How a big name company took a negative false rumor, and turned it in to a positive marketing tool

Have you ever received that chain letter email about Niemen Marcus charging some poor, unknowing woman $250 for their cookie recipe, when the woman understood it to only be $2.50 for the recipe? And the woman was so angered by NM’s lack of customer service, she sent the story out to everyone she knew, asking for help to spread the word? If you know what I’m talking about, be so kind as to skip down past the italics. And if you haven’t received it, here’s a version of it from my own inbox (typos and idiosyncrasies included as is) :

When decent people get screwed over, this is the result!

A little background: Neiman-Marcus, if you don’t know already, is a very expensive store; they sell your typical $8.00 T-shirt for $50.00.

Let’s let them have it! THIS IS A TRUE STORY!

My daughter and I had just finished a salad at a Neiman-Marcus Cafe In Dallas, and we decided to have a small dessert. Because both of us are such cookie lovers, we decided to try the ‘Neiman-Marcus cookie.’ It was So excellent that I asked if they would give me the recipe, and the waitress said with a small frown, ‘I’m afraid not, but you can buy The Recipe.’ Well, I asked how much, and she responded, ‘ Only two fifty – it’s a Great deal!’ I agreed to that, and told her to just add it to my Tab.

Thirty days later, I received my VISA statement, and the Neiman-Marcus Charge was $285.00! I looked again, and I remembered I had only spent $9.95 for two salads and about $20.00 for a scarf.

As I glanced at the bottom of the statement, it said, ‘Cookie Recipe-$250.00.’ That was outrageous! I called Neiman’s Accounting Department and told them the waitress said it was ‘two-fifty’, which clearly does not mean ‘two hundred and fifty dollars’ by any reasonable interpretation of the phrase.

Neiman-Marcus refused to budge. They would not refund my money because, according to them, ‘What the waitress told you is not our problem. You have already seen the recipe. We absolutely will not refund your money at this point.’ I just said, Okay, you folks got my $250, and now I’m going to have $250 worth of fun. I told her that I was going to see to it that every Cookie Lover in the United States with an e-mail account has a $250 cookie recipe from Neiman-Marcus…for free. She replied, ‘I wish you wouldn’t do this.’ I said, ‘Well, perhaps you should have thought of that before you ripped me off and slammed down the phone.

So here it is!
NEIMAN-MARCUS COOKIES (Recipe may be halved)

2 cups butter
24 oz. Chocolate chips
4 cups flour
2 cups brown sugar
2 tsp. Soda (baking)
1 tsp. Salt
2 cups sugar
1 8 oz. Hershey Bar (grated)
5 cups blended oatmeal
2 tsp. Baking powder
2 tsp. Vanilla
3 cups chopped nuts (your choice)

Measure oatmeal, and blend in a blender to a fine powder. Cream the butter and both sugars. Add eggs and vanilla, mix together with flour, oatmeal, salt, baking powder, and soda. Add chocolate chips, Hershey bar, and nuts. Roll into balls, and place two inches apart on a cookie Sheet. Bake for 10 minutes at 375 degrees. Makes 112 cookies.

Yes, it’s okay to admit that you did receive it, believe it and in fact pass it along to everyone you know in hopes that you could out this big, bad, greedy department store and help this woman get her revenge. Staying true to their brand, with real finesse, this is how Niemen Marcus so appropriately responded on their website: (Pasted from Niemen’s site)

NM CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE RECIPE An urban myth is a modern folk tale, its origins unknown, its believability enhanced simply by the frequency with which it is repeated. Our signature chocolate chip cookie is the subject of one such myth. If you haven’t heard the story, we won’t perpetuate it here. If you have, the recipe below should serve to refute it. Copy it, print it out, pass it along to friends and family. It’s a terrific recipe. And it’s absolutely free.”

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1-3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1-1/2 teaspoons instant espresso coffee powder
• 1-1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Cream the butter with the sugars using an electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy (approximately 30 seconds)

2. Beat in the egg and the vanilla extract for another 30 seconds.

3. In a mixing bowl, sift together the dry ingredients and beat into the butter mixture at low speed for about 15 seconds. Stir in the espresso coffee powder and chocolate chips.

4. Using a 1 ounce scoop or a 2 tablespoon measure, drop cookie dough onto a greased cookie sheet about 3 inches apart. Gently press down on the dough with the back of a spoon to spread out into a 2 inch circle. Bake for about 20 minutes or until nicely browned around the edges. Bake a little longer for a crispier cookie. Yield: 2 dozen cookies

Visit our Restaurant section for more recipes along with information on cooking classes, catering and restaurant details.

