Companies such as Kraft and Nabisco are repackaging staple foods to be eaten in cars — and minivans and pickups. They’re betting that even the most safety-conscious soccer parents and overscheduled entrepreneurs will gladly snap up mobile meals: yogurt in a tube. Or chips in stacks, not bags. Or portable soup, snuggled into a cup holder.
[Read more…] about Drivers shift to eating on the go
Blog Page
Drivers shift to eating on the go
Companies such as Kraft and Nabisco are repackaging staple foods to be eaten in cars — and minivans and pickups. They’re betting that even the most safety-conscious soccer parents and overscheduled entrepreneurs will gladly snap up mobile meals: yogurt in a tube. Or chips in stacks, not bags. Or portable soup, snuggled into a cup holder.
“People want foods they can eat with one hand,” says Mike Diegel of the Grocery Manufacturers Association. “For some people, the time saved is more important than the process of preparing a meal. We’re looking for convenience in everything we do.”
Campbell’s launched its Soup at Hand line last year with four soups. The response was so positive, company spokesman John Faulkner says, that officials expanded the line to 11. Three flavors — pizza, Mexican-style fiesta, and chicken and stars — are aimed at restless, car-bound kids.
Kellogg’s sells a breakfast cereal that can be eaten without milk, bowl or spoon: It’s shaped like a candy bar, with the milk baked in with the cornflakes. Another company makes an easy-to-eat taquito in a peel-down bag.
One-handed eating is growing along with commute times — the average Portland-area commute is 24.4 minutes, up from 20.9 minutes in 1990, according to the Census. Also, families are moving farther outside the urban growth boundary, so there’s less time for sit-down meals.
Instead of reading recipes, stressed-out parents all over the metro area are grabbing and gulping as they rush their children from one activity to another, tubs of snacks in tow. [Read more…] about Drivers shift to eating on the go
One-handed eating is growing
Companies such as Kraft and Nabisco are repackaging staple foods to be eaten in cars — and minivans and pickups. They’re betting that even the most safety-conscious soccer parents and overscheduled entrepreneurs will gladly snap up mobile meals: yogurt in a tube. Or chips in stacks, not bags. Or portable soup, snuggled into a cup holder.
“People want foods they can eat with one hand,” says Mike Diegel of the Grocery Manufacturers Association. “For some people, the time saved is more important than the process of preparing a meal. We’re looking for convenience in everything we do.”
Campbell’s launched its Soup at Hand line last year with four soups. The response was so positive, company spokesman John Faulkner says, that officials expanded the line to 11. Three flavors — pizza, Mexican-style fiesta, and chicken and stars — are aimed at restless, car-bound kids.
Kellogg’s sells a breakfast cereal that can be eaten without milk, bowl or spoon: It’s shaped like a candy bar, with the milk baked in with the cornflakes. Another company makes an easy-to-eat taquito in a peel-down bag.
One-handed eating is growing along with commute times — the average Portland-area commute is 24.4 minutes, up from 20.9 minutes in 1990, according to the Census. Also, families are moving farther outside the urban growth boundary, so there’s less time for sit-down meals.
Instead of reading recipes, stressed-out parents all over the metro area are grabbing and gulping as they rush their children from one activity to another, tubs of snacks in tow.
McCafe is McDonald's attempt to steal profits from Starbucks
McCafe is McDonald’s attempt to steal profits from Starbucks, Peet’s Coffee & Tea and other upscale chains, increasingly viewed as prime competitors of the Oak Brook, Ill.-based fast food giant.
[Read more…] about McCafe is McDonald's attempt to steal profits from Starbucks
Soft drinks are hot
Soft drinks are set to become the biggest beverage sector in the world, overtaking hot drinks, with consumption rising by around 5 per cent a year, according to a new report from Zenith International. But while the US remains the biggest market for now, it is Asia which is likely to be the main driver of sales growth in the future. [Read more…] about Soft drinks are hot
Drivers shift to eating on the go
Companies such as Kraft and Nabisco are repackaging staple foods to be eaten in cars — and minivans and pickups. They’re betting that even the most safety-conscious soccer parents and overscheduled entrepreneurs will gladly snap up mobile meals: yogurt in a tube. Or chips in stacks, not bags. Or portable soup, snuggled into a cup holder.
“People want foods they can eat with one hand,” says Mike Diegel of the Grocery Manufacturers Association. “For some people, the time saved is more important than the process of preparing a meal. We’re looking for convenience in everything we do.”
Boutique and budget — the two Bs are buzzing
If you want to join a growing sector of the hotel industry, look no further than the two Bs, boutique and budget. A boutique hotel, sometimes known as a lifestyle hotel, is generally a hotel with about 50-60 rooms, and with a particular emphasis on design. A recent report on the sector from PricewaterhouseCoopers found that lifestyle hotel operators in Europe are planning to add nearly 5,000 rooms to their stock by 2008.
Leading players in the UK include Hotel du Vin, which has just opened its sixth hotel in Harrogate, North Yorkshire; Malmaison, which opens in London in November after a long wait; the Eton Group, which has just opened the Glasshouse in Edinburgh; Alias Hotels, which opened the Hotel Seattle in Brighton earlier this year and plans to open in Liverpool in mid-2004; Myhotels, which has properties in London’s Chelsea and Bloomsbury; and Firmdale, a well-respected group based in London.
Even the big chains are getting into this sector now, particularly Starwood, with its W brand. At the other end of the spectrum is the budget sector. Budget hotels are generally new-build hotels with few frills but an attractive price point. In the UK, the market is dominated by three players: Whitbread, with Travel Inn; Travelodge; and Premier Lodge.
Caterer & Hotelkeeper; 10/9/2003,
The diet that won?t go away…
I am beginning to see the first signs that Europeans are getting wise to this diet also.
I see friends avoiding bread etc at parties, mumbling ‘I am trying to avoind carbs…’ I predict it wil be the next big thing herer in Europe in 2004.
In the mean time it is devloping rapidely in the US with all sort of unexpected consequences
See also my next entry today about TGI Fridays from justfood .com
Egg prices skyrocket
The increase in high-protein, low-carb diets has pushed egg prices to
20-year highs, according to many industry analysts. Eggs have long been
considered bad for arteries, though the upswing in those following the
Atkins diet has forced many to re-evaluate their notion of the nutrition in
eggs. Los Angeles Times/Associated Press (free registration) (12/10)