Chef: Ferran Adrias

Ferran Adrias, a chef for the recently closed restaurant El Bulli, has decided to take the art of modern cuisine on an entirely new path.  A path of technology, science and ‘gastronomy.’ He has begun a new and extremely unique project called La Bullipedia, which is a website that will contain all the knowledge on gastronomics that Adrias is finding.  This information comes from his experience in trying new recipes when he worked at El Bulli. He analyzes food as a biologist would analyze bacteria or a microorganism.

Ferran Adrias admits that the restaurant was closed down during the time that was its peak of performance.  This is an unusual business decision that some might never understand.  Adrias is passionate about food and needed to pursue a bigger idea.  He has entrepreneurial qualities and aspirations which push such a risky innovation.  This risk will benefit foodies and techie’s alike.  The combination of the worlds of cuisine and science & technology may seem like a bizzare one, but on further inspection it will improve the food industry in a way that nothing else could.  The whole world is turning to technology and it is time for the culinary arts to jump on the bandwagon.  I believe that even food can be improved through technology and maybe someday restaurants will need an IT department!

The Juice Truck

Harman Minhas wrote a blog about a juice truck starting in Canada.  This was the first mobile juice selling business to start up and it defined itself as a unique, healthy on-the-go treat.  The Juice Truck indeed has differentiated itself and set the stage for other juice companies to go mobile.  Harman’s post talked a lot about the entrepreneurial aspects of this company that eventually caused other mobile food and drink trucks to emerge.  I agree with her views on its innovation and points of difference that has worked extremely well.  Thinking about setting up a company like this, I think of the potential logistics difficulties of something that is not a traditional restaurant or cafe style, just to get an edge of difference.  I was wondering how the supply chain operations of a mobile business would work.  It could either be simplified due to the fact that the juice is not transported to many stores, or it could be more difficult as they can only hold a small capacity of juice at one time.  Questions about how often the stock of juice in the truck would need to be refilled and how easy it would be be to complete this task come to mind.  Logistical restraints are a trade-off for creating a unique, recognizable brand that can take itself to the customers!

With the re-election of Obama in the US, many CEO’s are not celebrating.  The CEO of Boston Pizza, John Schnatter, shares this view.  Obama’s health care program forces companies to insure their full-time employees.  Mr. Schnatter is going to raise his pizza prices to cover the new tax costs for healthcare.  He also intends to cut down employee working hours.  This is not for more vacation time, it is to rid the need to provide healthcare insurance.  This brings up ethics and how employees should be treated in the work environment.  This CEO is finding loopholes in Obama’s healthcare plan to maximize his profits and minimize costs.  Businesses trying to minimize costs is common to every business.  However, ethics need to be taken into account.  I think the most successful businesses are ones that care about its workers because then they have company pride.  When more than just profits matter, there is much more care and pride put into the product being sold.  An example of this is Zappos Shoe Company.  It has an incredibly positive work environment and customer service that entices consumers. Having a reputable company not only creates a better environment but it makes the company look better in the eyes of the consumer.

Papa John’s Photo

Energy Aware

During a UBC lecture, I had the opportunity to hear the owner of Energy Aware; Janice Cheam, talk about her entrepreneurial efforts to create her company and what her company provides. The company is focussed on making and selling “Power Tabs” so that consumers can see how much energy they are using and how much it’s costing them.  This promotes less usage because you can actually see the energy consumption and price go down when you turn off appliances.  The fact that energy companies are buying this product, which will reduce profits but stabilize the current problem of demand surplus, made me think about the recent focus on environmentally friendly options.  We have a much broader knowledge than ever before of what will happen to the planet if we continue to use unsustainable methods for energy.  It is important to consumers and companies have begun to pick up on that.  It is now being used as a differentiation factor for companies products.  The brand Scott, for example, is using 60% recycled materials for its paper products.  This creates a differentiation from other companies and encourages consumers to buy the green product.  Advertising is starting to favour environmentally friendly aspects of products.

Consumer brand recognition is an incredibly important aspect of marketing for a company.  This creates consumer awareness, making the consumer more likely to choose a brand name that they know and that has a good reputation.  Brands that dominate in that field in North America are Kleenex and Band-Aid, and in England, there is Hoover.  These are not products, they are brands of tissue paper, bandages and vacuums, respectively.  I always thought that this could only be positive thing for a company and yield positive results, but after reading another blog post written by Lara Hon, I have realized that this is not always the case.  The brand name can get lost as the all-ecompassing product.  People no longer think to buy Kleenex brand, when they say that they are going to buy Kleenex.  They mean that they are going to buy tissues, without a specific brand in mind.  The blog mentions how Band-Aid is trying to get their brand name back by advertising their brand as Band-Aid Brand, rather than just Band-Aid.  A company has to make sure that it is differentiating its brand from the product type and also other brands that make the same product in order to entice consumers to choose its brand when purchasing said product.

Kleenex, Band-Aid