Located among small towns with names like Fyvie, Inverurie, Newmachar and Pitmedden, Oldmeldrum is a quintessential Scottish market town: old stone buildings, a town square, a serious public transport system, and a distillery dating all the way back to 1797 (one of Scotland’s oldest) that was able to put to good use all the barley farmed in the fields that surround the town.

The distillery style is honeyed and floral with some of the best single casks I’ve tasted, having a delicious Parma Violet quality to them.  If you’re not familiar with Parma Violets, perhaps you’ve encountered lavender hard candies from France or even a lavender-scented pillow (although they are notoriously more difficult to chew!).  The lavender is not to everyone’s taste so it doesn’t feature prominently, if at all, in the standard releases: a 1797 Founder’s Reserve bottling; a 12 Year Old; and a series of small batch releases.

Recently Glen Garioch distillery launched a “Rare Finds” competition, whereby they are offering one winner a two-day all-expenses-paid trip to Oldmeldrum, staying at Meldrum House, a four star hotel situated in the Aberdeenshire countryside. 

On a VIP tour of the distillery, the winner will discover the time-honored skills at work and hear from the master craftsmen involved.  The fortunate fan will then attend a private tasting conducted by Master Blender Rachel Barrie, who was born and raised in Oldmeldrum, about which she says:

“I always remember the wonderful feeling after tea-time of running into barley fields followed by the adventures of cycling to and then climbing to the top of Bennachie, where as a young adult on Midsummer’s eve, I would enjoy a dram or two of Glen Garioch at the ‘Mither Tap’, surrounded by the summer scent of ripening barley and heather on the hillside.”

On the second day of the trip, the competition winner will venture out into the countryside under the guidance of local experts for a spot of salmon fishing and gold prospecting at a couple of secret locations.

Even if you don’t win the trip itself, runners-up will receive a special, limited edition, small batch release of Glen Garioch.

The competition is open for entries until June 3.  All you have to do is head over to Glen Garioch’s Facebook page, locate the competition link, and spend five seconds entering.  It really is that easy (I just entered while writing this column!).

Good luck!  And know that if you win you’ll only be an hour-long bus trip from the heart of the Granite City, Aberdeen, if you choose to leave all that Aberdeenshire countryside behind!

When the whole Amy’s Baking Company social media fandango went down last week, a colleague of ours expressed some worry about the fever pitch surrounding the story. Watch out, she said. With all this publicity, these guys are on their way to being rewarded with their own reality show. A fair enough concern, to be sure, but here’s the thing: there’s only so much uncontrolled chaos a network can take. Most reality shows are at least a little bit scripted and adherent to a general story arc. Sure, networks will put up with a lot of rowdy behavior and nonsense in the name of good ratings, but whoever they sign has to be willing to play ball at least a little bit. One thing networks certainly don’t like is potential reality stars who show early on in their fifteen-minutes-of-fame career that they aren’t capable of following basic television contracts. That’s why the producers of Kitchen Nightmare have presented Amy and Samy Bouzaglo with the offer of not a series but legal action.

Eater reports that the Bouzaglos had planned to hold a press conference today in anticipation of their “Grand Re-Opening” ceremony. But that press conference has now been cancelled, thanks to threats of legal action by Fox. See, most people who appear on shows like Kitchen Nightmares are asked to sign Non Disclosure Agreement contracts and, as it turns out, Samy and Amy Bouzaglo are not special snowflakes in that regard. The Phoenix Business Journal has a copy of the cease and desist letter from ITV Studios America and Upper Ground Enterprises, the production company that makes Kitchen Nightmares possible. The letter states:

“We understand that you are planning a public event on May 21, 2013, at which you will discuss your experiences and ‘unflattering portrayals’ on the show. If you speak about the show without Upper Ground’s and Fox’s prior approval, and if you disparage the show, its host, or its producers, you will breach your obligations under Paragraph 10 of your Personal Release and Paragraph 14 of your Participant Agreement. These agreements prohibit you from speaking publicly about Kitchen Nightmares, other than to acknowledge ‘the mere fact of your participation in the Series in personal publicity relating to yourself.’ Your conduct exposes each of you to liability for liquidated damages of $100,000.”

It’s pretty obvious that the Bouzaglos hadn’t discussed the press conference with Upper Ground or Fox, and we have to hazard the guess that that it would be pretty difficult for Amy or Samy to keep civil and positive while holding a press conference about their experience and portrayal on Kitchen Nightmares, so it’s natural enough that the press conference was summarily canceled. It was also quite courteous of Upper Ground and ITV Studios America to send a letter first instead of letting the couple hang themselves with their own breach of contract rope.

Oh, and their new PR team also quit – after only five days of working with the business. You kind of need to be able to work with a PR team in order to make it in Hollywood in the long run. The Phoenix Business Journal report that the split on Monday came because of “differences” between the firm and the bistro:

“It’s been a very exciting week. With all the reservations coming in (for the grand re-opening week) it’s been a great accomplishment,” [Rose+Moser+Allyn Public & Online Relations President Jason] Rose said. “Beyond the preliminary success, there were differences on public relations strategies… I’d be lying if I didn’t say it was pretty exciting.”

We can’t say that a reality show would be totally out of the question at this point – stranger things have happened for sure. But Samy and Amy certainly aren’t making it easy.

[SOURCE: Phoenix Business Journal; Eater]

Brand Eating reports that the Fiery Chicken Cool Ranch Doritos Locos Taco (as much a mouthful to say as it is to eat) represents the first time that Taco Bell has publicly played around with the insides of a Doritos Locos taco – as opposed to playing around with what sort of Doritos-branded flavoring powder goes on the outside:

The tacos feature the Cool Ranch Doritos Locos Taco shell, but filled with shredded chicken rather than ground beef. The "fiery" comes from Taco Bell's chipotle sauce and is accompanied by the standard shredded lettuce and grated cheddar cheese. Like the original, a Supreme version is also available and adds diced tomatoes and sour cream.

