Tuesday 17th August:
Get a sugar fix in Soho
The ladies of our London office are aquiver with anticipation for the beginning of September. Patrick Cox, the shoe supremo, is dusting down some of his mum’s favourite homebake recipes and collaborating with Eric Lanlard, the French patisserie superhero. Cox, Cookies and Cake is set to open on Brewer Street at the beginning of September.
The interior of the shop takes more than a little design inspiration from saucy Soho shops, with a glossy black floor and spangly walls. We’ll soon see if it finds a place in the ladies’ hearts along with Snog, the frozen yoghurt joint also on Brewer Street, and good old Hummingbird Bakery on Wardour Street.
Source: http://www.coxcookiesandcake.com/
Tagged with: Fashion, Food, Snacks
Monday 16th August:
Strap in before you tuck in
August in Edinburgh is always a feast of culture, comedy, theatre and more but now they’re making mealtimes a real event too.
Over in the pop-up Sky Gardens, diners are strapped in to one of the 22 seats, before the whole table is hoisted 100 feet into the air. The sitting lasts for half an hour, giving people long enough to tuck in and enjoy the views of the castle and the city skyline.
Via http://www.festivalinthesky.com/
Tagged with: Food, Restaurants
Thursday 10th December:
Season’s eatings
If your office is anything like ours, you’ll already be ploughing through the Christmas chocolates. If you’re looking for something to savour, how’s about Artisan du Chocolat’s latest offering? Their chocolate snowglobes will make very toothsome decorations, if you can hold yourself back long enough to appreciate their kitsch good looks. Here’s how Gerard Coleman and Anne Weyns, the chocolatier and business brains behind the atelier, describe them: ‘Marvellous edible decorations, shake them (not too hard!) and you can hear the caramel, cocoa nibs and biscuit bits inside soon to be eaten. Our globes are made in milk or dark chocolate and decorated in edible silver and gold with a snowy London landscape, Santa sleigh or winter trees. Unfortunately they are too fragile to send but reserve your adorable and delicious kitsch globes to pick up in our Chelsea, Notting Hill or Selfridges shops from Nov 1.’
Monday 13th July:
How can you help your customers shape your future?
Think like Starbucks who’ve introduced ‘My Starbucks Idea’. This is based around customers knowing better than anyone about what they want from Starbucks. And however simple or revolutionary the idea, Starbucks want to hear it. The call is for people to share and discuss their own and other people’s ideas, and then vote on their favourites.
And the team then let you know about the ideas they’ve launched…
Ref: http://mystarbucksidea.force.com/ideaHome
Tagged with: Drink, Food, Retail
Monday 8th June:
How can you help people spice up their routines?
MUJI’s taste-leaf book is the flat-pack spin on cooking. Instead of using real herbs, the spicy little book is filled with flavoured sheets of paper that you simply tear off and add to your meal. The seasoning ratio is already mixed and perfected to save you work, time, and most importantly, space.
Need some extra flavour? Just tear out a page and add it to the dish. Each page is embedded with the spice and dissolves into the food, while the moisture and heat ensure the spice mixes in well. The MUJI taste-leaf book includes basic flavours like white pepper and chili, but if this concept is picked up, it’s likely a whole new range of flavors will be introduced. The book is perfect for small-space living, camping, living on a boat, travel or just to show off to your friends. (Thanks to Annie for spotting this one.)
Thursday 9th April:
How can you provide an antidote to 24/7 angst-ridden world?
Take a look at Häagen-Dazs Five which focuses on pure, natural and simple – adjectives which hold a nostalgic, reassuring and calming appeal in today’s ailing economic climate.
As a delicacy with relative affordability and universal appeal, ice cream is one of those products that serves as a barometer of the times. If the Häagen-Dazs Five line is any indication, then simplicity is a possible signpost to the future.
http://www.haagendazs.com/products/five.aspx
Häagen-Dazs Five is a new, all-natural ice cream crafted with only five ingredients: skim milk, cream, sugar, egg yolks and natural flavouring. Available in mint, ginger, coffee, vanilla bean, passion fruit, brown sugar and milk chocolate, the Five line also includes less fat than Häagen-Dazs’s other ice creams, the company says.
