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Archive for category Economy

One More Food Tax

Mar 11

Posted by admin in Economy, beverages

A soda tax has been talked about for a long time, and as one group scoffs at its necessity, another jumps to the forefront waving new research. The back-and-forth approach to regulation and what is a government issue v. a personal, private decision remains a hot burner issue.

The Feds seem to be stepping out of the equation with all the other topics floating around, but some of the states seem ready to take up the cause as a way to boost their declining revenues. The formula is a tax fitted to the number of ounces of the drink. Imagine the situation at any of the fast food outlets and then multiply the chaos by the outrage.resize

Whether you’re talking a penny an ounce tax or the very high 18% figure that is being mentioned the concern is the same. We are a country in the out-of-control department about weight gain, obesity, and increases in diabetes. Those being the primary reasons behind the reemergence of the beverage tax. Some in support of the concept talk about overall economic savings.

The real issue that cannot be lost in the steam roll is who makes the decision about what to eat and drink. The economy is still in bad shape with job losses and high overall unemployment. Inexpensive food and drink options help many people stave off hunger. This is the reality of the times. Fix one issue at a time. One more tax is not the way to go.

Pennies count no matter the size of the beverage.

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The 3-Pounder

Feb 4

Posted by admin in Economy, food universe, life

Don’t get excited; I’m not talking about a burger eating contest. I’m sure someone is ready to test his personal best, and prove his overeating mettle, but I’m talking fruit. Most likely a healthier discussion!

Yes, something’s going on at the grocery store. Somebody very smart, somewhere, figured out that buying fruit by the pound could tip the scales over the budget limits, but buying affordable 3-lb bags seemed somehow logical. With the economy in its current circular cycle, shoppers needed products in more manageable sizes: They could no longer afford to fill their kitchens with 10 lb bags of an assortment of fruits. Welcome to the 3-pound bags.

Selection varies from store to store, but there are multiple varieties within a category such as apples: Saw 4-5 different types of apples (even found organic honey crisps) in this 3 lber easy-to-carry bagapplebags. Another positive besides price, storage, and variety, they were smaller apples: Perfect lunch box or brown bag size. Hey, someone has figured this out.

There are small bags of all types of oranges, too. Not seen much in the way of grapefruit, but figure this year with the various negative temperature cycles, small grapefruits will become popular, too.

We’re talking economy of scale.

OK, economy.

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Here We Go Again: Restaurant Specials

Jan 20

Posted by admin in Economy, dining out

If you want to measure the strength of the economy or its improvement out of the recession cellar, then look at restaurants or more specifically, restaurant specials. They are starting to come in again. Maybe they never stopped fully, but they are multiplying again. It feels a lot like last year at this time when you look at some of these offers.

–The Palm has paired a 9 oz filet with a 1-1/4 lb crab stuffed lobster, accompanied by asparagus. Good until the end of March ($47.95)

–The Capital Grille has a 4-course menu (appetizer, salad, entree, and dessert). Good until the end of February ($49).

–P. F. Chang’s makes every afternoon (3-6 P) a happy time with reduced priced liquids and solids ($3-$6). That’s simple pricing easy to remember!margarita_wraps

–Chili’s offers 3 courses (a starter, 2 entrees, and a dessert) for $20. The entree choice includes the new mini taco menu. Remember this is really a $20 deal for 2 people to share.

These are just a few of the national players getting in on enticing menus with early seasonal specials. The list can easily be updated regularly.

Don’t forget the smaller guys: The sandwich places, the local happy hours, and the numerous choices for lunch deals.

Time to take a break and dine out.

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Breakfast: The Most Important Meal

Jan 8

Posted by admin in Economy, coffee, dining out

For years nutritionists have been saying kick your metabolism into gear by having breaksfast. Start your day with fuel and the rest of the day will move along nicely. Puns intended.

Plenty of restaurants and quick-service spots have obviously heard the rallying cry–it translates as Ka-Ching as dollars are going into the register with record speed as breakfast has become a bigger stop than just for the all-mighty cup of coffee. The examples speak volumes.

–Chick-Fil-A: They just introduced a new breakfast menu with with a low-calorie yogurt parfait (Theyogurtparfaity quickly decided this item would be a popular all-day choice so its availability extends beyond 10:30AM) and mini nuggets–(Chick-n-Minis)–you know, a hand-held slider. Judging by the early morning drive-thru line, the concept must already be working.

–IHOP: Breakfast anytime is their concept as they move into the new year with the return of the All-You-Can Eat Buttermilk Pancakes starting at $4.99. It’s not just a plate of pancakes on this special as the combo accompaniments of eggs, hash browns, and meat are part of round one. Pancakes can keep on coming until it’s time to roll yourself out the door.

–McDonald’s: They  took on the breakfast brigade with the national rollout of the $1 menu (sausage biscuit, burrito, or McMuffin, and, of course, hashbrowns).

–Sonic Drive-In has several breakfast choices on the dollar menu including the Junior Breakfast Burrito with Sausage. They subscribe to the breakfast anytime motto.

All-Day Breakfast and price-competitive menus seem to be the theme starting the New Year. That, of course, and the big shout out about new, better grinds for truly enjoyable coffee!

