It appears that while consumers may be cutting back on lattes, they aren't doing the same for their favorite desserts
By Angus Loten
Inc.com
updated 12:52 p.m. PT, Sun., July. 13, 2008
Not long ago, Tracey Hughes had an enviable career as an executive marketer at Colgate-Palmolive in Chicago and New York. Then she started bringing homemade rum cakes to corporate functions. In no time, Hughes, a former fashion model, was taking special holiday orders from friends and colleagues, eventually baking up to 10 cakes a night in her small Brooklyn apartment. That's when she decided to go into the dessert business full-time.
"I grew up in the kitchen, watching and learning," says Hughes, who launched the Rum Cake Fairy Company in October 2005, armed with a handwritten book of her grandma's secret recipes and her own marketing savvy. It paid off. Two years ago, her rum cake was discovered by Oprah Winfrey and featured on the coveted "O List" of must-have holiday goodies. Since then, she's launched an entire range of cakes sold at high-end retailers.
And at a time when many businesses owners are easing spending plans to cope with the sputtering economy, Hughes and her business partner, Patricia Kolaras, are closing a deal to buyout the New Jersey bakery that mass produces her cakes.
The American sweet tooth
In good times and bad, Hughes and other successful dessert entrepreneurs can count on the American sweet tooth to help keep their businesses afloat. A recent survey of some 1,500 U.S. consumers by Techmonic, a Chicago-based foodservice research firm, did not find a single person who regularly skipped dessert. More than half said they indulged in such perennial favorites as chocolate chip cookies, vanilla ice cream, and apple pie at least once a week, though typically more often than that. That kind of appetite is driving a $23 billion domestic industry of bakeries, chocolatiers, ice cream makers and countless other small businesses.
"Clearly, consumers love dessert," says Darren Tristano, Techmonic's executive vice president of information services. By keeping an eye on shifting consumer trends, he says, restaurant, café, and foodservice owners can leverage the appeal of desserts to boost incremental sales, and in turn help dessert makers grow their companies.
(From MSNBC.com - see entire article at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25561551/)
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Smaller , richer frozen desserts a new trend
Here's a great article on the latest trend in frozen desserts from an article at QSR Magazine
Cold Case - Why frozen indulgences might warrant a more prominent place on quick-serve menus.
Contentious though it often is, there are a handful of things we can all agree on when it comes to the subject of food. The popularity of ice cream is almost certainly one of them. To wit, the market research firm Mintel has reported that more than 90 percent of U.S. households consume ice cream and other frozen desserts.
But like most indulgences, ice cream in its pure, premium form—with all the butterfat and sugar that make it so tantalizing—tends to leave American adults feeling a little conflicted. We crave its richness, but our society’s obsession with health, diet, and nutrition also forces us to reckon with the consequences of enjoying great ice cream to the degree we might like. No matter how you churn it, downing two or three pints a day just isn’t a good idea. Unfortunately.
So in order to reconcile our ice cream cravings with our calorie consciences, we compromise, often by turning to products made with low-fat dairy products and/or sugar substitutes. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has noted that light, low-fat, nonfat, and reduced-fat ice cream products, along with frozen yogurt, ices, sorbets, and sherbets, accounted for about one-third of the domestic frozen dessert market in 2006.
The alternative to eating lighter products, of course, is to enjoy smaller quantities of the really good stuff. To judge from a recent National Restaurant Association survey of culinary experts, this seems to be the track many Americans are now taking. In that poll, 1,300 members of the American Culinary Federation were asked to identify the most popular food trends from among a list of 194 items, including everything from red wine to sushi to energy drinks, pomegranates, fresh pasta, and couscous. At the end of the day, “bite-size desserts” emerged at the very top of the list, in the No. 1 spot.
