Taking Your Hotel Restaurant on the road, A FOOD-TEL

Food trucks and temporary pop-up restaurants have become a mainstay up and down Main Street USA. And with social media making it easy to follow anyone's whereabouts, real-time. The old school "take your show on the road" is easier than ever!

Many hotels are now getting in on the show. Have a fabulous Executive Chef that you want locals to know all about? Do guest just go gaga over your house specialties, but locals are clueless what is right in their backyard? Look no further than the street corner, hotels are taking your show on the road! 

Due to its success last Summer, The posh Ritz-Carlton, Washington, DC, will reopen a pop-up barbecue restaurant from April 27 to June 29 outside its Westend Bistro by celebrity chef Eric Ripert. The temporary shop will reside on its patio serving a limited menu, only on Fridays and only for lunch.

We received this information via a press release: " After testing the waters and spreading their culinary wings last summer, Westend Bistro will recreate an outdoor, instant and dining experience featuring specialty food on-the-go with great options.  Guests will have a quick, delicious lunch every Friday while still enjoying the quality food Westend Bistro serves every day."

Many high-end hotels in recent years have enlisted award-winning chefs to turn their restaurants into dining destinations. So it's only natural that they'd try to capitalize on one of the fastest-growing segments of the restaurant industry."

The Marriott Inner Harbor at Camden Yards has recently hired a new Executive Chef William Downes and is excited to share his fabulous talents with the community. Chef Downes hails from an upscale Renaissance Hotel property, The Mayflower in Washington DC. Rosemary Bishop tells us they are thrilled with their new Chef. "Chef Downes is so creative and innovative, introducing so many new tastes experiences," says the hotel's Executive Assistant to the General manager..

Who knows, maybe CITYPEEK  can persuade a pop-up restaurant on the Marriott's patio also!

In a National Restaurant Association survey last summer, 59% of diners said they'd likely visit a food truck if their favorite restaurant offered one. That's a 47% increase from the previous year. Food trucks attract a variety of clientele, from the leisure traveler looking for a cheaper food option to the business traveler on the run.

"Convenience has been and will continue to be a very important driver of restaurant industry growth," says Hudson Riehle, senior vice president of research for the association. "Hotels are expanding on food service, in general. A logical step would be mobility of the restaurant platform."

Riehle also points out that many hotels are marketing their restaurants to the local community. "Food trucks have proved to be a very good way to extend the brand," he says. "It's a good test vehicle."

•The Setai Hotel in Miami's South Beach last year opened the Beach Kiosk, what it's dubbed a "high-end hotel food truck" on the beach. Menu items designed by the hotel restaurant's Michelin-starred Executive Chef David Werly include ceviche, Wagyu hot dog and salmon burgers.

•The Auberge Saint-Antoine in Quebec City will open a second food truck by its restaurant's chef in June. The first Panache Mobile operates at the nearby Vignoble de Sainte-Pétronille vineyard. The second will be on the riverfront at the St. Lawrence River. The food, which includes lobster rolls, tartare and focaccia sandwiches, is made from ingredients from a garden the hotel operates at a nearby island.

Melody Wendt, marketing and public relations manager for Setai, says the hotel wanted to make dining as hassle-free as possible for guests while letting the public sample its gourmet fare. "We found a way to make it a more refined presentation than the traditional food truck on the street," she says.

(with help c/o USA Today)