We think the chances are pretty high that the Fiery Chicken Cool Ranch Doritos Locos Taco will make it out of test markets and go national – the original with its Beef Supreme-type filling is great and all, but there are tons of potential consumers who want (ostensibly) a healthier option or just prefer chicken to beef. Why not try to capture that market as well? There’s nothing to be gained but pure Doritos Locos-based profit.

And if the thought of a spicy “fiery chicken” version goes well, perhaps that means we’re one step closer to the Salsa Verde Doritos Locos Tacos of our wildest dreams. (We can dream, right?)

[SOURCE: Brand Eating via Huffington Post]

According to a New York Times piece, from 2011 to 2012, sales went up 8.7 percent in restaurants. Numbers note that Americans are spending around $220 billion a year at full service restaurants, which is more than at any other kind of restaurant. That’s a lot of money going into sit down restaurants, but again, why are a sizable number of them struggling?

It’s a tough business and diners can be very loyal, returning to their favorites and foregoing the new places, or trying them once and giving up. What is it that makes a restaurant a success or not, and what can a restaurant owner do to make sure his or her restaurant can make it?

An important aspect in the restaurant business is to watch the trends.

For instance, the “fern bars” were popular in the ‘80’s, but nobody wants to visit those restaurants again. What we’re seeing now are more sleekly designed restaurants with a simple, specialized menu. Let’s take a look.

Simple Menus

Those long, varied menus are out of style and if your restaurant is touting one of these, think about cutting it back. Take what you do best, and go with it. Is it pizza, burgers, bacon, vegan fare?

Sure, you need to offer a bit of variety and some options, but people go where the mood strikes them, and if you offer the best darn pizza there is even if that’s about it, they’ll come back for more. Also, keep your food lineup one that is cohesive and makes sense.

Fresh

A big movement is towards fresh and locally sourced food. People want to know where their food comes from and how it was grown.

You don’t necessarily have to stick with all organics, but if you’re going to follow the local trend, make sure you can relay the information honestly. You can vary your menu by offering seasonal choices.

Clean Atmosphere

This one seems to never go out of style.

With expose after expose about filthy restaurants, people are more aware of their surroundings. Make an effort to keep it clean; one bad find can kill your business.

Friendly

People are getting over the uptight, hoity-toity places. They want a warm, friendly comfortable atmosphere. As for the staff – the friendliness of your restaurant staff can make an enormous difference in the success of your business. Make sure you hire those who can relay the warmth and knowledge you want to convey.

Advertising and Social Media

Social media plays an important part in where people go. Hook into things like Scoutmob and Groupon to not only advertise but to offer discounts.

You may bring in some new customers who will soon make your place their favorite hangout. Be active on Twitter and Facebook, too.

Word of Mouth

Don’t forget this is one of the best forms of advertising.The more good things you give people to talk about, the more they will. You want those repeat customers to keep bringing their friends in, and they in turn will do the same. What better form of free advertising is there? If these two forms of advertising work for you, you can go forego the other more expensive types.

It’s hard to watch your money go down the drain when you’ve worked hard to create the restaurant of your dreams.

It may take some work, but you can turn it around.

Heather Legg is a writer who covers topics related to small business and invoice software.

The Associated Press reports that the two companies released a joint statement, which stated that GrubHub CEO and Founder Matt Maloney will serve as CEO of the newly minted (and not yet named) company while Seamless CEO Jonathan Zabusky will take on the role of President. Seamless director Brian McAndrews, meanwhile, will fulfill the position of Chairman.

It’s an interesting move for sure, quite different from the usual web company merge in that this isn’t one large business buying out a much smaller start-up. But if Maloney and Zabusky work hard, this move could ultimately lead to an improved consumer experience overall as the two sites combine their individual strong points and areas of expertise. In the press release, Maloney expressed excitement over the possibilities that lay ahead now that Seamless and GrubHub are putting their heads together:

"We are excited to combine the strengths of these two dynamic organizations in an industry that is rapidly gaining traction," Maloney said in a statement. "We believe the merger will enhance the products we are able to offer both our diners and restaurants."

Now the two just need a name, but the press release notes that the new branding won’t occur until after regulatory approval. Whatever they come up with, Eat24.com’s competition just got a lot stronger.

[SOURCE: Associated Press via Huffington Post]

• San Diego City Council pays service to the city’s status as a Beer Capital of the World, considering a plan to allow breweries to have larger tasting rooms and restaurants. ~ KPBS

• Were the special “Crazy for Good” Coca-Cola cans that appeared in Zimbabwe last week propaganda or an innocent mistake? Not everyone sees eye to eye on the answer.  ~ All Africa

• Speaking of Coca-Cola, you JUST missed out on maybe being able to buy the original recipe for the soda on eBay. But at a starting bid of $5 million, would it have been worth the risk? ~ Time

• Sick of the cicada swarm? The United Nations recommends eating them, as is the norm in dozens of non-Western cultures. ~ Jezebel

• How do you solve a problem like having your brand name intrinsically linked to both a hero and a horrific abduction story? That’s what McDonald’s is figuring out. ~ Christian Science Monitor

• Treme executive producer David Simon weighs in on the spat between Anthony Bourdain and Bravo VP Andy Cohen over Top Chef filming in New Orleans. ~ Eater

• RIP E. Robert Kinney, former General Mills CEO and creator of Gorton’s Fish Sticks, who has sailed on to Fisherman’s Valhalla. ~ Grub Street

It’s the last on that list that most concerns us here at Food Digital. Oft-masked man Sietsema is among the most renowned food journalists working in the field today, graduating from food fanzine Down the Hatch in the early 1990s to award-winning writer with a long-standing tenure at Village Voice as a restaurant critic, columnist, and champion of the magazine’s yearly Choice Eats event. Sadly, tenure and awards aren’t always a match against the equalizing brutality of budget cuts.  

