Transport Minister, Stephen Hammond MP, has praised the Mineral Products Association (MPA) for its new Vulnerable Road User Safety Policy which was launched on Wednesday 31 October at a joint National Cycle Safe Event with the All Party Parliamentary Cycling Group at Wellington Arch, Hyde Park Corner, London. The event also showcased the Metropolitan Police's Exchanging Places initiative, supported by MPA, whereby large numbers of passing cyclists were able to experience visibility issues first hand from inside the cab of the four Large Goods Vehicles (LGVs) – provided by Hanson UK, Lafarge Aggregates, S. Walsh & Sons and Tarmac – to find out where to position themselves safely on the road in relation to lorries.
1. All industry drivers must receive vulnerable road user training. The industry training body has developed a specific course which will be CPC approved and available shortly.
2. New industry LGVs must be fitted with additional safety equipment including blind spot elimination devices and mirrors, side under-run guards, audible left turn warnings for cyclists and pedestrians, and rear warning signs.
3. Existing industry LGVs must be fitted with similar equipment levels within an extended 5 year period with operators encouraged to consider accelerating this timing.
MPA's position is that there is joint responsibility for road safety. National and central government must ensure that roads and junctions are designed for safety and properly maintained, LGV operators and drivers must take action to minimize the risk of collisions and Cyclists and other vulnerable road users must behave responsibly.
The background to this policy initiative is the continuing growth in the number of cyclists, particularly in urban areas, and consequently the increased risks of collisions between cyclists and motor vehicles, including lorries. MPA's Cycle Safe campaign helps to raise awareness on both sides of how to cycle and drive as safely as possible and highlights the potential risks of undertaking lorries and getting too close to them at left-hand turns and roundabouts.
Cyclist safety is an important issue not just in London and urban areas, but nationally. In recent months, the issue has moved up the public and political agenda with Team GB's cycling success at the Olympics encouraging more people to take to their bicycles and raising the profile of the sport; and the launch of The Times newspaper's Cities Fit for Cycling campaign, which has galvanized action to make the roads safer for cyclists.
Following the outdoors event at Wellington Arch, a meeting with the Transport Minister was held at the House of Commons on cycle safety issues. Those in attendance at the launch event included Chief Superintendent Scott Wilson from the Metropolitan Police, cycling body representatives, road safety campaigners, LGV drivers, industry and motoring representatives, MPs, a London Assembly representative and officials from Transport for London.


to womb it may concern..
LOVE the boobies that come along with THAAAAAT time of the month...despite the 'poke and deflate' feeling that accompanies. it actually gives me thoughts of going out and..*sigh* buying an honest to goddess.....*gasp* bra.
the one with concave milk makers.
maybe i could be adventurous and find myself a FUN dairy holder.
i mean....i might just get my OWN rocks off?!!
seems to be a theme, of late.
(and....umph...must i over obsess over the fact i've never NEEEEEEDED UNDER wire?!!!!
*note to self.....add that to the list of dysfunctions.
tonight is a studio all nighter for me.
well, at least you had your moment of glorious buxom bodaciousness..and it didn't require chemicals, push ups, padding and/or implants.
Hey, we can go to that department at Ross where we were Saturday and where I thought I saw a bunch of double "tents" hanging on the display wall.
HAHAHA...yah, i'd say those held about a gallon's worth!


text:
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United Methodists Lose 1,800 Churches in Split Over LGBT Stance
$100M Ad Campaign Aims to Make Jesus the 'Biggest Brand in Your City'
Ravi Zacharias Hid Hundreds of Pictures of Women, Abuse During Massages, and a Rape Allegation
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Forgiving ISIS: Christian 'Resistance' Videos Go Viral in Arab World
Ten-year-old girl from Mosul becomes Christian broadcaster SAT-7's most-watched interview ever.
Jayson Casper in Cairo| March 17, 2015 10:44 AM
Image: SAT-7
More than 1 million people have viewed Myriam's forgiveness of ISIS.
Muhga Ghalab paused carefully as she spoke on the role of mothers in maintaining social cohesion.
"We must teach our children to love, but we are not doing so," said the dean of Islamic Studies at al-Azhar University, one of the Muslim world's most respected schools. The Muslim version of the Golden Rule rolled eloquently off her tongue in perfect Arabic diction. But then she fiddled with her notes. She was keen to convey a less familiar passage correctly.
"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy,'" she read from Matthew 5. "But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you."
Ghalab spoke at a seminar last week sponsored by the Egyptian Family House, an official initiative promoting national unity between Muslims and Christians.
But if two recent viral videos from Christian broadcaster SAT-7 are any indication, there is a growing familiarity with Christian forgiveness in the Arab world in the wake of ISIS-sponsored atrocities.
SAT-7 interviews 10-year-old who fled Mosul.
A prime example of Ghalab's wish for loving children: 10-year-old Myriam from Mosul, Iraq.
Her family fled their home last July with hundreds of thousands of other Christians, finding safety in Kurdistan's Irbil. Essam Nagy of SAT-7 Kids visited the refugee camps and connected with Myriam, a faithful viewer who praised God for not allowing ISIS to kill them.
Asked about her feelings toward those who drove her from her home, Myriam wondered why they did this. Then she said: "I will only ask God to forgive them. Why should they be killed?"
To date, more than 1 million people have seen her witness online. [Full video at the bottom]
SAT-7's 5 channels reach an audience of 15 million in North Africa and the Middle East, though it's impossible to measure how many people watched Myriam. However, numbers can be tracked through the social media campaign, which has reached 25 times its normal audience, with subtitles of the video provided in English, Spanish, Turkish, and Chinese. Word spread not only through SAT-7 affiliates, but also in the local secular press.
Pan-Arabic al-Arabia praised Myriam for confronting ISIS with love. "Everyone who listens to her is astounded," echoed the Egyptian Youm 7. Leading Lebanese daily al-Nahar called for the clip to be shown in the nation's schools as a lesson in humanity.
Myriam's family with SAT-7 journalist.
Another forgiveness message was broadcast from al-Our village, 150 miles south of Cairo and home to 13 of the 21 Christian martyrs in Libya. Bashir Estephanos, who lost two brothers in the killings, phoned in to SAT-7 and surprised all by thanking ISIS. Half a million people have now listened to his testimony online.
"ISIS gave us more than we asked for," he told Maher Fayez on the popular We Will Sing program. "They didn't edit out the part where [as their throats were cut] they declared their faith and called out to Jesus."
Estephanos prayed on air for God to save the killers from the ignorance they have been taught, and related a conversation with his 60-year-old mother. If someone from ISIS was in their village, "she said she would invite him in her home … and ask God to open his eyes."
"These clips provide a counter-shock to the horrifying videos of killings that people receive on mainstream media," said Farid Samir, executive director of SAT-7 in Egypt. "Myriam's and Bashir's calls are a form of resistance—through forgiveness."
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has authorized a church to be built in memory of the martyrs.
Back in Syria, more than 200 Assyrian Christians remain hostages of ISIS following the late February attack on their villages. In Iraq, the first formal Christian militia has enrolled with the Kurdish Peshmerga forces.
CT has previously reported on the various strategies Christian evangelicals employ against ISIS, including the "carrot or stick" evangelism techniques employed by Arab satellite channels and a Bible Society tract on the Libya martyrs (which is now estimated to be the most widely distributed piece of Christian literature in Egypt outside the Bible).
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ForgivenessInternationalIraqISIS (Islamic State)
Jayson Casper @jnjcasperMarch 17, 2015
Total Victory on Partial-Birth Abortion
Prolife leaders applaud Supreme Court's first regulation on an abortion procedure.
Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra
Wire story
The initial departures, mostly concentrated in the South, represent around 6 percent of the denomination—not as dramatic as the "schism" some feared.
Yonat Shimron and Emily McFarlan Miller - Religion News Service
Libraries Aren't Safe, But They Are Good
Amid controversies and threats of defunding, Christian public librarians work for the good of their communities.
Emily Belz
SAT-7 interviews 10-year-old who fled Mosul.Myriam's family with SAT-7 journalist.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Politics & Current Affairs — December 9, 2011
Did the U.K. Just Kill the European Union?
David Cameron has refused to subject Britain to a series of financial regulations demanded by the European Union. As a result, a new financial bloc has been formed outside the E.U.
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Lest we think America is the only one with a dysfunctional political system, the European Union has just created a legal and logistical mess for itself. After British Prime Minister David Cameron rejected a treaty that would subject Britain to new financial regulations, Germany and France organized a separate economic bloc that would operate independently of the E.U. One of the provisions likely to have been in the treaty is a financial transaction tax, increasingly known as the Robin Hood tax, which would charge a small fee for stock trades.
For Britain, the financial regulation treaty posed the now-familiar dilemma of strengthening the European Union at the expense of British sovereignty. A financial transaction tax is viewed by British politicians as a tax on London, which is easily the largest financial center in Europe. The tax, which is gaining popularity in the public imagination, would charge a small amount for each stock trade—fractions of a cent—both to generate income for cash-strapped governments and discourage the kind of speculation that is partly to blame for the current crisis.
Thom Yorke Supports the Occupy Movement
Weeks after Occupy Wall Street organizers apologized for promoting a Radiohead concert that was never to be, Thom York and Massive Attack's 3D gave a small concert in London.


