Specialty Food Magazine is the leading publication for retailers, manufacturers and foodservice professionals in the specialty food trade. It provides news, trends and business-building insights that help readers keep their businesses competitive.
Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/623506
experience to date has confirmed this—whether someone chooses a single origin from Yirgacheffe or our Core Espresso blend, it's clear [through their continued loyalty] that they are conscious of and care about the quality of the coffee they buy." "So many specialty coffee businesses popping up in the smallest of American cities proves that consumers everywhere want a better product, in their cup and in their home brewer," adds Serrano. In New York, customers are certainly becoming more inter- ested in bean characteristics. Roast style, region, as well as fair trade and organic, are all purchasing trends at FreshDirect, according to Blanchette. "More and more people are asking more bean-specific questions like 'where are they roasted, are they more robusta, or more arabica, and what is the place of origin,'" says Tal Inbar, owner of Macchiato Café in New York City. Throughout last year, Inbar says that many customers asked about single-origin and single-estate beans. Although he expresses his excitement about this trend, he sees potential drawbacks, noting that you cannot always guarantee consistency. Functional Drinks. According to Mintel, functional coffees have grown from roasted into single-cup and RTD types. A few brands— such as Spava, Coffee Blenders, and RealBeanz—have a range of functional coffees already available in the U.S. The claims link to some overall consumer trends in food and drink, such as better-for- you options and natural energy-enhancing ingredients like guarana, ginseng, and yerba mate. Though the concept of functional coffee is still new to most consumers and the percentage of functional coffee launches in the past five years is extremely small, Mintel cites that positive consumer perception suggests there is potential in this area. Trending functional attributes in the U.S. coffee market include extra/high protein, antioxidants, vitamins and minerals, probiotics and, to a lesser degree, weight-loss, wellness, and relaxation. Looking Forward Consumers are not giving up their daily dose of caffeine anytime soon. Variety and success in the category proves there is no one-size- fits-all consumer. And, if appliance giant GE has its way, consumers may never again need to buy a coffee pot. The company's soon-to-be-released GE Café Series French Door Refrigerator has a hot water dispenser and K-Cup brewing system that brews coffee from the refrigerator's door. "There are a lot of trends and not-so-recent trends like single- cup pour over getting attention, right now, concludes Inbar. "But the trendy and expensive coffee is not necessarily the tastier choice. Coffee is not rocket science; it should be fun and enjoyable." category spotlight Nicole Potenza Denis is a contributing editor to Specialty Food Magazine. (continued from p. 93) Deanna Ting is managing editor of Specialty Food Magazine. "Just interviewing a potential candidate is not always good enough because, although a candidate appears to be the right person, his or her background can suggest otherwise." William C. Fleming, Jr., Southern Season, Chapel Hill, NC Southern Season does background checks on all potential employees for statewide criminal history, social security vali- dation, federal criminal history, and nationwide sex offender registry searches. Currently, we do not look at social media activity or [monitor] anything more extensive. The checks are a great resource for internal control purposes because many employees are dealing with money or credit cards on a daily basis. Just interviewing a potential candidate is not always good enough because, although a can- didate appears to be the right person, his or her background can suggest otherwise. Once an employee is hired, we do not monitor their social media accounts or continue to do checks. We have a tracking system in place that notifies us if there is some kind of serious activity that needs immediate attention. My advice to other retailers is if you plan to use background checks, make sure the screening provides you with adequate [assurance] that it is safe to hire a potential employee. You can never be too careful when investigating the background of a potential employee. "As a small and integrated team, we trust our collective instincts and impressions when making hiring decisions." Kate Collier & Eric Gertner, feast!, Charlottesville, VA Here at feast!, we do not conduct formal background checks. We do check references, require application in person, and conduct in-person, in-depth interviews, however. We also often require trial shifts. We have about 25 employees, most of whom all work full-time. Our advice to fellow retailers is to meet the applicant in person. Check references. Have the applicant come in and work with the team on a trial basis. Have people in all sectors of the organization meet potential hires. In our case, as a small and integrated team, we trust our collective instincts and impressions when making hiring decisions. retail therapy (continued from p. 108) 124 ❘ SPECIALTY FOOD MAGAZINE specialtyfood.com