Paris by Mouth! Here you can find great foody reviews and the best part is you can search restaurants by price, areas, opening days, specialties etc!
Mouthwatering-ly good!
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I am off to Paris for a week on holiday. (Are you green?) In my search for greatness I discovered this great website which I just have to share with you....
Paris by Mouth! Here you can find great foody reviews and the best part is you can search restaurants by price, areas, opening days, specialties etc! Mouthwatering-ly good!
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Great insights by Denise Lee Yohn
Paying attention to your brand is not something only large companies should be doing. Small business owners should also invest in it from the start to accelerate growth and make sustained success more likely. By “brand,” I don’t mean your logo or a catchy tagline. Your brand is the unique bundle of attributes and values that define the product or service you deliver to customers. That bundle can include tangible attributes like a superior technology or a fun customer experience, as well as intangible values like transparency or attention to detail. Simply put, your brand is the unique way your company does business. Here is how having a strong brand can be beneficial. Stand out from the crowd; Because most small businesses don’t have large marketing budgets, they rely on other ways to attract attention and customers. A strong brand helps potential customers notice and remember you. It clarifies the value you deliver and makes your differentiation more salient. For example, Barry’s Bootcamp, a 10-unit franchise, has made its brand synonymous with intense workouts and celebrities’ bodies. This brand identity draws attention to the business and distinguishes it from the multitude of bootcamp programs available. Establish trust with customers:These days, people are less willing to take risks with their purchases. They want to do business with companies that seem established and trustworthy. A strong brand bolsters perceptions of quality and reliability, which gives customers peace of mind. It gives you a reputation that helps you leverage new products or outlets. The newfound popularity of food trucks attests to this. Many food trucks have crafted compelling brands to offset the “roach coach” stigma. They've won over skeptics and built loyal followings. Focus your efforts: A strong brand can serve as a compass for making the many decisions a small business owner has to make. Branching out into a new technology or adding a new service may make sense when you see it through the lens of short-term growth. But when your brand is your decision-making filter, it helps you stay focused on developing a strong and sustainable core offering. As a sole proprietor, I’m often asked to take on engagements that are outside my expertise. But my focus on my unique core services and speaking topics has helped me establish a specific position in my field of expertise. Build critical business relationships: Small businesses are not just vying for customers' attention and affections. You need to build relationships with suppliers and distributors, the media, investors, local government and banks, among others. You have to stand out among the sea of proposals that inundate them and be clear about your value so they want to do business with you. A strong brand can help you do just that, as the owners of Burger Lounge found. They’ve secured exclusive supplier relationships for the seven-unit, casual restaurant chain because they’ve built their brand on a commitment to grass-fed beef and have attracted like-minded vendors. Source: Open Forum. Read the full article "What a Strong Brand Does for a Small Business". TASTE READERS' TOP FOOD TREND PREDICTIONS FOR 2012
mmmmmm, yum!
World's Most Outrageous Hotel Amenities
By Amanda Pressner (I just love the creativity of some of these..!) Now that ultra-plush bathrobes, high-thread-count linens and designer toiletries are de rigueur at upscale hotels, top properties are offering innovative and extravagant perks to ensure a distinctive experience. Some, like the Ritz Carlton South Beach's tanning butler and Hotel Monaco's pet psychic, trend toward the whimsical. Others are designed to enrich guests' connection to the locale, like the in-house art concierge at Le Royal Monceau, who will design a trip through the Parisian museums and galleries, or the genealogists on hand at Ireland's Lodge at Doonbeg to track visitors' family ancestry. While some hotels charge a fee for these over-the-top services, many do not, adding it to the lavish perks and anticipated benefit of any stay at an extraordinary hotel, says Jonathan Frolich, general manager of Andaz 5th Avenue in Manhattan. As part of his own property's commitment to connecting guests with New York culture, Frolich and his team commissioned street artists to graffiti the walls of the hotel and offered guests an opportunity to jump a multi-month wait list to get a tattoo created by world-famous artist Mister Cartoon, whose client list includes Beyoncé and Justin Timberlake. "Years ago, the grandest hotels were bastions of culture, representing whatever was happening artistically in that city," says Frolich. "That commitment and connection has disappeared for a very long time -- we're trying to bring it back." For those eager to experience this renaissance in luxe hotel services -- or simply get pampered in a creative, new way -- here's a menu of perks and amenities available around the world. Fragrance Butler, Rosewood Hotels, North America and Saudi Arabia For some adventurers, a new city is an occasion to try a new scent. Rosewood Hotels recently announced it would provide a dedicated fragrance butler in each of its North American and Saudi Arabian properties. The butler arrives to guests' suites with a fragrance menu tailored to the hotel, with offerings like Chanel No. 5, Bulgari Black, Daisy Marc Jacobs and Chanel CoCo Mademoiselle for women and, for the gents, Tom