How hotels are upping their game on food and drink

F&B is an important revenue generator for hotels, with overall consumer spending in the U.S. alone rising by 5.5 percent annually since 2011, according to Technomic. The biggest driver of F&B, however, is a desire among hotels to tap into today’s experience-led economy.

“Having a memorable experience is especially important among today’s young people,” says Alexis Marcoux-Varvatsoulis, Consultant – Hotels F&B Specialist at JLL. “Instead of simply having a room to sleep in, Millennials are looking for innovative concepts that enhance their overall experience. In return, F&B provides hotels with more chances to interact with guests, thereby reinforcing their image, and when done well, generating positive reviews on social media to reach new potential guests.”

Competition among hotels and restaurants is stiff, which means it is no longer enough for hotels to simply add on an eatery as an afterthought. Standing out from the crowd is incredibly important – and this has led to some innovative concepts being introduced.

    Food a feature of hotel lobbies

Hotel lobbies are becoming much more than a simple reception and gift shop with coffee bars, grab and go stations for snacks and comfy seating that encourages people to linger. In Marriott’s Moxy hotels, the focus of the lobby is on eating, drinking and socialising from the self-service buffet at breakfast, fully-stocked food wall and coffee and full-service bars.

The big focus of a lobby needs to be on the food & beverage experiences,” George Fleck, VP of global brand management and marketing for Westin, Renaissance and Le Meridien, tells Hotel Management. “The first thing you should see when you walk in, ideally, is a really beautiful bar scene. The seating has been arranged to ensure there are communal seating opportunities and that there are intimate seating zones for more personal conversations.”

Other novel concepts include homemade snacks and pastry-making demonstrations in the lobby of the Renaissance Tuscany II Ciocco Resort & Spa, and a ceviche and tequila bar in the lobby of Marriott Puerto Vallarta Resort & Spa in Mexico.

    Flying in world-renowned names

To bring guests and locals a high-profile foodie experience, some hotels are ‘flying in’ Michelin-starred restaurants from the other side of the world. The Crown Hotel in Melbourne was home to the UK’s famous Fat Duck restaurant for six months, while the Mandarin Oriental in Tokyo provided a six-week residency to Copenhagen’s Noma. The latter had a waiting list of 65,000 guests.“This type of arrangement is a win-win for both parties,” says Marcoux-Varvatsoulis. “It offers the restaurant an opportunity to test its brand in a new city, and for the hotel it is a great way to market its rooms to a large pool of potential guests.”

    Room service via AI

New technology is increasingly on hand to satisfy guests’ needs – and appetites. At the Lowry Hotel in Manchester, guests can now order room service via Amazon’s virtual assistant Alexa. And in the U.S., residents at Choice Hotels International can get external food delivered via a mobile app, created through a partnership with delivery.com.

“Using technology not only demonstrates that the hotel is on trend, but it also makes it easier for guests to spend money. The long term benefit is convenience for guests,” explains Marcoux-Varvatsoulis.

    In-room cooking programs

The concept of in-room grocery deliveries has been taken a step further in the Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham, which has launched an in-room cooking program. Aimed at long-term travelers, the recipes have been devised by famous chefs such as Hari Nayak and James Rigato.

    Attaching a brewery

A rise in the popularity of craft beer and spirits has led some hotels to incorporate on-site breweries. The Source Hotel in Denver has a branch of New Belgium Brewing next to its lobby, while Cavalier Hotel in Virgina Beach includes a bourbon, rye and vodka distillery. BrewDog, the Scottish brewery, recently announced it was planning to open a second DogHouse hotel in Ellon, complete with in-room beer taps, after launching the concept in Ohio last year.

    F&B pop-ups

Some hotels have turned to pop-ups as a way of letting guests try the latest food and drink trends. Marriott International launched an F&B incubator project, Canvas, in 2014 which is designed to maximize space in its European hotels. The rooftop at Marriott’s Park Lane hotel has been host to the likes of Notch, offering Japanese street food and homemade cocktails in cans.

