11 Temmuz 2012 Çarşamba
10 Temmuz 2012 Salı
The food price, value, service equilibrium is ready-2-eat and heat-N-eat food.
9 Temmuz 2012 Pazartesi
Skinny Cow New Slimited Edition Flavors & Ice Cream Social
Skinny Cow held a fun ice cream social in this hot weather for bloggers and friends with snacks, drinks, goodies, raffle and of course, yummy Skinny Cow ice cream! They had their Slimited Editions ice cream flavors to sample which I promptly dug in to try their new Shake-Stirs.
The Shake-Stirs were pretty awesome and easy to eat. All I had to do was add some skim milk, wait a minute to let it seep in then stir together to get this delicious thick creamy frozen shake.
I tried the Double Chocolate Crumble because really, how can you say no to all that chocolate? It has low fat chocolate ice cream with crumbled chocolate cookie bits. Best part? Only 230 calories, 2.5 grams of fat and 6 grams of fiber (using skim milk)!
They also have the Shake-Stir in White Mint Cookie that includes mint low fat ice cream swirled with crushed chocolate cookies. That one is only 220 calories, 2.5 grams of fat and 5 grams of fiber (using skim milk). The sad part is that these Shake-Stirs are only available for this year so go and get 'em while you can!
Some of their other Slimited Edition products my friends and I tried were twists on old favorites with new flavors including:
Oh Fudge Nuts! Low Fat Ice Cream Cone: a spin off the classic ice cream sundae. 150 calories, 3 grams of fat and 3 grams of fiber.
It was a great to hang out with friends and other bloggers while enjoying a delicious snack that wasn't gonna make me feel so guilty for eating it! Thanks Skinny Cow!
The new Skinny Cow Slimited Editions flavors are available nationwide with a SRP of $5.49 for a box of the cones, bars and sandwiches. Shake-Stirs have a SRP of $1.79. For additional product and nutritional information visit www.skinnycow.com
Written by Christina Chin, who's hip, fashionable and located in New York City.
Please Note: I was invited as media and received a gift bag after the event. No other compensation was received. Views expressed are always 100% my own.
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Posted in: Event, Food, GuestWriter
Cook Out NYC 2012 : Kimchi, Food, Beer & Music #cookoutnyc
Today we headed over to Governors Island to check out Cook Out NYC's two-day "all grill" event taking place this weekend July 7th-8th from 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (both days).
Cook Out NYC' is considered one of the ultimate outdoor cooking and country fair event offering BBQ and grilling stations food sampling, custom beers sampling by Sixpoint, on stage blues/bluegrass/Americana and even a spicy Kimchi eating contest.
How was the food? So yummy!
While the majority of the food was hotdogs, hamburgers, chicken, etc. Each booth had their own special way of preparing. We enjoyed a wide range of flavors and food combinations.
Along with the food, I was able to sample some of the Sixpoint beers. The beer girls were awesome and helped me pick beers to sample and enjoy with the foods.
I also checked out Mama O's Premium Kimchi booth and cooking demos. Besides have a son who's half Korean, I have many Korean friends and LOVE kimchi.
Mama O demoed traditional Korean foods like Kimchi pancakes, Kimchi rice and Kimchi tacos. All of which I was happy to taste test. Repeatedly. LOL
At the Mama O's Premium Kimchi tent, you could also sample different style of Kimchi and sign up for the Kimchi eat contest. For those that never had Kimchi, it can be really hot and spicy so the winner of that contest has my full respect!
We soon had to take a seat in the shade and let our food digest. While relaxing we enjoyed watching an English folk dance from a group of guy with bells on. Check out my video below to see them dancing
Enjoying food, beer and music. I'd say that was a great way to spend a Saturday! There's one more day left so make sure to head over to Governors Island to check out Cook Out NYC.
To learn more about Cook Out NYC' visit - www.cookoutnyc.com
Please Note: I received media tickets to Cook Out NYC for the purpose of this review. No other compensation was received. Views expressed are always 100% my own.