Considering I received this and immediately forwarded the email on to a bunch of my friends without thinking twice about it, it just goes to show how quickly negative PR can spread. Now that we have these global-social-networking-internet tools, information spreads faster than ever before. It’s a good lesson to keep an eye out for what’s being said about your company or brand, and who’s saying it. So you can, as Niemen Marcus gracefully did, respond appropriately. For more background and interesting versions of this “urban myth” check out this entry on Snopes.

The National Association of the Specialty Food Trade had an interesting pre-show promotion this year on their site to get people thinking and excited about the San Francisco edition of their bi-yearly specialty food show. They asked the question: What will be the 5 major trends at this year’s San Francisco Fancy Food Show? You could write in your response or choose from possibilities that they had listed. The NASFT pulled together a “trendspotting” panel that walked the show and determined the trends. The winner received prizes plus supreme bragging rights.

Since I love both prizes and bragging rights, I entered the following pre-show prognostications:

1) Natural/Clean Ingredients – With Food, Inc. and the big natural and organic movement gaining steam (plus having talked to at least three food companies this year who are moving in this direction for 2010), I thought this would be a big one. Maybe I was too ahead of the game as there didn’t seem to be a lot of companies promoting this attribute. I would bet that a lot of companies are reformulating behind the scenes and we’ll see more of this at the NY summer show or in 2011.

2) Single Serving Packs – This goes almost against my first trend (#1 being a more natural approach, and this trend resulting in more waste). But, at the last show, I was seeing things like single serve gelato cups so I thought this might catch on more here. I was grateful to see it hadn’t.

3) Bacon – I know bacon’s been a trend for a while now (and in the specialty food industry, I really credit Vosges Chocolate for their bacon chocolate bars). But, for Pete’s sake, there are people out there who tweet about nothing but bacon. There’s a festival celebrating bacon in Chicago. The pork product is not going away just yet.

4) Gluten-Free – This just keeps growing and growing. I’m curious if there’s really that much money to be made in this area. Nonetheless, more and more companies keep jumping into the pool.

5) Salt + Chocolate – This seems like a trend from a few years ago and that chocolatiers had moved past salt. But, right before filling out the form, I’d seen multiple ads in food trade pubs for this very pairing. Trends are cyclical right? So I thought I’d throw it out there. And, there were a few companies doing this–of course, they were the same ones of which I’d seen the ads.

The top trends, as declared by the trend spotting panel were:

1) Good-For-You Foods – You mean, healthy foods? Umm. This is so vague I don’t even know what exhibited foods they were referring to.

2) Coconut – Didn’t occur to me at the time. But, after hearing this declared, it did make me recall several products (ice creams, cookies) that had coconut in it.

3) Gluten-Free – Ha! Got one right. It will be interesting to see in two or three years who will still be around.

4) Exotic Citrus – I do recall a blood orange juice that was darn tasty and a brilliant idea. But, I’m having trouble remembering any other exotic citrus foods, let alone naming any other exotic citrus fruits. Is lime exotic? I wish the trend spotters had some sort of write up somewhere on the fancy food show site or blog.

5) Nostalgic Foods – Again… huh? What counted as nostalgic? That’s such a wide open definition you could probably make an argument for including the majority of exhibited foods on any given year.

Here are the trends I actually did see:

1) Bacon – C’mon trendspotters. You didn’t see this? In addition to the regulars that included bacon salt and bacon prep devices, there were new offerings like bacon-infused caviar (California Caviar) and bacon caramel marshmallows (Plush Puffs). Plus, Vosges was back with bacon caramel toffee.

2) Black Truffles – I would not have expected to see so many foods imbued with this expensive, albeit delicious, ingredient. There were two truffle popcorns, (479 Popcorn and Susan Rice Truffle Products) and several truffle butters. But, the most prominent example was a savory truffle macaroon from Fabrique Delices that was a truffle taste explosion (and like most explosions it verged on the hard to handle).

3) Popcorn – Notice how I mentioned two popcorns above? There were lots more where that came from. Maybe this fit into the open-ended Nostalgic Food trend?

Well, I didn’t win. But, it was fun playing the game and seeing what exhibitors are trying to get on the shelf for the coming year. I look forward to seeing how these trends hold up when I visit the Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim in March and the NY Fancy Food Show in June.

Now it’s your turn. What do you think the major food trends will be this year?