Fellow New York restaurant critic Ryan Sutton posted a lovely elegy for Sietsema’s Village Voice career on his excellent blog The Bad Deal, highlighting the importance of Sietsema’s place within New York’s journalism community:

It’s important for us food writers and critics to cover the highly-touted new restaurants in Manhattan and cool parts of Brooklyn, because, well, that’s where people are spending their money, and it’s our job to follow and critique that money trail. Of course, every now and then, with re-reviews, we try to lead our readers off the trail by turning a spotlight on a more forgotton venue, or a venue that’s imporoved over the years. 

And while Sietsema covered the big important new joints like the rest of us, his dedication to leading us WAY off the beaten path, outside of our Manhattan-Williamsburg-Carroll Gardens comfort zone, is why he’s so necessary. And with our city’s hospitality industry still getting back on its feet in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, it’s ever more vital that these small “Sietsema restaurants” (if I can call them that) be given their proper due.

Less than a year ago, Sietsema noted that being a food writer is tougher than it's ever been before at the start of an extremely thoughtful and encouraging column that stands as a guide on how to stand in the face of adversity and make a go of it anyway. It makes the fact that he's experiencing that toughness first hand through Village Voice even more disappointing, but it doesn't seem likely that this will sound the end of his career. It’s simply time to move on to a different venue.

[SOURCE: Grub Street; IMAGE: @robertsietsema]

Keeping your dining room the go-to place in town requires a concerted effort that will not only attract new customers, but also help you retain loyal patrons that will consistently choose your restaurant over the competition.

Create a Menu that Sets You Apart

The menu is a great place to highlight what sets you apart from the competition, so create a menu that entices people to want to try your food. If you’re one of three steakhouses in the neighborhood, focus on what makes the food at your steakhouse different from the others.

Do you serve unique items or ethnic cuisine that other restaurants don’t? Do you offer fresh ingredients from local farms? Are your pizzas made in a brick oven? In your menu, use words that show off what makes you different.

Provide Outstanding Service

The service you offer your customers is another great way to stand out from the competition. Even if you’ve got the best food in the world, people will go elsewhere if you’ve got rude wait staff or slow service. Offer customer service that shows your customers that you feel honored that they chose to eat in your establishment and they’ll be more likely to become loyal customers.

Pay Attention to the Décor

The first thing customers notice when they walk through the door is your décor. Obviously, first impressions make a big difference. Dirty and outdated furnishings will drive people away or deter them from even walking through the door in the first place.

Think about how you want customers to feel when they dine in your restaurant. Do you want to them to feel like they are treating themselves to an upscale treat? Or do you prefer they feel like they are at home sitting around a cozy dining table?

Hire the Right Chef

Your chef is the most important employee to your business. Hire a chef that will not only make people flock to your restaurant, but one that will also make people talk about your food to their friends and family. Take your time looking for the right chef who can provide your patrons with mouth-watering cuisine. It’s the best investment you will make for your business.

Market What Makes You Stand Out

When it comes to promoting your eatery, focus on what makes you better than the competition. Advertise the reasons why someone should eat at your restaurant and tell diners what they can expect from eating at your restaurant.

Use marketing methods that will grab the customers you are trying to reach. For example, if you’ve got a hip, fun restaurant that attracts droves of people for happy hour, use social media messages that show you’re a fun place to hang out. However, if you’re attracting mostly families with children, try coupons or promotions that might appeal to the budget-conscious patrons.

Manage Your Reputation

People are likely to check out your restaurant online before going there for the first time. If you’ve got bad reviews or you struggle to understand what’s being said about your business online, take steps to mitigate the potential damage it can cause. Instead, get people focused on talking about what makes you better than the other local eateries.

The restaurant business offers stiff competition. However, if you keep focused on making sure your restaurant is set apart from the competition, you’ll attract more customers and keep them coming back.

Amy Morin covers a variety of consumer and small business topics for various websites, including Reputation.com.

“Caring About Our Communities and Our Environment” – more than just a phrase, Whole Foods Market counts it as a core value and lives up to through several initiatives like its school nutrition-focused Whole Kids Foundation. Another interesting program at Whole Foods is its use of “foragers,” or regional scouts the company charges with seeking out and building new partnerships to keep shelves stocked with local high quality produce and products. 

For local San Diego restaurant Alchemy, the connection with Whole Foods Market regional forager Dwight Detter began at a meeting for San Diego’s Farm to School Taskforce.

“On this Farm to school task force there are all these players from around the San Diego area – farmers, restaurants, chefs, school nutrition and dietary nutrition people – It pretty much runs the whole gambit,” says Matt Thomas, managing partner at Alchemy. “[Co-managing partner Ron Troyano] and Dwight kept seeing each other at these task force meetings, and over this period they kind of built a relationship because we’re on the same page as far as trying to use local and sustainable ingredients in our restaurant items. So the two just kind of clicked, and Dwight was interested in what we did, so at one point we decided we were going to do a tasting menu for him. He loved the products, so he brought his store managers around and we did a tasting for them, and then we went around to each of the stores and did tastings for them as well for a product line we thought would be useful in the Whole Foods market.”

All that work was not for nothing: in mid-April, Whole Foods Market locations throughout San Diego County introduced exclusive Alchemy dishes to its prepared and specialty foods departments. 

The benefits for a local restaurant working with a national retail brand are legion, beginning with the ability to align yourself with a larger brand that shares your values. “First of all, just being associated with somebody on their caliber,” notes Thomas. “All of us in the restaurant – our executive chef, my business part Ron, and myself – we definitely have the same high regard for their business practices and their goal of trying to be 100 percent sustainable. They’re also against genetically modified ingredients. Things like that are things you can partner yourself with.”