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Posted in: Event, Food
It's all about the accessories in interior decorating
Guest post written by Vickie Strong
You don't have to worry about a whole lot when it comes to furniture if you know how to shop for it. I'm all about getting second hand furniture that's cheap and not considered an antique. I'm not wealthy enough to invest in antiques, so I just try to make sure that my style is really quirky and I dress up all the stuff that I find.
But I love to use all kinds of little accessories and accents, but I thought that it might be fun to come up with a group of things to hang up together for some unique wall art. When I was online looking up some ideas for that, I ran across some info on Sears Home Improvement. After I looked through it a little bit, I decided to use them to get our windows replaced. They've looked kind of bad for a long time now anyway.
I got the idea to frame some cool family photographs with some brightly painted frames. I got some great deals at the flea market and my grouping of frames looks so cute and unique to our home!
I never thought I'd say this but...shopping sucks!
Let's start from the very very beginning of today.
When I heard both my girls were going to my ex's house for the weekend, I was so happy. LOL! I love my kids, please don't get me wrong, but my two girls fight like crazy constantly and there's never a clean room or peaceful moment in the house. As they left, I took my mom with me and we decided to go out for a little bit.
I work right off the New Jersey Turnpike about maybe 50 feet from the Holland Tunnel. It's very easy to get to my office by going down the NJ Turnpike, but in the morning when I leave (8:30) there's A LOT of Holland Tunnel traffic that I just can't get past. So, my mom decided to take a ride with me to my office but showing me a local way to get there instead of going down the Turnpike everyday. So we took a ride there and I have to say....DUH! The freaking way she showed me to go is just plain common sense that I should have realized. I felt like an idiot, actually. (Which happens often, it's not a new feeling for me.)
After taking that ride, we decided to stop at TJ Maxx. My mom wanted to see if she could get a dress for my birthmother's wedding, Alayna needed something nice for picture day on Wednesday and I wanted to look for some desk accessories for work and for some shirts for work. I found some beautiful shirts that I absolutely loved, but when I tried them on everything was either too short, too fitted, too ugly on me or just made cheaply. Out of 14 shirts I tried on, I walked out with two. I hate when that happens. I also didn't get any desk accessories; they hardly had anything. :(
So now I'm headed out to see a local town show that my best friend is a stage manager for. Maybe at least I'll have some fun tonight, since my shopping day sucked. Ha. At least I'm still childless for another day!
KFC's reusable, recyclable and reinforcing branding.
When it comes to utilizing the 5P’s of foodmarketing one of the best examples in the industry is the one time globalleader in the ready-2-eat and heat-N-eat grocerant niche KFC. Yum Brands KFC was a clear leader inintroducing Take-Out and Take-Away food to consumers around the world.
FoodserviceSolutions® specializes in outsourced business development. We can help youidentify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities ora brand leveraging integration strategy. Foodservice Solutions of Tacoma WA is the global leader in the Grocerant niche visitFacebook.com/Steven Johnson, Linkedin.com/in/grocerant ortwitter.com/grocerant.
8 Temmuz 2012 Pazar
I never thought I'd say this but...shopping sucks!
Let's start from the very very beginning of today.
When I heard both my girls were going to my ex's house for the weekend, I was so happy. LOL! I love my kids, please don't get me wrong, but my two girls fight like crazy constantly and there's never a clean room or peaceful moment in the house. As they left, I took my mom with me and we decided to go out for a little bit.
I work right off the New Jersey Turnpike about maybe 50 feet from the Holland Tunnel. It's very easy to get to my office by going down the NJ Turnpike, but in the morning when I leave (8:30) there's A LOT of Holland Tunnel traffic that I just can't get past. So, my mom decided to take a ride with me to my office but showing me a local way to get there instead of going down the Turnpike everyday. So we took a ride there and I have to say....DUH! The freaking way she showed me to go is just plain common sense that I should have realized. I felt like an idiot, actually. (Which happens often, it's not a new feeling for me.)