While perusing the web this morning to get my daily news fix, I noticed a lot of talk in the food industry about aiding relief efforts in Haiti. It’s being repeated, and often, that in times of crisis restaurants and food companies are often the first to organize. Being so far away from there, in so many ways, it’s hard for me to fully grasp the devastation this earthquake has brought upon these peoples’ lives. So, I’ve gathered some links and resources to share on what various restaurants and food companies are doing to offer their support, and to give ideas for how others can lend a hand.

The National Restaurant Association has an interesting article on how restaurants are doing their part to aid the Haiti relief effort and includes the following resources on where you can get involved in Food Aid:

Share Our Strength

www.strength.org

800-969-4767

UN World Food Programme

www.wfp.org

011-39-06-65131

Food for the Poor

www.foodforthepoor.org

800-427-9104

Action Against Hunger

www.actionagainsthunger.org

They also shared these resources for Financial Assistance:

American Red Cross

www.redcross.org

800-REDCROSS

UNICEF

www.unicef.org

Doctors Without Borders

www.doctorswithoutborders.org

888-392-0392

Further great resources and information on relief support from the food industry:

• This article from Nation’s Restaurant News lists establishments, by name, region and state and what they are doing to help.
• Montreal Restaurants reaching out, story by CJAD.
• An article from SF Eater, a wonderful blog in itself, on how San Francisco restaurants are responding.
• Dine and Donate: Chicago Bars + Restaurants making it easy for patron’s to help Haiti efforts, compliments of Huffington Post.
• What some of the big corporations are doing to offer assistance.
• A resource highlighting efforts from the American farming industry.

Here at Savor, we’ve been doing some serious soul searching (meaning, reading, research and arguing) to hash out the hottest food trends for 2010. Ready?

The Epi-Log’s Top 10 Food Trends for 2010 of Epicurious.com says that Fried Chicken is in & Gourmet Burgers are out. Unfortunate for KFC, just as they were rolling out their “Un-fried side” the food industry gourmands pulled a fast one on them! Diners across the country have been serving up this crispy delight for decades and now chefs are inventing new ways to flip the bird. However, fried food (especially overeating it) is not friendly on the stomach. Approach this enticement with caution.

And although we can all agree the hoopla around craft burgers is probably at its peak, the concept isn’t going anywhere. Burgers have always been a go-to of the American diet. There simply is nothing like the pleasure and joy of sinking your incisors into a fat juicy piece of meat smothered in nature’s greatest gift, cheese.

On that note, Burgers will remain on the mind, but their friendly counterpart the Artisan Hot Dog is what’s gettin’ people talking. The January 2010 issue of Food & Wine Magazine’s “2010 Trend Report” is calling this a “Classic Comeback,” noting places like Bark Hot Dogs in Brooklyn, Dirty Frank’s Hot Dog Palace in Columbus (OH) and Frank in Austin. We’d also like to tack on Hot Doug’s in Chitown to that list, as the leaders of this modest, yet very appealing trend. Give the ole’ weenie an upgrade and you’ve got yourself a real audience. Um, hi, I’ll take a Kobe dog, sprinkled with some truffle salt, a friendly serving of homemade relish and stuffed into a handmade bun. Thanks.

After a tasty frankfurter, how about some dessert? The same Epi-Log 2010 forecast is predicting that Mini Whoopie Pies – salivation inducing chocolate sandwiches filled with marshmallow cream — will be the new Mini Cupcake. We fully support this claim, although like to think that it was our prediction first, and feel that they don’t necessarily have to be miniature. We’d be completely satisfied with one the size of a Whoopie Cushion.

Sustainability, Locally Grown Produce and Locally Sourced Meats & Seafood were the Top 3 trends from the National Restaurant Associations Chef Survey, “What’s Hot in 2010?” Who’s going to argue with this? Not me. Luckily, farmers’ markets are really catching on across the country, making this trend more accessible, and less “trendy.”

Locally Produced Wine & Beer was rated fifth overall “Hot Trend of 2010” from the same NRA survey. With more gastropubs and local wine producers than we can count, we happily can’t argue with this one. Local beer is fun and unique. And, gastropubs tend to serve up equally good food. Pair the two together. Enjoy.

A few predictions of our own….

I think there is going to be a strong push for late night options. It’s already happening. Look at Big Star in Chicago for instance, they offer craft bourbons and a limited menu till 3am. More places will follow suit, offering limited menus in a drinking space. Look for craft beers, liquors and wine, burgers, and Neapolitan pizzas being offered well in to the wee hours. Yum.

