Strange Food Trends of 2015

     A lot happened in 2015.  In 2015 we saw a lot of stories, fittingly, about food. From new inventions like caffeinated peanut butter and chocolate slices, to new-to-us concepts like eating bugs, and strange food-preparation methods like making soup in a Keurig and eating at a restaurant without human workers, the foods of 2015 felt like they came straight out of the future.

     From the crazy (24-karat gold Kit Kats) to the depressing (Norovirus at Chipotle) to the completely bizarre (FATwater) in 2015, it can’t help but feel like we saw it all. Maybe all this food news means we can come away from the year with a heightened sense of awareness about our food supply, or maybe it just means, as a culture, we have finally taken our food obsession too far. But whatever we decide to take away from this year’s food inventions, let us not forget the highs and lows that brought us here, to the end of the journey of our crazy edible year.

Caffeinated peanut butter

Coffee and peanut butter are, to me, two good things that do not need fixing. Yet caffeinated peanut butter, otherwise known as STEEM, is doing just that. The food fusion aims at “providing a consistent release of sustained energy” through the naturally slow digestion of peanut butter. STEEM’s mission is to free you from the humanly distractions of hunger and fatigue in one convenient jar. And a lot of people got very excited about this when STEEM first came out, because apparently we have become too busy to be expected to drink coffee and eat breakfast at the same time. The whole sentiment seems kind of depressing, like we are eventually going to get to a place where we stop enjoying food entirely and sustain ourselves off grey scientific nutrient paste. Wait, that already happened last year…

Chocolate slices

These are really amazing and it’s hard to believe it took us this long to figure it out. And unlike chocolate spreads, you don’t even need to dirty a knife. Chocolate slices make you realize that anything really is possible, all while wondering what other foods we’re missing out on by not slicing… Anyone?

Activated Charcoal Juice

While 2015 saw no shortage of cold-pressed juiceries, this year we saw liquid bottles of inky black activated charcoal slowly start to replace 2014’s vision of quintessential health: the green juice. Activated charcoal has been traditionally used in medicine to treat poisonings due to its ability to prevent the absorption of chemicals inside the body. Today the juice world touts activated charcoal as the latest answer in our never-ending quest to rid the body of those pesky every day toxins that we seem unable to escape… until now?

Hangover curing salami

Serious Pig, a London-based craft meat business introduced the world to its first hangover curing salami this year. The salami allegedly works as a preventative measure and is supposed to be eaten while you’re still drinking. It boasts ginger and chili to combat the two common hangover symptoms of nausea and fatigue, and is appropriately called Hangover Cured. Ginger is known to help with nausea, and chilli is an endorphin booster, meaning that while there is no scientific evidence to Hangover Cured, eating some when you’ve had one too many could make you feel a little better in the morning. 

Bugs

Otherwise known as “the protein of the future,” TIME Magazine called eating bugs a food trend of 2015, and they weren’t wrong. While in 2014 we heard a lot of talk of eating bugs, the discussions were mostly centered around how gross and unrealistic the eating bugs would be. But in 2015, as we begun to better understand the meat industry’s impact on the environment, we watched bugs mature into a serious, sustainable food option. Gourmet bug recipe books and inventions like cricket flour and cricket chips helped some move past the creepy crawly factor, and we realized over two billion people around the world already consider bugs a dietary staple.

Super-elaborate milkshakes

Want a milkshake as big as your head and absolutely stuffed with all kinds of sweet goodies? I mean, who doesn’t. That’s why a tiny cafe in Australia called Patissez went crazy viral with pictures of their fully wonderful, if a tad over-the-top, milkshake creations. I mean, look at them!

Savory yogurt

Chef Dan Barber’s family farm in the Berkshires Blue Hill Farms, which supplies produce for Chef Barber’s famous farm-to table restaurants in New York City and Pocantico Hills, New York, brought savoury yogurt to our attention in 2015. Available in seasonal flavors like butternut squash, carrot, tomato, and beet, Blue Hill Farm’s savory yogurts turned Americans onto the idea that yogurt doesn’t have to be sweet. Chef Dan Barber is a long-time food environmentalist pioneer, and author of The Third Plate where he also argues eating less meat could help the environment. It seems Barber has his fingerprints all over the food trends of 2015.

24-karat gold Kit Kats

Nestle Japan’s Kit Kat Chocolatory sold its 1 millionth chocolate bar this year and released edible gold-plated Kit Kats to celebrate, giving us a real life Wonka experience.