text:
Wendy Adamson doesn't care about Mayor R.T. Rybak's appeal to buy less bottled water.
Her tap water stinks -- literally -- and she's not having any of it.
The city of Minneapolis said Thursday that the strange taste and odor in its tap water could last two more weeks while it acts to correct the problem. They also assured water users, hundreds of whom have complained to the city, that there are "absolutely no health risks."
The stinky turn of events comes after the city campaigned hard touting its municipal water over the commercially bottled variety.
"The smell of the water is just way too bad," said the 66-year-old Adamson, who lives in the Seward neighborhood. "I really don't like buying bottled water, but I just went to the store and got some."
City officials say the bad taste is the result of too much organic matter, such as algae and leaves, entering the Mississippi River, the source of the city's drinking water. It's a phenomenon that usually happens after the snow melts in the spring, and they don't know why it's happening now.
City spokesman Matt Laible said the city uses potassium permanganate and sodium permanganate to treat the water for odor and taste year round, but the two treatment plants have been using 20 percent more of the those chemicals since July 3, when people started complaining. The city also increased the use of powder-activated carbon, which absorbs organic matter and makes it easier to filter it out.
According to Laible, the city's 311 service has registered 221 reports and the city water works has been receiving about 80 calls per day. Laible said the water is continuously tested to meet Environmental Protection Agency standards and is safe to drink.
Residents in St. Paul have been free of the funky water, despite the fact that St. Paul also draws its water from the Mississippi.
"We used to have a lot of problems ... every summer," said St. Paul water quality supervisor Jim Bode. "But a couple of years ago, we put in a new granular-activated carbon [GAC] system that improved the aesthetic quality of the water."
The system -- which cost roughly $10 million to build -- filters harmful contaminants and uses highly porous adsorbent material to attract and remove things like ozone, chlorine, fluorides and dissolved organic solutes.
St. Paul also runs the water drawn from the Mississippi through four lakes before it reaches the treatment plant and then goes to consumers in its city and Arden Hills, Roseville, Lauderdale, Falcon Heights, Little Canada, Maplewood, West St. Paul, Lilydale, Mendota, Mendota Heights and Sunfish Lake.
Since 2001, Minneapolis has invested at least $140 million to make its drinking water safer and as a result now has a state-of-the art ultra-filtration water system that provides water not only for Minneapolis, but also for Crystal, Golden Valley, New Hope, parts of Bloomington, Columbia Heights, Hilltop, Edina's Morningside neighborhood and the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
"In defense of Minneapolis, drawing water directly from the river, they're at a higher risk for microbes like cryptosporidium and giardia," so that's where Minneapolis has focused its treatment, Bode said. "We don't have any of those problems, so we've been able to spend our money on things like the GAC."
According to Minneapolis water works Director Shahin Rezania, the city has considered the GAC system and "St. Paul has proven it works," but that money for it may not be available until 2011.
Several readers in Minneapolis and inner-ring suburbs sent e-mails to the Star Tribune about what their noses and tastebuds have been telling them for weeks.
Tom Madsen, who lives near Loring Park, said the smell and taste from his tap forced him to "boil water for a while because I was afraid."
Rybak's 2008 city budget proposed $67 million more for public water facilities and "plans to confidently let the public know about the cleanliness and safety of our water."
This year, the city of Minneapolis has about $200,000 in its budget to promote city water.
Last month, Rybak and other mayors from around the country urged all U.S. cities to stop spending tax money on bottled water and instead drink from the tap.
Rybak and the mayors of 14 other cities cited a host of reasons for why cities should use their own municipal water: Tap water "has more stringent requirements for testing" than bottled water, bottled water costs 1,000 to 10,000 times more than tap water, and plastic water bottles are one of the fastest growing sources of municipal waste.
In April, 14 Minneapolis and St. Paul restaurants pledged to reduce the use of bottled, non-carbonated water and promote city tap water.
Rodrigo Zamith • 612-673-4895 Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482
Paul Walsh is a general assignment reporter at the Star Tribune. He wants your news tips, especially in and near Minnesota.
paul.walsh@startribune.com 612-673-4482 walshpj
What's causing it?
Jury convicts man of murder in shooting death of North High quarterback Deshaun Hill Jr. • Minneapolis
Minneapolis to start one-sided parking on side streets tonight • Minneapolis
Minneapolis approves Roof Depot demolition by one vote as lawsuits loom • Minneapolis
Man jailed in connection with small fire inside Uptown Target in Mpls. • Minneapolis
Minneapolis man hit by pickup truck 2 blocks from home dies day after Christmas • Minneapolis


text:
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga successfully defended his title, defeating Andreas Seppi in the final, 6–1, 6–2.