Ford for Men, Bulgari Pour Homme and Hermes Terre d'Hermes. rosewoodhotels.com Artist in Residence, Andaz 5th Avenue, New York City While many hotels commission work inspired by their home city, the Andaz literally went to the streets to find the cult-status graffiti gurus and tattoo artists headlining its rotating artists-in-residence program. This winter, guests sidestepped a multi-month wait list to get tattoos by Mister Cartoon, a world-renowned ink specialist, whose clients include Dr. Dre, 50 Cent, Eminem, Justin Timberlake and Beyoncé. This month, the Andaz welcomes Claudia "Claw Money" Gold, a graffiti artist and fashion designer, whose designs have been worn by stars like Rihanna and Nicki Minaj. Gold will create a new graffiti tag for the doors to the hotel bar, as well as a limited-edition T-shirt, which will be available during her residency.newyork.5thavenue.andaz.hyatt.com Tea Sommelier, The Lanesborough London Apsleys at The Lanesborough takes its tea as seriously as most fine restaurants take their wine -- which is why the hotel decided to create the world's first tea sommelier. Guests enjoying the property's award-winning afternoon tea service can confab with expert Karl Kessab (who has led the hotel to win the United Kingdom Tea Council's Award of Excellence three years running) on the characteristics and benefits of their selections, as well as various preparation techniques. One not-to-be-missed brew he recommends is Rose of the Orient, an exotic antioxidant-rich green-tea blend flavored with jasmine, cornflower blossoms and rosebuds. lanesborough.com Source to read the complete "World's Most Outrageous Hotel Amenities" article from CNN. Redefining luxury for a mobile world
By Stacey Higginbotham Rich people have phones, like apps and want to buy things using said phones. The less-than-groundbreaking results of a study from the Luxury Institute offer some facts and figures around affluent people who own smartphones (60 percent), use apps on them (73 percent) and who have or want to buy something (67 percent) using their handsets. But what’s really worth pondering is the call by the Institute to create luxury mobile experiences via apps and in-app advertising to help drive commerce even when affluent shoppers aren’t in the store. “Consumers are becoming so much more mobile and we need to figure out how to translate that mobility into a humanistic experience,” said Milton Pedraza, CEO of the Luxury Institute. “Apps are becoming ubiquitous, so it’s what we do with them that make the experience more extraordinary that will make the difference,” he said. “How the app is being used by the consumer or to contact someone who represents the brand is now where the real opportunity lies.” There are many luxury buyers, should there be many luxury brand apps? So what exactly defines luxury in a mobile setting? In the original web world, sites or luxury brands equated an “experience” with processor-hogging and time-consuming animations, movies and Flash-like experiences (see restaurant web sites), or they scorned the web for years (see Prada). So in bringing luxury to mobile devices and to popular mobile apps such as Words with Friends, Angry Birds or other popular games that the Luxury Institute discovered rich people also play, how do brands and developers indicate their class? The Institute’s survey respondents had an average net worth of $2.8 million, so I’m not in the demographic, but I do have some experience with luxury brands that might offer some clues for creating an experience that resonates with some shoppers. There is a woman at Nordstroms who picks clothes out for me when I call and tell her I need something (usually before a GigaOM event). That’s luxury for me. Saving time. So perhaps a browser extension across PC and mobile that sent everything I looked at or liked to her would be useful. But other luxury shoppers (those with more money and time) might have a different definition of luxury and different requirements. If we think of apps as so popular because they create a small individual experience then maybe luxury brands would do well to create apps for their different types of shoppers? Gateway apps, such as the engagement ring app Tiffany’s created to guide people through the purchase of a ring helps get mobile users into the Tiffany fold. Meanwhile, another app could focus on serving established customers with reminders about a spouse’s birthday (go diamonds!) or upcoming baby showers where Tiffany silver might make a lovely gift. So what about ads? A larger portion of the survey appeared to focus on the experience of online ads in the current apps that everyone plays. Aside from seeming surprised that wealthy people also play apps, the Institute noted that Nordstroms and Bergdorf Goodman were running ads inside Words with Friends. But for luxury brands, instead of a tacky banner app, could a luxury brand come up with something … well, more luxurious? This might help luxury shoppers choose mobile instead of the in-store experience. Apple’s iAd was supposed to be something similar to that, allowing a brand to pay big to create an “experience,” but so far it hasn’t been a resounding success. The cost to participate has dropped from a $1 million commitment to a $100,000 commitment, and Apple has made the revenue share on iAd larger, perhaps in hopes of enticing developers to use it. Although, what may be a surprise for Apple lovers, only 28 percent of luxury consumers own an iPhone, according to the survey. Twenty-two percent own an Android, 16 percent own a BlackBerry and 2 percent own another smartphone. So will better in-app ads drive rich people into stores? Will better apps drive rich people to buy online? In the mobile age, luxury brands have the same problem as every other retailer pondering a mobile strategy. The difference seems to be that this time around luxury brands won’t be as slow to adapt to the new commerce. Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro |
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