QR Codes Continue To Replace Physical Restaurant Menus
As contactless transactions become highly desirable in the time of COVID-19, QR code menus are replacing more and more traditional restaurant menus. Codes are being placed on tables, hostess stands, walls and doorways, allowing customers to capture the code with their phone cameras and peruse the menu on their own screens. In some cases, QR codes offer both a digital menu and an online payment method. “It’s so easy. Literally you just open your camera and you take a picture and it pops up,” said Julie Zucker, CMO of Branded Strategic Hospitality. Nearly one third of consumers say disposable and single-use menus would make them feel safer, according to Technomic. The QR code technology can also facilitate and simplify customer satisfaction surveys, loyalty programs, and the option to easily split the check at very low cost, allowing restaurants to engage more fully with customers at low cost. Not everyone is catching on, however. “Some people just look at you kind of weird like you’re talking a foreign language” when they’re given the option to view the menu on their phone, says Danielle Baerwald, owner of Erv’s Mug in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. Restaurants with younger clientele have embraced the technology, while those with older customers have been more reluctant to make the switch.
16,000 Restaurants Have Permanently Closed Since March, Says Yelp
According to Yelp, 60% of the roughly 26,000 restaurants that have closed since March have become permanent, about 16,000 permanent restaurant closures in total. The highest number of closures have occurred in California, Texas, and New York, which are states with more restaurants per capita than most. And permanent closures are likely to increase. “We anticipate states will roll back or delay reopening plans,” said Justin Norman, vice president of data science at Yelp, “which will inevitably impact the future success of businesses, possibly turning even more temporary closures into permanent ones. That said, we are seeing temporary closures reduce, which is a promising signal for many businesses.”
At the start of the pandemic, Swiss investment bank UBS predicted that 1 in 5 restaurants worldwide would close. While the industry’s fate hasn’t been quite so dire, another wave of shutdowns could result in more closures. “Unfortunately, we do expect closures to continue,” said Norman. “The virus isn’t going anywhere soon, so businesses will need to be resilient.”
Rare Blue Lobster Found At Red Lobster Is Donated To Zoo
About 1 in every 2 million lobsters are blue, due to a genetic anomaly. In Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, a Red Lobster employee spotted one of these rare blue lobsters in a recent shipment to the restaurant. Instead of cooking it, restaurant management set out to give the lobster, which they named Clawde, a new home. Red Lobster is a partner at Seafood Watch, the sustainable seafood organization run by the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Seafood Watch helped the Ohio Red Lobster management team secure a new home for Clawde at the Akron Zoo. Soon afterward, one of the zoo’s veterinarians determined that Clawde was a female lobster, so they renamed it Clawdia. “Shortly after we introduced Clawdia to her aquarium,” said Vince Jeffries, director of marketing and public relations at the zoo, “she started moving rocks around to create her own cave. That was a good sign. It means she’s doing well.” .
Meet The New Faces And Flavors Of West Coast Barbecue
With various influences from Central Texas and Mexico, California is developing its own distinctive barbecue culture. A handful of pitmasters are forging a tight-knit community and unique style based on their personal histories and preferences. One of them, Daniel Castillo, will soon open Heritage Restaurant in Orange County, California, after running a barbecue operation out of his backyard for years. At Moo Craft Barbecue in Los Angeles, Andrew and Michelle Muñoz incorporate Mexican flavors into their barbecue, sausage, and sides. And Burt Bakman of Trudy’s Underground Barbecue and Slab wants to take the flavors of his upbringing and open an Israeli restaurant, combining smoked meat with zhoug and hummus.
What unites these pitmasters is not only a dedication to barbecue but also an open and inclusive approach, sharing images, tips, recipes, and resources with each other and with those who ask for them. They also like to challenge assumptions that people have about barbecue and seek to put California on the barbecue map. “We all support each other wholeheartedly,” says Bakman. “The idea is for others to follow and do even better and better and better until California develops its own sound. I want California to be recognized as a barbecue territory. Until California barbecue becomes its own category in the barbecue competitions, we still have work to do.”
California Rolls Back Restaurant Reopening As Coronavirus Cases Surge
As coronavirus case numbers climbed up to 7,000 and counting in California this past week, Governor Gavin Newsom rolled back state plans for restaurants to resume dine-in service. The order immediately pauses indoor activities at bars, zoos, movie theaters, and museums as well. This past Monday, California reported 8,538 new cases and 23 deaths with daily cases skyrocketing over 20% in the last week. Outdoor dining in Alameda County, California has closed as well, sending many businesses into a hurry to close up again, just weeks after reopening. Restaurants will once again have to resort to takeout, drive-thru, and delivery services only. Thirty-one of the state’s 58 counties are re-closing, affecting roughly 33 million Californians and 85% of the state’s population. Get the full story here at Wall Street Journal and here at Los Angeles Times.