After taking that ride, we decided to stop at TJ Maxx. My mom wanted to see if she could get a dress for my birthmother's wedding, Alayna needed something nice for picture day on Wednesday and I wanted to look for some desk accessories for work and for some shirts for work. I found some beautiful shirts that I absolutely loved, but when I tried them on everything was either too short, too fitted, too ugly on me or just made cheaply. Out of 14 shirts I tried on, I walked out with two. I hate when that happens. I also didn't get any desk accessories; they hardly had anything. :(
So now I'm headed out to see a local town show that my best friend is a stage manager for. Maybe at least I'll have some fun tonight, since my shopping day sucked. Ha. At least I'm still childless for another day!
Boston Market will two steps back and two steps forward re-ignite the brand?
Understanding that Boston Market is a consumerinteractive participatory restaurant concept with a with a reputation forproviding wholesome meals Chief Brand Office Sara Bittorf is kicking off thesummer with a campaign to educate andelevate consumers product knowledge while edifying the brand.
One problem consumer do not take a step back. The retail food consumers are dynamic notstatic. The “home meal replacement category” has been replaced. Utilizing legacy benchmark metric’s to buildconsumer relevance is in and of itself a major miss calculation. Owning the position Boston Market had 15years is a position no company wants to be in. What is now needed is consumer relevance in messaging of the 5’P’s of FoodMarketing: Product, Packaging, Placement, Portability, and Price.
The ready-2-eat and heat-N-eat fresh prepared food nichetoday is expanding rapidly. Foodservice industry leading the grocerant nichemetrics are consumer centric, interactive while inclusive, fueled notsurprisingly by Millennials and Baby Boomers.
While free giveaways will drive trial Boston Marketrequires core brand repositioning within the grocerant niche to garnersustainable consumer relevance. Success does leave clues.
Steven Johnson is Grocerant Guru at Tacoma,WA based Foodservice Solutions, with extensive experience as a multi-unitrestaurant operator, consultant, brand / product positioning expert and publicspeaking. Facebook.com/Steven Johnson, Linkedin.com/in/grocerantortwitter.com/grocerant
The 5P’s of Food Marketing are resetting the price value equilibrium.
When Americans go on a diet they simply want to eat their waythin. Let’s face it Americans, myselfincluded are overweight and are at least thinking about a diet or are on adiet. While the diet may be top of mindwith consumer successful food retailers are now providing solutions withsmaller plates, lower prices and creative beverage options.
When I was a QSR franchisee in the late 70’s and early 80’s weoffered consumer three sizes of drinks small 10oz, medium 12oz and large16oz. Since that time we have seenportion creep. The size of the burgersare bigger, beverages are larger, and French Fries portions grew as well. The same can be found in both casual diningrestaurants and full service restaurants. Today the appetizers at many restaurants are entrée size and desertscould easily serve a party of four.
The grocerant niche filled with ready-2-eat and heat-N-eat freshprepared food has driven success in new non-traditional avenues ofdistribution. Creating new personalized options for meal customizationempowering consumer choice all with a halo of “better for you” fresh prepared. Foodservice Solutions® 5 P’s offood marketing: Product,Packaging, Placement, Portability and Price are the universal commonalitiesfound with the niche. Simply putconsumers are trading “up” in perceived quality and down in portion size andprice.
Restaurateursthat want to be competitive must offer branded food entities with identity. Creating or identifying distinctivedifferentiated food consumable’s as an entity with identity, withconsumer focused pricing, portions within existing and new points ofdistribution will be key to on-going success. Consumers want to eat their way thin. Do you know how to help your brand andconsumers?
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Invite FoodserviceSolutions® to complete a grocerant program assessment, brand, product placementor positioning assistance. Since 1991 Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma, WA hasbeen the global leader in the Grocerant niche visit Facebook.com/StevenJohnson, Linkedin.com/in/grocerant ortwitter.com/grocerant.
Migration Marketing Driving McDonalds Café and Panera’s Drive Thru’s.
