Marketing Spoonful

One of the beautiful things about enjoying food is that we don’t have to adhere to conventions that tell us how we should feel about the experience. Wine doesn’t have to be expensive to be exquisite, and a chain restaurant can be a tasty option.
We went to an amazing mom-and-pop Korean place tonight. It’s called [...]

Tags: Cold Stone Creamery, duality, food marketing blog, Hot Stone, local, national, Restaurant, retail, taste

Once, long before she had celebrated her Bicentennial, America had a local-regional food system.
The Spoon is not quite 40, but there used to be a dairy that supplied reusable milk bottles full of ice-cold milk just across town from where we lived. There was a meat market. And a bread store. It wasn’t until 1978 [...]

Tags: Desmond Jolly, farmer's markets, Food, food ethics, food supply chain, green consumerism, local, localvore, Marketing

Four days and counting, and the Spoon takes it on the road for a two-week vacation of hiking, fishing, horseback riding, fishing, sleeping, fishing, sightseeing and, of course…driving. Lots and lots of driving.
And nothing goes better with all those activities than all of your favorite snacks. Here’s what the Spoon is packing for the trip:

Oberto [...]

Tags: 7-11, apple, Archer Farms, Craisins, Family, Food, granola, green tea, Lipton, local, Marketing, Oberto, Ocean Spray, Odwalla, On the Border, pink lady, pistachio, regional, root beer, snack, vacation

Now, the cynical traditionalists will scoff, but we think it behooves (love that word) food marketers to find ways to appeal to people’s desire to connect to unique and relevant brands with local flavor.
It’s pretty clear to us when something is completely contrived, like when we walk into ESPN Zone and the hostess has no [...]

Tags: ESPN, Food, garlic, hamburger, local, Restaurant, salad, steak, Stuart Scott, Supermarket