Shop Talk

Food Trucks: The Film

The fancy food truck revolution rocking the U.S. restaurant scene traces its roots beyond the 2008 launch of Kogi — the Korean-Mexican taco truck that took Los Angeles by storm and tweeted its way to international stardom — to a grittier, working-class movement.

In her bilingual documentary film “Masa Revolution”, veteran Los Angeles journalist Patricia Nazario maps the food truck industry back to the 1960s, when blue-collar entrepreneurs served plastic-wrapped sandwiches, doughnuts and coffee to factory and office workers across Southern California.

Those food truck operators pulled down around five times more money than the blue-collar workers they fed and guarded their lucrative routes like Fort Knox.

“It was a cutthroat business,” said Nazario. “Catering truck operators were very protective of their routes and would pull out knives or guns to ward off the competition.”

Her film also chronicles how recent immigrants, largely Mexican, steered clear of the rough-and-tumble business model favored by their predecessors. Instead, they parked their taco trucks, or loncheros, in Hispanic neighborhoods.

Some of those restaurants-on-wheels have been using the same spot for more than 20 years and have become part of the fabric of the communities they serve, she said.

“I’m as enthralled with the hair-raising tales of old-school route drivers as I am with how social media is driving the gourmet food truck revolution among hipsters across the country,” Nazario said.

Jimmy John’s franchise fires union workers after sick-day campaign

The owners of 10 Minnesota Jimmy John’s sandwich shops — where a rare unionization vote was narrowly rejected last year – have fired six union organizers.

The terminated workers are members of the Industrial Workers of the World, a formerly high-profile union better known as the Wobblies, and said they were fired after they put up 3,000 posters (shown here) around Minneapolis as part of a campaign to win paid sick days.

Michael Mulligan, president of MikLin Enterprises Inc, which operates the affected Jimmy John’s restaurants, told Reuters that the terminated union workers “crossed well over the line of protected activity” with their latest appeal.

“The posters dishonestly state that Jimmy John’s workers are forced to work while sick and suggest that the health of customers is at risk when eating at our restaurants,” said Mulligan, who characterized the IWW as anti-capitalist, anarchist and socialist.

“These posters are false and misleading at best, and in the view of our company, they are defamatory, disparaging and dishonest,” added Mulligan, who said that his business has operated for a decade and served 6 million sandwiches without getting diners sick.

Most fast-food restaurant workers receive low wages and get little in the way of benefits such as health insurance. Paid sick days are a rarity in the industry, which is known for squeezing out costs in order to offer low-priced fare. One exception is San Francisco, which in 2007 became the first U.S. city to require employers to give workers paid sick leave.

Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, a restaurant workers organization, in October released a study showing that  nearly 88 percent of workers reported not receiving paid sick days and that more than 63 percent of all restaurant workers admitted to cooking and serving food while sick.

Root beer, roast beef, fish & chips: Who’s buying?

There’s a new batch of quick-service restaurants on the block – Arby’s, A&W and Long John Silver’s – and according to YouGov BrandIndex, A&W is the most popular of the three.

A&W, founded in 1919 and known for its root beer, had the trio’s highest satisfaction rates, said YouGov BrandIndex, which does daily consumer perception research on brands. 

A&W and Arby’s had higher satisfaction scores than an average of about two dozen fast-food chains, while Long John Silver’s fared worse. (See graphic below)

“A&W and Arby’s have a core group of supporters and satisfied customers,” said Ted Marzilli, global managing director for YouGov BrandIndex. “If I’m a buyer, that’s a strength.”

Marzilli predicted that all three brands would find buyers, although prices and other terms likely would differ.

He said A&W and Arby’s could be reinvigorated by buyers who focused on their strengths, while Long John Silver’s is more of a turnaround story.

Another big question is whether any of the chains will snag a valuation as rich as the one attached to Burger King’s $3.3 billion sale to 3G Capital last year.  The $24 per share sale price represented a 46 percent premium to Burger King’s price before news of the negotiations emerged.

