After all the effort that you and your staff put towards providing guests memorable experiences on your property; why would you want to undermine your credibility by using inexpensive and potentially harmful food and personal care products? In this article, I will review how Genetically Modified Organism's (GMOs) are defined and regulated in the US and some of the human health risks that have been associated with the production and consumption of GMO's. I will also try to provide a few strategies that hospitality management, purchasing and food services teams can use to avoid the risks that GMOs pose. READ MORE

The best service any hotel can offer is the ability to serve guests high quality food in their hotel room in a timely manner with excellent service. The mark setting standard from a three star hotel to a four star hotel is complimentary amenities for guest checking or upon turndown. A simple glass of fresh lemonade upon check in can make the all the difference for a customer and a customer for life. READ MORE

Farm to table programs continue to be a growing trend as customers are demanding more and more healthy and flavorful options. While the impact of a local produce program on a menu is easy to define, understanding how to navigate a relationship with a local purveyor to meet the needs of customers can be uncharted territory. Understand your customers and define your needs and clearly define your requests with a purveyor for a successful farm to table program that will be good for the environment, good for the community, good for business and good for customers' stomachs. READ MORE

As Chef de Cuisine of the award-winning deep blu seafood grille at the new Wyndham Grand Orlando Resort Bonnet Creek, I have had the opportunity to utilize my creativity with a passion for providing diners with a fresh spin on sustainable sourced seafood and local produce. Maintaining a menu that is not only exciting to our diners (a mix of resort guests, Orlando park goers and the local crowd) but is also accessible to an array of palates is a challenge I have whole-heartedly, and successfully, taken on. READ MORE

How Mehdi Eftekari, General Manager of Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills and his team created a destination restaurant concept, with the addition of Culina, Modern Italian. This is the newest trend and Culina was a pioneer concept for Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts, which has proven successful and already won several awards. READ MORE

How does an historic hotel maintain its relevance in an ever changing world? From physical attributes worth preserving, to the traditions and customs that have made the hotel unique, to even the food and beverage service, this is a question that restaurants in many of our country's “elevated cuisine” cities, like New York, San Francisco and Miami, have to constantly answer to stay current in the minds of their guests. READ MORE

Noble House Hotels & Resorts - a privately held hotel ownership and management company - utilizes interactive applications and digital integration for food and beverage marketing, as with many of its initiatives and marketing efforts. From social media applications and website marketing, to e-marketing and guerrilla marketing, Noble House reaches its guests with information and news regarding all F&B efforts, including banquets, restaurants and events. READ MORE

Buying local has become more than just a way to support nearby farmers and fishermen; it has become a criterion for meeting the expectations of the bespoke traveler. The guests staying at our hotel demand the most authentic experience when they are discovering new places and in particular new cuisine, so that is why The Lodge at Doonbeg, which was recently named the Best Hotel Restaurant in Ireland at the Irish Restaurant Awards, has cultivated a network of local artisans whose meats, fish and cheeses which are featured everyday on our menus. READ MORE

Improved supply chains and demand for convenience have made it too easy for us to overlook a wide variety of quality local food and drink providers. Not to mention that we're all busy and tend to forget what's right under our noses. These factors have actually backfired and had a tremendous negative impact on our local economies, which are now stagnating. Buying locally-made food and drink is a win-win-win. It's usually healthier for you, usually tastes better and it helps keep more cash invested locally, thereby helping to prevent economic stagnation. READ MORE

Customer value extends far beyond the table or the restaurant itself. Restaurateurs have the opportunity to create customer value from the first contact, whether that means a telephone reservation or an electronic order or reservation. The restaurant operator's decision of whether to permit electronic ordering or to accept reservations via the web depends on numerous factors, including balancing guest preferences against the cost of participating in third-party reservation sites. Studies of consumers who have made electronic reservations find that those who prefer the web tend to be younger customers who dine out more frequently than others. READ MORE

"One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well." - Virginia Woolf. This quote truly reflects the focus we take to the culinary programs at every Montage Hotel & Resort. Our focus on dining is one of our brand pillars, with a spotlight on delivering the best possible experience for our guests. Each restaurant has been carefully crafted to take inspiration from their environment -- whether beach, city or mountain -- incorporating a sense of spirit and place into the design and cuisine. In turn, our offerings have blossomed into attractions in and of themselves. We focus on execution and meticulousness and have created a recipe based on three-prongs defining our daily course. READ MORE

