Americans today are embracing the bold and aromatic spices that have been accenting global foods for centuries. Thanks to emerging ethnic cuisines, like North African and Vietnamese, as well as our continued quest for bigger flavors, consumers are turning to new spices, chiles and blends in homes, supermarkets, fast-food and fine dining restaurants across the country, according to new market research in Spices and Seasonings: Culinary Trend Mapping Report.

A collaborative effort of market research firm Packaged Facts and San Francisco’s Center for Culinary Development (CCD), the latest issue of the bimonthly Culinary Trend Mapping Report chronicles how spices are infiltrating menus and specialty food products, and in the process differentiating them, attracting new customers and even adding health halos.

According to the report, as the cultural makeup of America has shifted and our national penchant for international flavors has grown beyond pizza and toward flatbreads, spices have become a key tool in marketers’ flavor arsenal. Mediterranean, Pan-Asian, Pan-Latin spices and seasonings can extend brands and build bridges to ethnic consumers, while myriad spice blends, like Chinese Five Spice, take consumers to new flavor levels.

“Beyond salt and pepper, the spice market has now reached $1.2 billion, truly pointing to an awakening American palate,” notes Kimberly Egan, Managing Director/Principal at CCD. “In this report we’ve tracked and profiled some of the most unique spices and blends, including emerging spices such as Peri-Peri peppers, Japanese Shichimi Togarashi, African Ras El Hanout and Harissa, and spices that are showing up more widely, such as Star Anise, Saffron and Ancho Chile.”

Culinary Trend Mapping Report: A Bimonthly Journal of Food and Ingredient Insight is available both by individual bimonthly issue and annual subscription from Packaged Facts by visiting: http://www.packagedfacts.com/Culinary-Trend-1282398.

Exotic Meat Sales, a web-based business, announces the addition of multiple new items to its current list of exotic game. The website, who currently delivers a broad selection of high-quality meats throughout the United States, continues to increase the already long list of gourmet meats. Items such as ostrich meat, buffalo meat, and kangaroo meat are just a few of the many options www.exoticmeatsales.com offers to its customers.

Consumers across the nation have more options when it comes to selecting the perfect meat for their meal. Certain rarities can be found all in one place when visiting the on-line store. Exotic Meat Sales offers its customers a multitude of choices when considering each individual animal. Christian Griffin, owner and operator of Exotic Meat Sales notes, �Imitators often offer only a couple of selections to choose from and much of the time they run low on inventory anyways creating shortages to their customers.�

All selections from www.exoticmeatsales.com are imported from well-established vendors that raise their animals on natural diets (most of which are steroid/antibiotic free). Once an order has been placed, Exotic Meat Sales typically delivers the chilled or frozen product within four days.

Family-owned and -operated, Exotic Meat Sales was founded by Christian Griffin in August 2006 to make restaurant-quality selections of gourmet meats available for home consumption. Griffin foresaw the need for alternative meats while working in the food distribution business. �All natural is in and processed is out,� he says with a smile. Griffin decided to apply his knowledge of ten years in the food industry, and use it to build his on-line store which specializes in alternative types of meat.

All of the products offered on the Exotic Meat Sales site are available to the public and can have it delivered to their home or place of work. �Enthusiasts rave about the taste of alternative cuts,� states Thomas K. Grose (Pass the Kangaroo, US News and World Report, 2003). �Taste and nutrition are two huge reasons for people making the switch from your average chicken breast,� explains Griffin. Overseeing his rapidly growing family business, Griffin predicts his exotic meat sales to steadily increase as people educate themselves as to the benefits these gourmet foods have to offer. Meanwhile, he will continue to increase his product line making shopping for exotic meat as convenient as his online shop.

Jen and Karen have launched www.CakerySupplies.com, a family-owned business that is designed to provide creativity to your baking needs. CakerySupplies equips you with bakeware, decorating and even books and videos to train even the novice decorator.

People all over the world love selecting unique and creative cakes, muffins, cupcakes for those special occasions. Now they can visit CakerySupplies.com and purchase the bakeware, different themes or characters or cookie shop to create these baked goods for themselves and be the “envy” of the neighborhood at the next event or potluck.

For the novice baker that needs suggestions, CakerySupplies.com has a recipes section. You will find everything from cakes to cookies in this section. CakerySupplies.com is a website for everyone. Take this opportunity to visit us and leave us some feedback. Come back often for specials and new products. We have something for everyone’s creative nature.

Customer Service Innovations Inc. plans a national release of the MyBell System starting July 1, 2007. MyBell is a button that rests atop restaurant tables whose patrons demand only the best of service. When the button is pressed, a chime is heard in the back, and the table number is indicated on a pleasant LED screen. The waiter or waitress arrives promptly. That’s it. No more empty mugs. No more check anxiety. No more missing the movie previews. You can relax now.

If you are a resident of the Los Angeles area, you might have already had the opportunity to experience this breakthrough in the service industry.

Thousands of locations worldwide are currently utilizing this innovative, yet simple system that has made the annoying waitress wait a thing of the past. Over 700 restaurants in Los Angeles alone currently have the system in place.

MyBell solves several restaurant service oriented issues. Below are the top ten requests of a restaurant patron which require immediate attention:

1) I want to switch tables
2) I am ready to order
3) I need a drink refill
4) I received the wrong food order
5) I want to order something else
6) I’d like more bread
7) I need the check
The check is incorrect
9) The check is ready to be picked up
10) I want my food boxed to go

Time is of the essence. There is no time like the present. With MyBell, timing is finally on your side.

Restaurant guest checks vendor, and Grand Rapids based website design firm, GuestChecks.us reported they have the results of their recent survey of pizzeria online ordering clients. Robert Dewey, president of GuestChecks.us says, “We have many pizzeria clients who offer online ordering for their customers. We wanted to see how restaurant online ordering is working for their customers. “

Dewey says, “We were happy to see very few negative comments about ease of use, and convenience of the restaurant online ordering system we use. However, we did find some of the restaurants who struggled with starting up this system were still seeing negative comments about staff at a couple pizzerias. This is not a pervasive issue, but I plan to do these surveys quarterly to see the progress on the issue.”

The survey of nearly 800 customers took less than 48 hours to complete, according to Dewey who said, “ We sent the survey out last Sunday night and we had the results by Tuesday morning and customers seemed to appreciate having the chance to sound off, and I am really satisfied with the overwhelmingly positive results.”

GuestChecks.us is a Grand Rapids Michigan based web design firm and guest checks vendor best known for its “one price fits you $369.00″ per year web design, hosting, updating services. In addition to web design services, GuestChecks.us sells lower cost Mr. Guest Check brand restaurant guest checks, custom guest checks, receipt paper and restaurant online ordering systems.