Seasons 52 chef says fat does not equal flavor

Does food have to be full of fat, sugar and salt to taste good?

Clifford Pleau, executive chef for Darden Restaurants’ Season 52 chain, where every menu item is 475 calories or less, doesn’t think so.

“I haven’t touched butter in 10 years. You don’t need it,” said Pleau, uttering words that would make the late, great, butter-loving Julia Child roll over in her grave.

“I know there’s a slogan that says fat is flavor. Scientifically that’s not necessarily true.”

Pleau says fat is a flavor “transitioner”. For example, the fat in short ribs can enhance the flavors of a rich, bold wine by taking it to different parts of your mouth. On the other hand, he said, a mouthful of butter or olive oil would desensitize the palate.

There are no deep fat fryers in the kitchens at Seasons 52, which recently opened its first restaurant in Southern California and plans to have 20 around the country by this time next year. Fat isn’t ladled into cooking pans, as it is in many restaurants, it’s spritzed by spray bottle- wielding kitchen staff.   

So how does Pleau make the kind of food that one restaurant consultant called “craveable” and “indulgent” without leaning on the industry’s unhealthy habit of layering on sugar, fat and salt?

Glutton fashion, just in time for turkey day

Thanksgiving is fast approaching and you know what that means: It’s time to put away your designer jeans and man Spanx and settle into something a little more … accommodating.

Let us introduce you to Gluttony Pants, the result of a partnership between Betabrand and chef Chris Cosentino. They’re the shade of a perfectly roasted turkey, have pockets the color of cranberries and adjust to three indulgent sizes:  piglet, sow and boar.

The trousers are the first installment in Betabrand’s 7 Sins clothing series for men and women. They’re made in San Francisco, sold only through Betabrand.com and will run you $100.

Not your thing? Well, there’s always dad’s old Sansabelt pants.

(Photos of trousers and Cosentino courtesy of Betabrand.com)

Coffee’s third wave

Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea founder Doug Zell is part of an independent third wave of upscale coffee houses taking advantage of America’s growing thirst for the premium coffees that Starbucks helped introduced to the masses. ( Click here to see today’s special report on Starbucks on Reuters.com, or read the report in PDF format.)

“It’s moving from a commodity to a culinary ingredient,” said Zell, whose buyers scour the globe for the best beans and increasingly are focused on treating coffee like a seasonal item — meaning the time from harvest to cup is no more than six months.

Coffee has come a long way in the last few decades. While our parents’ generation grew up on grocery store brands like Folgers or Sanka instant coffee, today’s kids are coming of age at a time when higher-quality espresso drinks like lattes are the norm.

“The consumer is becoming more sophisticated. I still think there is a long way to go,” said Zell, who recently opened Intelligentsia’s ninth location in Venice, California’s offbeat Abbot Kinney section. A tenth spot, which will be a cafe and roasting plant, is in the works in San Francisco.

While Zell wants Intelligentsia to expand, he said maintaining quality is his top priority.

“We want to grow, but we need to do it very carefully,” said Zell, who cut his teeth at Peet’s Coffee & Tea and the now-defunct Spinelli Coffee and still favors a well-brewed cup of black coffee over all other java drinks.

“The specialty coffee industry owes a great debt to Starbucks,” said “Retail Doctor” Bob Phibbs, a consultant who was chief marketing officer at the It’s A Grind coffee chain for nearly a decade.

Mondavis, Morton’s come together for charity

It’s a rare thing when California’s influential Mondavi wine family gathers for public events. So, when several generations of Mondavis held a reunion dinner and auction this week, they had the attention of wine lovers. 

About 110 people paid $500 each to attend the gala, which was co-hosted by the Mondavis and Morton’s Steakhouse for the benefit of the Make-A-Wish Foundation , at Charles Krug Winery’s historic carriage house in Napa Valley on Thursday. The event also was broadcast to about 50 Morton’s private dining rooms around the United States.  

