Uncorkd’s Weekly News Round Up Dec. 12 – 18
Every Friday Uncorkd compiles the most recent restaurant and beverage industry stories that had us talking. Here’s our list of must-read articles from the web this week. Featuring La Liste, good restaurant sales numbers, more Whisky Advocate awards, and an incubator space for chefs. Here is our round up from December 12th – December 18th.
- In a world full of “Best of…” lists, we now have another. Though this one has a bit more gravitas than your local food blogger’s best burgers list. La Liste, a ranking of the best 1,000 restaurants in the world, was put together by France’s Foreign Ministry. The rankings were determined by a fancy algorithm and data sourced from multiple food guides, including Michelin, Zagat, and crowd-sourced sites like OpenTable. Time assembled the top 10 restaurants and American restaurants here.
- Good news for restaurants sales. The National Restaurant Association Chief Economist notes that restaurant sales are still strong in the face of conservative consumer spending. Restaurant sales trends also show that consumers are spending more dollars on dining out during this holiday season. The USA Today article celebrates that restaurant sales have been trending up between 4.2% and 6.4% according to data from MasterCard.
- SmartBlog ran a great article focused employee ownership of their job. The post is a sort of “How To…” guide for creating a work environment in which employees feel compelled to take ownership of their work and take pride in what they do. Quality customer service and dedicated employees are a result of this ownership.
- Whiskey Advocate released more gold stars in their 22nd Annual Whisk(e)y of the year awards. The magazine named their best Islay Single Malt, Highland Single Malt, and Lowlands/Campbeltown Single Malt of the year. The most notable winner was MGP Ingredients. The distillery in Lawrenceburg, Indiana was named Distillery of the Year. It’s a bit of controversial winner because of some of the scandals associated with the distillery’s clients. Most notable, Templeton Rye, who came under fire for falsely marketing of their whisky as a family recipe made in Iowa, despite their juice being distilled in Indiana by MGP. The large scale distillery produces many whiskeys used by companies like Bulleit, Templeton, and High West.
- In environmental news, SmartBlogs spoke with experts on sustainable fishing about how your restaurant can be secure in sustainably sourcing your fish. The article gives insight into which fish should be sourced from the wild and which should be farm raised.
- In a feel good story about a winery putting the environment and their ethics ahead of profits, Bunker Hill Winery is applauded for using only recycled and reused wine bottles. Bunker Hill does not purchase new bottles, strictly using wine bottles from other wineries and bottles sent to them from consumers when bottling their wines.
- In our weekly post about the wine industry catering to millennials, Trinchero Family Estates’ Take Wine Co., is adding a new wine to it’s Facebook focused line of wines. The winery sources wine from California and has marks named after Facebook relationship statuses. Their latest released is called “Available.” Other wines in their line-up include Complicated Chardonnay.
- The dining world is taking cues from the tech industry. A food court in Pittsburgh has begin an interesting incubator space for young chef’s looking to own or operate their own restaurants. The Smallman Galley allows up to four chefs at a time to operate their own restaurant in the space 18 months. The Galley hopes to gives young chefs the experience and insight needed to own and operate a restaurant.
- Dr. Konstantin Frank Vinifera Wine Cellars is releasing a new series of wines that honor the women of the Frank family. The first wine in the series will be a Dry Riesling named for Frank’s wife, called Eugenia. These wines have a family story to tell.
That’s all for this week’s Uncorkd Weekly News Round Up. Check in with us next Friday to find the stories you missed this week.
Kyle handles marketing and PR for Uncorkd. Aside from bartending and restaurant management, he's covered the Chicago dining scene as a freelance writer. He enjoys Miller High Life and getting yelled at by Chicagoans for supporting Boston sport's teams.
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