On that note, I feel very strongly that Pizza is going to be huge this year. It’s another opportunity for restaurants to show off their creativity in an inexpensive, customizable and totally patron-mind-blowing way.

Lastly, a perfectly fried egg on that pizza would really be the yin to my yang. Seth (Savor Partner) strongly believes eggs as a topping is making a statement. And others agree. Restaurants & Institutions 20 Menu Trends for 2010 noted “Are eggs the new bacon?” 6th on their list of 20, quoting an egg-friendly menu, “Everything’s better with a fried egg on top.” The egg seems to be showing up on burgers, pastas, sandwiches…you name it. Eggs for breakfast, eggs for brunch, eggs on dinner and your lunch! Duck, Chicken, Quail…whatever the bird, egg is the word.

That’s all I got for now, and as a result of writing this, I am starving.

Tuesday I attended an event where Peter Shankman–social media & internet guru (although he hates that word)–spoke about how to successfully utilize social networking for your business. In short, he’s a very smart web guy. The seminar was fresh and inspiring. The audience included reporters and bloggers, as well as many PR and marketing people. He spoke about new media in a way that was not a regurgitation of something I had heard elsewhere. It was an original, not to mention pretty hilarious, perspective from a guy who’s been a part of it since before it had a name.

Peter Shankman: 4 Rules to Social Media Success

1. Transparency. Be transparent. Admit to your wrongdoings. Fix a problem you caused before it becomes more of a problem. People are 4 to 1 more likely to do business with a company that screwed up and admitted it, than a company who screwed up and got caught.

2. Relevancy. What’s the best way to find out how your audience (your entire audience, everyone in your target) would like to receive information from you?

Ask them.

3. Brevity. Learn how to write. Today, the average attention span is 2.7 seconds-roughly the time it takes to read a text message. That’s all the time you have to reach your audience.

4. Top of Mind. Stay at the front of people’s minds. Take the time to keep in touch. Reach out to your network. Regularly.

Some other interesting takeaways:

. Social media IS customer service; this is the direction we are moving in. If you really want to interact with your customers and fix problems before they become big problems, be one level above mediocre. Respond.

. Raving Fans. As a society, we expect to be treated like crap. Treat your customers one level above crap; treat them well and they’ll become raving fans, and will do your PR for you.

. When something good happens we (as a society) love to be finders. When something bad happens, we (as a society) are never truly miserable until those around us are miserable too. It’s not so much word of mouth, as it is just something we do- it’s the direction we are moving in.

. Say something worth re-tweeting; the loneliest person on Twitter is the person who only talks about himself.

Some useful websites he shared, which we are now sharing.

hitmelater.com This is a great free service for busy people.

filtrbox.com This is a cool web tool for monitoring social media.

peoplebrowsr.com This is another resource for monitoring things people are saying online.

Thanks for the wise words Mr. Shankman. Looking forward to whatever it is you do next.

Documentaries are supposed to make you think. Give you insight in to something you either aren’t in tune to (yet) or something you feel strongly about and are seeking more connection with. Food and I have a very serious relationship, so for me, going to see Food, Inc. meant the latter.

Food Inc. opens our eyes to the realities of the American food system, and answers many of the questions we fail to ask ourselves. Where does our food come from? Who is growing or raising it? How is it readied for the grocery stores? And finally, who is in control of all of these facets of the grand operation? But then again, how were we supposed to know that we should be asking these questions in the first place? Eating comes naturally, we’ve been doing it all our lives.

If you have yet to see it, you should. It’s interesting. It’s educational and eye opening, but not in the extreme Michael Moore documentary fashion, more in the good journalism fact seeking fashion. However, if you are a believer in “ignorance is bliss,” and you’d rather not question the three (and many times more) most vital parts of our day, you may want to sit this one out. (Fear not, there is very little graphic imagery, simply real accounts from real people who know the insides of the system that most of us are unaware of).

Without spoiling the goods, the whole point of this post is the result that Food Inc. had on me personally. And that is, dilemma and confusion.

Now, when I walk in to my local grocery, I’m faced with choices. And not, white or wheat? I mean, if I buy these particular burger patties I am supporting inhumane slaughter practices and hormone-pumping factory farms. But if I buy these other free-range, grass-fed, antibiotic-free burger patties, I won’t be able to afford the ketchup that goes on top. What are the consequences of buying or not buying organic? It isn’t simply money. It is morals, values. It is beliefs. And having worked for an organic mushroom farmer, and being a huge animal advocate (though not necessarily vegetarian), mine are now somewhat at conflict after learning some of the things I did from this movie.