Seeds
The top four seeds receive a bye into the second round.

Draw

Finals

Top half

Bottom half

Qualifying

Seeds

Qualifiers

Lucky losers

  Michael Berrer
  Daniel Brands

Draw

First qualifier

Second qualifier

Third qualifier

Fourth qualifier

References
 Main Draw
 Qualifying Draw

Singles

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Grants up to US$ 1,000,000 available under Project Grant - Standards and Trade Development Facility
The following two types of funding are available at Standards and Trade Development Facility:
Project Preparation Grants to prepare technically sound and sustainable projects.
Project Grants that improve food safety, and animal and plant health capacity to comply with international sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) requirements.
Eligible applicants: NGOs, Government Bodies, Private Sector
Funding available for Project Preparation Grants (PPG): Funds up to US$ 50,000
Funding available for Project Grants (PGs), up to a maximum of US$1,000,000
Deadlines to apply for funding in 2023: 24 February for consideration in June
11 August for consideration in November
For the submission procedure and other information visit the following link:
https://standardsfacility.org/funding


text:
Rubber   is a 1936 Dutch film directed by Johan De Meester and Gerard Rutten. It tells the story of Dutch newlyweds trying to adjust to a difficult life on a Sumatran plantation. A large portion of the film is believed to be lost; a 63-minute fragment remains in the archives of the Dutch Film Museum.

Cast
In alphabetical order
Johan De Meester
Leo de Hartogh
Philip Dorn	... 	John van Laer (as Frits van Dongen)
Matthieu van Eysden
Ben Groenier
Jan Hahn
Constant van Kerckhoven Jr.
Folkert Kramer
Philippe La Chapelle
Enny Meunier
Amsy Moina
Dolly Mollinger	... 	Anette
Johan Schilthuyzen
Georges Spanelly	... 	Ravinsky
Hendrik Van Ees
Daan Van Olleffen		(as Daan van Offelen jr.)
Tony Van Otterloo	... 	Joop
Elias van Praag
Mien Duymaer Van Twist
Jules Verstraete	... 	Meesters
A. Wilmink	... 	Popole

External links

1936 films
1936 drama films
Dutch black-and-white films
Films directed by Gerard Rutten
Dutch drama films
1930s Dutch-language films


