-
Specialty sodas are disrupting the beverage market
Bambi Majumdar Food & BeverageConsumer habits are changing. We are more health-conscious than we have ever been before. Clean eating, ethics-driven diets, and healthier beverages are replacing our meal choices of yesteryear. The beverage industry is undergoing some significant shifts, and those changes offer an interesting picture of future meals to come. One such exciting feature is the advent of specialty sodas. They came in quietly but are growing fast, so much so that experts are calling them the next big disruptors in the field.
-
Trace pharmaceuticals seen in water, food supply across the country
Dr. Denise A. Valenti PharmaceuticalDrugs of all kinds are in the foods you might eat and the water you drink. Most recently, even private well systems were found to have traces of pharmaceutical products in the water. A 2015 study that assessed rivers near urban areas in the United States for the presence of active pharmaceutical ingredients found 20 percent of the 182 sites sampled had at least 10 of the 46 compounds sampled. The widespread use of opioids has also impacted the water supply, and this has impacted the food we consume. Mussels harvested from the Puget Sound in Washington state have tested positive for trace amounts of oxycodone.
-
McDonald’s flagship: An example of newly renovated space
Linchi Kwok Travel, Hospitality & Event ManagementThe advance of technology has transformed the way restaurants and hotels operate their businesses. When almost everything, from reservations, productions, and service delivery, to the collection of payments, can be performed by machines, restaurants and hotels must also reconsider how they may better utilize the space for smooth operations. McDonald’s, for example, recently revealed a flagship store that looks like an Apple Store in Chicago, roughly two months after the company opened a brand-new, $250 million headquarters in an up-and-coming Windy City neighborhood known for its trendy restaurants.
-
Researchers: Food systems must be overhauled, but obstacles are many
Scott E. Rupp Food & BeverageAgriculture and food policies must be more than just the supply of food, and decision-makers in the industry must "make a paradigm shift to align policies about climate, agriculture and food with the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development." So says a group of international researchers who have penned a new review article in the journal Agronomy for Sustainable Development, the official journal of the French Institut national de la recherche agronomique (INRA).
-
Peppers, potatoes, pineapples: How the ‘real discoveries’ of…
Dave G. Houser Food & BeverageAlthough Christopher Columbus is credited with "discovering" the New World amid a search for riches, that wasn’t really the case. What his journeys did yield was a treasure trove of an entirely different kind — a find that probably didn’t seem of great value at the time — New World foods. Arriving in the Bahamas in 1492, Columbus and his crew encountered the Arawak, a thriving and peaceful indigenous people who drew sustenance from an array of colorful native crops that were completely new to the Spaniards.
-
Restaurants create social buzz, opportunity for hotel marketers
Bambi Majumdar Travel, Hospitality & Event ManagementThe recent 2018 Global Digital Report from We Are Social and Hootsuite revealed that a million new social media users are "born" every day. This is an incredible opportunity for hotel marketers. The 2018 CMO Survey showed that companies are spending 12 percent of their marketing budgets on social media. This percentage will accelerate in the coming years. Before they allocate budgets, it is essential that hotel marketers understand what kind of social posts work for them. A generic plan will not work.
-
Fast food trends shift as consumers seek healthy offerings
Bambi Majumdar Food & BeverageA Deloitte survey showed that over 75 percent of Americans self-reported having healthy eating habits. Eighty-three percent say traditional fast food is unhealthy. The history of American fast food is fascinating. It was a boon for double-income households when time to cook became sparse. But fast food chains have also been epitomized as the unhealthy food for decades. Now, American consumers want healthy fast food. No, it's not an oxymoron. It's happening.
-
The Ten Commandments for customers
Anne Rose RetailMuch ado is made about delivering excellent customer service. You take care of your customers, give them the products and services they desire, go out of your way to treat them respectfully, and diligently work hard to earn their business and loyalty. But do customers have a reciprocal obligation to earn your respect — and service — by treating you equally well? I think there are mutual obligations in the business-customer relationship. Here are my Ten Commandments for customers.
-
How Anthony Bourdain changed both food and travel
Bambi Majumdar Food & BeverageThe news about Anthony Bourdain's suicide on June 8 shook the world. His work reached across the food, travel and media industries but it touched millions. From the streets of Bangkok to diners in cowboy country, he explored the food that locals loved and devoured. He taught us to celebrate the differences in culture and appreciate the exotic. He also gave us a glimpse of the restaurant world, which is as harsh as it is creative.
-
Tech advances, new ideas vital to feeding the world’s fast-growing…
Dave G. Houser Food & BeverageIn 1798, English cleric and scholar Thomas Robert Malthus published a study concluding that the world’s population would grow faster than the supply of food. Over the centuries, the Malthusian theory failed to pan out. While pockets of famine have existed off and on in some regions of Africa and Asia, the world as a whole hasn’t outgrown its ability to feed itself. Fast-forward to 2018 and we are hearing murmurs from a number of economists and agronomists warning of a potential shortfall in the world food supply — the Malthusian-connected cause behind it being rampant population growth.
All Food & Beverage Articles