Knowing exactly what I am actually putting in to my body, knowing if a food has been genetically modified in to something that defies the definition of actual food, knowing if it’s traveled long, far and wide (from where exactly is a mystery) to get to the refrigerated walls of my local grocery…knowing these things has become more important to me. However, dating a chef and smelling the sweet aroma of searing foi gras overtaking my kitchen and wanting to very badly indulge makes me feel guilty. I love food. I love trying new things. I am a huge fan of culinary greatness, in all its glory. But I also don’t like the idea of what happens to certain things before they reach my dinner plate. So where do we draw the line?

I do my part. I recycle, turn off the lights, try to never use plastic water bottles and use my handy reusable bags almost always (or at least when I remember to bring them with when I venture out). So do I offend my chef boyfriend after he sweats away all day in the kitchen by deciding I can’t eat his meaty masterpiece because it didn’t come from a well-treated, happy cow? If turkey is on sale at the store, do I buy the more expensive organic because it’s the “right thing to do?”  Or, do I listen to the words of my late Yertle (grandma) who survived the depression, who taught us the value of stretching every dollar on something we all now typically take for granted: food.

You tell me.

It’s safe to say I’m still pleasantly stuffed from the epicurean adventure that was Chicago Gourmet this past weekend. Writing for a food-marketing agency, not to mention never one to turn down foodstuffs, I went in to the soiree with the confidence I would feel right at home.

But the behemoth bright white tents, the freshly cut grass, the celebrity chefs, the scantily clad alcohol promo ladies- all with the wavering aroma of many a food awaiting my taste buds…I must admit it was a little overwhelming. Intimidating even. Not only was there row after row of tents awaiting our ready forks and glasses, but the event also miraculously swapped food exhibitors in and out of said rows throughout the duration of the day. Meaning, by the time you made one lap around the taste course, it was time to start all over again, with an array of new offerings. My first thought was “how are we going to try all of these things in one day?” And my second thought was “will I be able to physically persevere without falling victim to food coma?”

It really was a treat to be sampling dishes from many of the best restaurants our city has to offer, from the very chefs behind those menus. Looking at it from both a consumer and marketer’s mind, a lot of curiosity arose. You can’t ignore the effort and money that goes in to creating an event like this; I wondered, is it necessary for a food company to participate in an event like Chicago Gourmet?

For a restaurant, it’s probably not a bad idea. Although it’s going to put a small dent in your budget, it’s a great opportunity to get in front of someone and do something brilliant. There were a lot of memorable morsels, but some definitely made an impact while others fell to the wayside. It’s a chance to show what your restaurant and brand can serve up that will grab the attention of an entire city’s eating elite. Since being memorable keeps people talking and coming back, I vote yes, worth the investment in an event such as this.

If you are a food manufacturing company, might we suggest partnering with another company or a restaurant for optimal participation? For example, one of our clients donated the buns to a restaurant here in town that was sampling sliders for the day. Without making the financial commitment of renting a tent, staffing a team or putting in the hours of time, they were still able get their name and product on people’s lips, and in their hands.

If you consider yourself a food lover, buy the ticket. Eat and enjoy yourself. It’s a rare occurrence you’ll get to sample various delightful things from a collection of great restaurants (or wineries, or spirits companies, or other food companies) all in one place. Take the time to ask questions-no matter what the takeaway, you’ll learn something new. Chances are that thing you learn will taste really nice also.

Find out more about the people behind the Savor team, our marketing philosophy and our love of all things food in this video from Beyond the Pedway.

This morning, while pulling together the contact info of several commercial kitchens for a new food startup, I came across an article on Crain’s site discussing the heavy regulations Chicago enforces on food companies. If you’re interested in starting a food business, I suggest you take a look at the article. You might be surprised to find out that Chicago requires you to use commercial kitchens. Foods made in home kitchens are not legally allowed. This includes both manufacturing a product for sale in stores or online as well as preparing food for catering jobs.

Trying to find a commercial kitchen in Chicago? We’ve had good experiences (and know people who cook out of) the following kitchens:

Now We’re Cookin (located across from Savor’s offices)
www.nwcookin.com
847-570-4140 

Kitchen Chicago:
www.kitchenchicago.com
312.455.0863

Want more information? Kitchen Chicago, Now We’re Cookin’ and the benefits of commercial kitchens are all discussed in this recent Time Out Chicago article, which features testimonials from renters.  

Have you had an experience with a different commercial kitchen? Thumbs up? Thumbs down? Let us know, and we’ll add them to our list.