With all the drive-n-go or eat ‘n run options, is anybody really focused on the Breakfast Metabolism starter or just finding filling food at affordable prices?

A little less food; a better cup of coffee.

Thank you.

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The Year of the (Chef) Burger

Dec 31

Posted by admin in Economy, cooking, dining out

This year, the one we’re saying good bye to, has been a major gut check experience. We learned a lot about ourselves as we changed our spending patterns. We became savers! Unheard of!

In our saving mentality, we started to cook more, eat at home more, and dine out differently. No longer was every restaurant meal one that approached stratospheric prices. We welcomed new places that promised better buys, greater attention to our needs, not just THEIR bottom line. We patronized new burger spots and bistros, the types of restaurants that succeed during tough times.

Big-name chefs figured it out and rearranged menus and moved into this dining space. Why not? Customers were receptive. Tables were full. The price was right: A perfect solution to wanting to dine out but refusing to spend 4-star dollars.

If chefs like Daniel Boulud (Daniel and DBGB Kitchen & Bar), Laurent Tourondel (BLT Steak and BLT Burger), Danny Meyer (Union Square Hospitality and Shake Shack), and Michel Richard (Citronelle and Central Michel Richard) are flipping burgers; there’s a good reason for their aggressive moves: Dining Dollars talk. It’s not that their fancy restaurants sit empty; it’s just more likely that diners can opt for frequent USH_ShakeShackburger or bistro stops several times a month!

So much of the year was spent saying, “Don’t worry, it’s almost over.” The elusive elephant has never really left the room. The economy has improved but more people are on the breadline. We want everything to be better; we want to return to the more carefree universe that gave us tacit permission to eat out and carry in without as much anxiety about our decisions.

We welcome the Burger and Bistro approach.

The lines are long.

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Good Deeds: Food Needs

Nov 17

Posted by admin in Economy, news

This is the time of year that the true reality of the economic crisis comes front and center. With the holidays fast approaching, the gloomy news strikes a negative chord with the recent release from the USDA about the number of people, 50 million, who do not have enough food to fill the family table.

We can work in soup kitchens and we can deliver food to shelters and support food banks, but the problem is so much more pervasive than an occasional boost from private citizens. In this vast country, the news that so many go hungry should ignite the discussions into actions to solve this growing problem.

There are a few glimmers from private corporations and foundations ready to step in and help work toward ending hunger in this country.

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation has taken a decisive approach, one that other companies and foundations might consider emulating. The beneficiaries from $32.5 million (”Food & Community”) will be used for food-related work in nine communities. The goals are  to help these communities transform school food systems, improve community food environments, promote active living and routine physical activity, and sustain and expand the movement for healthful food.

One of the recipients from such a far-reaching program is the local farmers in western Massachusetts. The schools will be purchasing foods directly from the farmers. Students will get fresh, local foods and, in turn, learn about where their food comes from.

Hopefully, the Foundation has set a standard that others can emulate. Share Our Strength has made the elimination of childhood hunger its most important mandate. The number of children (over 17% of all children last year) were without enough food. Staggering statistics.

The sheer numbers of those who go hungry are frightening. This dire need must be addressed at the government and corporate level. As individuals we can help, but the problem has escalated beyond a simple one-tier solution.breadline

This is America, the land of opportunity. We cannot continue a negative slide backwards to the hunger lines from the 20’s. Food banks feel the pain.

What happened?

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Restaurant Trends for 2010

Nov 9

Posted by admin in Economy, dining out, food universe

friedchickenNot one to miss a list, here’s one from a restaurant consulting company, (Joseph Baum & Michael Whiteman), ready with predictions for next year.  Their list recognizes that we are different consumers and diners, and our agenda for the coming year is to match food with our own personal needs. They believe restaurants have to align themselves with the consumer who is still suffering the extreme economic woes that significantly impacted numerous restaurants to close this past year. Time to digest.

Some of the hot buttons are: Economic survival, artisan and hand-made, neighborhood and local, and authentic and real. These are the themes that run through the trends restaurants must focus on: The diner is a different customer than he was not so long ago and missing these concepts may mean missing the proverbial boat.

–Time for more appetizers and small plates that guests can share. Dining is more comarderie; the concept adds to the comfort level of dining out.

–Upscaling the Downscale. With gourmet hamburger sales and artisan hot dog sales increasing and steakhouses sliding, this is the time for chefs to be inventive with their burger options. Lamb burgers have become popular as have the list of homemade condiments and relishes to accompany the popular new foods.

–Get over the “organic”and “natural” labels which the company believes are overused and lost in translation. Instead opt for fresh, local, and hand-made, all terms that have an inherent level of trust. We can visualize the farmer, the farm market and the chef’s garden. It’s about trust.

–Fried chicken is the new pork belly. No more emphasis on getting the diner to crave new foods. Fried chicken has become the norm from all manner of chef including Thomas Keller’s new Ad Hoc Restaurant in Yountville, CA where Monday nights are chicken dinner nites. No one wants to miss this gravy boat.