Whether it’s via technology, pop-ups or famous chefs, the focus on F&B is expected to rise over the next few years as hotels seek to tap into the demand for exciting new concepts. “In today’s competitive marketplace, where online reviews are the major driver of choice, it’s essential for hotels to create a positive buzz,” says Marcoux-Varvatsoulis. “It’s an exciting time for hotels and food-savvy travelers alike.”

Friends not to drink wine

Drinkers should have three alcohol-free days a week if they want to avoid the risk of liver disease, warn Britain’s most eminent doctors.
Current official guidance on healthy drinking limits is ‘extremely dangerous’ and must be rewritten – because it implies that drinking every day is fine, the Royal College of Physicians said.
Government advice states men should drink no more than four units a day and women no more than three.
New guidelines: Leading doctors now say drinkers should have at least three alcohol-free days a week
But this must also address the risks of daily drinking, doctors insisted.
They told MPs the risk of liver disease, alcohol dependence and serious illness increases if people drink every day rather than taking time off.
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They also urged Ministers to consider imposing stricter guidelines on pensioners – perhaps as little as seven units a week for older women and 11 for older men.
One unit is the equivalent of one small glass of wine (125ml) or half a pint of lager.


　　Limits: Government advice states men should drink no more than four units per day and women no more than three
Older people’s bodies are more affected by regular drinking, which puts them at risk of dementia, depression and falls, they said.
Yet pensioners are currently given the same guidelines as all adults.
In their submission to MPs on the Commons science and technology committee, the doctors said: ‘Government guidelines should recognise that hazardous drinking has two components: frequency of drinking and amount of drinking.
‘To ignore either of these components is scientifically unjustified.
‘A simple addition would remedy this – namely a recommendation that to remain within safe limits people have three alcohol-free days a week.’
They added: ‘The implied sanctioning of a pattern of regular daily drinking is potentially extremely dangerous.
The RCP disputes the claim that drinking every day will not accrue a significant health risk.
‘Frequency is an important risk factor for development of alcohol dependency and alcoholic liver disease.’
More than 16,000 people die from liver disease, usually caused by excessive drinking, every year in the UK.
It is Britain’s fifth biggest killer and the only major cause of death increasing year-on-year. Twice as many people die of it now than in 1991 and rates have soared by 13 per cent since 2005.
The British Liver Trust says liver disease is the biggest cause of premature death for women, and the second only to heart attacks for men.
The first drinking guidelines in 1987 – which were written by the RCP – stated that men should drink no more than 21 units a week and women no more than 14.
On top of this, everyone should take two or three days off a week. Doctors are angry that reforms to the advice in 1995 dropped this reference to alcohol-free days.
‘This in effect appeared to sanction daily or near-daily drinking, one of the key risk factors for alcohol-related harm and dependency,’ they said.
‘If the daily limit of four units was drunk with no drink-free days, this would be the equivalent of 28 units per week; a 30 per cent increase on the RCP’s guidelines.’


　　Habitual: Young regular drinkers are particularly at risk of developing liver disease later in life
The paper added: ‘Further studies have shown an increased risk of cirrhosis for those who drink daily or near-daily compared to those who drink periodically or intermittently.’
Young regular drinkers were particularly at risk, it said.
A 2009 study showed increases in UK liver deaths ‘are the result of daily or near-daily heavy drinking, not episodic or binge drinking. This regular drinking pattern is discernable at an early age’, the paper said.
Government experts expect the cost of treating people with liver disease will soar by 50 per cent in four years to more than £2billion.
Middle-class women are particularly at risk of daily drinking as they often have a glass or two of wine after work, followed by more at the weekend.
Lower limits should be considered for older people, as even modest levels of alcohol consumption can have a more profound effect on their bodies ‘due to physiological changes associated with ageing’, the paper said.
‘There is concern current guidelines are not appropriate for older people,’ it added.
Sir Ian Gilmore, RCP special adviser on alcohol, said: ‘We recommend a safe limit of 0-21 units a week for men and 0-14 units a week for women provided the total amount is not drunk in one or two bouts and that there are two to three alcohol-free days a week.
‘At these levels, most individuals are unlikely to come to harm.’
In June, a Royal College of Psychiatrists report called for a limit of 11 units a week for men aged over 65 and seven for women of this age.
The RCP quoted these suggested limits but did not explicitly endorse them.