The parents of Robert and Peter Mondavi bought Charles Krug Winery, the original family estate, in 1943. Robert founded his own winery in 1966, while Peter acquired full ownership of Charles Krug in 1976. An epic rift split the family for decades, but recently has been smoothed over.

To mark this week’s festivities, the second and third generations of Mondavi wine makers produced a red wine blend with the Italian name Siamo Insieme, which translates in English to “We are Together”.  The Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot blend represents Continuum Estate, Charles Krug and the Michael Mondavi Family Winery.

A 27-liter “Primat” bottle of Siamo Insieme 2008 sold at Thursday’s auction for $25,000. A Primat is one of the largest available wine bottle sizes and contains 36 standard bottles of wine. 

Proceeds from Thursday’s event are estimated to be $105,000. 

Worried you missed out on the festivities with American wine’s royal family? A second Primat of Siamo Insieme will be up for auction through Oct. 30 . One hundred percent of the proceeds will benefit Make-A-Wish.

Frugal the fashion for back-to-school

By Nivedita Bhattacharjee

Once upon a time, back-to-school shopping lists included splurges like cool new mobile phones, the latest laptop computers and even PlayStation video game consoles. Not anymore.

September’s sales results were somewhat better than expected but showed that frugal is still in fashion in U.S. school yards. Not only were back-to-school purchases made a bit later, many were necessities plucked from discount racks. 

So what IS selling? Woven shirts, fleece and knit pants drove sales at Abercrombie & Fitch.  Zumiez saw good demand for its bundled promotions, while denims and sweaters drove sales at American Eagle Outfitters.

Abercrombie and Wet Seal both saw sales weaken after opening school bells rang – suggesting that this month’s numbers could be a one-off show of strength.

“Business became more challenging at Wet Seal after the second week of the month, once peak back-to-school business had passed,” Wet Seal CEO Ed Thomas said.

Is a union on the menu at Jimmy John’s?

Workers at 10 Jimmy John’s sandwich restaurants in Minneapolis could make history this month — if they say “yes” to union representation.

The National Labor Relations Board on Oct. 22 will oversee a secret ballot election for 200 Jimmy John’s workers in the city. If a majority of them approve, it would be a first for the U.S. fast-food industry and the company would be legally bound to negotiate with a bargaining team elected by employees.

“People say fast food is unorganizable. We say failure is not an option,” said Jaim’ee Bolte, a union member. “It’s time for change in America, we hope this will be a turning point for all workers.”

Food preparation and service jobs are among the fastest-growing occupations in the United States, but they typically offer part-time hours, limited or no benefits and pay roughly on par with minimum wage. Employee turnover is high and many fast-food workers are teenagers and young adults.   

“If these are the kinds of jobs that American workers will be stuck with, then we are going to make them quality jobs for working families,” said union member Mike Wilkow.

Workers previously told Reuters that they formed the Jimmy Johns Workers Union to combat minimum-wage pay and a lack of sick days. The union is affiliated with the Industrial Workers of the World.

(Photo: Jimmy Johns Workers Union)

Starbucks CEO says building ‘fourth place’ online

Starbucks built its business around comfortable cafes that became a ”third place” outside home and work. It now hopes to build a “fourth place” online.

The coffee chain plans to launch its Starbucks Digital Network this autumn. The free service, which is a partnership between Starbucks and Yahoo, will be available to users of complimentary Wi-Fi at company-run Starbucks cafes in the United States and Canada and will give customers a place to share information and find news, music and films.

Content providers include the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, USA Today, restaurant reviewer Zagat and SnagFilms, which has an advertising-supported library of more than 1,600 documentary films available for online viewing.

“We’ll be a new place for very unique distribution,” Starbucks Chief Executive and Founder Howard Schultz said on Tuesday at a media conference sponsored by TheWrap.com — a celebrity news blog backed by Maveron, a venture capital firm he co-founded.

To that end, he said, Starbucks and SnagFilms plan to co-curate themed film festivals for the network.

The CEO said the network will be a revenue and profit source for the company, but declined to disclose terms of the network’s content agreements.