I’m saving a few from the list for later in the week as they encompass the other type of diner or shopper we have become. Consider this a reflection of our dining habits and styles that are important for a comfortable restaurant experience. As the list focuses us on the new decade, so much of the theme sounds a lot like this year, doesn’t it!

Hope everyone’s listening.

What do you think it takes to get a restaurant to survive the economic elephant that is still in the room?

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I Like When YOU Listen–Thanks, Grocers

Nov 4

Posted by admin in Economy, food, grocer

After a truly tough year fighting the economy, mounting bills, and the increased costs of  some basic foods, grocers have responded in a variety of ways. We’ve seen triple coupons, dollar-off opportunities with a minimal purchase, and aisles filled with signs shouting out “lower prices”. We’ve had deals, great deals, new deals, and you name it, but somehow we are still left with a few questions.

What’s the real deal? Why were prices so high in the first place? The honest answer is: Because they could be. People were more flush with money, they had jobs, bills were getting paid, and high grocery prices were an almost accepted fact of life. Now with all the additional coupons from grocers and manufacturers, we are in a different world. The worry is that economic signs are improving and grocers will return to their old ways.

First, you need to be a member. Membership loyalty cards, those pesky things that are all over your keychain, are often necessary to get the savings. Most chains let you type in your phone number rather than make you carry the 500-lb assortment of ways you are trying to save. Whether a club card, card saver, or whatever it’s calledeVic_logo, it is the modus operandi of the shopping universe.

Wegmans came up with a response to consumer anxiety this past Sunday when their senior vice president of consumer affairs Mary Ellen Burris turned her weekly column into a road map of good economic strategies. She recognizes they have seen changed buying habits, house-brand shopping, and greater focus on less expensive prepared foods. They stress they are committed to maintaining their prices and remain focused on how many items are less expensive now than they were in ‘08.

A new volley was tossed out today, food circular Wednesday, as Giant Food introduced its new point-based savings plan: Each dollar is a point, 250 points is 5 % off a future order (800 points earns a 20% off reward). They call it the Holiday Reward Coupon of Your Choice.

The gloves are off. May these strategies serve as the model for other grocers as we are far from being out of the woods. The holiday’s are coming, and we all appreciate that beef, pork, chicken, bread and dairy are less expensive than they were.

We are different diners, shoppers, and cooks. We will not go back to those spendthrift, carefree days of accepting high prices. We need the incentives to continue, and the grocers to recognize that the early part of the decade exhibited behavior we no longer can afford to stomach.

Price spikes need to stay off the shelves.

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Shrinking the Food

Oct 24

Posted by admin in Economy, dining out

choccheeseckThe food police are probably all smiles about the latest food trend: Smaller portion sizes of an app or an entree. More restaurants are moving into the smaller sizes but maintaining the same price point as a way to survive the economic gargoyles.

What this means for the consumer is quite simple: Relief that prices have not climbed up. Good news. Yet, the sense of not feeling as sated after the meal: Troubling. Do the math with me: A mere substitution of a 5 oz chicken breast for what had been a 6 oz portion means the plate gets filled with a lot of greens. Here’s another one making the rounds: two 3-oz filet mignons instead of one 10 oz portion. Cost-wise the restaurant is saving a significant amount, and you as the diner are pleased that the price has not gone up.

This explains the small-plate phenomena. Not just tapas and mezze platters, but smaller choices; even Cheesecake Factory has been promoting this popular strategy (don’t worry they still have plenty of desserts). The new Michelin guide designates top restaurants that offer small plate value. We are not out of the woods yet; this trend helps us indulge.

Desserts are a different story. Prices have risen while at the same time their portion size has not decreased. Desserts, sweets, are always popular during troubling times. We’re not just talking cupcakes! Paying an extra 50 cents or even a dollar for a dessert does not seem as cost prohibitive as paying several extra dollars for an entree. You want the reward at the end of the meal!

So who wins? In many respects, we all do as the overly large portion size just increases our potential obesity stats. The restaurant wins as it  saves a little money and still has loyal customers. The pastry chef, if there is one, becomes a truly busy, sought after commodity.

We can all survive together.

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Starbucks in the Victory Lane

Oct 20

Posted by admin in Economy, coffee

It’s almost impossible to miss the outpouring of Starbucks ads centered around the new instant superstar, the Via. At least the company hopes that this will be star quality (this product has been touted for over a half a year now).

viaThe ads show an upbeat flair matching the belief that there’s a lot of anticipation surrounding the intro. Besides seeing it already in full display at Costco, it’s receiving attention from end-of-season campers who feel they have solved one of their biggest fears–no hot coffee. Of course, they could just follow Billy Crystal (”City Slickers”), and grind their own tentside.

There’s also news that the early clock cleaning reports from both McDonald’s and Dunkin’ Donuts may now be a piece of past history. The only negative news lately is that some songs have not been promoted as heavily as artists would like. Not everybody’s complaining.

As Starbucks sales continue to improve, we might be able to use that piece of news as an economic barometer: Is the economy back on track to support our caffeine habit?

Love it, as the ads say,”A product you can get through TSA.”

As long as airlines still offer hot water, we’ve got a match.

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