If small indulgences that deliver big flavor constitute the trend of the moment, quick-serve operators might consider how they might tap into the phenomenon. Here are a few suggestions:
Smaller and Richer
When I lived in Paris years ago, I used to love to go to Bertillon Ice Cream where, for the equivalent of roughly $7 at the time, patrons would order a scoop about the size of a golf ball, served with a miniature wooden spoon. That worked out to about $5.50 per ounce, but this ice cream was worth every cent. With its authentic, intense, and perfectly balanced flavors; sumptuous, creamy texture; and lush mouth feel that made for a positively sublime experience, I would have anted up at least a few more francs for the privilege of another serving.
That’s ultimately why I believe that it might be a good bet for quick-serve’s more popular chains to begin offering small scoops of a proprietary, crave-inducing brand of premium ice cream in all-American flavors such as vanilla and peach. The results might be surprisingly tasty—and profitable. In a similar vein, Pasta Pomodoro might opt to sell small portions of authentic sorbet or gelato with Italian-inspired flavors such as bitter chocolate, coffee, hazelnut, almond, or espresso. And though they’re nowhere near as decadent, paletas—icy Mexican fruit pops made with fresh fruit, water or milk, and sugar—offer an engaging variety of textures and tastes, including tropical fruits, hibiscus, tamarind, avocado, corn, lime, and cucumber. At least a few of these could fare very well at the likes of Baja Fresh, Chipotle, or Qdoba.
(see the rest of the article at http://www.qsrmagazine.com/articles/menu_development/116/frozen-1.phtml)
Cold Case - Why frozen indulgences might warrant a more prominent place on quick-serve menus.
Contentious though it often is, there are a handful of things we can all agree on when it comes to the subject of food. The popularity of ice cream is almost certainly one of them. To wit, the market research firm Mintel has reported that more than 90 percent of U.S. households consume ice cream and other frozen desserts.
But like most indulgences, ice cream in its pure, premium form—with all the butterfat and sugar that make it so tantalizing—tends to leave American adults feeling a little conflicted. We crave its richness, but our society’s obsession with health, diet, and nutrition also forces us to reckon with the consequences of enjoying great ice cream to the degree we might like. No matter how you churn it, downing two or three pints a day just isn’t a good idea. Unfortunately.
So in order to reconcile our ice cream cravings with our calorie consciences, we compromise, often by turning to products made with low-fat dairy products and/or sugar substitutes. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has noted that light, low-fat, nonfat, and reduced-fat ice cream products, along with frozen yogurt, ices, sorbets, and sherbets, accounted for about one-third of the domestic frozen dessert market in 2006.
The alternative to eating lighter products, of course, is to enjoy smaller quantities of the really good stuff. To judge from a recent National Restaurant Association survey of culinary experts, this seems to be the track many Americans are now taking. In that poll, 1,300 members of the American Culinary Federation were asked to identify the most popular food trends from among a list of 194 items, including everything from red wine to sushi to energy drinks, pomegranates, fresh pasta, and couscous. At the end of the day, “bite-size desserts” emerged at the very top of the list, in the No. 1 spot.
If small indulgences that deliver big flavor constitute the trend of the moment, quick-serve operators might consider how they might tap into the phenomenon. Here are a few suggestions:
Smaller and Richer
When I lived in Paris years ago, I used to love to go to Bertillon Ice Cream where, for the equivalent of roughly $7 at the time, patrons would order a scoop about the size of a golf ball, served with a miniature wooden spoon. That worked out to about $5.50 per ounce, but this ice cream was worth every cent. With its authentic, intense, and perfectly balanced flavors; sumptuous, creamy texture; and lush mouth feel that made for a positively sublime experience, I would have anted up at least a few more francs for the privilege of another serving.
That’s ultimately why I believe that it might be a good bet for quick-serve’s more popular chains to begin offering small scoops of a proprietary, crave-inducing brand of premium ice cream in all-American flavors such as vanilla and peach. The results might be surprisingly tasty—and profitable. In a similar vein, Pasta Pomodoro might opt to sell small portions of authentic sorbet or gelato with Italian-inspired flavors such as bitter chocolate, coffee, hazelnut, almond, or espresso. And though they’re nowhere near as decadent, paletas—icy Mexican fruit pops made with fresh fruit, water or milk, and sugar—offer an engaging variety of textures and tastes, including tropical fruits, hibiscus, tamarind, avocado, corn, lime, and cucumber. At least a few of these could fare very well at the likes of Baja Fresh, Chipotle, or Qdoba.
