Archive for the ‘Foodservice’ Category

Check out Trip Advisor’s Top Destinations for 2010, including the best beach and sun destinations, best emerging destinations, and many others–including our favorite picks: the best destinations for food and wine in the world!

There may be some inspiration there not just for travelers but also restaurateurs. BTW, the photo of South Africa’s Western Cape is amazing!

http://www.tripadvisor.com/TCDestinations-cFoodWine-g1

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?”