Tag Archives: Foodie

June 19, 2020 · 3:39 pm

Egg Creams

Foodie Friday! Unless you grew up in the New York area, you probably have no idea what an egg cream is. I suspect you might even have to be of a certain age to know. No, it has nothing to do with those eggs Cadbury sells. It’s a beverage, one that was a real treat when I was a kid. Here’s the thing: it contains neither eggs nor cream.

An egg cream is basically a glass of chocolate milk with some carbonation added via seltzer. Of course, a REAL egg cream is made only with Fox’s U-Bet chocolate syrup, whole milk, and a good spritz out of a blue seltzer bottle to froth the whole thing properly. Good luck finding one of those bottles any more!

The egg cream actually has its own day – March 15. Its origins are shrouded in mystery and it seems as if every soda jerk in NYC had his or her own closely-guarded recipe (proportion is everything!). The most interesting thing about it to most people is that it’s not at all what one would think it is, which leads to our business point today.

One thing that’s essential to any successful business (or businessperson) is authenticity. Their purpose is clear, they operate under a set of values that everyone involved knows and adheres to, and they have a defined personality. You can call it a brand image but I think it goes deeper than that. Apple, Disney, and others are great examples of this. As Dennis Green famously said, “they are who we thought they were.” Unlike the egg cream, the image you have about them is probably spot on to reality.

None of us can afford to be egg creams. We need to be clear about our personal and business brands. We need to project an image that rings true. I hope that makes sense. Now if I could only find a way to get a full, traditional seltzer bottle here from NYC without spending $100!

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June 12, 2020 · 3:23 pm

New Habits

This Foodie Friday, I’d like you to imagine that you went to bed after a lot of reveling this last New Year’s Eve and have just woken up. In any other year, you might be mildly surprised as to what’s gone on for the first 5 months of the year. 2020? You wouldn’t recognize it.

The pandemic has changed many things and people’s relationship with food is one of them. More than 80% of consumers say the coronavirus pandemic has changed their food habits, driving them to cook, eat, shop, and think about food differently, according to the annual Food & Health Survey from the International Food Information Council. Obviously, with most restaurants closed, many more people are cooking at home. About 60% of people, in fact. But 85% of people say they’re doing something differently, ranging from snacking more to washing produce more often.

They’re also changing what they’re eating. Generally, people are trying to eat more healthy although both KFC and Pizza Hut saw sales soar into the double-digits last month as consumers stayed home and ate more chicken and delivered pizza. Still, cooking more at home tends to be a little bit more healthy than the choices that we might make when eating out. That’s probably why the stuff we cook at home doesn’t taste as good as restaurant food! That said, three out of five people said they consider how healthy items are. And compared to 10 years ago, more than half said the healthiness of food makes more of a difference to them now.

Why am I bringing all of this up? I guess it’s just another reminder that the world we all knew has changed significantly but therein lies opportunity. The reason that we older folks tend not to be targeted by much marketing is that there’s an assumption that our buying habits are locked in stone. A lot more money is spent going after younger consumers whose shopping habits may be more malleable. I’d suggest to you that at this point everyone is rethinking not just how they buy food and eat but also how they spend their money on other things. People who used to travel a lot may find they’re not doing that now. Do those dollars go to home improvement or a shiny new entertainment center?

Habits are changing. You need to be changing with them if you want your business to continue to thrive. 

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June 5, 2020 · 3:48 pm

Fresh Picked

A little bit of a detour this Foodie Friday. Instead of talking about how food is prepared and served, this week I want to tell you a bit about where some of my food comes from, and it’s not a supermarket.

One of my favorite things about having moved to NorthCarolina is that I live in the middle of many farms. Most of them produce corn and soybeans and tobacco, but there is also a fairly local farm that offers fruits and vegetables. Each week I go online and can order a box of whatever is in season as well as some fantastic canned goods such as pickled okra or salsa made at the farm. They deliver the box to my house, and most of what’s in it has been picked earlier that day or the day before. That’s a serious flavor upgrade from what you get at the store, which might have been picked a week ago. 

While not organic, the farm is a GAP certified farm (Good Agriculture Practices) and is very careful to maintain a safe and healthy farm. The majority of their plants are started from seeds in the greenhouse. They purchase expensive hybrid seeds, which means they get good quality plants to grow the vegetables. The use of any pesticides or fungicides is closely monitored with all the crops. They use as little as possible, in part for health reasons and in part because chemicals are expensive. While not inexpensive, the produce is less expensive than buying organic produce ar the store and the quality is a huge upgrade.

I’m not alone in my thinking about supporting smaller farms. Maybe you’ve joined a CSA – Community Supported Agriculture – near you. If not, you can learn more about it here and search for one near you. It points us to a broader business point as well. There’s often a tendency to focus on the easy and less expensive in business as well as on the “big guys” (you’ve probably heard the expression that no one ever gets fired for buying IBM, ATT, etc.). Now – especially now as we’re beginning to come out of an economic disaster – is a great time to look at smaller options. Maybe the product isn’t as uniform as what the big guys produce, maybe it’s a little more expensive, but it might also taste better and be better for you. It’s almost certainly made with more care.

Something to chew on this weekend!

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