Retail & FoodService

Restaurant operators invest heavily in promoting new menu items and it turns out that a majority of consumers (about 70 percent) of consumers wont try a new menu item but almost 30 percent of consumers will, reports The NPD Group, a leading global information company. Seventeen percent of these early adopters will order a brand new menu item and 10 percent will try a limited time offer item, according to the findings of a new NPD foodservice market research report. …

EcoTensil (www.ecotensil.com), makers of the popular, award-winning and greenest tasting utensils on the market, is offering a solution to plastic waste, with the launch of their innovative Eco-iScoop. The iScoop is meeting the demand by ice cream and gelato retailers for a convenient, cost-effective, and green solution for frozen treat sampling that consumers love! …

Jimtown Spreads, Sauces and Dips have been sold throughout the West Coast for over 20 years. “We opened Jimtown in 1991 with a chalkboard menu that included a Brie & Olive sandwich and a Prosciutto, Fig & Olive Tapenade and Blue Cheese sandwich, both on baguette. These instantly became customer favorites, says Carrie Brown, Jimtown co-founder, In fact, the sandwiches were such hits that people constantly wanted to purchase the spreads. That gave us the idea to create wholesale versions of our Jimtown Chopped Olive and Fig & Olive tapenades.” …

David Zecchini's love of the land and eating freshly grown food set the table for the latest venture at Zecchini's growing restaurant chain: owning a 65-acre farm in Galway, about 10 miles west of downtown Saratoga Springs. …

In restaurants coast to coast, prospects for 2014 appear sunny-side up. The No. 1 trend for American eateries? Eggs — and not just for breakfast. …