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Archive for category Economy

Nothing Scary about the Halloween Aisle

Oct 13

Posted by admin in Economy, lifestyle, news

OK, maybe the ghosts and goblins are getting a little anxious about their candy haul for this Halloween, but no need to worry. Early indications say that candy sales are already way up; maybe the faltering economy has helped–sweet treats always help soothe the anxiety! Research indicates that “the average person is estimated to spend about $22.50 on Halloween treats in 2009.” Whew that’s a lot more than I would have guessed!

Maybe we better put down the blog and hit the stores while the supply is ample and there are still enticing sales and plenty of variety packages to help us make a great selection. Remember the old maxim: If no tricksters come, you want to be left with candy you like. No Milk Duds here. (Personal maxim).

Not just candy but all components of the end-of-the-month Holiday are doing well  Consumers are buying decorations and costumes; the only loser is the greeting card aisle. Think about it: What would you rather have, candy corn or a card with a picture of candy corn? Candy corn is for internal house consumption; tricksters get mini snack size bars!mandm

As I sit at my desk mulling the various snack bag size of candies, the answer is quite simple: Candy.

I can make my own card!

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Economy Barometer: Restaurant Edition

Sep 23

Posted by admin in dining out, Economy

Each time I imagine light at the proverbial end of the tunnel, I get further insight that all is not as one would hope. Restaurants still struggle. Many big time; some have called it a day. For those that are in the ring putting up a good fight, they have re-imaged themselves as more accessible, more financially reachable. Simple translation: Promotions.

Half-priced wine nights. We all love a good deal; especially when it is a true value. This concept could be even more enticing if it were not limited to a single slow evening. With so many states allowing diners to take home unfinished bottles, this type of promotion could be a further enticement to dining out.

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Pre-theater menus: A good idea. One that borders on great when top-tier restaurants participate, for instance, in New York, there’s Artisanal Bistro. Their pre-theatre menu morphed into “Value-Added Dining,” a prix-fixe menu at all meal times, like Restaurant Week forever!

In DC, there’s Tosca–an expensive restaurant that figured out how to bring in an earlier crowd during a potentially slow, quiet dinner hour. They even donate 10% of the “Dine at Dusk” proceeds to Food & Friends, an organization that helps individuals with life-challenging illnesses receive proper nutrition during difficult times. That alone should make you want to dine early. A smart pairing.

Back up a little: We have seen the proliferation and return of the Happy Hour concept which was exceedingly popular during the 60′s when it involved real food, not just chips. That trend disappeared until the past year when the food and drink combo came back into play. The latest participant: The Palm and its Prime Bites Menu.

The evidence of reality-based economic paranoia is true at all price points. Look at the $5 promotion which began so long ago at Subway and continues to draw in legions of customers. Smart move.

How about the latest family lure: Two Kids Eat Free at Boston Market. All you need to purchase is a single adult entree for at least $6–simple translation–3 can eat for 6. That works.

Promotions that worked earlier in the year are somehow reappearing or being extended, once again. Take T.G.I. Friday’s $5 sandwich deal: It’s back with special $5 off select entrees, too. IHOP wants to be a dinner destination as well as a breakfast spot–they have a new menu to put themselves into contention.

Restaurants are no longer trying to be coy about their strategies. Those that want to survive are willing to fight for the turf.

We’ll help you stay in business if you help OUR bottom line.

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Great American Dine Out

Sep 17

Posted by admin in dining out, Economy

Let’s help Share Our Strength (SOS) share its strength, its mission to end childhood hunger. Here’s an opportunity to support restaurants participating in the nationwide “Great American Dine Out.” The one-week promotion begins Sunday, September 20 and concludes Saturday evening, the 26th. Restaurants give back either through selected menu items, a percentage of overall sales, or special promotions that help SOS on its drive to end childhood hunger by 2015. Not an easy task especially in these tumultuous times!

There are a few ways to find the restaurants in your area, or your travel spot, that are participants. Two obvious directions are the SOS site itself where you can enter a zip code or city/state combo or with an online reservation service, such as Open Table–here’s a sample list for LA.dineout

Restaurants that give back are important destinations we should remember year-round. In this one special Dine Out week, they provide a winning solution to a critical nationwide problem.

Dine Out with SOS.

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Are High-End Wines Passé?

Sep 12

Posted by admin in alcohol, beverages, Economy

winebeauA lot has changed since the dreaded Recession/near Depression and economic slide of 2009. We are definitely different shoppers, consumers, diners, cooks, and lest we forget, different drinkers. The specialty wine industry of high-priced labels may be truly limited to the top 1% of the population. They may not even know that there’s been a slowdown, a change in purchasing power. They may not have been affected, but they have to be making purchases or nothing will change.

It’s the 99% pf the Universe that has felt each bump in the road, each change and bit of negative news. Restaurants have clearly felt the impact–the naked eye shows more empty tables at once crowded hot spots (Search the blog under “restaurant,” and you’ll see a history of change). Grocery stores (a similar search) are tripping over each other to show how low their prices are. The wine industry has not been immune to these shopping trends. Not that everyone is drinking Two Buck Chuck which is often closer to three bucks, but the Under $10 bin is getting more competitive.