text:
Episode 9: Create mega fans - from employees to residents with Lori Snider
Does your property have fans? Do you want to create mega fans? I think we can all answer yes, but the key question is how.
Listen in to Lori Snider, Head of Learning & Experience at RedPeak, on how they have created mega fans and start implementing these actions today in your community. Lori shares a lot of interesting snippets - make sure you listen to the whole episode!
Create mega fans - from employees to residents with Lori Snider
Does your property have fans? Do you want to create mega fans? I think we can all answer yes, but the key question is how. Listen in to Lori Snider, Head of Learning & Experience at RedPeak, on how they have created mega fans and start implementing these actions today in your community. Lori shares a lot of interesting snippets - make sure you listen to the whole episode!
Why is focusing on culture, and culture improvement, so important? [03:50]
Engaged and happy employees are: 1) nice to residents, 2) will work to solve problems and, 3) will stay longer.
Long-term team members add value to the organization's bottom line.
How do you measure the impact of engaged employees? [06:42]
Service request response reviews
Resident engagement surveys (quarterly)
Resident and Employee retention rates
For the residents - "let's make it an easy and awesome experience" [09:00]
It doesn't matter how many events you hold. Either you are a hassle to do business with or you're not. The goal is to be "not".
This applies from the minute the potential resident hits apply online. From that moment, the person considers themselves a resident.
Move-in day is a critical touchpoint as that is stressful for the person and when something will get messed up.
Don't let a reliance on technology conceal resident communication needs [11:00]
People don't know what they don't know - don't rely on the resident to read the full lease and "fine print".
Clearly communicate important rules or things a resident should know so that they know how to be a good resident.
Create consistency and focus on what the customer (resident) wants [14:15]
Design and implement a move-in experience process with specific touchpoints. This ensures consistency.
It's not just about being easier for the people in the office. Focus on what the customer expects and in the process of identifying and meeting them, you get ahead of problems.
Sometimes it comes down to PUFP, Pick Up The Ficken Phone
Align the incentives with the business goals [28:07]
If the most important cost driver is renewals, increase the renewal bonus and back off a little on lease commissions.
Remind residents of the value the community provides [30:36]
Talk about capital improvements and what that really means to the bottom line of a community.
Know what the resident would have to pay for if they left and feel like they get free now.
Lori Snider
Lori Snider is responsible for Learning and Experience at RedPeak, providing strategic educational and recruitment direction for the entire company, and overseeing all facets of the team member experience. Lori brings 30 years of multifamily experience to RedPeak, including 15 years running her own successful company as an educator, platform speaker, and experience management consultant.
In her career, Lori has leased apartments, worked as a marketing director, launched a rental publication, co-founded a boutique creative firm, and executed marketing strategies for a myriad of product types throughout the country.
Lori is an acclaimed industry expert on sales and service trends, and a recognized and frequent national conference presenter (NAA, MFE, etc) whose presentations are lively, relevant, and full of laughter.
Lori is an idea instigator and creativity cultivator who fuses imagination with reality to deliver unorthodox and bold results.
RedPeak Website
Lori's LinkedIn
Lori's Facebook
Nick Latz: Welcome home multifamily pros to the Resident Experience Podcast, Episode Nine. We're talking with Lori Snider from RedPeak on how you can create mega fans from employees to residents. How do you keep the balance between technology and the human element? How do you connect with residents in value-added ways and how do the actions you take lead the mega fans? Well, today we answer these questions and more. I'm Nick Latz, your host, and I'm talking with Lori Snider, head of learning experience at RedPeak.
RedPeak acquires, develops, and manages apartments in Denver and along Colorado's front range. RedPeak special sauce is their culture, and they pride themselves on creating distinctive living environments and bringing people together. Today, we are talking about how you can create mega fans across employees, suppliers, and residents. Lori, welcome to the show.
Lori Snider: Thank you.
Nick Latz: So we're super excited Lori to have you on the Resident Experience Podcast. And you've actually been on our radar screen as a guest for a while ever since we had Jen Piccotti onto the show, because she had a ringing endorsement Peak and I want to make sure I get this right, remember it correctly. She said, "At Peak, their employees, their residents, and their suppliers are mega fans," which is a fantastic ringing endorsement. And so we're excited to have you on today.
Lori Snider: Thank you. I'm so excited to be here. This is really, for me, getting to talk about my very favorite things, and so I love Jen and I'm glad she thinks so much of the work we're doing. You know, we try. One of my roles really as culture keeper is really just to always be worried, right, because I don't ever want to be to the place where like, "Yeah, we're so groovy," because we're not. And we need always improvement. So yeah, I'm excited to be here.
Nick Latz: Great. And I want to start out by asking you about your role. What is the head of learning and experience responsible for RedPeak?
Lori Snider: So as I said before, I'm the company culture keeper. What I do is I work to ensure that we grow leaders, that the experience that people have at our place of business as well as our communities is good and that people feel supported and welcome. And that is kind of a big job. One of my biggest roles is really to keep an eye on the culture and just kind of always be doing the litmus test in it because I'm looking for the funk, and I know there's always some funk happening somewhere in the culture. You can't have 130 people and not have all funk going on, right? And so it's my job, really, to be aware of it, understand it, and work to eradicate and change... Be an instrument for change when we need to be.
Nick Latz: Got it. Great. The culture carrier.
Lori Snider: I don't think that my job description would say if you're really working with them.
Nick Latz: So the real SKU, I like that, in monitoring the funk, creating the funk. And so, it seems like this is a thing at RedPeak, right? You've got a role around it. You've got focus around it. You're proactively kind of focusing on this culture, this funk, why is this such a big priority? Because it seems like this is a bigger priority for you than maybe some other owners and operators that we've spoken with.
Lori Snider: I think a lot of owners and operators give lip service to it. And I think that it's kind of like this cool groovy thing to say we have cool culture. And at RedPeak, we authentically continuously try to improve the culture in the organization because we know that engaged employees, happy employees are nice to residents and will work to solve problems and will also stay longer. And right now, we're looking at a time when one out of three people is saying, "Yeah, I got an itch to go," regardless. And I know one or three people in my organization are probably like, "Yeah, I got an itch to go." Right? And so what do I do to make sure that I do everything in our power as an organization to create the kind of environment where they say, "Man, but it's really hard to leave this." That's really why we focus so much on it and we know that long-term team members add value to the bottom one in the organization.
Nick Latz: Right. And this is a such a problem as we talk to customers and other folks in the industry, employee retention, employee engagement is always such a concern. It's always is something that folks are focused on and sometimes reactively. At RedPeak, how did this focus come about? Was this part of the DNA of the company since inception, or was this around solving a problem?
Lori Snider: A company where people love to be has always been the DNA of the organization since day one. And I think that our founders, Mr. Mike Zoellner, Mark Windhager actually left their previous positions, partly because they wanted to do it a little differently, right? They were both in pretty big companies and I think they wanted a more intimate organization that would really flourish with the people that chose to work for it.
Nick Latz: Right. That makes sense. And that helps so much when it's there from the beginning, because then you don't have to kind of correct the troubles along the way, if you will, right?
Lori Snider: Right.
Nick Latz: It's been part of the DNA. It's been part of the priority from the beginning you can build around that. That's fantastic. You mentioned two benefits of really focusing on the culture, the employee retention piece. And you said, hey, I wrote this down, engaged and happy employees are nice to residents and so there's a resident benefit. How do you guys think about measuring the impact of that? Is it anecdotal? Is it something that you just see or do you guys actually track it?
Lori Snider: Well, we track. I know there are ways to track it. I mean, you can see it in the way in the review response, right? You can see it in the way people talk about or the service request response that comes back, we see things. We also track it because you can track it through retention. You can track it through engagement scores. And we do engagement surveys quarterly, right? At retention rates, we actually have a company goal this year to reduce turnover of resident retention by 5%. And everybody knows that goal, right? And so that's really how we measure and track. It's one of those things that's a little hard because everybody's like, "Oh, so filly," right? It's so filly. But, you'll see it in employee turnover. It'll happen fast and it's pretty brutal when it happened so you'll see it.
Nick Latz: Right, got it.
Lori Snider: No matter what they'll let you know.
Nick Latz: For sure. And do you track retention both in terms of residents and employees?
Lori Snider: Yes we do.
Nick Latz: Do you track both of those and keep going?
Lori Snider: We do.
Nick Latz: Great.
Lori Snider: And right now, it's hard right now coming out of COVID because for a while we had very little turnover and I mean, nobody left because everything was frozen in place as we were talking about before. And so when we start to see movement, now we also have to take that into consideration because there wasn't any sort of movement at all. And we were fortunate, we didn't have to lay anybody off. We tightened our belts and we did what we needed to do and so we feel really fortunate as an organization.
Nick Latz: Yup, that's fantastic. So you've touched a little bit on the employee side and how that's such a big part of the culture. On the resident side, is there anything that you do specifically around resident satisfaction, resident retention in addition to the stuff that you do around your staff? Right. You've said that, hey, employees impact residents. Are there other things outside of that, that you guys focus on?
