The Latest Trend Report from New York?! ~NY Business Trip (Part 2)~
While on overseas business trips, fitting in marketing research between meetings is also one of our important missions. From breakfast, lunch, and dinner meetings at trending spots to making the most of even short gaps between appointments, we visit popular restaurants, sweets shops, and other hot locations to try and check their signature items. This mission is physically—no, gastronomically—quite demanding.
“Since we’re here, we’re going to gather the latest NY intel and check everything. There’s no time to sleep! It’s the ‘3-Day NY Tour Where You Can Pretend You Know It All!’” says our self-proclaimed ‘fried-egg president,’ who even went so far as to name the tour. By the way, Tsugihara is a short sleeper—and a serious big eater. She complains every day that she never loses weight despite training three days a week, but I know. I know just how much she eats…
With that, in this second installment, we will share a little of NY’s food trend intel.
When you think of America, you think of yogurt. The variety and quality of flavors are far superior to Japan’s. In NY, Greek yogurt—strained, creamy, mellow, and rich, with less of a tang than regular yogurt—has been a trend for the past few years.
“CHOBANI,” a Greek yogurt brand popular with locals
CHOBANI yogurt is widely available in U.S. supermarkets and convenience stores, but in NY there are only two street-level shops, in the SOHO and Greenwich areas. They offer both savory meal-style options using vegetables and dessert-style options using fruit, and the shops are always bustling with locals.
“greecologies,” a Greek yogurt specialty shop we visited for the first time
Another hugely popular spot, offering an extensive menu ranging from savory dishes to desserts, all based on Greek yogurt. They also make their own original Greek yogurt in-house, and the shop is located in the Little Italy area. Well worth trying at least once—truly delicious. In any case, Brooklyn’s popularity still shows no sign of fading, and many of the most talked-about shops are concentrated there—so much so that even Japanese stores and brands have opened locations.
“Super Crown Coffee,” a recently buzzworthy spot a bit off the beaten path in Brooklyn
This is a new coffee brand launched by the founder of “GORILLA COFFEE,” famous for NY’s third-wave coffee scene. There is a large roastery machine in the shop, and they offer and sell different coffee flavors each week. The interior is extremely simple, yet meticulously detailed and very stylish.
“FINE & RAW Chocolate Factory,” also within walking distance of that coffee shop
This is another chocolate brand born in Brooklyn. At the back of the shop is a chocolate factory producing a variety of flavors, filling the space with a sweet aroma. Above all, the packaging is erotic and artistic—very Brooklyn, and seriously cool. Prices are on the higher side, but the taste is exceptional!
In NY, shops that install their factories or large machines inside the store—whether for yogurt, cheese, coffee, or chocolate—are still a major trend.
“MachaBar,” located very close to Brooklyn’s Wythe Hotel
A locally popular matcha café said to have been started by two young New Yorkers who quit drinking coffee two years ago. Their seasonal bestseller—apple cider with ginger and cinnamon plus a generous amount of matcha—makes us Japanese think, “What…?” but it is surprisingly good. Naturally, the staff member who says they love matcha also has matcha-colored hair.
And as SUNNY SIDE UP, we cannot overlook any place with “EGG” in its name. So, let us introduce some popular egg spots. In NYC and Brooklyn, there are two different restaurants centered on egg dishes that have “EGG” in their names. Both are hugely popular breakfast-only spots, bustling with locals from the morning. They serve high-quality egg dishes and breakfast menus, and both the interiors and the staff are impeccably stylish.
First, “EGG SHOP” in the SOHO area
It opens at 8:00 AM, but because it is a small shop, it is packed with locals from the morning—overflowing with energy. For some reason, the independently run café next door is used as EGG SHOP’s waiting area; if you have coffee there while waiting, an EGG SHOP staff member comes to call you when it is your turn. It is a curious collaboration, but I suspect there are significant business benefits for both.
