As we — at least those of us who live in northern climes — watch the last vestiges of winter give way to tulip tips breaking through the ground, it becomes just that much easier to start thinking about spring.
by BerniePacyniak | February 11, 2010 | Comments (0)
In between ongoing updates about Kraft Foods’ bid to swallow up Cadbury PLC, I perused our Global Top 100 listing gleaned by our annual contributor, Paul Rogers.
by BerniePacyniak | January 9, 2010 | Comments (0)
The last time I used a Latin phrase in a headline, one of my colleagues teased me unmercifully, arguing that no one had the faintest idea what I was trying to convey.
by BerniePacyniak | January 6, 2010 | Comments (0)
As I write this, I am still suffering from a food coma – that unpleasant state of being reached only after stuffing one’s face with everything edible – induced by my company’s holiday party earlier today.
by DeborahCassell | January 6, 2010 | Comments (0)
Haves and have nots. It’s a lot easier to espouse sustainability when you have plenty of resources to … well, sustain oneself, as opposed to being in a position where you’re fighting to establish a livelihood for yourself and your family.
by BerniePacyniak | December 16, 2009 | Comments (0)
Vegas is all about the gambling, the shows, the food, the drink … and the candy. No, not eye candy (although that’s a given). I’m referring to the confectionery variety.
by DeborahCassell | December 16, 2009 | Comments (0)
“We was robbed!” That’s all I could think of when Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee, announced — in his Hercule Poirot voice — that Chicago had been eliminated in the first round.
by BerniePacyniak | October 27, 2009 | Comments (13)
After booking his flight from Manchester, England, to Chicago for a week’s visit last month, my friend Nick (who was my host brother when I spent a semester in Great Britain during college) asked if there was anything special my family and I wanted him to bring over from the United Kingdom.
by DeborahCassell | October 27, 2009 | Comments (0)
Editor Bernie Pacyniak discovers that the confectionery world doesn’t stop turning while he takes advantage of summer’s last hurrah during a family vacation.
by BerniePacyniak | October 6, 2009 | Comments (0)
On a weekend trip to my old high school stomping grounds, I popped inside one of my favorite shops in burgeoning “Uptown” Normal, Ill., which is undergoing a reconstruction that has the streets torn up, but businesses still in operation.
by DeborahCassell | September 14, 2009 | Comments (0)
I recall the first time I saw a three-wheel bike in a cookie/cracker bakery many years ago. As a novice to the industry, I wasn’t quite sure what a bicycle was doing in a food processing plant.
by BerniePacyniak | September 9, 2009 | Comments (0)
The night before Illinois’ new tax on candy, soft drinks, toiletries and alcohol went into effect, I considered a grocery run for non-flour-based sweets, Arizona iced tea, sensitivity toothpaste and liquor.
by DeborahCassell | September 2, 2009 | Comments (0)
Pinch yourself. No, this isn’t an attempt to determine your pain tolerance level. Waterboarding is now definitely a no-no here in the United States. Rather, the pinching is simply an interactive approach of saying we’ve survived the first half of 2009.
by BerniePacyniak | August 11, 2009 | Comments (0)
Members of some generations may well-remember those five-and-dime stores that offered “penny candy” for, well, mere pennies. Confections may cost more now than they did back then, but such products have remained an affordable luxury, for the most part, even in these difficult economic times.
Call it a victory for common sense. Last week at the Organic Trade
Association (OTA)’s All Things Organic show in Chicago, Deputy
Agriculture Secretary Kathleen Merrigan presided over the
signing of an organic equivalency agreement between the U.S. Dept
of Agriculture (USDA) and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency
(CFIA).
Typically, it’s an intense week whenever the National Confectioners Association’s ALL CANDY EXPO rolls into town in the middle of May. Let’s face it, the former candy capital of the world understands the importance of having confectioners in town to showcase the latest treats, thus facilitating a bit of sweet and savory wheelin’ and dealin’ on the shores of Lake Michigan.
In case you missed it, yesterday was National Rocky Road Day. Your day
planner might have omitted this particular celebration, its pages being
committed to mainstream holidays such as Father’s Day, the Fourth of
July and, yes, Flag Day (Betsy Ross would be so proud).
During this year’s 11th annual European Suppliers Roundtable, representatives from the leading equipment and ingredient suppliers to the global confectionery marketplace wrestled with a host of questions dealing with the economic downturn.
The season finale of MTV’s “Taking the Stage,” a critically acclaimed reality show that follows the lives of teens attending a high school for the performing arts in Cincinnati, Ohio, was titled “The X Factor.”
There’s been an awful amount of news crossing my computer screen these days — the emphasis on awful — everything from Salmonella recalls and plant consolidations to bankruptcy rumors and layoffs.
If you weren't able to attend the For the Love of Chocolate annual gala hosted by The French Pastry School in Chicago on Saturday, Feb. 7, catch up on the event by reading "Steph Says ...".
by StephanieHildebrandt | April 8, 2009 | Comments (1)
New product introductions are on the downslide, according to Chicago’s Mintel Global New Products Database (GNPD), which yesterday reported that total food and drink product launches have been cut in half since last year – that’s a 51% decline from the first quarter of 2008 to the first quarter of 2009.
Despite having to keep a close eye on travel costs these first few months of 2009, I’ve been fortunate enough to actually have crossed the “pond” twice...