Lori Snider: For sure. I mean, it's really about with residents, our goal, and this is what we teach is an easy and awesome experience. Let's make it easy, let's make it awesome. Because the truth of the matter is you're either a hassle to do business with or you're not. I mean, that's the truth. I don't care how many parties you have. I don't care how many wonderful signs you have to say we love our residents, right? If you're not answering the phone, if you're not getting back to people, if you're not owning that big blue problem, they keep trying to give you and you keep kind of throwing back at them because no one's dealing with it. If that's what we're doing, then we're not serving the residents. I think you can teach a prescription to some degree, but in the end it's about being, are we easy to do business with and are we awesome in our approach?
And we take that touch point from the minute that that client decides, indeed, I'm going to rent at the Seasons of Cherry Creek, right? And they hit apply, because there's this moment right there that's like, "Ooh," right? And they hit apply. And then from that point on, they mentally and psychologically consider themselves a resident of our community and everything we do from that point really does make a difference. I look at it like bookends. We focused real heavy on the beginning, real heavy on the end, and then kind of everything in between, right?
Nick Latz: Right.
Lori Snider: And because we can really mess it up on move-in day. I mean, think about it, right? That's where it usually gets messed up. That's where we usually have some gigantic horrific thing happened, right? Like why aren't keys ready? I mean, it's always move-in day and people are stressed out on move-in day anyway. So let's make it easy. And communication is key. One of the things that's really interesting... Let me know if I'm talking too long here.
Nick Latz: Okay, I'm checking on it.
Lori Snider: One of the things that's really interesting is that, a few years back, we became pretty reliant on technology and so everyone was going to this online lease signing, all this stuff, right? And so in the process, we took the people out of the mix. And I remember asking a few years back and like, so when we review the lease with people, are we like highlighting the important things or showing them how to be a good residents? And I literally got the response, "Why would we do that?" I'm like, "Well, why wouldn't you do that? Right? And they're like, "Well, why would I do that? They can read their lease." Right. And I'm like, "But people don't know what they don't know."
Lori Snider: When you take my 20-year-old son who is a football player and he goes into his first apartment, he doesn't know how to be a good resident. He doesn't know how. He has no idea what that expectation is supposed to look like. What he's supposed to put in the garbage disposal, what he's not? What he's allowed to do, what he isn't, right? And so we need to lay out for people. And we do, we lay out the top 10 things that you need to know living here, right? Because what we were finding is that we were getting all these bad reviews that said things like, "They never told me I had to do a 60 day notice."
Nick Latz: Yup.
Lori Snider: Right? They never told me it had to be written. They never told me. And so, is that our fault? No. But can we improve the experience for that resident through education and insight? Yeah. And in the process, everybody's clear and on the same page. And so we focus a whole lot on that kind of thing, on the communication, and on these little touch points because I like to measure satisfaction in terms of value.
And so, my goal when we have a party for the residents is not just to feed people. My goal is to get in front of those people and to take their temperature. And I look at it as like my value meter, right? So today, you bought a product at this rate and you thought it was fair, right? Do you still think it's fair? Because they got into the apartment, maybe the screen door fell off. I don't know. But every time that happens, the value diminishes a little bit and so we got to rebuild that so that we have an easier time at renewal in justifying and proving that value to those residents.
Nick Latz: Yeah. That's great. Well, I scribbled out a lot of notes there and there's a lot of really good stuff there I want to unpack a little bit. So you you talked about the bookends of the resident experience. You talked about move in and move out is kind of disproportionately mattering in terms of perception of value, in terms of satisfaction. And we've definitely heard that from our customer base, right? The move-in experience matters. People are disproportionately impacted by their initial impression of things, whether that's a new person, whether that's a new experience. So how do you guys approach that? How do you approach the move-in process and how do you make sure that, that's a positive experience?
Lori Snider: So we developed, we actually formulated an experience committee here at RedPeak and it sounds lofty, doesn't it? And we basically designed the move-in experience process expectation. And so, we laid out steps for touch points that are expected throughout that process.
One of the things would be the top 10 things you need to know about your lease, that that is reviewed with every person and that they receive a call from their leasing professional two days before move-in that getting their keys may not be the same day as move-in day, right? Depending on what it looks like, because you want to sit down and talk to people. We walk people home to their apartments because I want that to that moment, if there's any time that we're going to blow it, it's when someone walks into their apartment and there's no ta-da happening, right? And so I want to be there to make sure that if there's anything that needs to be rectified or changed, we can do that. And so we walk people home. Now, does this happen with every single resident? We try, but I'm not going to lie sometimes. We have very busy offices, we do our best, but that is the intent.
Nick Latz: Yup. That's great. I love that. We got a lot of ideas here. So the living experience committee, and then kind of this checklist approach that you guys have to make sure that, that's consistent, right?
Nick Latz: Because that's been matter so much. That's great. The other thing I wanted to ask you about Lori, that you mentioned is these resident touchpoints and you gave leasing as an example. And you said, "Hey, things are going more and more automated. Things are going more and more to technology."
Nick Latz: We go sometimes we say, "Hey, these touch points are going digital." But you had that great insight there of, it can't go all digital, right? There's got to be some balance or there's got to be some points of emphasis. And so maybe an example of that is leasing is going more digital industry-wide probably if you look at the data. But do you have to couple that with a person to person conversation to make sure things don't get lost for when these things were done non-digitally, how do you guys think about that?
Lori Snider: I think we'd be foolish if we didn't. I mean, we can do whatever we want. You know what I mean? We can make and do whatever we want. But it's really all about the customer and what they want. And if you meet those needs, you're going to get everything you want because if you're making it about the customer, if it's just about being easier for the people in the office, then there's no point. But when you're making it about the customer and you're saying, "Okay, what does the customer expect here?" And in the process of identifying and meeting that expectation, we are also educating and providing insight to that resident as to how to behave, expectation, how to be a good resident? We get ahead of problems.
I hate it when people come in... I mean, people are getting pretty vicious out there sometimes, right? People have lost their sense of decorum.
Nick Latz: It is, yeah.
Lori Snider: They have feel free to just let it rip, right?
Lori Snider: And so, when I have someone yelling at one of my leasing people, my first thought is why are they so mad? And second, people yell, they get louder when they don't feel heard, right? Like if you started talking over me and I kept going, right, they get louder when they don't feel heard. And so, if they're so mad that they go and we personally answer every single review, regardless of what it is, and sometimes they are not easy to answer. And we personally do that. But if they write a dissertation online regarding what horrible people we've been and how horrible their experience has been, I can only assume from that, that they're not feeling listened to.
I can only assume from that, that they're not feeling listened to because who takes the time to do that? Nick, do you take the time to write like a dissertation, unless you're so mad and you chronologically list events and you're like, seriously, like they're really mad. And so do I think maybe that we need to look at it from that perspective? Yeah, I do. We also, our fiduciary is for an owner and we run a business and that's important as well. But I think one of the best things we can do as providers of housing is really hone our communication skills. And right now I think our communication skills are a little rusty, right? We don't even know what to do. We walk up to somebody we're like, "What do we do? How do we behave right now? Can I shake your hand?" I don't know.
Nick Latz: Exactly. So that's so interesting in terms of the aspect of, can you be heard, right? Or are you being heard as a resident feel like they're being heard and how do you balance that with automated or digital touchpoints with in-person touch points? And one of the things that I would argue, let me know if you agree or disagree with this is, I think residents want choice in terms of the touch points. I think there's a good segment of residents out there that want the digital interactions.
Lori Snider: Agreed.
Nick Latz: They don't want you to explain every fine print bullet, right? They're happy to read through it themselves and they're perfectly used to that. And there's some that do. There are some that say, "Hey, give me the cliff notes, tell me as a person and let me ask you a couple of questions as a person." Did you see that across your resident base that people want both? [crosstalk]
Lori Snider: Yeah. They want both. And it's just like right now with people wanting a self tour experience, we're offering that, right? And some people are really into that and they just want to go look at it by themselves. But, when they have a question, you better be ready.
Lori Snider: Right? And so it's like me walking into Macy's with a bunch of clothes and I can't find a checkout person and then I dump everything and run. And I think, if we can provide options to people and while at the same time knowing when the situation may be escalated and when it's time to take it face to face, because we have all these wonderful devices, right? We have all these wonderful devices. But I'm telling you, I've watched more conversations literally blow up via email because nobody recognized when it was time where this was getting a little heated, right?
Nick Latz: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Lori Snider: And this is like, "Oh no." And you can see the moment where someone said, "Oh no, you did not, blah, blah, blah." Right? And they just start in. And so I think we have to really help people understand in a digital world, there's still a really strong impact on face-to-face. And no matter what, they're going to have a harder time being mean and nasty when it's face-to-face, especially if they know you.
I think one of the reasons people feel so comfortable just letting it rip today's because they don't know the people there.
Nick Latz: Yeah, that's right.
