Nestlé

These days, chain restaurants are looking for any way to eke out a profit, from offering cheaper steaks to haggling with customers. But given the economic downturn, many are no longer expecting to fill tabletops at dinner — instead, they're counting on customers at the grocery store. Restaurants from Jamba Juice to California Pizza Kitchen and even Tony Roma's plan to introduce new licensed food products in the next year. Yesterday, Starbucks unveiled its new Super-Premium Ice Cream. The new line of ice cream, created in partnership with Unilever, is inspired by coffeehouse drinks with flavors like caramel macchiato and java chip.

Healthy drink chain Jamba Juice has been sorting through production and logistics on a ready-to-drink smoothie made by Nestle that will be carried in convenience stores in addition to supermarkets. Certain chains that already have licensed, branded items in grocery stores are looking to aggressively expand them. California Pizza Kitchen recently introduced flatbread sandwiches made in partnership with Kraft, and the company plans to expand its product line. Rib specialist Tony Roma's is also broadening its line of heat-and-serve meals beyond baby back ribs to include pulled pork, pot roast, and other items.

Since consumers are dining out less and eating in more, it makes perfect sense for restaurants to move in this direction, but if the past is any indicator, I've found licensed food products are usually nothing but a letdown. Do you feel the same way? Could you see this being the moneymaker for restaurant chains this year?

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Yesterday Lean Cuisine's parent company, Nestlé Prepared Foods, recalled approximately 879,565 pounds of frozen chicken meals.

According to the US Department of Agriculture and Food Safety, the meals may contain foreign materials like small pieces of plastic.

To find out what exactly is being recalled, read more

Last Friday after hearing the news that Hershey's had changed its chocolate formula, YumSugar and I decided to perform a taste test. Luckily we had the perfect place to host a chocolate taste test — CasaSugar's space at Park(ing) Day! For the taste test, we pitted Nestle's Crunch against Hershey's Krackel. To check out the taste test in action watch the video below!

To see the results, read more

The brand Nestlé is synonymous with chocolate bars, frozen meals, and those delectable Toll House cookies, but it's possible that the company may soon be just as recognizable at the cosmetics counter.

The world's largest food and beverage company has introduced Glowelle, a beauty drink that proclaims to have antiaging properties.

The bottled drinks come in two flavors, raspberry jasmine and pomegranate lychee, and are available for $7 a pop at Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman department stores. The blends claim to "nourish and hydrate the skin from within and help fight free radicals, known contributors to the signs of aging."

This drink is just the latest in a bevy of supplements that have hit the market. I've always been perplexed by beauty drinks: do they work? Have you ever tried a beauty supplement in the form of food or drink?

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Yikes! Nestlé Prepared Foods, the manufacturer of Hot Pockets, is recalling more than 215,000 pounds of Hot Pockets Pepperoni Pizza after several pieces of red, hard plastic and clear rubber material were discovered inside some of the pockets. The recall is for 54-ounce, 12-pack cartons of Hot Pockets Pepperoni Pizza with the following codes printed on the sides of each carton: 8157544614D, EST 7721A, and BEST BEFORE JAN2010.

This is the second recall this Summer for Hot Pockets. Just last month, 350,000 packages of two-pack Spinach Artichoke Chicken Lean Pockets were recalled for the same reason. Perhaps it's time to lay off the pockets for a while.

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Although it technically doesn't have a season, chocolate seems to taste better this time of year. It's so much easier to indulge in chocolate when you have an excuse like the holidays. Highlight the pure flavor of chocolate by making an easy, elegant mousse tart. The crust is made with cookie crumbs and the simple filling is smooth and creamy. You will need time for the tart to firm up in the fridge so plan ahead. To get this tasty recipe, read more