Archive for the ‘Restaurant Industry’ Category

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:

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