Burger King’s black burger

Burger King’s infamous black burger, which originally launched in Japan, came to America this year just in time for Halloween. The charcoal burger was an intriguing mix of terrifying and exciting until we found out the dye used to turn the bun black caused people who ate the burger to poop green. Then it was just terrifying.

Keurig soup

You can now make chicken noodle soup in your coffee-making Keurig machine and I’m not sure we will ever recover from this. After the world realized how horrible Keurig’s K-cups are for the environment, the company had a horrible year sales-wise, eventually leading it to partner with Campbell’s in hopes of boosting sales by revitalizing their brand to include soup. Campbell’s marketing director Michael Goodman declared the innovation a “winning idea.” Time will tell if the people agree.

FATwater

FATwater is a 20 calories water beverage with two grams of medium chain triglyceride fat derived from coconut oil per serving. It was invented by the founder of Bulletproof Coffee, you know, the trend that has everyone adding butter and oil to their coffee in hopes of losing weight? FATwater bills itself as a type of sports drinks. But instead of the immediate energy boost you get from other sugary sports drinks, FATwater aims at providing sustainable energy that doesn’t cause you to crash, claiming to also be “more hydrating” than regular water. But some researchers have disagreed with FATwater’s claims, stating that the type of fat in FATwater doesn’t actually give drinkers any energy at all, and that water hydrates the body on its own just fine. That’s a relief, because at $35.95 for a 12-pack, switching to FATwater won’t come cheap.

Automats

While self-serve kiosks have been slowly creeping into fast food restaurants for a while, 2015 saw an entirely different type of service: no human workers. Restaurants with no visible human help are called automats, and began popping up in America in 2015. San Francisco saw its first automat in the form of Eatsa, a healthy fast-food eatery with no cashiers or wait staff, requiring customers to place orders on tablets and receive their food at self-serve cubbies. Some claimed the rise of automats is linked to the pressure to increase fast-food worker’s wages, but companies like McDonalds and Panera, who are starting to implement self-serve kiosks of their own, denied the two are related, claiming the new digitized workforce will allow them to have a bigger workforce in the kitchen. But some have prophesized that robots will soon be able to assemble food orders themselves. Either way, one thing is clear: the future is most certainly now.

 

Responsible Alcohol Service this Holiday Season

Make sure that your Servers Act responsibly with Alcohol this Holiday Season

Many Customers spend the Holidays with family and friends, and alcohol is often a part the celebrations. If people get caught up in the excitement, they may consume too much alcohol. Because of this, be especially vigilant when serving drinks during the holidays.




ServSafe Alcohol shares these tips for responsible alcohol service:

Take the time to talk to your guests. This will help you determine the purpose of their visit as well as their intoxication levels. If guests are determined to become intoxicated, you want to know about it. Continue talking to each guest throughout his or her visit.

Watch for changes. You can learn a lot about your guests’ intoxication levels by watching for physical and behavioral changes. Examples include:

• Being overly friendly, unfriendly, depressed or quiet
• Using foul language or becoming loud
• Drinking faster or switching to larger or stronger drinks
• Talking or moving slowly
• Staggering, stumbling or bumping into objects

Watch the count. Some guests may not show physical or behavioral signs of intoxication, so counting their drinks can help you keep track of their consumption. Each of these beverages contains approximately the same amount of alcohol and should be counted as one drink:

1 drink = 5 ounces of wine; 12 ounces of beer; 1½ ounces of 80-proof liquor; 1 ounce of 100-proof liquor

Avoid over-pouring. Over-pouring liquor makes it difficult for guests to accurately track their consumption. Follow drink recipes closely to ensure each drink contains the intended amount of alcohol. If your establishment allows you to free-pour, test your accuracy periodically by using a pour test.

Offer food and appetizers. This is one of the most important things you can do to prevent intoxication and boost Sales. Food helps keep alcohol in the stomach, slowing the rate alcohol reaches the small intestine where most of it is absorbed into the bloodstream. The best food items for this are those high in fat and/or protein. These items are not easily digested, which slows the movement of alcohol into the small intestine.

Offer water. Drinking alcohol can lead to dehydration, making guests thirsty and potentially prone to consume more alcohol than they normally would. You can help by offering water and appetizers with their drinks and refilling water glasses often. This will help keep the guest hydrated and can reduce alcohol consumption.

Put Spicy Foods on Your Menu!

 

Hot and Spicy Foods are on the Trendy list for 2016!  It may have started with siracha, but the demand for hot and spicy flavors in Restaurants and Supermarkets continues to grow as consumers demand more heat from a wider variety of sources. Chili peppers and spices from cayenne to cinnamon are bringing the heat to a range of foods and beverages, including main courses, snacks and even alcohol.

