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Tips for Farmers’ Market Vendors

Spring is here and summer’s not far behind. So, foodies and farmers alike are gearing up for the growth of new produce. With the blooming of squash blossoms comes the booming of Farmers’ Markets. As a Farmers’ Market vendor here are some ideas for attracting customers and increasing sales.
Communicate Important Info In Your Signage
An attractive, [...]

Restaurant Trends We’ve Noticed

As restaurant owners, chefs, and managers continue to pull themselves out of the recession and find ways to pull customers in, we’ve been seeing a slew of interesting promotional tactics and trends. Examples, you ask for?  Examples you shall have.
Trivia & Karaoke Nights
Bars everywhere are praying on unsuspecting egos by [...]

Trend Spotting At The NASFT Winter Fancy Food Show

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 [...]

Weathering the Food Industry’s Forecast for 2010

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 [...]

Gourmet Gourmands.

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 [...]

Starting A Food Business In Chicago

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 [...]

General Mills Goes Niche

This past month there have been a number of articles about General Mills’ new gluten-free product line. Their Betty Crocker brand is rolling out gluten-free mixes for cookies, brownies and cakes. But, beyond just this brand extension, this news has huge implications for the willingness of big companies to go after small niches and how [...]

Go West! – Random Thoughts About The National Products Expo West

The National Products Expo West held March 6-8 at the Anaheim Convention Center is an interesting amalgam of categories (foods, supplements, cosmetics), products and companies (from small “trying to get their break” companies to international corporations). I heard several people talk about how in the olden days (the nineties perhaps?) the show was less “big [...]

This Sounds Like The Best Darn Cheesecake Ever…

I recently read this description of a cheesecake in Don DeLillo’s novel Underworld and it’s really stuck with me:  
“The cheesecake was smooth and lush, with the personality of a warm and well-to-do uncle who knows a hundred dirty jokes and will die of sexual exertions in the arms of his mistress.” 
Sure, we can’t really get away [...]

Outing The Gastrosexual

“We have called this group of keen and accomplished male cooks, the ‘Gastrosexuals.’ They are masculine, upwardly mobile men, aged 25-44, who are passionate about cooking and the rewards that it might bring – pleasure, praise and potential seduction.”
– Paul Aikens, Marketing Director, PurAsia in the Forward of PurAsia’s report “The Emergence of the Gastrosexual”
This [...]