Lori Snider: They don't know the people in the office. And so if you're nothing, I don't know who you are, I'll be happy to trash you. And so I think that's the other piece of it is that human piece. That's why the residents love maintenance so much. They all know maintenance. And that's where the heroes, right? The office people are just the enforcers. And so the maintenance people though, they all know who they are. They ask for them by name. It's like, "I want Hector to come over for sure." They know them and they feel an emotional connection to them. And there's value to that.
Nick Latz: Right, it's so easy to hide behind email.
Nick Latz: That's true. I was talking to someone about this just the other day, and they mentioned this acronym PUFP. Have you ever heard of PUFP, I hadn't heard of it.
Lori Snider: No.
Nick Latz: What it stands for is Pick up the Freaking Phone.
Lori Snider: That's so...
Nick Latz: And as good service professionals and that [crosstalk].
Lori Snider: Let me write that down. Excuse me for a moment, I'm writing that.
Nick Latz: Or in this service-based industry, right, in the rental business. And I think we have to sense, okay, how do we provide our customers options? But when there's a disconnect, sometimes we got to recognize, you got to pick up the phone, you got to talk to somebody.
Lori Snider: Right. I mean, as a resident, I may not want to talk to you if I'm just calling in, I need some clock in my bathroom or something. You know what I mean? I may not want to talk to you. I'm totally cool with that. That's fine. I will want to talk to you three months later when I haven't heard back from you and somebody said they had to order a part and something's wrong with my tile in my bathroom and now I don't know what's going on, right? So there's this fine line there.
Nick Latz: Right. You mentioned events and we see community events is something that residents value, that can impact their overall resident experience. But you touched on, there's doing events and there's really kind of driving interaction and engagement across events.
Nick Latz: What's your approach? Do you guys do events more than average? How do you think about that across your community?
Lori Snider: We're trying to. I mean, COVID threw us for a little bit of a loop, because I think we knew every food truck in the whole city, right? And now we got the burro people out there with the donkeys and their flowers. I mean, seriously, there was all these different things we brought up. And I think what I believe in is engagement, right. And I believe that people should make it easy and awesome for them. Some people don't want to go sit in a major pool party and then we wonder why nobody shows up, because we expect force interaction out of people. And if I'm a resident at ABC community, I don't know anybody there. And they're like, "Come to the bull party, Saturday. And I wonder and I'm like, "Yeah, okay," I don't know what to do, right?
Nick Latz: So you get your sandwich and you leave, right?
Lori Snider: Right. And here's the thing. If people come in and they get their sandwich and they leave, more power to you. I would rather line up in my office, I'd rather line up a whole table full of pizzas and have my whole team right there behind it, right? And just say, "Help yourself, have pizza with friends of yours, take it up to your apartment. I don't care, pizzas on us. Tell me how was your experience? Tell me how you're doing?" Right, how are you doing?
And that helps me to gauge and also get that, again, that face-to-face in front of the people. So I think events are super important. I think you have to think about your demographic too and what they really want and what they'll respond to. And I think there's so much discouragement with events because they don't go the way they should the first time and you just have to stick with it. They're testing. Your assessors test you and you got to stick with it and you got to be consistent and your messaging has to be good too.
Nick Latz: Right. And I think people want to know their neighbors overall, right?
Lori Snider: I think we do too.
Nick Latz: It's a general statement. We see that in the data, some of the residents surveys that we do is by and large people want to know their neighbors. They want to interact with their neighbors and events can be a good in-person way to do that. Have you come across tools or other things that you do to facilitate maybe residents interacting with each other on their own, right? Because when you do events, that's kind of community hosted. Are there resident self-service options that you can facilitate?
Lori Snider: I think that yes to some degree. I think we're starting to get there. The communities that do really well with this are the ones where we have a concierge program because we do have physical concierge in a couple of our communities, and that seems to work really well because they orchestrate and lead that effort, right? And so there's all these little subgroups and all these things that happen and there's that point contact, right? I would be interested to know more about that actually. You know what I mean? Like how can we better facilitate neighbor to neighbor congregation and communication? Because again, you're not going to have people yelling about their neighbor if they know their neighbor.
Nick Latz: Right. That's right. You mentioned resident retention earlier and you said, "Hey, we've got to target 5% reduction," right? Who owns resident retention and do you measure it the portfolio level, the property level, or both?
Lori Snider: Everybody knows the goal, right? And so each individual community is keeping track of their goal. In the end, leadership owns it, right? This is what we want to do this year. And it comes down to, we need to renew 57 more leases, basically, right? And if we do that, 57 more leases than we did last year, we're going to make our goal of a 5% reduction turnover. And that's enormous money to the bottom line, right? That's enormous money to the bottom line. And so that's our goal. I believe we'll get there.
I think the big thing is you keep it visible to people and you keep reminding them and then you also reward people will go in the way that you want to focus. And so we turned around and we actually increased our renewal bonuses and backed off a little bit on the lease commissions because we really want people to focus on that big pot of money that's available there, right? And that's an entire staff opportunity, so that works. People go the direction and they really focus on the way that you direct them and expect them to behave.
Nick Latz: That's great. I really like that point on tying incentives to the business outcome that you want, because acquiring a new resident costs more than retaining an existing one on average, when you look across the industry, right?
Lori Snider: A lot more.
Nick Latz: Well, yeah. What the data shows it costs $4,000 on average to turn these units.
Lori Snider: Yeah.
Nick Latz: When you talk about maintenance, when you talk about acquiring a new resident, when you talk about all that goes into that. But, I bet if you look at the incentives, leasing staff makes more to your point on the commissions with bringing in new residents versus keeping them.
Lori Snider: Yeah, general.
Nick Latz: So it's backwards, right? The incentives are backwards from the profitable business outcome that you want to drive.
Lori Snider: Uh-huh (affirmative). Well, and I think the other thing is focusing on the resale, right? Because we spent a lot of money in marketing focusing on the sale, right? We're all like messaging and ooh, we love you so much. And there's all this romance, right? And then they marry us and then we're like, there we are, right? And so, I think really focusing on the messaging that you're providing people and reminding them of the value that you're providing and talking about capital improvements and what that really means to the bottom line of a community. And nobody has any idea how much the flowers really cost, right? And they cost thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars, right? And so not to say that you want to just be like, "Well, we just dropped 30 grand on the flowers," but to really remind people that there's value in renting and that their money just doesn't go into a big bank somewhere and into the owner's lap. It's reinvested into the community, and that's important.
And to rebuild value, I always think about, one of my leasing techniques and I will say, always remember, you've got to know what a resident would have to pay for if they left that they feel like they get free living at your community right now. That coffee is worth something every day. You know when you really think of that.
Nick Latz: Yeah, that's interesting.
Lori Snider: The fitness center, they feel like they get free. They move into a single family home, they can walk for free, but they're going to have to go get a fitness center. So those are the kinds of things to really be aware of in how to negotiate on renewals as well.
Nick Latz: Right. I'm so impressed with the way that RedPeak thinks about this and the way that you think about this in terms of consistently reinforcing, reminding of value across the resident life cycle right across the resident experience. But then coming up to the renewal can be the moment of truth. Do you guys do extra things around renewal time period to remind and reinforce that value? How do you push that?
Lori Snider: We do. And a lot of it I think comes down to the friendly messaging. I mean, really explaining what that looks like. It's so easy to do a standard formatted and your new lease will be this much, right? And really getting into the messaging around it, as well as those personal moments.
I mean, we have one service supervisor who's just fantastic and he actually built a Frisbee golf at his community. He's almost like the mayor. You know what I mean? Like he's almost like the mayor. And I would have no problem sending him over to talk to a resident that was on the fence. Mrs. Jones, what can we do? You know what I mean? What are we not doing for you? What's it going to take to keep you? And because they're the heroes, they're the ones that people know, they have that emotional connection and he'll get that lease. He'll get that renewal.
Because it's about who you know, and I think the biggest mistake we make today is not knowing our residents. Not knowing them. People love that. I think about that. You're in a building just to be able to say, "Hey, Mrs. Jones," on the way out, right? That means something to people. It makes them feel welcome and belong and that they belong.
Nick Latz: Part of the community.
Lori Snider: Yeah, right?
Nick Latz: That's great. So final question for you here, or if you can recommend two other guests for us on our podcast, any names that come to mind?
Lori Snider: Sure. I've got lots of people. I would recommend Steve Matre. He was with Banner for many years in Chicago now he's with the Mandel Group in Milwaukee. And I would recommend Nancy Goldsmith, she's with Bozzuto and has been with them for a very long time. She's wonderful.
Nick Latz: Excellent. We'll just hold you to those two. It sounds like you can rattle off quite a few there which is great.
Nick Latz: So Lori, I think we're coming to the end of our time here. I want to be cognizant of your time, but thank you so much for joining us today. This is a great discussion and we're going to provide access to a couple of links and resources and topics here that you mentioned that will promote with the podcast. And thanks so much for joining us.
Lori Snider: This was so much fun and I so appreciate you having me on. And I really look forward to listening to some of your future podcasts as well because the content is stellar.
Nick Latz: Great. Thanks so much.
Lori Snider: Yay. Yay.