Jalapeno is the most popular spicy pepper on menus, followed by chipotle, according to Datassential MenuTrends. The market researcher found that operators are seeking to make spicy flavors more approachable by adding heat to a traditional, non-spicy sauce such as mayonnaise, ranch, vinaigrette or aioli.

This quest for heat goes hand-in-hand with consumers’ growing familiarity and sense of adventure concerning global cuisines, which often pack a much spicier punch than typical American fare. A recent survey by the National Restaurant Association found that 17% of consumers report eating seven or more cuisines on a monthly basis, and two-thirds eat a wider variety of ethnic cuisines now than they did five years ago. Italian, Mexican and Chinese are the top three cuisines in terms of familiarity, trial and frequency of eating, but Thai, Vietnamese and Southeast Asian are also gaining popularity with American diners.

Technomic named spicy flavors among its 10 top trend predictions for 2016, dubbing their surge in populairty “the sriracha effect.” The food research and consulting firm predicted that chefs will look to branch out from the ubiquitous chili sauce with other global ingredients such as ghost pepper from India; sambal from Southeast Asia; gochujang from Korea; and harissa, sumac and dukka from North Africa.

Beverage makers are burning out a niche with spicy drinks in both the alcoholic and soft drink categories. Non-alcoholic options are mainly juices that tout the functional benefits of spices such as cinnamon and turmeric. Cayenne, which gained popularity as a beverage ingredient thanks to cleanse-focused drinks, is now showing up in products that highlight its spicy flavor rather than its metabolism-boosting properties.

In US bars and liquor stores, the huge popularity of Fireball cinnamon-flavored whiskey has given way to other cinnamon liquors as well as spicier spirits that get their kick from chili peppers, the Wall Street Journal reported. Rogue rolled out a chipotle whiskey and Jim Beam is fighting Fireball with fire with its own cinnamon-infused Kentucky Fire.

How is the spicy trend impacting your menu or product line? Tell us about it in the comments.

 

Choosing the Right Commercial Slicer for You

There are a few questions you need to ask yourself before buying a Commercial Slicer to make sure you are spending your money wisely and it will function to the best of it's abilities.

What will you be slicing?

Understanding how you plan to use the slicer is just the first step in narrowing down your choices.

How many hours per day will you be using the slicer?

Most commercial slicers are designed for light, medium, or heavy duty use. Light duty units typically feature a ¼ HP motor and are fine for one to two hours of slicing daily. Medium duty machines typically feature a ½ HP motor and are designed for 2 to 6 hour of slicing per day. Heavy duty machines will likely feature a ½ -3/4 HP motor and are designed for continuous use.

Will you be slicing Cheese?

The moisture and consistency of cheese makes it difficult to slice. Light Duty slicers are NOT recommended for cheese. Medium duty slicers should be able to handle 1 to 3 hours of cheese slicing per day. Check the manufacturer’s specifications. Heavy duty slicers are recommended if you plan to do more than 2 or 3 hours of cheese slicing daily.

What is the largest diameter you will be slicing?

You need to make sure the slicer blade and carriage are large enough for the intended application. Most are designed to handle products from 7.5" up to 12" in diameter.

What is the thinnest slice you need?

Most commercial slicers will adjust to satisfy any customer’s needs. But if you plan to serve a large volume of paper thin artisan meats like salami, prosciutto, and pancetta, then consider a specialty slicer designed for that application.

Do you need manual or automatic slicing?

Automatic slicers are more expensive, but can pay for themselves in labor savings. They can also prevent repetitive motion injuries. High volume delis and supermarkets often use automatic slicers. Most automatic slicers will have a manual override for versatility and convenience.

What other features do you like?

Once you’ve narrowed down your choices to those commercial slicers that match your size and power requirements, you may want to look for a few other desirable features and benefits.

All commercial slicers come with safety features such as a blade guard and a pusher to hold the product while slicing. These protect fingers and hands. Some slicers may also include:

• A feature that requires the blade to be zeroed before the pusher or carriage can be tilted or removed,
• A safety restart switch.

Features that make cleaning and sanitation easier are also very desirable. Look for:

• a kick stand that holds the slicer up while cleaning beneath it,
• a carriage that tilts for easy cleaning,
• any removable parts that make cleaning easier (removable carriage, blade guard, blade and blade sharpener)
• switches and controls that are located outside of the area where meat juices can drip on them while slicing.

With answers to these questions you should feel better prepared to shop and select the commercial slicer that is right for your operation. If you need more information, visit the websites of the following manufacturers.