(see the rest of the article at http://www.qsrmagazine.com/articles/menu_development/116/frozen-1.phtml)
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Frozen yogurt popularity grows despite industry downturn
(From an article published by Dawn Reiss, Special to R&I -- Restaurants and Institutions, 5/1/2008)
The economic chill gripping much of foodservice—bringing less-ambitious forecasts for new-unit openings and sales growth—has so far skirted at least one corner of the industry. Proving that little luxuries can thrive even when basic necessities are scrutinized, the frozen-yogurt segment is expanding inward from the coasts and keeping warm the industry’s entrepreneurial spirit.
This really is frozen yogurt’s second expansion wave. The first, in the 1980s, driven by brands such as TCBY and I Can’t Believe It’s Yogurt, lost its momentum. According to the Agricultural Marketing Resource Center, retail sales of frozen yogurt declined between 1998 and 2003 while ice cream sales grew by 24%.
Frozen yogurt’s current popularity wave is led by new brands. Berry Chill, sno:la, and FreshBerry are joining the ranks of Pinkberry and Red Mango, which already have a strong hold on the East and West coasts. The product these new purveyors serve is different: tangier or more tart, depending on the brand, and lighter than frozen yogurt’s previous incarnation. It usually is topped with fresh fruit, granola, cereal or a more-decadent splurge, such as chocolate. Flavor choices go well beyond chocolate and vanilla territory to more-exotic options such as green tea, pomegranate and sour cherry.
The free-standing frozen-yogurt shops cater to an audience that shuns fluorescent lightening and expects a sit-and-chat type of ambience. In place of the outmoded ice-cream-parlor look, many of the stores have opted to feature high-end furniture, flat-screen televisions and Wi-Fi to lure everyone from business professionals and teens to late-night revelers. Many play upbeat dance music and have sofas and cafe-style tables that encourage customers to linger. Of more importance, the operators think that consumers are willing to spend $5 on a different frozen-yogurt experience.
See entire article at: http://www.rimag.com/index.asp?layout=article&articleid=CA6556318&article_prefix=CA&article_id=6556318
The economic chill gripping much of foodservice—bringing less-ambitious forecasts for new-unit openings and sales growth—has so far skirted at least one corner of the industry. Proving that little luxuries can thrive even when basic necessities are scrutinized, the frozen-yogurt segment is expanding inward from the coasts and keeping warm the industry’s entrepreneurial spirit.
This really is frozen yogurt’s second expansion wave. The first, in the 1980s, driven by brands such as TCBY and I Can’t Believe It’s Yogurt, lost its momentum. According to the Agricultural Marketing Resource Center, retail sales of frozen yogurt declined between 1998 and 2003 while ice cream sales grew by 24%.
Frozen yogurt’s current popularity wave is led by new brands. Berry Chill, sno:la, and FreshBerry are joining the ranks of Pinkberry and Red Mango, which already have a strong hold on the East and West coasts. The product these new purveyors serve is different: tangier or more tart, depending on the brand, and lighter than frozen yogurt’s previous incarnation. It usually is topped with fresh fruit, granola, cereal or a more-decadent splurge, such as chocolate. Flavor choices go well beyond chocolate and vanilla territory to more-exotic options such as green tea, pomegranate and sour cherry.
The free-standing frozen-yogurt shops cater to an audience that shuns fluorescent lightening and expects a sit-and-chat type of ambience. In place of the outmoded ice-cream-parlor look, many of the stores have opted to feature high-end furniture, flat-screen televisions and Wi-Fi to lure everyone from business professionals and teens to late-night revelers. Many play upbeat dance music and have sofas and cafe-style tables that encourage customers to linger. Of more importance, the operators think that consumers are willing to spend $5 on a different frozen-yogurt experience.