We could have always supported that bin if we had just focused on our neighbors to the South: Chile and Argentina. They both offer many fine, wonderfully drinkable wines that have been consistently affordable: Think Casa LaPostolle Sauvignon Blanc and Alamos Malbec. Likewise, many wines from Australia and New Zealand (Think Wolf Blass Shiraz or a Yalumba Riesling) have always offered top value add wonderful flavor profiles. Wines to pour.

The question is: Will the high-end winemakers be able to win back customers? Are we better educated now in our drinking habits and quicker to abandon the Big Labels in favor of our new finds?

The Champagne industry has long struggled with a marketing perception problem: They want to be all-round beverage rather than just a special occasion pour. Now its price point receives significant competition from sparkling wines such as Cava (Spain’s traditional Champagne Methode sparkler) and Italy’s contribution, Prosecco, both in the more affordable category.

Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, and Wegman’s have figured out how to capture the new wine drinker. Expensive wines are still available, but the crowds gather around the more drinkable, affordable, wines to go with their scaled-down price-sensitive shopping list.

Just serve my red a little chilled.

Salud!

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Restaurants Are More Welcoming

Sep 6

Posted by admin in dining out, Economy

I remember not that long ago, OK, maybe it was almost a year ago, that you couldn’t just pick up the phone and try to dine at a well-rated restaurant within the hour. Those days are gone, as are many of the restaurants!

Now, you can call up at 6 P and book a table at the last minute. Happens more often than not, and surprisingly seems to be the new trend. Don’t be afraid to take a chance. Happily they’ll start setting your place. People plan their dining out experiences more on the spur of the moment and less weeks ahead. Restaurants are left shuffling around staff and trying to decide if they’ll need extra help or have to send people home. The uncertainty factor has convinced more restaurants that online booking options are helpful rather than considered an extra expense.

Uncertainty continues to wreak havoczaytinya on the bottom line. With fewer customers, most likely spending less, all aspects of foodservice are under pressure. Purchasing changes do not appear to disappear so quickly. It is up to restaurants to continue to invite us into their homes. To convince us that such an outing is a worthwhile decision.

Even with recent reports of an uptick in restaurant sales, too many restaurants are not showing signs of improvement.

Dining out needs to remain a special experience; not just a quick solution.

Help us become loyal customers.

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Prices Rising

Aug 30

Posted by admin in Administration, Economy, food

marketbasketIt’s a good news-bad news story: We are moving into a post-Recession universe. We have seen prices drop on important commodities like milk and eggs: That’s the good news. Now flip the coin, and you get the other story. We escaped a near Depression cycle, but are headed onto a collision course of higher food prices. That’s a problem.

If people are supposed to spend again (post-Recession), and consumers have changed their ways of shopping, cooking, and dining out, this could be a red alert to slow down the rising price cycle. Rising prices will once again turn them away from major purchases if so much of their money has to go to basic food necessities. We must have learned something from this past cycle. Sure not every product dropped in cost (cereals and bakery products are up for the year), but many of the major ones were lower (beef prices were down over 2% in July) enabling cooks and chefs to be creative with a range of foods.

At the same time farmers continue their struggle. Farm incomes are down 38% no matter how many of us have joined CSAs, visit farm markets, and support all the Buy Local campaigns. It’s never been easy farming the land, but this news is truly depressing as the farmer in many ways has become the superstar of the food industry with all the attention being given to finding the best products locally. We have to save the farm.

So we have a double whammy situation: Rising basic food costs and farmers struggling beyond the bounds of livability. Both of these issues need immediate attention from the Administration.

We cannot move forward by continually sliding backwards.

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Grocery Wars: Round Two–Consumers Rock

Aug 29

Posted by admin in cooking, Economy, shopping

I love it when the grocers start tripping over each other to show the consumer how good their prices are. With the economy crawling ever so slowly upward into a post-Recession mentalitykashi, there are still far too many individuals struggling to find footing. The grocery chains, much like the restaurants, are trying to capture some of the action. Earlier this month we saw the beginning round of pricing. Now we are hearing from Stop & Shop and Giant Food about the “real deal.” This terminology makes me wonder how long they sat with an ad agency to come up with something more than just a “deal.” Maybe it should have been titled “reality.”

What do these new pricing strategies mean? As far as I can tell after a mini-aisle cruise, products are tagged with multiple layers of prices–what it used to cost v. the new price and what a nearby national brand competitor (often Safeway) is charging. The gloves are off.

In the Chicago area, it’s Jewel v. Dominick’s, and the focus is on rolled back prices.

No matter where you live, we are all in this grocery pricing life. With Wal-Mart, Target, Costco, and Trader Joe’s competing with traditional grocers, there is some hope for further reductions. As consumers the questions we should ask are: Why were the prices so high in the first place? How do we continue to get them to come down? Overpaying is the name of the game as purchasers continue to feed conglomerates. Some hope is on the horizon as lowered pricing continues to garner attention.

Maybe we just don’t shop the way we used to. Maybe we are smarter, and the chains are just starting to understand that consumers have become savvier and have learned to be more better shoppers; less impulsive.