Foodservice Trends in 2015

     What's the newest Trends in Foodservice?  Number One is Ethnic Cuisine, Foodies are craving foreign flavors and spices and will pay top dollar too!  Try an appetizer of something Exotic or perhaps highlight something on your Specials and see how it goes before adding it as a permanent dish. 

     Ever hear of an "Ugly" fruit or vegetable?  Ugly fruit and vegetables were all the rage in France last summer? Well, they’re here in America. They’ve actually been here this whole time — just not on most people’s plates, nor in supermarket aisles. A new Oakland-based startup called Imperfect is out to change that. Its founders, three veteran food-waste entrepreneurs, are on a mission to bring ugly produce (they prefer the term “cosmetically challenged”) to, quite literally, your doorstep.  “Our bold vision is for consumers across America to have the option of having a box of Imperfect produce delivered to them weekly, for 30 to 50 percent cheaper than what they’ll find in grocery stores,” said Ben Simon, Imperfect’s cofounder. 

     Seasonal Sour items such as the Lemon and Key Lime are making a Summer splash and not just in Desserts.  Try making a Chicken or Fish dish with Lime instead of Lemon with some fresh herbs!

     Local Sourcing is still a big Trend in 2015.  Chef's are sourcing ingredients from local farms and highlighting on their Menus.  Consumers are enjoying knowing where their food comes from and selecting Menu items that state local sourcing.  China and Flatware are also reflecting a new Rustic feel and image.

     Allergens and Cross-contamination are still a big concern for Foodservice.  Gluten-free, Peanut and Fish allergies are on the radar for Food Prep and Service. 

 

Cheese, Now the Main Course

     Adventurous Restaurant Customers aren’t settling for plain grilled cheese or the same old Swiss on a sandwich, Chefs say. Foodies and their ever-more sophisticated palates are in search of new flavors, and eateries are answering the call with innovative dishes that meld flavors from around the world.

     Rob and Karen Lawlor left Restaurant careers when they bought Denver-based The Truffle Cheese Shop eight years ago and, in addition to selling retail and teaching cheesemaking classes, the shop sells its cheese to a long and growing list of local eateries. In recent years, Denver’s restaurants have gotten more innovative with their menus to feed the increasingly sophisticated palates of their guests, Karen Lawlor said.

     “The restaurants in Denver are more sophisticated than they were even five years ago, and they’re looking for European products as well as local,” she said, “Right now it’s a lot of fresh cheeses, mozzarella, ricotta, fresca. Those are seasonal for us, the fresh milk cheese because animals eat grass and when the grass is in season and fresh, that’s when they are most likely to have fresh milk.”

     Cheesemonger Michel Lemmerling, from the Brick Farm Market in Hopewell, NJ has earned the honor of Chevalier du Taste Fromage, routinely scours the neighborhood and US for the best-quality cheese.  Michel can also help you arrange for a beautiful cheese plate to match any entertaining occasion or is happy to use your own serving ware so that you may simply take it from their market to your table!  The Brick Farm Market also has monthly Cheese Classes.

     Andrea Frizzi, chef and owner of Il Posto in Denver is a Truffle Cheese Shop customer. Frizzi grew up in Milan, the son of a sommelier who learned the culinary trade, first in school and then in a series of restaurant gigs that brought him to Washington, D.C. and eventually Denver. He worked as a consultant on the openings of scores of eateries before opening Il Posto in 2007.

     He’s all for local sourcing when it makes sense, but the Italian menu at his upscale restaurant requires imported Italian cheeses. “I’ve got to use Parmigiano Reggiano, I can’t use a cheese from Wisconsin or California.”

     The menu at Il Posto reflects the more sophisticated tastes, with dishes including Bufala mozzarella Affumicata made with imported burrata, and ricotta gnocchi with imported Grana Padano. “In Italy, there are a lot of small producers doing a lot of stuff that’s really cool. My job is to take whatever we have and be an ambassador for these beautiful cheeses,” he said.  Frizzi says he loves dairy cheese too much to ever give it up. Increasingly, though, guests who eschew dairy cheeses for health or ethical reasons have increasingly tasty plant-based options.

     The menu at Veganized Foods in New Brunswick, N.J., includes 14 items that have some type of house-made, cashew-based vegan cheese, said General Manager El Rachmani.

     The menu at Veganized includes a raw beet ravioli with herbed nut cheese and saffron cream, a tempeh reuben with cashew cheese and a vanilla cheesecake, all made with different versions of the cultured cashew cheese he said.

     “We’ve pretty much been using the same recipe since day one,” he said. “My brother, the chef, has been making this kind of food for a very long time. We started in Brooklyn, were the more advanced vegan chefs have been doing it all over the city.”