Bringing in an operator, restaurateur or celebrity chef to provide food and beverage service in a hotel can provide immediate and significant benefits for a hotel and its guests. Hotel owners and operators use the experience, vision and creativity of third party food and beverage providers to generate attention, energy and business for hotel properties. Further, while hotels brand their properties and earn their reputations over decades, pockets of a hotel property can be made available to third party food and beverage providers to create a more immediate change in brand direction or environment. Despite the lure, however, chemistry and contract details are important. READ MORE

The Hyatt Regency Atlanta and its Executive Chef know how to satisfy Meeting Planners hungry for innovative breakout ideas. The hotel offers over 180,000 square feet of meeting space is embracing its Southern roots and allowing its experts to run the show with interactive and learning-based breakouts. According to information provided by Elizabeth Mann, Sales Manager for an Atlanta Destination Management and Corporate Event Planning Company, Juice Studios, there is an increase in demand for meeting breaks that not only incorporate refreshments for attendees but also an interactive learning experience. She also said planners are presenting the challenge to keep corporate groups entertained and enlightened between breaks in meetings while integrating the current and evolving food trends. READ MORE

A restaurant can be a great asset to a hotel - it presents an additional source of revenue, adds to the bottom line, and is an attractive feature for guests. Operating a restaurant from within a hotel ensures a certain amount of business will be coming your way. Over the years, however, hotel restaurants have gotten a bad reputation for putting out subpar food. With the right marketing, within the hotel and outside of it, restaurateurs can influence the amount of business coming in beyond hotel guests. READ MORE

From the guest's experience to the food delivery, in-room-dining can often be challenging for hotel chefs. Every step of the in-room-dining process should be considered because even if the menu is designed to perfection, poor execution often comes at the cost of an unsatisfied guest. Guest needs, seasonality of the ingredients and food quality at the time of delivery can individually or collectively jeopardize a happy returning guest. Using some of my own experiences, this article provides best practices that I have implemented to create a flawless execution for in-room-dining. READ MORE

How can it be possible for an existing hotel, like the Marriott West Loop, by the Galleria, in Houston, to operate Food and Business as a venture enterprise? It seems, at this point, a bit counter intuitive. The hotel has been around since the mid-70s and has had a kitchen, restaurant, catering, bar and room service all that time. How, then, could it still be considered a venture enterprise? First, let's consider the definition of a couple of the terms. An enterprise is a business that is providing some good or service. A venture is something that is speculative or uncertain. A venture enterprise is a business that is operating “with some risk in expectation of gain.” Food and Beverage operations for hoteliers are, in fact, risky propositions every single day. READ MORE

I recently returned from Rioja, Spain, where I spent eight days touring Rioja's wine country. There, I was mesmerized by the world-class wine museum, Museo de la Cultura del Vino. The visit highlighted the importance of knowledge that we, as professionals in the food and beverage industry, should continue to garner so that we can impart education to staff members. As managers, training staff is both a responsibility and a top priority. A properly trained staff in areas like wine education not only provides guests with a better experience but will increase your restaurant revenues and your staff members' tips. READ MORE

As the mobile market continues to grow, most restaurants have been slow to adapt to the new opportunities afforded by this evolving technology. With possibilities for increasing revenue, generating new revenue streams, optimizing diner loyalty and more, implementing a mobile strategy has never been more vital. Based on research and my knowledge of the hospitality industry, I've written this article to guide you with informed recommendations to embrace this new medium. I will cover the benefits to both the restaurant and the diner, and explain the various ways in which mobile websites and mobile applications can positively impact a restaurant's business practices and the dining experience they provide. Each mobile platform offers something unique to the industry; the benefits of a mobile website are completely different than the benefits of a mobile application and they will each be addressed. READ MORE

Most talented chefs I know give great thought into what they put on a plate. The decision to service guests potentially hazardous scientific experiments should be part of their consideration and disclosed to our guests. But we regularly prepare, service and consume genetically modified crops that bear significant risks without any discussion or disclosure. We all have a right to chose if we wish to consume these products, and that right has been silently taken. READ MORE