“Waygu” Plant-Based Beef Wins Over Japanese Master Chef Hidekazu Tojo
Hidekazu Tojo, Japanese-Canadian chef and inventor of the California Roll, recently compared plant-based “Waygu” beef to real Wagyu beef. “I was unsure about the quality,” said Tojo. “But when I tried it, I could not believe it was made from plants. My first impression was that it was real wagyu beef. I was immediately very impressed.” The plant-based alternative to Japan’s famously rich beef is made with textured soy protein that is layered with fibers of plant protein multiple times and then flavored with rice wine, ginger, garlic paste, and soy sauce. The first samples of Waygu have already shipped to restaurants and food producers around the world, and full-scale production is expected to begin this August, according to Blair Bullus, president of Vancouver’s Top Tier Foods, who made the plant-based alternative. “Wagyu beef has long been recognized as the best beef in the world for its unique succulent texture and marvelous subtle flavors,” say Bullus. “We set about trying to make a plant-based alternative that would live up to this standard for texture, taste and quality so that those who choose not to eat meat can still enjoy a product of wagyu beef’s legendary quality.”
Here Are The World’s 10 Oldest Restaurants And Their Signature Dishes
The oldest restaurant still operating in the world dates back to 803 CE, according to a list put together by NetCredit financial services. St. Peter Stiftskulinarium in Salzburg, Austria is widely regarded as the world’s oldest restaurant, and its signature dish is tafelspitz, a Viennese classic of simmered beef with apples and horseradish. The world’s next oldest restaurant is Historische Wurstkuchl in Regensburg, Germany. Founded in 1146, this restaurant is world famous for its charcoal grilled sausage and sauerkraut. Just a year later in 1147, The Old House was founded in Maesteg, Wales. This historical eatery has been fully restored to its original glory and still features a signature dish called the Old House Pie with a filling that changes daily. In China, Ma Yu Ching’s Bucket Chicken House in Kaifeng, Henan, first opened its doors in 1153, and the restaurant still serves buckets of chicken to this day. .
British Government Offers $625 Million In Discounts To Spur Restaurant Spending
Britain’s new “Eat Out to Help Out” initiative offers diners a 50% discount of up to £10 per person on meals from Monday through Wednesday. The plan includes the equivalent of up to $625 million in discounts. “This moment is unique. We need to be creative,” said Finance Minister Rishi Sunak. The discount can be used unlimited times and will not apply to alcohol. Sunak also announced a temporary cut in VAT sales tax, bringing the usual 20% down to 5% for eat-in or hot takeaway food from restaurants, cafes, and pubs. As in other countries, Britain’s foodservice industry has been devastated by the pandemic. Once employing 1.8 million workers, the industry is now suffering thousands of job losses. “The measures announced today are extremely positive…and they should give many businesses in our sector much-needed help to get going again in earnest,” said Kate Nicholls, chief executive of industry lobby group UKHospitality.
Tavern On The Green Outfield: Minor League Ballpark Becomes A Bistro
Like many baseball teams, the Boston Red Sox minor league farm team, the Pawtucket Red Sox, was forced to cancel its 2020 season due to the coronavirus. But this season would have been a celebration of the team’s 50th anniversary of playing at the Pawtucket, Rhode Island field at McCoy Stadium, and its last year ever. The league announced it would be moving the team to a field in Worcester, Massachusetts, as of 2021. To salvage the planned 50th anniversary celebrations, team vice chairman Mike Tamburro hatched a plan based on local officials’ announcement that limited outdoor gatherings were still permissible. Starting in June, Tamburro and his team launched “Dining on the Diamond,” an outdoor picnic held on the stadium’s well-manicured outfield. The first weekend’s 20 tables and two seatings sold out in 88 minutes with hamburgers, hot dogs, French fries and nachos on the menu. The picnic quickly grew to include a third seating, more tables (spaced 14 feet apart), and an expanded menu offering lobster rolls, a barbecue platter, and chicken Caprese. The events have been staffed by team officials, and diners at each table receive a miniature keepsake replica of McCoy Stadium to take home. Dining on the Diamond has been a home run, as more than 2,600 families are currently on the waiting list and those who’ve scored a table have relished the opportunity to put their toes on the outfield of their baseball heroes. “This kind of idea could be groundbreaking for the industry going forward,” said Tamburro. “Can you imagine Fenway Park doing this when the Red Sox are on the road?”
The Sioux Chef Opens Indigenous Food Lab
The Oglala Lakota chef Sean Sherman began his Indigenous catering and education company, the Sioux Chef, in 2014. The Sioux Chef has since won two James Beard Foundation awards for his leadership and a cookbook. Over the next few months, Sherman and his partner Dana Thompson will open the Indigenous Food Lab in Minnesota as part of their nonprofit organization, North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems (NATIFS). The Indigenous Food Lab will feature a restaurant, a training kitchen, and an education center, as the NATIFS furthers its mission of Indigenous food education.
Sherman and his team will invite Indigenous communities from around North America to use the lab to both learn about, share, and serve dishes from North American regional food systems. The restaurant will be open to the public, abiding by social distancing guidelines during the pandemic. The restaurant will only serve pre-colonial food, so there will be no dairy, wheat flour, refined sugar, beef, pork, or chicken on the menu. Instead, the restaurant, training kitchen, and education center will feature traditional Indigenous North American foods like wild rice, corn, beans, bison, and foraged mushrooms, which will be sourced from local Indigenous farmers.
