradigm despite concerns in the executive suite over corporate intellectual property and employee productivity.
While marketing and branding executives have eagerly embraced the use of social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, the current tide of opinion among many c-level decision makers, including chief information officers, is that of skeptical awareness.