Dogs Trust: Don't throw the dog out with the bath water!
Don't throw the dog out with the bath water!
Deana Selby, Publications Manager, writes her view on last nights Coronation Street.
Is anyone following Coronation Street at the moment?
My spies (Hi Mum!) tell me that Fiz has finally brought her new, very premature, baby, Hope, back from hospital where she'd been in an incubator for weeks. She's also told her brother and housemate, Chesney, that Schmeichel has got to go, because she's worried Hope will catch an infection from him and his "great big slobby gob." Schmeichel, for non Corrie viewers, is a Great Dane.
Before anyone shouts 'It's just a TV programme, not real life' the answer is yes, I know, but it's a great programme which millions of people enjoy. Of course Fiz is not a real person, but her concerns are doubtless shared by many new parents. Staff from most of our rehoming centres have told me that they regularly receive calls from people wishing to hand their dog over either because they have just had a baby, or have learnt that they are pregnant.
We've recently commissioned research into the potential health benefits of dog ownership, and one of the early findings is that exposure to dogs in infancy is associated with positive immune system development.
With so many otherwise perfectly sensible dog owners believing that 'Dog plus Baby equals Huge Disaster Waiting To Happen', I thought it worth flagging that it ain't necessarily so.
So, thank you Corrie, for giving me the opportunity to clear up an all too common misconception. And yes, I certainly will be glued to the next episode – will you?
i agree same with anything like going to the toilet you should wash your hands coz its germs there so it isnt any different with your dog.
It's this kind of irresponsible behviour that causes thousands of dogs to be left in rescue homes and dog pounds. I don't watch this anyway, but some people don't seem able to separate fact and fiction and will follow suit. I hope Granada will issue some sort of statement about this! It's disgusting.
I work with stray dogs all day and have 2 dogs at home I have a 15mth old baby who plays with my gsd and sbt all day they lick he's face ears all the time I just wipe him down with a baby wipe and he's fine nothing to worry about I think it's great your bringing the issue in the program to peoples attention just in case they have misplaced there common sence !
I'm pleased this topic in Corrie has been addressed, I have always liked the Fizz Character....but this story line has really annoyed me! When I finished work at 4mths pregnant with the 1st of 4 babies (in 6 yrs!)...we got 2 puppies...I spent the last 5 months of the pregnancy training them! As each baby was born...one of the dogs was always under the pram...indoors or outdoors...all my, now grown up, children love dogs and none were ever harmed or suffered from allergies. Of course normal hygiene care should be taken....but THAT IS ALL THAT'S NECESSARY! Come on Corrie ....get a grip!
Drea, I agree. I know quite a few people who have got rid of their dog and it seems to me to be just a kneejerk reaction based on something they have heard or read somewhere.
Many women seem to just get irrational when they have babies and stop seeing the logic in things - 'baby' then becomes the only thing that matters at the expense of everything else. Natures way I guess, but people definitely need to be educated and maybe the place to start could be in pre-natal classes?
the situation with new baby , dog out baffles me.
This is all a bit sensationalist, if a dog has the potential to make a child ill then any responsible parent would find a new home for that dog.
A child with a deficient immune system should be kept away from any form of potential contamination! I am not, however, saying that any prospective parent should give away their pets.
My sister is badly allergic to dogs, so we had to rehome the Labrador we had when she started to become severely asthmatic from the dog hair. Are you suggesting my parents were irresponsible for valuing her health over the dog?
Some people have dogs as baby substitutes and then lose interest when they actually have a baby. It is wonderful for kids to grow up with dogs , I did and so have my two daughters. My cairn terrier thinks he is a girl teenager. Anyway you are right to highlight this .
I was annoyed when I watched Fizz say that Schmeichel had to go. It is ridiculous to react that way removing a member of the family in case they pass on germs to a baby. Everyone should know (those with an ounce of common sense!) that as long as you keep a clean home, wash your hands after you have played with the dog and don't leave the dog alone with the baby there is no risk of germs getting on to the baby. I hope people are not that STUPID to give up their dogs because of what they saw on Coronation Street.