Retail food consumers are dynamic not static. While food retailers are a fragmented group.Consumers on the other hand have a plethora of universal commonalities thatindicate just where they may be headed next when buying food. One of thecommonalities is speed of service. Todayconsumers want what they want when they want it. Breakfast for lunch or Dinner for Breakfastas an example however they all want it fast.
McDonalds Café is an example of expanding day-parts and menure-alignment with a focus on beverage and “snacking”. While they call it snacking, consumerresearch informs us that consumers are searching for portion, price reductions. This is driven in large part by theconfluence of obesity messaging and the economy. Many convenience stores have focused onprice and reduced portions size combined with speed of service to offer $0.99take-away food while capturing traditional QSR’s consumers. In fact Sheetz now calls itself a chainrestaurant that sells gas. We agreeSheetz is a food retailer selling fresh prepared food more important consumersbelieve it as well.
While consumer are not all focused on price Panera Bread isbeginning to offer drive thru’s service because it complements their catering and take-Away business which isnear 50% of sales. Consumers do not takesteps backward. They have grown accustomto quick service yet have a test for “better for you” food and Panera Breadfits that bill.
Kroger is now testing convenience stores again research highlightsthat the overriding universal commonality in food retailing that consumersdesire for speed of service. It’s simplesmaller store less time to get in and out. Whole Foods has reduced the size of all new stores to 30,000SF whileincreasing ready-2-eat and heat-N-eat fresh prepared food.
Clearly retail foodservice channel disruptions are underway andlead by the consumer. Exactly the way itshould be. Food retailers must react and focus on consumer commonalities forsuccess. Migration Marketing helps legacy retailers create differentiation in aworld where the line between restaurants and food retailers is growing eventhinner.
This blog is supported by ads. Please view them.
Steven Johnson is Grocerant Guru at Tacoma,WA based Foodservice Solutions, with extensive experience as a multi-unitrestaurant operator, consultant, brand / product positioning expert and publicspeaking. Facebook.com/Steven Johnson, Linkedin.com/in/grocerantortwitter.com/grocerant
Fresh Prepared Food is Empowering Consumers Choice of Retailers.
The grocerant nichecomprised of fresh prepared ready-2-eat and heat-N-eat food continues to drivetop line growth and bottom line profits in all sectors of the foodserviceindustry. The ability to mix & matchmeal components or ingredients for a particular meal is empowering to theconsumer. This niche is thriving within the Convenience store sector,Restaurant sector, Grocery/Supermarket sector, Drug store sector, and Dollarstore sector.
Food Manufacturesare focusing on each sector developing “restaurant quality” prepared food forthe every retail sector. Consumers are finding “restaurant quality” fresh foodofferings at new non-traditional points of distribution.
Grocery store deli operators are now seeking private label freshprepared proprietary menu items with identity for national grocery/ supermarketdistribution. With sales picking up month after month in this category thiswill become a very successful business proposition for many a manufacturers andco-packers.
Consumers now consider Sheetz not a convenience store but a restaurantwith gas. Safeway each week positionsready-2-eat fresh prepared food in every printed ad. Walgreens in Boston,NewYork, Chicago, and San Francisco offers fresh prepared and Made-2-Order food orfresh prepared meal component bundling options. Success leaves clues and oneclue is Grocerant Niche fresh prepared ready-2-eat and heat-N-eat food is acustomer favorite in every retail food channel.
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Steven Johnson is Grocerant Guru at Tacoma,WA based Foodservice Solutions, with extensive experience as a multi-unitrestaurant operator, consultant, brand / product positioning expert and publicspeaking. Facebook.com/Steven Johnson, Linkedin.com/in/grocerant or twitter.com/grocerant
7 Temmuz 2012 Cumartesi
Publix Super Markets Inc. target’s Restaurant Catering niche for additional growth.
Is your office ready-2-eat? PublixSuper Market is unveiling a pilot online deli ready-2-eat and heat-N-eat sameday ordering system in selected Florida locations. Publix delis are filled with hot and coldready-2-eat and heat-N-eat foods including made-2-order sandwiches, salads,rotisserie and fried chicken even deserts. Publix goal is to garner market share from legacy restaurants chainsthat have well established relationships in catering local offices.