Of course there is also the more simple benefit of having your products exposed to a much wider audience. “We can only showcase ourselves to the amount of people we can get in our restaurant, through our catering, and through our nutrition education,” says Thomas. “But with Whole Foods, having our vendor profile there and showcasing some of our items there, we just open ourselves up to a much larger amount of people. It’s nice to be able to have that option as well for being able to reach a larger audience.”

But the benefits are not all one-sided – a grocery chain like Whole Foods Market has a lot to gain by partnering with local suppliers and vendors. It’s a smart way to increase consumer interest on a local level, and to position yourself as a retailer with something unique to offer that consumers can’t get anywhere else. It’s also a great way to solidify your image in terms of community involvement and values. Aligning yourself with suppliers who are well known for their commitment to certain ideals and projects – like Alchemy, with its culinary education programs that fall well in line with Whole Foods Market’s core values – is a simple and direct way to show consumers that you stand behind your claims.

Alchemy made its debut with a handful of items like gluten-free black quinoa hush puppies, melitzana salata with grilled eggplant and feta cheese, and vegan kimchi prepared with local baby bok choy – but that’s only the beginning. Plans are already in the works to add additional sauces and more to the menu.

“It’s been a long process and we’re really kind of at that stage where it’s in and everything’s moving but we’re just at the ground level,” says Thomas. “But it’s been great and we’re just proud to be part of their local program.” 

On Wednesday, May 8, The Glenlivet launched Alpha.  Crafted in secret by Master Distiller Alan Winchester and limited to 3,350 bottles worldwide, the distillery chose to withhold cask information, tasting notes, and age.  They even chose a black bottle to keep the color a mystery (until opened and poured!).  The only information provided to consumers was the distillery name (obviously!), strength (a heady 50% Alc.), and price (USD $120 and £100 in the UK – which has raised a few eyebrows when there’s no age statement and no tasting notes).  The UK’s 650 bottle allocation promptly sold out, suggesting that £100 wasn’t too much for a wee gamble.

The point of the project, says the distillery, is “to encourage consumers to engage their senses and enjoy its distinct flavor.”  The hope is that serious whisky devotees as well as those just learning about the joys of the brown spirit will take the time to “explore and discover the unique flavors of Alpha and The Glenlivet range through look, smell, taste and feel.”  Supporting the enterprise is a series of weekly online challenges designed to engage the senses.

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Nikki Burgess, International Brand Director for The Glenlivet says:

 

The Glenlivet is famous for its smooth, full bodied flavor and with the launch of The Glenlivet Alpha we’re excited to be exploring this in an original way.  This is the first time anyone has launched a ‘blind’ whisky in this way and we are confident that this innovative campaign will excite whisky drinkers and help them to truly appreciate single malt and understand the flavors they taste in The Glenlivet’s award-winning range.

All will be revealed towards the end of June when Mr. Winchester broadcasts the answers on The Glenlivet’s distillery website and Facebook page.  In the meantime he says:

Flavor is a multi-sensory experience; one that combines the subtleties of sight and sensation in the mouth, in addition to taste and smell.  By withholding information on the casks used to create The Glenlivet Alpha and encouraging people to use their senses, I hope they will gain a greater appreciation of its particular flavor, and expand their understanding of the great complexity and depth of our unique single malt whisky.

The idea is an interesting one, to be sure, and a terrific way to have whisky drinkers (who quite often get stuck in their ways and return to their known bottlings time after time) reach outside of their comfort zone in order to revisit a distillery that they may have dismissed as much as a decade ago.  This also presents a way to reinvigorate a distillery’s offerings perhaps with an overall bump in alcohol content, a discontinuation of artificial coloring, or to embark upon a new cask management scheme. 

Daily Deal Media reports that Tesco’s new wine site, which operates through social commerce software BuyaPowa, offers a take on the online purchasing model that’s less Amazon and more Groupon, complete with perks for consumers who successfully pass along the savings to their friends.

A video from Tesco explaining the new site points to some of its benefits – prices on different wine offerings drop as more and more customers come together to buy them, and consumer interest can sway what types or labels of wine go on and off the market. In other words, Tesco asserts that the platform gives customers the power to control the market and help Tesco give them the value they want:

“This channel really puts customers in control – from determining the final price they pay, to telling us the products they’d like to see featured.” Now you know. But the point is well made.  This is social commerce for the empowered customer,” said Tom Daniell, Tesco director of digital and social, in a recent PR explanation.

Tesco is far from the first business to get involved in blending online wine sales with social media – in 2011 we reported on wine.com.br, a Brazilian online retailer that had launched an e-commerce shop through Facebook. But the more that companies jump on board with this business model,  the more choices consumers can have when it comes to determining supply and demand in the market of a product they love.

[SOURCE: Daily Deal Media]

According to its press release, Oscar Mayer is touting the new bacon dog as the first hot dog made with bacon meat available on the commercial market (we’ve seen similar bacon meat-based burgers and hot dogs at restaurants like Slater’s 50/50, but not so much in the lunchmeat aisle). It’s a smart business move that make so much sense we’re frankly shocked that it hasn’t been introduced before. After all, we all know Oscar Mayer has a way with b-o-l-o-g-n-a, but the Kraft Foods Group brand has always offered a lot of other products including hot dogs and, well, bacon:

"No one knows bacon like Oscar Mayer," said Jared Baker, director of Oscar Mayer hot dogs. "We know Americans love bacon, and we know they love hot dogs, so it seemed like the perfect time for us to introduce our first hot dog made with bacon."

So that’s pretty exciting, but it’s not the only new product that Oscar Mayer has up its sleeve. (Bacon can’t hog all the glory, right?) The brand is also rolling out hardwood-smoked pork and beef Smokies sausages; what’s more, it’s also adding Chicken Breast Hot Dogs to its line of Selects, giving white meat fans some choice beyond the usual turkey dog alternative. But bacon is most likely the one that will be causing the most buzz among consumers at this summer’s cookouts.