Ref http://springwise.com/food_beverage/
Friday 3rd April:
How can you behave like a visionary from another industry?
Think like the eco cereal guys [Me] & Goji who want to do for cereals what Starbucks did for coffee in the 90s. Their first idea was to offer mass customisation and turn a fast-moving commodity into a premium product, even an experience. Their approach is personalised so you design your own cereal online from a choice of 30+ natural, organic ingredients – as they say ‘designed by you, handmade by us’. Then they ship it to you in their eco-capsules, a break from the usual mega cardboard cereal box.
http://www.meandgoji.com/Default.aspx
The capsules are modern, simple, visually appealing and functional. They fit into all standard cabinets, while the foil seal makes them easy to open (unlike many traditional cereal boxes), and the recyclable plastic cap makes for easy resealing that locks in freshness.
Ref http://www.thedieline.com/blog/2008/12/me-goji-cereal.html#more
Monday 23rd February:
How can you develop a distinctive and iconic brand that’s also capable of continually adapting to the world around it?
Think like Tel-Aviv agency, designlab, which has developed a modular packaging format for milk that can change shape and colour according to the weather or the value of the dollar. (Thanks, Dr Woo).
http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/8/view/5401/dag-designlab-tal-mor-and-shlomi-azulay.html
Tuesday 17th February:
How can you help ease people’s anxieties about health, the environment and violence?
Think like the late avant-garde composer, John Cage, who composed the longest and slowest piece of music in history, designed to go on for 639 years. The piece is called ‘As Slow As Possible’ and the first three notes, which will last for a year-and-a-half, were played on 11 February on a church organ in Halberstadt, Germany. (Many thanks to Laura for spotting this one).
We see similar ideas from people like the Slow Food Movement. This organisation was founded in 1989 to counteract fast food and fast life, the disappearance of local food traditions, people’s dwindling interest in the origins and the quality of the food they eat, and how our food choices affect the rest of the world.
Monday 9th February:
How can you do the ‘right thing’ and build brand loyalty?
Think like restaurateur Peter Ilic of Little Bay restaurant in London’s Farringdon. He’s come up with a radical way of keeping his eatery afloat during the credit crunch: for February only, he’s doing away with bills and inviting customers to ‘pay what you think it’s worth’. “It just seemed the right thing to do with everyone under the cosh and feeling pretty miserable,” he said. “We’ve seen so many more City folk coming into the restaurant lately looking for a better value lunch. This is the ultimate value meal.”
Mr. Ilic was convinced that he would not be left with empty pockets while his customers ate for free. In fact, takings were up almost straightaway, “On the day we started we got at least 20 per cent more than if we’d priced the food ourselves”.
While Mr Ilic is taking the ‘credit crunch lunch’ to a new level, restaurants across the UK have been offering promotions and discounts since late last year in an attempt to entice consumers through the doors.
This looks to be a growing trend as people try and support their customers through tough times. Denny‘s, the family restaurant chain and an icon of middle-America, has gone one step further by giving away an estimated 2 million free breakfasts to customers, as it strives to revitalise its flagging fortunes.
Denny’s said it would serve its popular ‘Grand Slam’ eggs, bacon, sausage and pancake breakfast for free between 6am and 2pm in what is believed to be one of the biggest promotions of its type ever.
“‘Free’ works far better than any other offer in this economy”, said Nelson Marchioli, Denny’s chief executive. Mr. Marchioli said the free breakfast promotion was a way of ‘re-acquainting’ people with Denny’s as a low-cost dining option.
“People are having a tough time in this economy. They’re jumping all the way to fast food, or back to the grocery store. We’re telling them they don’t have to do that.”
Ref http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/8ded90c0-f194-11dd-8790-0000779fd2ac.html