Beginning in Tampa then expanding this same day service positions Publix asa direct competitor of restaurants that offer catering packages to business andhomes. The service will allow consumers to specify pick-up times will have nominimum order size and consumers can pay in the store when they pick up thefood. Here is the link: www.publix.com/order, is accessible both throughcomputers and mobile phones.
Items available include: Kidsdeli’s platters, Fruit, Vegetable, Meat and Cheese Platters, Subs and Wraps,Sandwiches including Meal Wheel, Party Sub, The Ring Leader, Board RoomSandwich Box, Seafood and Sushi platters. There of course is a full range of sales and side dishes including peachsalsa.
Since 1991 retail food consultancy FoodserviceSolutions® of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche formore on Foodservice Solutions® Bing or Google Grocerants or visit http://www.linkedin.com/in/grocerant, twitter.com/grocerant Email: grocerant@q.com
Visit Philly : National Liberty Museum Exhibits
After a relaxing first day in Philadelphia that ended with visiting the The Penn's Landing area, we were ready to hit the main historic attractions and kid friendly museums like The National Liberty Museum.
Since the National Liberty Museum is partly famous for their life-size jellybean children and butterflies exhibit, I made this our first stop of the day. I wondered what my son would think about the jellybean children. But the Nat. Liberty Museum offered visitors lots more then just "Jelly Bean People"
The National Liberty Museum is dedicated to preserving freedom and democracy by fostering good character and understanding for all people through education. The Nat. Liberty Museum had amazing exhibits of glass art and heroes from around the world that highlighted both the strength and fragility of democracy. These exhibits recognize the role each person plays in safeguarding freedom.
After a quick tour on the 1st floor, we headed downstairs to the education center to see the interactive "Heroes of Character" exhibits and glass art. The Heroes of Character exhibit provided children different ways to learn about past and current heroes by answering fun facts and questions.
Children could also take a photo with their favorite hero. After answering questions about their personality and life goals, the system matched them with a hero their most like. Then they pose for a photo. While it was cute to see my son paired with Martin Luther King, I have to admit it's probably more my hero type since I was the one answering the questions *chuckle*
The art glass exhibit featured different glass sculptures that have though provoking messages. While the kids can't touch them, I though they were beautiful and a great way to start a conversation with children about racial and culture diversity.
We next headed to the 2nd floor, where we saw Dale Chihuly’s 20-foot “Flame of Liberty.” It's really an amazing piece of art!
Also on that floor were other exhibits that highlighted Peace Seekers and Ordinary People...Extraordinary Acts, that included a replica of Nelson Mandela's jail cell.
As we walked across the hall to the next room, we stopped to admire the hallway exhibit Inspiration. As a mother with a child considered to have special needs, I was very touched to read about the amazing lives celebrities and heroes like James Earl Jones and Albert Einstein have enjoyed despite having challenges of different forms.
The next exhibit we visited were fun for both me and my son since they featured the famous "Jelly Bean People". While I loved the idea of diversity and tolerance behind the exhibit, my son of liked the moving butterflies and of course the jellybean, even if he can't eat any.
While we only shared a few of the The National Liberty Museum exhibits, there's much more to see and do like the museum's Free Art Workshop & Tour for Visitors
Every Saturday (with the cost of admission), visitors can receive a free guided tour of the Museum's eight galleries of exhibits, interactives and glass art. The tour will be followed by a hands-on art project by a professional artist/educator. related to one of the Museum's themes, including Heroes of Character, Peaceful Ways to Resolve Conflicts, Appreciation for Diversity and more.
Learn more about The National Liberty Museum - http://www.libertymuseum.org
Learn more about Visiting Philly - http://www.visitphilly.com
Like on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/visitphilly
Follow on Twitter - http://www.twitter.com/visitphilly
Please Note: My family attractions passes are covered by Greater Philadelphia Tourism. Views expressed are always 100% my own.
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Posted in: Blog, Travel, VisitPhilly