Consumer interests and industry needs were the driving forces behind the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council’s (USHBC) recent website overhaul and launch. Fresh design, a streamlined format and the optimized platform for mobile and tablet viewing provide industry professionals and consumers alike with a consistent and engaging experience.

Since the website’s launch in early July, the Blueberry Council has seen a 557% increase in website visits since June and a 290% increase in website visits over July of last year.

Foodservice educators across North America earn recognition for their creativity in the culinary classroom.

The Idaho Potato Commission (IPC) recognized three educators in the 2014 CAFÉ-Idaho Potato Commission Innovation Awards at the 10th-annual Leadership Conference of the Center for the Advancement of Foodservice Education (CAFÉ) in Salt Lake City this summer.

Cary York, a culinary teacher at East Jessamine High School, Nicholasville, Ky., received the top award for the school’s Greenhouse and Food Preservation program, in which culinary, chemistry and science teachers and students collaborated to enable cross-teaching in multiple disciplines.

Culinary students planted seeds and seedlings to observe the growth of vegetables and herbs, which were used in the culinary and special-education food-preparation classes. They also took food production to a higher level by preserving their harvested products:  drying herbs, freezing peppers and tomatoes, and making salsa, pickles and jellies. Associated lesson plans included “The Gardener’s Chemistry: Measuring Soil pH”; “The Question of Additives”; and “Molecular Gastronomy.”

Baker College of Port Huron Culinary Institute of Michigan (CIM) students brought home five of the seven medals awarded to student culinarians at Detroit’s Eastern Market mystery basket competition recently. The competition was part of a fundraising event for Rising Stars Academy, a cooking school in Centerline for special-needs students ages 18-26.

There were 16 two-person teams from area culinary schools in the competition. Four teams represented Baker College of Port Huron. Each team was given 10 minutes to review a basket of “mystery” ingredients, then an hour to create a taste-tempting creation. Awards were presented for taste, presentation and Best of Show.

Flawless execution of sporting events is essential to keep audiences excited, viewers tuned in, participants engaged and sponsors fulfilled. As a sports-event planner, how do you keep up with the trends of the ticket-buying public, sponsorship and merchandising while at the same time attend to the hundreds of management and operational details required to effectively pull off the event?

Every step of the planning process for developing, planning, managing and executing flawless sports events is explored in the authoritative Second Edition of The Sports Event Management and Marketing Playbook (Wiley, ISBN: 978-1-118-24411-1, $73.95 and e-books) by Frank Supovitz and Robert Goldwater.

This updated and expanded resource for the real world offers expert advice on how to properly build sports events into successful and financially viable properties. Authored by the Senior Vice President of Events for the National Football League and a veteran sports-industry professional, the Second Edition of The Sports Event Management and Marketing Playbook offers both first-time planners and seasoned organizers the expertise and framework for staging top-quality sports events at any level—from the community to the global stage.

The National Restaurant Association has issued “Bright Ideas,” its first-ever sustainability newsletter, which offers tips and tools to restaurant and foodservice operators on eco-friendly practices that save money, resources and help protect the environment.

The newsletter, produced by Conserve, the NRA’s sustainability initiative, features a variety of videos, best practices, case studies and personal accounts of chain and independent operators who have achieved success by practicing sustainability at their businesses.

Beef experienced significant volume growth in the past year and continues to be a mainstay on the menu, according to the 2013 Usage and Volumetric Assessment of Beef in Foodservice report, proprietary research from the Beef Checkoff Program.

The annual survey of protein purchasing executives showed that beef remains the No. 1 protein in foodservice—in volume, market share and the dollars it brings to operations. Specific findings include:

•  In the last year, the pounds of beef sold in foodservice increased by 79 million pounds to a total volume of 8 billion pounds.

•  Beef represents about one-third (32%) of the total protein market share in foodservice.

•  97% of restaurant operators feature beef on the menu.