     So we better keep up with our knowledge of Cheese!

 

Fire Prevention is Key to your Restaurant

     With more than 8,000 fires strike restaurants each year, operators can help prevent a disaster by installing fire suppression systems, maintaining equipment and training employees.

     Restaurateurs spend a lot of time, money, and effort ensuring their businesses never have to deal with the devastation that a fire can cause. But with a Restaurants’ propensity for open flames, hot cooking equipment, flammable oils, and cleaning chemicals in the kitchen, it’s no surprise that data released by the National Fire Protection Association in 2012 reveals approximately 8,000 restaurants report a fire each year.

     Some things operators can do to prevent fires seem like no-brainers—storing paper products, liquids, and food away from heat and cooking sources; disposing of soiled rags and trash properly; and cleaning ovens and equipment daily. The problem, experts say, is that operators can follow all the precautions and still have a fire wreck their business.

     In 2013, Jim Joyce, owner of Rich’s Restaurant in Cedarburg, Wisconsin, watched a three-alarm fire engulf his Restaurant as a fire that began on the cooking line jumped into the exhaust hood and spread. “It was utter devastation throughout, specifically on the cooking line,” says Ryan Beeck, project manager for Paul Davis Restoration & Remodeling, who led the restoration job. “The bulk of the equipment was damaged beyond any sort of repair. We took everything out, gutted it all, and started from scratch.”

     Joyce used the opportunity to make significant improvements. The last remodel had occurred more than 10 years ago; the revamped Restaurant now has a trendier feel with new interior finishes and an updated menu. Along with changing the Restaurant name to Jim’s Grille when it re-opened in March 2014, Joyce also educated his staff about what to do in case a fire breaks out again.

     “Most times, the work we do is related to grease fires that jump up and then there’s no means to stop it,” Beeck says. “The two biggest things you can do for prevention is to have annual maintenance checks on your equipment, especially anything involving gas, and stick to the cleaning program as prescribed for your exhaust hoods.”

     Outside of arson, the most common form of kitchen fires occur due to cooking equipment, which is why installing an automatic fire-suppression system in the kitchen is crucial. These systems automatically dispense chemicals to suppress the flames and also have a manual switch to shut down the fuel or electric supply to nearby cooking equipment.

     Shane Ray, executive vice president of the National Fire Sprinkler Association, says of all the efforts a restaurateur can exert, fire suppression is the only automatic life- and property-saving one.

     Previous owners of a building also affect the chance of fire. John Rossmiller, regional fire director at Cintas Corporation, which provides fire-protection services to Restaurants, gives an example of this. He says if a bar and grill moves into a space that previously served Chinese food, for instance, it might have an increased risk of fire because Chinese restaurants don’t use the same cookingequipment or oils that bar and grills do—making it crucial the new owners update their fire-suppression systems.

     A sound fire-suppression system is not the only requirement for Restaurants to guard against flames. Restaurants with up-to-date fire-suppression systems must still ensure regular cleanings of exhaust systems, Rossmiller says.

     Phil Ackland, who has worked in commercial kitchen safety education for more than 25 years, serves as a commercial kitchen fire investigator and prevention specialist. He says restaurant owners make too many decisions based on the price of a bid from exhaust cleaners, and that can lead to devastation.  “There are a number of exhaust systems that cannot be cleaned properly without additional access [such as openings in the duct work],” he explains. Restaurants should shoulder any additional expense and deal with a reputable company to ensure exhaust systems are up to par, he adds.

Everyday Checks

     Beyond regular checks on fire-suppression and exhaust systems, there are plenty of things a Restaurant can do to protect itself from a fire. Having a Class K fire extinguisher at the ready is vital in case of a kitchen fire involving grease, fats, and oils that burn at high temperatures. For other accidents, such as paper, wood, plastic, and electrical fires, portable ABC extinguishers should be in an easy-to-reach location.

     If a fire does break out during regular business hours, the most important thing for staff to do is remain calm and lead everyone out of the building. All staff should be trained in emergency preparedness and at least one worker per shift should understand how to shut off gas and electrical power.

     Mike Amidzich offers one more tip to operators and employees. The owner of the 44-year-old Pizza Man in Milwaukee suffered $3 million in damages after a 2010 fire started by an arsonist at a nearby business destroyed his own eatery. He is in the process of re-opening Pizza Man at a different location with a more extensive sprinkler system in toe.

     “One thing I would recommend is not to keep personal items in the Restaurant. Keep them off premise—the pictures, awards, and other meaningful items,” Amidzich says. “You just never know.”