[SOURCE: Sacramento Bee via Yahoo]

Amy’s Baking Company Bakery Boutique and Bistro, suffice it to say, made the wrong choice.

You could say it all started last week, when ABC Bistro owners Samy and Amy appeared on a landmark episode of Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares. It’s notable for Ramsay actually walking out early – not because they did so well that they didn't need him, but because the owners refused to listen or change:  

The episode had the bonus effect of resulting in an influx of negative Yelp reviews, including a lot of obviously jokey one-star reviews:

The owners could have ignored them the way they ignored criticism on Kitchen Nightmares, but instead they took the “epic internet drama” approach to conflict:

Oh dear. Of course, when you get the internet involved the internet fights back. It wasn’t long before the restaurant’s tirade made it to Reddit’s r/cringepics page, and it only got worse from there as ABC Bistro descended into a quagmire of threats, bad Photoshops, and unhinged insanity:

(Click above for full-sized image)

Well, that certainly escalated quickly. According to Tony Morales, who you might remember from the comment about legal action and court proceedings, this isn’t the first time that ABC Bistro’s owners have lashed out at former and potential customers.

“I’m a friend of Joel, who the whole thing started with two years ago on Yelp,” says Morales, referencing a 2010 Yelp review that got picked up by the Phoenix New Times when co-owner Amy responded to the review by going nuclear. (One of the same "hater" reviews that Amy also mentions at the beginning of the episode.) “I tried to reach out to her to throw some water on the fire and see if I could make it all calm down, because it was getting out of hand like it is now, and she wasn’t interested in talking. I wanted to see what the restaurant was like, so I went in and they told me to get out. They’d never seen me, and my Facebook page is pretty locked down unless you’re a friend, so when I walked in as a customer they didn’t know my face, but they said they’re not interested.”

He notes one other prickly interaction with the restaurant at Cupcake Love-In, a Phoenix-based charity event. “Everyone had cupcakes up with signs describing what they were, but most were excited to tell you what they were and how they’d done it. I got over to Amy and asked her about her cupcakes, and she said that if you can’t read the signs, then you’re probably not smart enough to know what you’re tasting.”  

That’s all hearsay, but the proof is in the PR disaster pudding of Kitchen Nightmares and ABC Bistro’s Facebook page – though Morales does point out that it’s possible not every single comment came from Samy and Amy themselves. “Midway through the day is when they started going crazy,” he says. “That’s when they got hacked, if they got hacked.”

Whoever might have hacked the Facebook page did a spot-on enough impression of Samy and Amy to convince most passers-by. Even if they didn’t get hacked, claiming that it was could still be a smart way to play off the rampage once the dust has settled. The most important question now is: how will this all affect sales? After all, Ramsay doesn’t even have a sterling track record for saving the restaurants where owners do exactly what they’re told. ABC Bistro’s chances are as good as any, provided they can put this media fandango behind them – or even if it comes to define them, to be honest.

“What’s funny and sad is I think they’ll actually have a spike in business because people will want to see if they’re really that crazy,” says Morales, highlighting one of the true yet baffling facets of human nature. “People want to see a shit show. I think there’ll be a spike in business and then the bottom will fall out. [The previous Yelp exchange] all happened two years ago, and it made national news then, and they’re still in business. It’s hard to say.” 

***UPDATE***

RIght on cue:

ABC Bistro have deleted some (not all, curiously enough) of the string of angry posts and are claiming that a hack job is to blame, asserting that they are working with "local authorities as well as the FBI computer crimes unit" to prevent further attacks. Is it true? Maybe, maybe not. It seems a little fanciful to suppose that the FBI is getting involved in internet bullying between Reddit and a small mom-and-pop bakery and restaurant, but stranger things have happened. Whatever the truth is, ABC Bistro has certainly cemented its place in internet history. 

Emily Bryson York of the Chicago Tribune reports that the new Royales with Cheese Quarter Pounders will come in three flavors: bacon and cheddar, a more basic lettuce, tomato, and onion, and a spicy version with habañero ranch sauce. Speaking of bacon, McDonald’s is reportedly also swapping out its current bacon for a thicker-cut applewood smoked bacon to bring some heightened texture and class to its burger lineup:

"We've had some feedback from our consumer that our bacon may not have been as high quality or met their expectations but we are just in the process of rolling out a new bacon system wide," Neil Golden, chief marketing officer of McDonald's USA said in an interview. "We feel like that bacon is a fabulous enhancement to many of our products," such as the chain's premium McWraps and chicken sandwiches. 

Of course, the question is: why replace Third Pounders with Quarter Pounders? The obvious answer would be to save money, but a spokesperson for the brand insists that it isn’t all about the bottom line so much as getting back to basics and giving consumers what they want:

[McDonald’s spokesperson Danya] Proud said the burgers were created because the chain has seen sales surge when it revisits core menu items such as the Big Mac and chicken nuggets. McDonald's hasn't done anything with its Quarter Pounder in more than 40 years, she said.

Regardless of motives, they’re happening. The new Quarter Pounders are set to roll out in June.

[SOURCE: Chicago Tribune]

Nope, that’s a negative. According to the New York Times, this morning the United States Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favor of Monsanto, upholding the original ruling as well as the appeal. Justice Elena Kagan delivered the statement, which aimed to contain the implications of the ruling by holding it to a narrow scope:

"Our holding today is limited — addressing the situation before us, rather than every one involving a self-replicating product," she wrote. "We recognize that such inventions are becoming ever more prevalent, complex, and diverse. In another case, the article’s self-replication might occur outside the purchaser’s control. Or it might be a necessary but incidental step in using the item for another purpose.”

It seems that, unfortunately for Bowman, choosing to save seeds that were clearly of Monsanto’s Roundup Ready breed – despite having signed contracts forbidding him from doing so with his other crops – made it easy enough for the Supreme Court judges to look at this case not as a be-all end-all political statement about Monsanto, but as a cut and dry case of violating contracts and current patent laws. 

