On this episode of On Foodable Weekly, our host, Paul Barron, sits down with Brad Spickert, VP of National Foodservice & On-Premise Marketing for The Coca-Cola Company, to discuss beverage insights pertaining to the soda giant, and in a broader sense, the beverage industry as a whole.

They aim to achieve this not only through portfolio and category expansion, but through reformulation of existing products for reduced sugar. In fact, The Coca-Cola Company, along with other leaders in the beverage industry, is committed to reducing calories from sugar at 20% by 2025.

Watch the episode to learn more about The Coca-Cola Company and the innovations they are spearheading with their Coca-Cola Freestyle mobile app, craft beverages and new revenue-generating product offerings for restaurant operators!

On this episode of On Foodable Weekly, we talk to Chef Bill Kim of bellyQ, an Asian barbeque restaurant in Chicago that takes guests on a flavorful journey. Flavor always comes first for Chef Kim. When discussing  flavor trends he’s seeing, Chef Kim mentions that trendy doesn't always mean new.

“I love Kimchi,” Chef Kim says. “And it’s not top secret, I think the secrets out, but I think it’s going to go beyond that. The thing that people talk about is Kimchi is only spicy and it doesn't need to be.” Chef Kim also talks about Gochujang, a savory, sweet and spicy red chili paste that Kim calls “essence of Korea in a bottle.”

But flavor is not the only goal at bellyQ. Chef Kim places high importance on using the finest seasonal and local ingredients. As he’s aged, he’s placed higher importance on his health and that focus is mirrored the food he serves at his restaurant as well. “If we could either braised it or marinate it overnight, that really imparts flavor and keeps things a little bit healthier. We cut out dairy in our restaurant so we replace it with coconut milk or we like to use, instead of using cream cheese, we use tofu cream cheese.”

In addition to his dedication to flavor, Chef Kim is dedicated to giving back. In the past Kim worked with the great Charlie Trotter and mentions Trotter as a major influence on his charity work. His involvement with the Trotter Project helps provide scholarship funds to kids in under-served neighborhoods who want to get into cooking.

Today, digital systems have become an operator’s best friend. Gone are the days of the chunky cash register that were permanently stuck in designated areas of the restaurant. Now point-of-sale (POS) tablets and handheld devices are becoming wildly popular at restaurants.

These POS systems have morphed into state-of-the-art tools that offer much more than just a solution to collect customer transactions. Packed with features, these solutions enhance a restaurant’s day-to-day operations, while also helping the operator understand their customers better.

But since operators have so many POS providers to choose from today, it can be a challenge to find the right software for their restaurant.

On this episode of On Foodable Weekly, we take a closer look at one of the most innovative systems out there, the Oracle Simphony POS software.

In this episode of On Foodable Weekly, our host Paul Barron sits down with the founders and CEOs of three of the 12 fast-casual brands thriving in the industry. These brands have been able to sustain themselves through a significant downturn (5.4%) for the category. So we find out what they are doing differently to remain successful.

Randy Dewitt from Velvet Taco, Nedal Ahmad from Pincho Factory and Michael Lastoria from &pizza, stopped by our remote set in Chicago to speak candidly about their brands.

In this episode of On Foodable Weekly, our host, Paul Barron, discusses emerging brands and how to be successful in the fast casual space. To shed light on this topic, Chris Schultz, Senior Vice President of MOD Pizza, and Eric Cacciatore, founder and host of the podcast: Restaurant Unstoppable, stopped by our remote set in Chicago to share their experience and knowledge.

It’s almost impossible to avoid technology in your restaurant these days, but why would you want to? On this episode of On Foodable Weekly, we get to talk to some brands who are taking advantage of the latest in tech to improve customer experience, while also ramping up their customer loyalty.

Nicole Abraham of Luna Grill and Frank Klein of Asian Box both present some of interesting steps they’ve taken and introduce us to some of the cool technologies that they have used to grow your business.

First up? Apps.

Watch the full episode for even more insights into the powers of technology and where we can expect to see it growing in the next few years!

There has been a shift in consumer demand for hand-made, artisan foods in the last few years. It’s no longer just our industry recognizing the art and dedication behind these products. We decided to sit down with Specialty Food Association President Phil Kafarakis to talk about this shift and how it’s impacting the specialty food sector.

The Specialty Food Association (SFA) has been around for 65 years, so this segment is not new to the industry. Previously known as the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade (NASFT), the Specialty Food Association is best known for its bi-annual Fancy Food Show. It has been sold out every year for more than 10 years, proving that specialty food products are growing in popularity.

Artisan food manufacturers have built up the community after a shift in consumer behavior. Consumers are asking questions they didn’t used to ask like, ‘Where does this come from?’, ‘Who makes this?’, ‘What’s its story?’ and this community is finally getting a chance to shine.

Restaurants operators have helped to foster thus growth. “They’ve got phenomenal cheese cases from around the world, they’ve got charcuterie bars, these folks represent the industry at large. And what we're finding is that no longer does it serve the membership to be buyer specific to the retail channel," said Kafarakis. So now, by opening up their doors to a wider range of consumers, we are seeing that the foodservice industry is not the only sector infatuated with fancy food.

Kafarakis also notes that there are special challenges associated with opening up to the market at large. Being specialty food, some artisan manufacturers might not be prepared to provide large quantities of product as the larger, non-specialty food companies. The SFA’s job is to prepare them and help them be successful– while retaining the authenticity and integrity of their products. With more than 35,000 manufacturers ranging from startups to mature companies, the specialty food sector is now a 127 billion dollar industry.

As the Oscars are for the film industry and as the James Beard Awards are for culinary, the Gold & Silver Plate Awards are the academy awards of foodservice. The celebration, which honors the nation's most prestigious operator talent, is hosted by the International Foodservice Manufacturers Association (IFMA) every year in Chicago.

The 63rd Annual Gold & Silver Plate Awards night was held on May 20th at Revel Fulton Market and highlighted eight Silver Plate Award winners, all from different foodservice categories. All of which were chosen through a painstaking, thorough jury process of the most innovative foodservice icons of the industry. From that elite group, one winner is honored with the Gold Plate Award.

Operators around the world are facing supply chain issues such as inventory placement, manufacturing costs, and transportation and distribution costs.

In order to improve efficiency and increase profitability across the industry, the International Foodservice Manufacturers Association (IFMA) created the Supply Chain Optimization Committee (SCO).

Stemming from best practices developed by IFMA, the Supply Chain Optimization Committee is a way for chain operators, manufacturers, and distributors to collaborate and share the challenges they are facing, the solutions they have come up with– as well as data they have analyzed. The group also addresses the critical issues of stakeholders.

The SCO committee is made up of a couple different sectors. The Development board consists of chain operators, manufacturers and distributors. Other companies like Datassential and Havi (and of course IFMA) offer assistance behind the scenes with data analytics and supply chain services.

On this episode of On Foodable Weekly, we talk to some of the instrumental players in creating IFMA’s Consumer Planning Program. The Consumer Planning Program, or CPP, was a collaboration between IFMA and Datassential to dive deeper into the consumer mindset and find out why consumers pick a food-service venue, how those decisions are made and what manufacturers (and operators) can do to influence those decisions.

CPP began in 2012 when IFMA realized they were not as in touch with the consumer as they wanted to be and so the association dedicated resources to really building that understanding and relationship. This began their research into consumer needs and purchase motivations.