See entire article at: http://www.rimag.com/index.asp?layout=article&articleid=CA6556318&article_prefix=CA&article_id=6556318
Monday, May 12, 2008
San Francisco fights pollution and saves sewers
Here's a great way to help keep our sewers flowing and our municipal vehicles running cleaner - free grease recycling from the City of San Francisco. SF Greasecycle was recently established to reduce FOG (Fats - Oils - Grease) pollution from the sewer system (a $3.5M annual problem) and to create a renewable resource to run the city's diesel vehicles, as well as others interested in using this less polluting fuel source.
Blue Sky Bio Fuels in Oakland is charged with this lofty recycling project and is completing a facility that will produce 20 million gallons of converted grease to biodiesel each year. Among its customers are Michael's Transporation who serves both Vallejo and Oakland area school districts.
For more information on how to recycle your used cooking oil in San Francisco, please contact SF Greasecycle at (415) 695-7366 or visit http://www.sfgreasecycle.org/fse.shtml.
Blue Sky Bio Fuels in Oakland is charged with this lofty recycling project and is completing a facility that will produce 20 million gallons of converted grease to biodiesel each year. Among its customers are Michael's Transporation who serves both Vallejo and Oakland area school districts.
For more information on how to recycle your used cooking oil in San Francisco, please contact SF Greasecycle at (415) 695-7366 or visit http://www.sfgreasecycle.org/fse.shtml.
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Restaurants going Greener in 2008
It's been a long time coming, but we can't be any more excited at the latest trend in "greener" restaurants. Finally, folks are taking a moment to evaluate their energy use, waste disposal practices and even making an effort to source locally -grown or -produced goods. Companies here in the Bay Area have done a great job at minimizing waste at all other levels of their business and have finally taken a look at their cafeterias and restaurants to make sure their energy use is minimized, as well.
Although the economics of energy savings are far from compelling, saving every little bit starts to add up as we scale this effort into hundreds of companies, each day. Our Perfect Fry hoodless hot oil fryers (www.perfectfry.com) recently received $200 PG&E rebate status for all models, including the PFC and PFA lines and are also compliant with the new UL 300 standards for ventilation hoods (they are actually governed by UL 167 guidelines since they are hoodless). These units are extremely efficient and will use about 80% less energy than an open fryer, since power is used only when cooking.
We see similar benefits from the Instant Burger grill (www.smokaroma.com) that is up to 50x (that's 5000%) more efficient than a flat top grill. Since this unit uses no heat to cook, it is enormously more efficient at cooking, rather than keeping the cooking plates hot all day. Average use amounts to less than $100/year in annual electrical costs!
Finally, we're very excited to have a number of new recyclers that are taking used cooking oil for use in bio-diesel manufacturing. Here's a list:
Cooking Oil Pick Up Companies (Northern California Region)
San Francisco SF Greasecycle (has online application)
http://www.sfgreasecycle.org/fse.shtml
East Bay - Blue Sky Bio Fuels (has online application)
http://www.blueskybio-fuels.com/grease.php
Fresno, Turlock & So. Cal - Darling International
http://www.darlingii.com/facilities/index.asp
If you know of others that offer similar services, please let us know! Email us at westernfreezers@sbcglobal.net.
Happy Holidays and here's to a greener and less wasteful New Year!
Although the economics of energy savings are far from compelling, saving every little bit starts to add up as we scale this effort into hundreds of companies, each day. Our Perfect Fry hoodless hot oil fryers (www.perfectfry.com) recently received $200 PG&E rebate status for all models, including the PFC and PFA lines and are also compliant with the new UL 300 standards for ventilation hoods (they are actually governed by UL 167 guidelines since they are hoodless). These units are extremely efficient and will use about 80% less energy than an open fryer, since power is used only when cooking.