Now that the court case has received the final possible verdict, Bowman should be on the hook for the $84,000 in royalties he was originally ordered to pay by the Indiana federal judge who first heard the case back in 2007. It remains to be seen how the precedent set by Bowman v. Monsanto will play out in future cases down the road.

[SOURCE: New York Times]

• Pepsi is hoping to harness the power of social media and HTML5 to reach consumers and drive interest in its Pepsi Next product. ~ Mobile Marketer

• This week was the 2013 James Beard Restaurant and Chef Awards – check out the list of winners. ~ Eater

• The Fast Food Forward movement comes to Detroit as protesters walked off the job to strike  in a fight for higher wages and unions on Friday. ~ Huffington Post

• Free (for a little while at least) of the mental burdens of constant competition with Hostess, McKee Foods’ Little Debbie mascot is looking a little fresher. ~ Yahoo Finance

• Ever heard of the animated movie FoodFight!, a tale of food mascots come to life? We hadn’t before this week, and we almost wish we still hadn’t. We’re a little scarred by the trailer alone. ~ Forces of Geek

• Las Vegas gets some bad publicity as 200 patrons of popular off-the-Strip tapas restaurant Firefly fall ill with food poisoning. ~ Associated Press

• Can new Tim Hortons CEO Marc Caira save the business from dropping profits and help it forge on ahead in the United States? ~ Macleans

• On a hot streak, Taco Bell appears to be testing out a Waffle Taco for its breakfast menu. Could it do for breakfast what the Doritos Locos did for every other meal of the day? ~ Foodbeast

Every vegan’s worst nightmare has occurred.

On Thursday Whole Foods Inc. announced labels on its chicken salad and those on a vegan version were reversed at some of its stores in the Northeast.

The mislabeled salads – a curried chicken salad and a vegan curried “chick’n” salad – were sold in 15 stores in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York, Whole Foods said. In some locations the salads were sold in the cold food bars where customers scoop food into containers, which are then weighed at the register.  In other locations the salads were in the prepared food sections behind glass.

According to Whole Foods, which is based in Austin, Texas, the salads were sold on Tuesday and Wednesday and have since been recalled. Fortunately, no illnesses have been reported.

The Food and Drug Administration said the vegan salad contains soy and the curried chicken salad contains egg. The FDA went on to say people who have an allergy or severe sensitivity to soy or eggs run the risk of serious or life-threatening allergic reaction if they eat the salads.

Whole Foods spokeswoman Libba Letton said some of the company’s bulk food comes pre-made from third-party vendors. The curried salads, both chicken and vegan, arrived with the wrong labels already on them and appropriate action has been taken. She went on to say the mix up was discovered by an employee in the prepared food section at one of its stores.

Whole Foods is known for selling a wide variety of organic products with about 330 stores in the U.S.

ConAgra Foods Inc. is the manufacturer behind a host of well-known brands with household names, from Chef Boyardee and Rosarita canned goods to licensed frozen products from P.F. Chang’s and Marie Callender’s. Combined, these products brought ConAgra net sales of $13.3 billion in 2012.

9. Kellogg Company

In its 2012 fiscal year Kellogg Company saw net sales of $14.2 billion, its highest in more than five years, an achievement the company attributes in no small part to joint ventures in China as well as its acquisition of Pringles.

8. General Mills

General Mills was able to increase its net sales substantially over its 2012 fiscal year, for a total of $16.7 billion. While $10.5 billion of that was in U.S. domestic sales, with the brand’s Big G Cereals sector accounting for 23%, General Mills is also strengthening its market share overseas in Europe and Asia.

7. Kraft Foods Group

It has been an interesting year for Kraft Foods Group – it’s been less than a year since the division spun off as a primarily North American business with a focus on convenience deli and snack brands like Velveeta, Oscar Mayer, and its iconic eponymous Kraft Singles and Macaroni and Cheese. Despite the tumult, Kraft Foods Group still saw net revenue of $18.3 billion in 2012.

6. Tyson Foods

Tyson Foods holds some enviable titles in the food manufacturing world – Meat and Poultry gave it the top slot on its Top 100 of 2013, and it’s not hard to see why. Between its numerous assets including its own branded consumer products and its clout as the exclusive chicken supplier to franchise operations like Yum! Brands and McDonald’s, Tyson Foods brought in revenue of $33.2 billion last year.

5. Mondelēz International

It’s been a huge year for Mondelēz International, the newly minted global snack company formed after Kraft Foods split into two different entities. With its global reach and brands like Oreo and Cadbury, Mondelēz was able to pull ahead of Kraft Foods Group with 2012’s net revenue at $35 billion.

4. JBS SA

Around the world, JBS is synonymous with beef. The Sao Paulo-based food processing company is the largest of its kind with plants in Brazil, Argentina, Australia and the United States to produce fresh and frozen beef, chicken, and pork products for the retail and foodservice sectors. The multinational brand reported revenue of R$ 76 billion (USD $38.5 billion) in the 2012 fiscal year.

3. PepsiCo

PepsiCo is a lot more than just soda: the company is also home to a wealth of global main brands including Quaker Foods, Walker’s Crisps, and everything under the Frito-Lay corn and potato chip empire from Fritos to, well, Lay’s. By the end of its 2012 fiscal year, PepsiCo announced net revenue of $65.5 billion.

2. Nestlé SA

As everyone ought to know by now, Switzerland-based Nestlé SA is a whole lot more than just chocolate bars. From Nescafé and Nespresso coffee brands to dairy products like Dreyer’s Ice Cream and Haagen-Dazs to its proprietary bottled water brands, it’s Nestlé’s formidable stable of brand names that helped it reach $96.8 billion in net revenue for 2012.  

