Mike has his own unique style. He draws on more than 27 years experience. He has worked most positions in the service industry and feels at home in more major cities than most people.
http://www.yotel.co.uk/
We have had an enormous response to Yotel over the last few months and would like to thank all those that have been in contact and are showing interest. We are working hard to bring you the first Yotel and will announce shortly where the first Yotel will open.
http://www.business2.com/b2/web/articles/0,17863,749970,00.html
By taking nigiri down-market, Ryuji Ishii’s Advanced Fresh Concepts made raw fish an American fast food.
Advanced Fresh Concepts (AFC) sells more sushi than anyone else in America — nearly $250 million worth of its Southern Tsunami brand nigiri and makimono each year. That’s 300 tons of fish, 20 million sheets of seaweed, and 1.9 million pounds of rice. The Rancho Dominguez, Calif., company operates sushi stands in supermarkets from Alaska to Alabama, relying largely on franchisees. AFC’s California rolls — which account for half the company’s sales — win newspaper taste tests despite costing less than $5. “I can keep quality high because volume keeps costs down,” says founder Ryuji Ishii. Here’s how he turned raw fish into a U.S. supermarket staple.
After watching the rest of the retail world get fat on the popularity of reloadable gift cards, the restaurant industry is jumping into the fray just in time for the holidays.
Everyone from McDonald’s to Dunkin’ Donuts to Jack in the Box has added, or soon plans to add, “stored value” cards you can reload with more bucks.
“It’s become the greens fee for being a serious player in the restaurant business,” says John Glass, analyst at CIBC World Markets. Read the rest of this entry »
Quoted from Businessblog http://www.manyworlds.com/1/businessblog/2004/11/learning-for-innovation.html
Self Service – A quick poll of the audience, about 1500 people, revealed that most of us used a check-in kiosk at the airline of our choice to get to NYC. A year ago this was unthinkable. This is a great example of why the ‘self-service’ trend is so hot and will continue to be the preferred way of people to interact with systems.
At first you’d think the airline personnel who used to staff the check in desks would be highly threatened by this, but they have now realized that they are freed up to really add value to situations where people really need help, not just the transactional. And now kiosks are moving up the value chain, mooving from the transactional to the ‘revenue generating’ as they have new functions to buy drink coupons and ‘auction’ first class seats depending on demand. Imagine this kind of self-service environment in a much broader way inside organizations, its a great way to help them learn and develop, as well as freeing up ‘real’ people to focus on the most important things.
Health-conscious and high-tech-loving consumers are grabbing more powerful snacks. A new “superfood” industry is merging that catcrs to customers’ desires for convenient, highly efficient foods that have the best formula of calories, caffeine, sodium, vitamins, and minerals to meet their diet and lifestyle needs.
-Futurist Update, Apr 2004