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Happy Hour News: How We Keep Up with the Trends
CSSI Staff Post – January 20th, 2021
We started Coffee Talk (now Happy Hour) as a way to gather as a company, share the week’s foodservice news and discuss how it impacts our customers. We knew that everyone’s emails were getting bogged down with industry newsletters, and it was often hard to square away time to independently read all the important content. Plus, we wanted an excuse to get together without the pressure of the day’s business needs, while having fun and exploring food-related topics that were top of mind for our partners.
The goal from the very beginning was to make the content light, engaging and even funny (ever notice that Brad Pitt eats on screen more than a lot of other actors?). Initially, the content was presented in person in our office, allowing us to laugh with each other and have conversations about client wins. We would also sometimes sample new products that were trending—like PBR’s Hard Coffee—as a team, giving us a deeper understanding of the trends and how to talk about these products and flavors with partners.
As we shifted to using Teams, we moved the time from 8 a.m. on Fridays to Thursday afternoons, allowing for those who have conflicts in the morning to attend, while also giving us an excuse to share a drink with our coworkers, albeit remotely.
We’ve also recently partnered with our Culture Club to do what we call Slide Show Karaoke once a month during Happy Hour, where one person writes a deck on absolutely any topic and another person, who has never seen the content or heard the topic until that very moment, presents it. It is usually pretty hilarious and a lot of fun.
Even in a remote working environment, this optional meeting still draws large attendance numbers. Here are just a few top news moments drawing people to the meetings.
Top 5 Most Memorable News Moments:
1. Boneless Thugs-N-Harmony, a marketing partnership with Buffalo Wild Wings and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, to promote their boneless wings. The marketing ploy featured a hilarious Behind the Music-style video about the name change.2. Mario Lopez stars as KFC’s Colonel Sanders in the Lifetime Movie, A Recipe for Seduction. This 15-minute drama/romance movie was completely unique and drew a lot of attention.3. Phyllis from The Office Reads Panera’s Mean Tweets, revolving around Panera dropping French Onion Soup from their menu. We love it when a chain knows how to poke fun an itself.4. Arby’s Deep Fried Turkey Pillow, a poultry-shaped hat-pillow hybrid, launched ahead of Thanksgiving for incredible post-turkey naps.5. A promotion that began shortly after the pandemic caused massive shutdowns, Netflix and Chill with Popeyes offered their username and password to the streaming service for anyone who posted photos of themselves on social media enjoying Popeyes.
This meeting has been a great space for us to have casual conversations while also staying on top of our bread and butter—foodservice trends!
Sources:
1 The Rolling Stone, "Bone Thugs-N-Harmony Change Name to Boneless Thugs-N-Harmony (for Buffalo Wild Wings)", February 2020.
2 The Drum, "KFC: A Recipe For Seduction", December 2020.
3 Marketing Dive, "Panera hires Phyllis from 'The Office' to address angry tweets", January 2020.
4 Thrillist, "Arby's Wants You to Put This Fried Turkey Pillow on Your Head", November 2020.
5 Marketing Dive, "Popeyes dishes out Netflix login details as fans self-isolate amid coronavirus", March 2020.
Rachel Royster
Senior Account Planner
March 1st, 2023 We’re thrilled to introduce the newest addition to our culinary family: Chef Steve Madonna. Formally trained in both Italy and the United States, as well as having worked for Wolfgang Puck, Chef Steve brings an extensive set of connections and culinary knowledge to our already stacked chef roster. Featured in this month’s issue is one of Chef Steve’s favorite recipes for making memories at home with your loved ones.
October 19, 2022 Pumpkin pie is a nostalgic menu item and my personal favorite when it comes to fall and winter menus, as it goes hand in hand with a traditional Thanksgiving or Christmas feast. We elevate the nostalgia by turning this must-have holiday dish into a clarified cocktail that leaves your taste buds as curious as your eyes. We get adventurous as we replace expected visual elements with an ice-cold glass of clarified liquors infused with pumpkin pie. This cocktail defies all visual expectations, while leaving your sense of smell and taste immersed in a seasonally nostalgic experience.
October 19, 2022 Canada is well known for many things. Hockey, snow, maple syrup, and a few other stereotypical but somewhat accurate concepts may immediately come to mind. What you may not know, though, is how invested we are in the snacks that we consume. Compared to the U.S., sure, we are no match for the quantity and variety offered in the land of the free, home of the snacks. However, what we know in our hearts is that Canada has a long-standing, tried-and-true, flawed, yet beloved top-notch snack game. I’m talking about comfort foods that have become so integrated and so established that they are classified as cult-favourites—and no, I did not spell favourites incorrectly. You are about to see a lot more of the letter “U” in this article. Sorry! The great Canadian snack game is easy enough to understand. You think of a flavour and either slap it on a potato or pair it with chocolate. Snacking has always been a huge part of Canadian food culture, but it is only going up from here. To put it lightly, the past few years have been tough on everyone around the world, and Canadians have chosen to increase their spending on snacks by 67% as an indulgence or, personally, as a coping mechanism. In no way, shape, or form am I claiming to be a culinary expert somehow employed in the field of Finance, but I have eaten a lot in my life and right now, I’m the best and/or only Canadian guide you’ve got. Let’s get into the details:
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