1. CARGILL INC.

Consumers might not go into a grocery store and buy a Cargill-branded product, but the odds are good that something in their grocery basket got its start in a Cargill factory. From malts for the brewing industry to oils and shortenings and value-added meat products for the foodservice industry to hydrocolloids and salts and starches to keep convenience foods fresh, the sheer amount of products manufactured by Cargill for a worldwide market is almost staggering. Cargill also keeps its supply chain close by managing its own transport and shipping arm, and cyclically supports its own suppliers by offering a range of livestock feed for every type of farm from beef cattle to dairy cattle to aquaculture. Just having a hand in so many sectors would be explanation enough for Cargill winning a spot on this Top Ten, but the company has also had a banner year – in the press release for its 2012 year-end report, Cargill chairman and CEO Greg Page noted that its food ingredients group saw its third year in a row of record earnings and was by far the largest contributor to the year’s earnings. In total, Cargill Inc. recorded consolidated revenues of $133.9 billion in 2012. 

For the past five years, the Natural Resources Defense Council has sought out leaders throughout the food industry that are thinking differently and changing the face of the industry for the better. At the 2013 Growing Green Awards, the NRDC highlighted four individuals who are making a difference along every segment of the supply chain, from distribution and retail to the very soil where the crops are grown.

FOOD PRODUCER

Russ Kremer | Heritage Acres

When the contraction of an antibiotic-resistant superbug from one of his hogs turned a routine farm accident into a two month near-death experience nightmare, fifth generation pig farmer Russ Kremer dedicated his career to raising his livestock naturally and drug-free. But once he found his calling, there was still the matter of putting it into action – for that Kremer had to look to foreign markets like England and Italy, outside the conventions of the local market where oppressive pork market prices were making it difficult for independent farmers to make a living.

“I’d traveled in Europe in 1999 to study the new trends in marketing food products that were happening over there,” says Kremer. “What I learned was that there was this movement for consumers to build relationships with the farmer, knowing how things were produced and where they were produced, and treating farmers like they were rock stars. I also learned that they were willing to pay a premium for the product that was safe, sustainably raised, and free of chemicals and antibiotics.”

In particular, it was a German cooperative run by a retired veterinarian-turned-homeopathic healer that inspired Kremer to come home and found the Ozark Mountain Pork Cooperative, a collective that is now 52 farms strong – all of them dedicated to raising all-natural heritage pork. Under brands like Heritage Acres and Fork in the Road, Kremer’s cooperative has formed supplier partnerships with major names from Costco to Whole Foods to Chipotle.

“We had raised quite a bit of money and hired marketing and sales people, and that part actually failed – and I came to the realization that what the customers wanted was to know the farmers and know our authentic story,” says Kremer. “So I started knocking on the doors myself. After about three attempts, finally [Chipotle Steve Ells] called and said he wanted to come out and visit, so he actually came out to our farm and was sold on the fact that we truly had this great story and are passionate about raising pigs the right way.”

Kremer sees the NRDC award recognition as a nod to not just him or his cooperative, but as a window to changing the industry for the better. “I was totally flattered and surprised, and of course honored,” says Kremer. “I don’t seek out awards like this. I have dedicated my life to this, especially since I had this near death experience and realized I had to be part of the solution to the safety of food and developing a model for farmers in the food system. I accept this award on behalf of a lot of the other sustainable farmers who work with me or have followed me into the system, because you’ve got to be courageous to go outside your comfort zone and really do what’s right. So I feel a sense of obligation, by winning this award, to continue this work and to continue to prove to the world that the sustainable way of producing food and developing a model and a system for this food is available and acceptable to the masses.”

BUSINESS LEADER

Larry Jacobs | Jacobs Farm/Del Cabo/Farm Fuel Inc.

Larry Jacobs is an entrepreneur who wears several hats, but it all stems from the same source. “I had a really bad experience with pesticides when I was young,” he relates. “In the 1980s the wisdom for growing foods was that you had to use the pesticides, and I just had a strong urge to show that you could do it without all these chemicals – it was hard to find food that wasn’t grown with chemicals, and so there was an impetus to do it ourselves.”

That determination has led Jacobs to the vanguard of the organic agriculture movement on several fronts, from his organic culinary herb production farm Jacobs Farms to his work building the Del Cabo co-operative to support small farming communities in Baja California. Now Jacobs and his team are turning their attentions to another facet of the agriculture industry.

“We started [Farm Fuel Inc.] to help develop tools for farmers to help address some of the big problems we have growing food that up to now require some pretty heavy duty chemicals,” says Jacobs. The problem in particular that Farm Fuel is targeting is the use of methyl bromide, a soil fumigant with an ugly history of ozone depletion and toxicity that is nonetheless a crucial part of conventional farming. “Methyl bromide has become more limited in use, and the amounts licensed and permitted in this country has been increasingly restricted, yet there has been very strong pressure from the ag community and manufacturers to continue using it because they don’t have anything better – so we focused on trying to develop strategies for dealing with that.”

The answer appears to reside in the humble mustard seed – or rather the isothiocyanates that give mustard its heat and its herbicidal properties – and short carbon chain substances like molasses and rice meal that can quickly render soil to anaerobic conditions. Between EPA registration and rigorous testing in real life situations through established farms like Driscoll’s and Nature Ripe, Jacobs is confident that these organic techniques have bright futures ahead.

“We’re that finding yields are better and it’s working comparable to very strong soil fumigants like methyl bromide, and we’re very confident we have a replacement product that’s as good and is going to cost less,” says Jacobs. “When you put that combination in place, you obviate the need to regulate out the use: you don’t need to legislate that farmers can’t use methyl bromide any longer, because now they’ve got something just as good that costs less. Farmers are smart – they’re going to choose that because they’re going to get a better yield, save themselves money, and they don’t have to use this chemical that has setbacks and registration and all this regulatory stuff.”

