UK supermarket chain Tesco is introducing the Trim Trolley, a grocery cart that offers a workout while you shop. The shopper can choose the resistance level on their cart, thereby making pushing a cart feel like an uphill battle. The cart also has the technology to monitor the number of calories burned after any shopping workout.
General
"The People's Republic of Starbucks
https://reveries.com/cool_news/2004/october/oct_29a.html
Shanghai Surprise II. Back in the 1940s, it was known as the “Paris of the East,” but today some are calling Shanghai, “The People’s Republic of Starbucks,” reports Veronica Gould Stoddart in USA Today. Consider this: In “the room where Mao founded the Chinese Communist Party in 1921,” is “now a yuppified entertainment complex of restored traditional houses called Xintiandi,” where “tourists, expats and moneyed Shanghainese, palming cellphones, pack its hot jazz clubs and cooler-than-cool eateries to dine on risotto of mud crab with black Chinese truffles.” Even more dramatic is the change in Shanghai’s skyline.
France tackles 'bad' cafe culture
The owners of France’s 60,000 bars, brasseries and cafes have said poor service is driving customers away, and have promised to do better.
After a particularly difficult summer, the industry has decided to work hard at attracting customers.
It will set up a new institute to tackle the problems and a charter of quality to improve service, comfort levels, products and hygiene.
The project will be presented to the tourism minister next month.
It is more fun to eat in the bar than to drink in a restaurant
Seems that what we in the industry have known for year is now… well trendy… i guess
“Drinkers v. Diners. “You can’t be just a great mixologist — you have to provide hospitality,” says Paul Grieco of Hearth, a N.Y.C. bar and restaurant, commenting on a trend toward people having dinner at the bar, as quoted by William L. Hamilton in The New York Times. “You can’t be a bartender anymore … You have to be a top-notch sommelier, a top-notch waiter, a top-notch food runner,” he says. It’s not that Paul Grieco is unhappy about that, though. In fact, Hearth anticipated bar diners in its design, including “stations for plates, napkins and silverware below the bar as well as for barware. And bars, from front to back, are wider, to accommodate table settings.” Indeed: “According to bartenders, managers and owners across New York, bar space at most restaurants has become de facto dining
space.”
Read the article at https://reveries.com/cool_news/2004/august/aug_18b.html
Texas's freewheeling soupmaker
A former computer programmer quit his job and became the Soup Peddler
AUSTIN, TEXAS ? David Ansel, aka the Soup Peddler, is standing on the back patio of his magnificently funky south Austin home, dressed only in shorts and a smile, his mop-top of curls pleasantly unruly. He unsheathes a machete, holds it high above his head (both for power and dramatic effect), and then whacks down hard, halving the acorn squash on the tray before him. [Read more…] about Texas's freewheeling soupmaker
FoodBALL by Camper
FoodBALL by CAMPER (24/05/2004)
22 years after the opening of the first shoe shop on Calle Muntaner in Barcelona, CAMPER has begun to diversify in the same city, by opening a health food shop
discussion – of marketing and obesity
https://www.reveries.com/reverb/revolver/obesity_marketing/
What is the relationship between marketing and obesity? What should marketers be doing to address the issue? Which marketers are doing the best job of turning the obesity issue to their advantage?
Branded Brands…
Marriot & Bulgari – Smart Car & IPod – Nickelodeon partnering with Holiday Inn Hotelsis all examples of this new trend reported in trendwatch.com
Despite some doom and gloom predictions for brands in general (too expensive, too much media saturation), branded goods remain as hot as ever. Certain focused and well respected brands, often beacons of coolness and quality, are now cashing in by enriching other, more all-encompassing brands. The result: BRANDED BRANDS.
In plain English: BRANDED BRANDS means you will get a pizza from Pizzeria Uno on an American Airlines flight. And onboard perks offered by United Airlines include Starbucks Coffee, Mrs. Fields Cookies and even a McDonald?s ?Friendly Skies Meal?, including the ubiquitous promo-toy.
When you check into your Westin Hotel, expect the beauty products to come from premium brand Aveda. Le Meridien adds to its appeal with luxurious Hermes toiletries. These days, lifestyle magazines even include this kind of information in their hotel reviews.
Cars aren?t immune either: Lexus proudly promotes their Mark Levinson audio systems. And when dining out, don?t be surprised to find Haagen-Dazs ice-cream on the menu of even upscale restaurants. It all points to consumers on the road increasingly wanting to find the brands they trust and enjoy at home (United Airlines? in-board coffee approval shot up to 87% when it introduced Starbucks).
Up to marketers to decide whether they represent a brand that should be branded, or own a brand that puts the ?branded? into others! [Read more…] about Branded Brands…