Cocktail Do you love it?

　　This article is about the mixed drink containing alcohol. For other uses, see Cocktail (disambiguation).

　　A typical cocktail, served in a cocktail glass.
A cocktail is an alcoholic mixed drink that contains two or more ingredients—at least one of the ingredients must be a spirit.
Cocktails were originally a mixture of spirits, sugar, water, and bitters.The word has come to mean almost any mixed drink that contains alcohol A cocktail today usually contains one or more kinds of spirit and one or more mixers, such as soda or fruit juice. Additional ingredients may be sugar, honey, milk, cream, and various herbs.
The origin of the word cocktail is not known.
The earliest known printed use of cocktail is said to be in The Farmer's Cabinet on April 28, 1803: Drank a glass of cocktail—excellent for the head...Call'd at the Doct's. found Burnham—he looked very wise—drank another glass of cocktail.
The earliest definition of cocktail was in the May 13, 1806, edition of The Balance and Columbian Repository, a publication in Hudson, New York, in which an answer was provided to the question, "What is a cocktail?". It replied:
Cocktail is a stimulating liquor composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water, and bitters—it is vulgarly called a bittered sling and is supposed to be an excellent electioneering potion, inasmuch as it renders the heart stout and bold, at the same time that it fuddles the head. It is said, also to be of great use to a democratic candidate: because a person, having swallowed a glass of it, is ready to swallow any thing else

　　Flaming cocktails.
Compare the ingredients listed (spirits, sugar, water, and bitters) with the ingredients of an Old Fashioned, which originated as a term used by late 19th century bar patrons to distinguish cocktails made the “old-fashioned” way from newer, more complex cocktails.The first publication of a bartenders' guide which included cocktail recipes was in 1862 — How to Mix Drinks; or, The Bon Vivant's Companion, by "Professor" Jerry Thomas. In addition to listings of recipes for Punches, Sours, Slings, Cobblers, Shrubs, Toddies, Flips, and a variety of other types of mixed drinks were 10 recipes for drinks referred to as "Cocktails". A key ingredient which differentiated "cocktails" from other drinks in this compendium was the use of bitters as an ingredient, although it is not used in many modern cocktail recipes.
The first "cocktail party" ever thrown was allegedly by Mrs. Julius S. Walsh Jr. of St. Louis, Missouri, in May 1917. Mrs. Walsh invited 50 guests to her home at noon on a Sunday. The party lasted an hour, until lunch was served at 1 pm. The site of this first cocktail party still stands. In 1924, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Louis bought the Walsh mansion at 4510 Lindell Boulevard, and it has served as the local archbishop's residence ever since.During Prohibition in the United States (1920–1933), when alcoholic beverages were illegal, cocktails were still consumed illegally in establishments known as speakeasies. The quality of liquor available during Prohibition was much worse than previously There was a shift from whiskey to gin, which does not require aging and is therefore easier to produce illicitly.Cocktails became less popular in the late 1960s and in the 1970s, as other recreational drugs became common. In the 1980s, cocktails again became popular, with vodka often substituted for gin in drinks such as the martini. Traditional cocktails and gin began to make a comeback in the 2000s.

Eat good and drink good

　　
　　the problem:
I want to solve community hunger. There are many people in my community that are struggling to put food on their tables. Also some people on the street don't have a table to place anything on, so I would like to feed the community every Friday or more days if the grant is a great amout.
This is important to me because I love to cook, eat, and help others. Why not cook meals for people who need. I want to be a famous chef with my own restaurant, but as a teenager I want, I need to help people in need because, I am that person trying to be successful, but it won't happen if I don't help others in need. I believe serving food to the community is the best way, always wanted to do this but never had the materials to do this. If I get the grant this would be a major success in my teenage journey!
the plan of action:
I want to gather more teenagers to participate. Half of the grant would go to supplies, and the other half to the youth staff, to be offered as a stipend. I want to be recognized on television, to show that us teenagers can make a difference and do something positive.
how you can get involved:
Others can just apply themselves on my facebook page Serving Food For the Community.