The NRDC Growing Green Award can only help in getting Farm Fuel’s new ideas the recognition they need to take off. “It was a huge surprise and an enormous honor to be singled out for this award,” says Jacobs. “Those of us growing food work really hard, and the public recognition goes a long way to making us all feel encouraged about all that we do. We’re all putting food in our mouths and our bodies every day – it’s our nourishment, it’s a great source of enjoyment, it’s as basic a human need as you can get. So NRDC recognizing and acknowledging those of us in the food growing world that are pushing the envelope and pushing our industry to grow and create food in a more sustainable way that’s healthy for all the participants – from the workers on the farm to the farmers involved with growing the food – is really important.”

FOOD JUSTICE LEADER

Tezozomoc / South Central Farmers Health and Education Fund

“The way that employment is these days, where it’s hard to even have full time employment even if you want to be employed, and we’ve entered a new form of work – it’s kind of nomadic employment, with a constant unknown, and it’s not guaranteed that you’re going to have employment even if you want to,” says Los Angeles local leader Tezozomoc. “So having those kinds of policies and concepts that allow people to feed themselves, it’s a new form of adaptation to not only living in the city but also creating meaningful subsistence living through agriculture.”

This is the philosophy behind the South Central Farmers Health and Education Fund, a nonprofit project grown out of a 14-acre community farm in L.A.’s South Central district. Though the farm was closed and destroyed in 2006, its spirit lives on through numerous SCFHEF projects, the largest of which is a new 85-acre community farm in Buttonwillow. But that is only the tip of the iceberg.

“We are looking into resources, land, water, capital for equipment, and operating capital to do another farm – that’s our next goal,” says Tezozomoc. “Additionally we’re providing distribution services and marketing services for our existing coops and any future ones, and we’ve started a commercial kitchen that does co-packing and co-processing. We’re working with the cooperative to create a different way to get food to people, trying to create healthy organic and ethnic product lines. These are real things that are happening now – our future is looking at how do we create more of these equity programs where the participants are co-owners in their work? So like the worker-owned cooperatives, distribution as a service rather than an independent vendor – these are the kinds of real things we’re working on, and hopefully with the NRDC Going Green award we can highlight some of these and get some of that support to happen our way.”

Support for the SCFHEF translates directly into support for the farmers and workers that participate in the project – and the opportunity that the community farm provides is a powerful thing. “We believe that agriculture is one of few things that allows you to scale up a way to make a living,” says Tezozomoc. “That’s what we’ve been trying to show. Even if you have people who are marginalized, people can still feed themselves whether within the infrastructure of cities or outside of them.”

YOUNG FOOD LEADER

Brianna Almaguer Sandoval | Healthy Corner Store Initiative

Known for being stocked with heavily processed nonperishable snacks and junk food, a prevailing school of thought paints corner stores as a villain in the fight for access to fresh and healthy food in low-income food deserts. But Philadelphia’s Food Trust nonprofit asked the question: what if corner stores could be converted into willing allies?

That’s the idea behind the Healthy Corner Store Initiative, a movement led by Food Trust employee and NRDC Young Food Leader award winner Brianna Almaguer Sandoval. 

“We did a lot of research and found that 53 percent of kids were shopping at corner stores at least once a day,” says Sandoval. “We thought: if they’re already going to the corner stores, why don’t we just work with them to bring healthier snack options to kids – and why aren’t they offering healthier options? Through that sort of question and answer and trial and error, we developed this model for change in stores where we are providing them with training and technical support around selling healthy perishable products, improving overall store operations, and then also providing them with equipment and other resources they need assistance with in order to get started with selling healthy.”

Sandoval identified three key points that tend to keep healthier offerings out of corner stores – skills, space, and sourcing – and from there the Healthy Corner Store Initiative has set out to help stores overcome those points through employee training and equipment upgrades. Most importantly, the Initiative helps connect stores with quality suppliers who can offer healthy and fresh products at competitive prices. “The idea is really to provide them with that initial support to begin implementing these new healthy options, and then let them continue that through their normal business operations,” says Sandoval.

While the project is already seeing success, it’s just the tip of the iceberg. “We are continuing to develop new ideas and strategies around not only getting healthier products into stores but getting customers to buy them,” says Sandoval. “The next phase that we’re working on is the Healthy Corner Store Certification Program – we’re doing that in partnership with the Philadelphia Department of Public Health and their Get Healthy Philly initiative. We’re actually certifying a store as being healthy, and we look at a number of different food categories like dairy, fruits and vegetables, whole grains, snacks and beverages. For each of those categories we have a certain amount of products that the store must carry, and nutrition standards with that. We’re also requiring stores to implement a promotional requirement. Instead of just stocking those items, put them at eye level in a high traffic location.”

Sandoval notes that it’s all part of the plan to keep moving corner stores – and the city of Philadelphia in general – toward better health and respect for the food system. “Over time we’ve been getting them to do a little more, and this is the next step. So again we’re still trying to push stores to try a little harder and add a little more.” 

In stepping into this new position, Marc Caira has some seriously large shoes to fill: Paul House has been a part of Tim Hortons since 1985, originally joining the business as vice president of marketing before working his way up to president in 1995 and CEO in 1996.

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But although Caira may not have spent decades coming up through the ranks of Tim Hortons, he is no stranger to the food industry or the brand itself. The National Post notes that, over the course of a nearly four-decade tenure at Nestlé under such titles as CEO of Parmalat North America and Global CEO of Nestlé Professional, Caira has worked closely with Tim Hortons to develop soups and other products.

Caira isn’t walking into the strongest position that the chain has ever been in – this week Tim Hortons posted its first quarterly report of the 2013 fiscal year, revealing a 3 percent drop in net income to 86.2 million Canadian dollars (down from last year’s 88.8 million). But executives for the brand are optimistic that its push south into the United States will ultimately prove successful and help unlock further revenue potential in the future.

Marc Caira will take over officially as CEO starting on July 2, upon which House will then move into a non-executive chairman role.

[SOURCE: Yahoo Finance; National Post]