“egg restaurant” in Brooklyn
It is often mistaken for the “EGG SHOP” introduced earlier, but it is run by a completely different operator. This one closes at 5:00 PM and is truly specialized in breakfast menus, but it is also well worth visiting at least once for breakfast or brunch when you are in NY! It seems a certain Japanese company is already making an enthusiastic approach, so expansion into Japan may only be a matter of time.
And a restaurant I personally recommend: “Park Avenue Winter”
A buzzworthy restaurant where the name, menu, and interior all change with each season. Since it is winter now, this is the current name. “Park Avenue Spring/Summer/Autumn/Winter”—each seasonal transformation of the beautiful interior and menu becomes a topic on media and social networks, and simply going there has become a status symbol. Along with seasonal dishes and service, the desserts are outstanding. This is also well worth a visit.
In winter, dried trees are displayed throughout the interior, turning the season itself into décor. It is truly beautiful. You can feel as though you are outdoors while still inside. Once you visit, you will want to see it in a different season as well. It is easy to understand why so many repeat customers come back season after season. Japan had similar concept restaurants for a time, but I feel it is still possible to create buzz with this approach in Japan.
Now, please keep the truly amazing stories secret until we bring them back!
That is the instruction from our ‘fried-egg president,’ so we will stop here for now. Still, it was another highly fulfilling trip in which we absorbed a wide range of information—from various businesses looking toward 2020 to trends, food, and even the latest exercise. And so, SUNNY SIDE UP, which continues to create “fun commotion,” will keep bringing you more fun commotion next year as well. Please look forward to it!
[NY Report: Bonus Edition]
I had planned to wrap up the NY report blog with Part 1 and Part 2, but since the “fried-egg president stories” (= my complaints) were so well received last time, I simply cannot resist writing them again—so here is a little secret bonus…
Whether it is the pancakes at the all-day casual dining spot “bills” or the concrete (ice cream) at the New York-born burger restaurant “SHAKE SHACK,” popular restaurants always have a signature sweet. Tsugihara, who has a serious sweet tooth, says this is also important marketing research and, after every meal, always orders the shop’s most popular dessert.
“Anyway, let’s order the most popular item in the shop,” she says, asking the staff which dessert is the most popular and ordering it first. Then she adds, “Oh, this one looks good too,” and orders something else she wants as well. She always orders two kinds of dessert.
Then, after taking one bite of the sweets she ordered, Tsugihara firmly puts down her fork and says, “I’m fine now—I’ll gain weight. You can have the rest.” And then, one minute later… before you know it, she has picked up her fork again and is munching away, saying, “So sweet.” While eating, she always says this to me: “What are you doing? Hurry up and eat already! And don’t put it in front of me—I’ll end up eating it!”
I eat quite a lot myself, but right after a meal I am, of course, full. People say there is always room for dessert, but even so, I cannot keep up with Tsugihara’s appetite or the speed at which she eats. As a result, before I know it, Tsugihara has almost single-handedly finished both desserts.
And then she complains, “See? Because you didn’t eat quickly, I ended up eating it again!” Apparently, Tsugihara gained weight again on this trip. Meanwhile, once again, I lost weight on this trip.
Right after returning to Japan, at a regular meeting in the president’s office, she asked the members again with a serious expression, “Why don’t I lose weight even though I train three times a week?” “Because you eat,” I immediately answered in my head.
There is something I realized again on this trip.
Etsuko Tsugihara really eats a lot. She eats as much as a high school boy. She eats just about anything, to the point where you wonder what kind of stomach she has. She eats so much it is almost refreshing to watch. Well, perhaps that is why she is so energetic. Or is it because she is energetic that she eats so much? That is not entirely clear.
By the way, she is fired up, setting the same year-end goal that never comes true: “Next year, I’m really going to lose weight. I’m going to become actress Ishida **ko!”
That concludes the NY business trip report, along with some grumbling from the president’s office!