Maybe, just maybe, the pricing wars will continue, and we, as consumers, will benefit from further reductions.

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Pricing a Cup of Coffee

Aug 21

Posted by admin in coffee, Economy, lifestyle

I’m not an economist, but I have trouble understanding how in the midst of a life-changing economic climate, Starbucks decided to drop some prices (on basic pours) and increase prices on more elaborate drinks. This comes at a time when people are questioning how much they should pay for a cup of coffee. With competition among the brewers an on-going price war, why would they decide to raise prices now? (If you think you’ve escaped the increases or not received the reductions, stay tuned: Pricing varies by location and the new pricing rollout will eventually affect all the stores).

Yes, there are some signs we are moving, OK, crawling out of the demise, but every analyst has said we are not the same in our spending patterns as we were a year ago. If a year ago we had two Starbucks specialty drinks a day, we now are more likely leaning toward the basic drip. That’s funny, they are less costly and now they are the focus of reduced pricing. I feel like I need a quick course in psychology or logic to truly understand the process. They’re lowering prices on lattes and brewed coffees and raising them on Frappuccinos which as far as I can tell require little more than a push of a blender button.

The question to ask is who will buy the drinks? If there are more customers complaining about high costs, and they’re still Starbucks customers, will this strategy flip them over the edge? Of course, it’s hard to know, and it’s easy to second-guess. The concept just seems illogical.

When does a cup of coffee become just a cup of coffee? Starbucks created a coffee experience: A place, a destination with an expansive menu of almost unlimited combinations. We are different now. People seem to linger with their non-fancy brewed coffees.

Obviously, McDonald’s and its McCafe specialty drinks are proof that price matters and people are willing to forgo an experience in favor of affordability.

Get your coffee sleeves ready.coffeeCups01

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Relaxation Drinks

Aug 17

Posted by admin in beverages, Economy, lifestyle

OK, just when you thought you had read everything about high-powered beverages, someone comes along and says, slow down, you move too fast. Actually I thought every time you opted for a beverage you were giving your body a chance to chill, to relax. Nope, I was wrong. There is a whole market brewing of so-called relaxation drinks to move people out of the hyper modality of monster drinks into the quieter space of  calming drinks. Some of these so-called beverages have been in the market for a couple of years but are now being targeted as a way to cope with the economy.

Really. Do we need to purchase one more specialty product that is probably expensive to help us slow down? The article talks about how these drinks have become especially popular during these tough economic times. We need to take the hype out of the glass and replace it with the soothing tonics that calm us and right us instead of fire us up into hectic space. That’s the gist of the Washington Post front-pager.

Wait, don’t these drinks have qualities found in a basic herbal tea bag? Can’t the green tea aficionados claim they already own this market space?

If we need to slow down, we know we should give up the drink and take out the oars, the bikes, set up the Wii for yoga and a little boxing, and you’ve scored: Relaxation. Wait, that’s the pitch of the drinks, they are talking to the exercise crew, too.

What’s the solution? Probably, it’s this simple: Drink more water and get some sleep.screen-4

I’m sticking with the Nunchuk and my regular drinks.

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I Love A Good Fight

Aug 15

Posted by admin in Economy, grocer, lifestyle

It’s actually about time that grocers have taken off the gloves and decided to toss the barbs into an open ring. No more double and triple coupon challenges, they are onto the real thing: Lowering Prices. Yes, we’ve read about this type of strategy, but seldom experienced it. Seriously, what’s taken them so long?

It’s doubtful if shoppers will return to their anything goes routine anytime soon. Too many unanswered questions about income, health care, and overall cost of items: It’s still the economy. Even in the midst of increased at-home meal preparations, the focus remains on what is purchased. How much did it cost? Could you have gotten a store brand? Why are two products with identical ingredients so different in price? These are the issues driving consumers to find the lowest prices for the foods they want, and with the increase in store brands, some of this shopping strategy has become easier.

Look at Costco and its house-brand, Kirkland318459f. They’ve been strong contenders in private labeling for years and continue to expand the product line.

In the U.K., Brits are enjoying a real price war. Nothing like this has broken out to that extent yet in the U.S., but we do have multiple players making the same pitch: We have lowered prices on XXXX items (hopefully they mean more than 40 items)! Just this week Whole Foods continued its strong message that they are the go-to store for not just healthy foods, but foods that are reasonably priced. They added coupons to all their e-mail newsletters and have the Whole Deal Value Guide prominently displayed for shoppers to take advantage of immediate savings. They are also promoting “money-saving tips.” This is not the old Whole Foods. They heard. They’re onto something.

Safeway has new banner signs that proclaim they lowered prices on thousands of items. They also moved into personalized coupons, discounts on items you regularly purchase with savings automatically linked to your card. This is in response to Giant Foods‘ earlier aggressive price-lowering strategy that proved successful.

What has taken grocers so long. Was their bubble one that projected things would be fine and everyone would be happy to live the good life again.

Not so fast. These cannot be temporary fixes. The situation has become a permanent lifestyle change. Listening does not end with tiny glimmers of hope.

Keep on lowering.

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