We see similar benefits from the Instant Burger grill (www.smokaroma.com) that is up to 50x (that's 5000%) more efficient than a flat top grill. Since this unit uses no heat to cook, it is enormously more efficient at cooking, rather than keeping the cooking plates hot all day. Average use amounts to less than $100/year in annual electrical costs!
Finally, we're very excited to have a number of new recyclers that are taking used cooking oil for use in bio-diesel manufacturing. Here's a list:
Cooking Oil Pick Up Companies (Northern California Region)
San Francisco SF Greasecycle (has online application)
http://www.sfgreasecycle.org/fse.shtml
East Bay - Blue Sky Bio Fuels (has online application)
http://www.blueskybio-fuels.com/grease.php
Fresno, Turlock & So. Cal - Darling International
http://www.darlingii.com/facilities/index.asp
If you know of others that offer similar services, please let us know! Email us at westernfreezers@sbcglobal.net.
Happy Holidays and here's to a greener and less wasteful New Year!
Friday, December 7, 2007
America's Favorite Cookie boosts sales across US
Here's a great article on the power of branding and the recognition of the Oreo Cookie to be America's favorite!
Menuing ‘America’s Favorite Cookie’
Dairy Queen’s Nissen says the right brand name can provide a big boost by communicating to customers in one word what the flavor pr ofile of a new offering is. When Dairy Queen introduced a spicy burger it purposely chose to partner with Tabasco in an advertising campaign. The company could have simply used Tabasco or one of its competitors, but by drawing up a licensing agreement and ad campaign, “It instantly communicated the flavor profile on this burger was different. It’s hot and spicy,’’ Nissen says. Nabisco notes, for instance, that its research suggests Oreo is considered its own flavor alongside chocolate and vanilla.
At Baskin Robbins, a variation of an Oreo cookies-and-cream treat has been a top-five seller for years and product extensions featuring the Oreo are always a good bet, says Scott Colwell, vice president of marketing. “They have a lot of credibility with consumers,’’ he says. During the fall, the company rolled out six Oreo-themed products including: an Oreo cookie pie; a new Oreo cake; a new flavor, Jamoca; chocolate and Jamoca Oreo shakes; and an Oreo-layered sundae. The company won’t reveal sales figures but says the new offerings helped sales jump the first week they were introduced in August and are “exceeding expectations.”
Like pizza and Oreo, frozen dessert restaurants are in a competitive environment. The category’s sales increased by 2.2 percent from 2005 to 2006 while units dropped by 1.2 percent according to data gathered from Technomic. Dairy Queen sales were flat from 2005 to 2006 with a slight increase in same-store sales while Baskin Robbins experienced a 6.5 percent jump in sales with a small same-store sale bounce. Newer competitors like Cold Stone Creamery, which saw a double-digit jump in sales in 2006 and higher same-store sales, are chasing both venerable brands.
Cold Stone, of course, made its name with its smorgasbord of mix-ins. And like its competitors it has its own Oreo creation, Oreo overload.
(See the entire article at: http://http://www.qsrmagazine.com/articles/features/110/oreo-3.phtml)
Menuing ‘America’s Favorite Cookie’
Dairy Queen’s Nissen says the right brand name can provide a big boost by communicating to customers in one word what the flavor pr ofile of a new offering is. When Dairy Queen introduced a spicy burger it purposely chose to partner with Tabasco in an advertising campaign. The company could have simply used Tabasco or one of its competitors, but by drawing up a licensing agreement and ad campaign, “It instantly communicated the flavor profile on this burger was different. It’s hot and spicy,’’ Nissen says. Nabisco notes, for instance, that its research suggests Oreo is considered its own flavor alongside chocolate and vanilla.
At Baskin Robbins, a variation of an Oreo cookies-and-cream treat has been a top-five seller for years and product extensions featuring the Oreo are always a good bet, says Scott Colwell, vice president of marketing. “They have a lot of credibility with consumers,’’ he says. During the fall, the company rolled out six Oreo-themed products including: an Oreo cookie pie; a new Oreo cake; a new flavor, Jamoca; chocolate and Jamoca Oreo shakes; and an Oreo-layered sundae. The company won’t reveal sales figures but says the new offerings helped sales jump the first week they were introduced in August and are “exceeding expectations.”
