The Nation’s Restaurant News Menu Trends & Directions conference for restaurateurs and foodservice manufacturers will feature menu trends expert, Nancy Kruse for the annual “State of the Plate” address. Kruse is slated to “serve up a full plate of menu trend data, insights on breakout foods and flavors, innovative use of ingredients and ethnicity and day part strategies that are guaranteed to influence your future menu plans.”

The conference, which will be in Grapevine, Texas, on September 27 and 28 at the Gaylord Texan, is described as a “menu-focused, research-driven event and a must-attend for chefs, menu development and marketing executives in all industry segments, including culinary, food and beverage professionals, as well as purchasing, quality assurance and brand development executives.”

Click through via the same http://nrn.com/event/menutrends link for other industry insights, including nutrition, restaurant business info, and much more.

I came across a good piece from Restaurant News Resource with some assessment and marketing tips for restaurants having some difficulties–okay, I used a bit of a euphemism there as the article is actually entitled “How to Save a Failing Restaurant.”

I’m putting this out there as I think that a number of the ideas, such as really assessing your clientele’s issues or concerns, e.g., having only 30 minutes for lunch, can spark some new ideas for you in almost any industry sector to help you refresh your service offerings or the way you deliver your product or service. You can read more by clicking through on the link!

The legendary Ruth Reichl recently wrote a great post entitled “The Meaning of Ludo’s” in which she talks about her experience with the sought-after LudoBites, which transcends the typical excitement associated with a new dining opportunity as it has no fixed location. As the theater and romance of restaurants has always intrigued me and working with clients in the foodservice industry has long been a love of mine, this entirely different perspective on what makes a restaurant a “go-to” has a new level of intrigue.

The success of LudoBites shows that it is often not just about the decor, the setting, the food, table linens, service–as this restaurant picks new locations and on the night Reichl visited it was inhabiting what she described as “a little sandwich shop in a grungy part of town – it is the ultimate statement about the supremacy of food over ambiance.” Read more here:

Thursday, 4/15, is the last day to secure an early-bird, half-off rate seat at the online Social Media Success Summit 2010 (which includes the legendary Guy Kawasaki as the keynote presenter!). See http://bit.ly/bFrZ9w The event organizers have now added an additional $797 worth of giveaways for those who register by Thursday in addition to the 50% discount. These include high-value videos courses, e-books, and classes that the summit presenters actually sell in their own successful businesses. You can also get a free gift entitled “How to Grow and Engage an Audience on Twitter” (valued at $42) just for checking out the summit.

More than 1,100 of your peers have already signed up, including GE, Intel, Staples, Electronic Arts, Lowes, Eastman Kodak, NCR, Harvard Business School, Thomson Reuters, Liberty Mutual, American Express, and hundreds of smaller businesses.

I signed up for this as soon as I found out about it, and the two free introductory Webinars some of the same experts presented were extraordinary. As I already participated in one of founder Michael Stelzner’s other online summits and found that it far, far exceeded expectations, I’m genuinely thrilled about this one! This summit is ideal for creatives and client-side participants who want (or need!) to learn more from the world’s top experts about social media for now and in the future—and the cool thing is that if you can’t log in to participate for any of the sessions, the content will be available to you online.
Here are some of the topics the summit sessions will cover:

* Effective ways to market your company with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, social bookmarking sites, mobile marketing, and more
* How to track and measure the return on investment for social media programs
* A step-by-step method for creating a smart social media marketing plan
* How to build a loyal social media following
* How to bring more customers into your local business with social media techniques

Go here to see all the sessions http://bit.ly/bFrZ9w

At last year’s summit, 97 percent of attendees said they’d recommend the event to a friend AND attend again! That’s quite an endorsement.

Registrants are also eligible to start participating right away in the special LinkedIn group to start sharing ideas right away. Here’s more info: Social Media Success Summit 2010 http://bit.ly/bFrZ9w is the web’s largest online social media conference. Twenty-four social media gurus will reveal the secrets of their success at Social Media Success Summit 2010. The all-star lineup of presenters includes bestselling authors Guy Kawasaki (Art of the Start), Chris Brogan (Social Media 101), Darren Rowse (ProBlogger), Mari Smith (Facebook Marketing), Greg Jarboe (YouTube and Video Marketing), Kim Dushinski (Mobile Marketing Handbook) and Lewis Howes (LinkedWorking: Generating Success on LinkedIn). You’ll also hear from social media pros at companies such as Home Depot, Best Buy, Whole Foods, Domino’s Pizza, Edelman PR, Foursquare, and Groupon. They’ll tell how they use social media tactics to help THEIR organizations beat the competition.

Check the bios on these folks here: http://bit.ly/bFrZ9w

Reading from @time In Praise of the Endangered Restaurant Critic as Wall Street Journal Loses a Restaurant Reviewer (and why foodies should care).

Read more at http://bit.ly/cubza4

Just a quick post to reaffirm that it’s not just grammar “geeks” who notice typos in the world around them, and restaurant menus are often scrutinized more closely than other written pieces as they are intended to appeal and conjure up a reaction compelling enough to make a diner order a dish or two. I came across a blog post from Jonathan Kauffman on the San Francisco Weekly site at http://bit.ly/aC5fpL about the etiquette of letting a restaurant know there are errors on the menu–and it was gratifying to see that a number of people responded as it had bothered them, as well.

There have been other related posts on menu typos that were comical, but this piece addresses situations when the patron was actually uncomfortable and felt it was something the restaurant would want to know as the menu had definitely not be properly proofread before it was printed. Most respondents were trying to find the best way to minimize any embarrassment for the restaurant.

A show that promises to be great for foodies and restaurateurs with a focus on local food and food rivalries premieres tonight, March 9, on the Travel Channel: Food Wars @food_wars on Twitter. This may be ideal for local restaurateurs to create a fun, healthy sense of competition in their markets in their areas of specialty! http://www.travelchannel.com/TV_Shows/Food_Wars

It’s described as follows: “There’s a debate brewing across the
country, and it’s taking place in Everytown, USA, with legions of loyal
fans passionately defending… the local eateries and the iconic dishes
that make their towns famous. From Detroit’s hot dog war — Lafayette’s
vs. American Coney Island’s — to one of the most famous battles in the
country — the Philly cheesesteak war between Pat’s and Geno’s — it’s
time to end these rivalries once and for all as Travel Channel presents
Food Wars.

Host Camille Ford, travel enthusiast and lover of all things food, sets
out to find the country’s most celebrated dishes — foods that define
destinations and create local rivalries spanning generations. From
family feuds to stolen recipes to secret ingredients, Food Wars pits
the nation’s most famous culinary rivals against one another for a
final showdown, where a blind taste test will settle the debate: Who
makes the Best Dish in Town?”