Like pizza and Oreo, frozen dessert restaurants are in a competitive environment. The category’s sales increased by 2.2 percent from 2005 to 2006 while units dropped by 1.2 percent according to data gathered from Technomic. Dairy Queen sales were flat from 2005 to 2006 with a slight increase in same-store sales while Baskin Robbins experienced a 6.5 percent jump in sales with a small same-store sale bounce. Newer competitors like Cold Stone Creamery, which saw a double-digit jump in sales in 2006 and higher same-store sales, are chasing both venerable brands.
Cold Stone, of course, made its name with its smorgasbord of mix-ins. And like its competitors it has its own Oreo creation, Oreo overload.
(See the entire article at: http://http://www.qsrmagazine.com/articles/features/110/oreo-3.phtml)
Monday, November 19, 2007
Thanksgiving Update 2007
For those of you turkey lovers who are growing a little weary of the dry, plain and frankly boring bird let me give you some new hope. This year, as we have for the past two, we're smoking our Thanksgiving turkey in our BBQ Boss pressure smoker to create a truly wonderful, delicious and MOIST treat that you will absolultely crave.
The results are not unique to the BBQ Boss unit, but between the <1 hour cook time, the very consistent results and a very high degree of smokiness control (you can adjust this to your own tastes), I can't think of a better way to prepare this holiday favorite. I truly cannot enjoy a turkey NOT prepared in this manner anymore. This task used to be undertaken by my father, but he simply got tired of watching the silly smoker all day when he used his outdoor device.
Part of the juiciness of our turkey is due to my father's own brine recipe, which includes an apple juice base, kosher salt and some "secret spices" that he has perfected in his years mastering this method. This brine soak takes place 12 hours prior to the smoking and yields and wonderfully tasty glaze and infuses some much appreciated moisture into the meat. It really is wonderful as left-overs too, as this moisture really stays with the turkey until it is all eaten. You have to try this preparation sometime - it will really change the way you enjoy your turkey for the holidays.
We have also used the BBQ Boss to prepare some tasty and popular smoked chicken wings as appetizers. These were the hit of a party we recently attended and were a unique and quite popular new addition to the potluck menu for us. Using out BBQ Boss Red Rub mix and some plain chicken wings, this appetizer takes less than 1 hour to smoke and yields 2-3 dozen finger-lickin' good wings that you will just love. Rarely go I have friends stop and ask me how we made our potluck items - with the wings, several people made a point to inquire and to find out how to make them.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
The results are not unique to the BBQ Boss unit, but between the <1 hour cook time, the very consistent results and a very high degree of smokiness control (you can adjust this to your own tastes), I can't think of a better way to prepare this holiday favorite. I truly cannot enjoy a turkey NOT prepared in this manner anymore. This task used to be undertaken by my father, but he simply got tired of watching the silly smoker all day when he used his outdoor device.
Part of the juiciness of our turkey is due to my father's own brine recipe, which includes an apple juice base, kosher salt and some "secret spices" that he has perfected in his years mastering this method. This brine soak takes place 12 hours prior to the smoking and yields and wonderfully tasty glaze and infuses some much appreciated moisture into the meat. It really is wonderful as left-overs too, as this moisture really stays with the turkey until it is all eaten. You have to try this preparation sometime - it will really change the way you enjoy your turkey for the holidays.
We have also used the BBQ Boss to prepare some tasty and popular smoked chicken wings as appetizers. These were the hit of a party we recently attended and were a unique and quite popular new addition to the potluck menu for us. Using out BBQ Boss Red Rub mix and some plain chicken wings, this appetizer takes less than 1 hour to smoke and yields 2-3 dozen finger-lickin' good wings that you will just love. Rarely go I have friends stop and ask me how we made our potluck items - with the wings, several people made a point to inquire and to find out how to make them.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
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