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How new Generation Z is shaping the restaurant industry
Just when restaurants get a handle on what Millennials want, the next generation grows up, becoming the new influencer.
How new Generation Z is shaping the restaurant industry Just when restaurants get a handle on what Millennials want, the next generation grows up, becoming the new influencer. Check out this story on USATODAY.com: http://azc.cc/2hSd6Q6
Jennifer McClellan, The Republic | azcentral.com Published 9:03 a.m. ET Jan. 4, 2017 | Updated 11:30 a.m. ET Jan. 4, 2017
Gen Z is described as the "no nugget" generation. The new restaurant influencers, born 1996 and after, are health- and price-conscious and always one click away from their food.
Marc Rigau, 17, eats a chicken burrito with all the fixings at a Chipotle Mexican Grill in Scottsdale on Thursday, Dec. 15, 2016.(Photo: David Wallace/The Republic)
Census figures show about 82 million people fall under Generation Z and 87 million under Millennials
The oldest Gen Z members are about to turn 21. Teens spend more on food than clothing or electronics
To connect with Gen Z, restaurants must offer healthy, affordable fare and up their social game
Poor restaurateurs, just when they get a handle on what Millennials want, the next generation goes and grows up.
Generation Z is the cohort of roughly 82 million Americans who were born in 1996 and later, according to the Census Bureau's 2015 population estimates.
The oldest among them are about to turn 21. Many are entering the workforce. And they have money — whether it's direct spending or via influence on parental purchasing.
The youngest generation is shelling out a lot on dining. More than one-fifth of teens' total budget goes toward food, according to Piper Jaffray's fall 2016 "Taking Stock With Teens" survey, conducted by analysts at the investment firm.
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Food spending accounts for more than any other category, including clothing, electronics or concerts.
Like every other generation before, members of Gen Z have their own ideas and beliefs. Restaurants cannot afford to ignore them. And they should start listening now, said Jason Dorsey, founder of The Center for Generational Kinetics, an Austin-based research firm.
The Five Generations
Traditionalists or Silent Generation: Born in 1945 and before.
Baby Boomers: Born between 1946 and 1964.
Generation X: Born between 1965 and 1976.
Millennials or Generation Y: Born between 1977 and 1995.
Generation Z, iGen or Centennials: Born in 1996 and later.
Source: The Center for Generational Kinetics.
"Gen Z is already starting to drive a lot of trends," he said. "It hasn't turned the dining industry on its head yet, but over the next five years, it will."
Dorsey said there has been a fundamental shift in the way trends spread. Now, especially with the adoption of technology, it's the younger generation, not the older one, that is the trendsetter. Trends are "rippling up," he said.
What teens want
For now, Gen Z appears to be continuing trends that were first introduced by Millennials. For one, they are big users of mobile technology. (Read: They do everything on their smartphones.)
"Gen Z has never walked into a restaurant without their phone," Dorsey said.
They avoid lines by placing food orders on their phones. Rather than exchanging cash when spitting a check, they use digital services such as Venmo. Ordering food using tabletop tablets or kiosks are "interim" solutions, Dorsey said. Ordering and paying using your phone is the ultimate experience.
Gen Z doesn't have a lot of patience. Teens prefer limited-service and fast-casual concepts at nearly a 50 percent greater rate than full-service restaurants, according to Piper Jaffray. Starbucks, Chipotle and Chick-fil-A are among Gen Z's top five brands.
This generation is especially price-conscious, as a result of watching their student loan-burdened Millennial forebears suffer through the Great Recession, Dorsey said. At the same time, they're demanding their meals be made with high-quality ingredients.
"I'm very concerned about what I put in my body," said Marc Rigau, 17, a high school junior in north Scottsdale.
How teens eat
Rigau knows off the top of his head that his chicken burrito at Chipotle will ring up at $7.14. An athletic teen who recently traded in his lacrosse helmet for weightlifting gloves, he visits Chipotle at least once a week, usually after going to the gym.
"I've found, over the years, Chipotle seemed to be the cleanest and healthiest," he said. "It's easy and not too expensive."
Rigau stayed loyal to the brand even as it shut down stores to deal with its food-poisoning outbreaks in 2016.
He has a big appetite, he has to eat a lot to gain muscle. He estimates he spends more than 25 percent of his money on food. Paying his own way to support his "lavish eating style" is one of the reasons he got a job at Hopdoddy Burger Bar in Scottsdale.
Marc Rigau, 17, orders a chicken burrito at a Chipotle Mexican Grill in Scottsdale on Thursday, December 15, 2016. (Photo: David Wallace/The Republic)
But lavish is in the eye of the beholder. Rigau and his friends don't frequent white tablecloth dining rooms. Nor does he gorge on junk food. He simply sticks with the handful of restaurants he sees as comfortable, healthful and valuable.
That's also why he gets blasé about casual-dining restaurants such as Denny's and Outback Steakhouse.
"It's kind of like whatever, there's nothing special about it," he said. "I'd rather make pancakes and sausage at my house."
Overall traffic has been falling in mid-scale, family-dining restaurants for the last several years, according to The NPD Group, a market research firm. Gen Z is expected to perpetuate that slide.
But that doesn't mean it's over for those kinds of restaurants, Dorsey noted. It means they have a chance to make changes and capture the attention of a new generation.
"Millennials have already decided," he said. "Gen Z is a chance to introduce themselves."
The kids menu connection
It's never too early to cultivate your customer base. That's the mantra at Zoes Kitchen, a growing fast-casual Mediterranean chain that in October hit its 27th consecutive quarter of same-store sales growth.
That's why they rolled out a revamped kids menu aimed, at ages 12 and younger, in late September.
Led by chef Antonio Iocchi, the Zoes team nixed traditional children's menu staples like quesadillas and turkey sandwiches. In their place, Zoes offers orzo pasta bowls and shrimp kabobs. Chicken is grilled, not breaded. Piadina, a thin Italian flatbread, replaces pizza; and the ham sandwich comes with fresh mozzarella and rosemary ham.
The orzo pasta bowl at Zoes Kitchen. (Photo: Courtesy of Zoes Kitchen)
The changes cater to the "no nugget" generation, said Casey Shilling, Zoes' chief marketing officer. Shilling, herself, has been taking her kids out to eat since they were babies. As a Gen X'er (those born between 1965 and 1976), she reflects the profile of many Zoes customers, who feed their children food with an eye toward healthfulness. It's a philosophy that applies to meals inside and outside the home.
"They are cooking that way at home from the time kids can sit down and eat solid food," Shilling said. "(The kids menu) mirrors what we are trying to put in children's bodies at home."
The social connection
The food is only part of the equation. To connect with Gen Z members, restaurants must up their social game.
At age 13, Phoenix resident Reid Ortega follows Starbucks and Flower Child on Instagram.
She likes that Starbucks posts about new drinks, especially additions to its secret menu. She's a fan of the Pink Drink, an off-menu concoction made with Strawberry Açai Refresher, coconut milk and a scoop of strawberries. Never heard of it? Then you're not following Starbucks on social media.
Flower Child is a healthy, fast-casual eatery on the Fox Restaurant Concepts' portfolio. "I just think the pictures they post are really pretty," Reid said.
The images shared on social channels can help build food empires. Take Shake Shack, for example. Danny Meyer, a man who made his fortune operating fine-dining rooms in New York City, managed to take something as pedestrian as a cheeseburger and turn it into a lifestyle.
Just kickin' it. Photo by @_007style. #shakeshack #shacknshoes
A photo posted by SHAKE SHACK (@shakeshack) on Dec 30, 2016 at 9:25am PST
One thing behind that success was Shake Shack's social messaging.
Visit the brand's website and you'll see a list of a dozen ways to connect: Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Youtube, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, Periscope, Giphy, Foursquare, Google+, LinkedIn. That's 12 platforms to spread Shake Shack's mission, Stand For Something Good.
While the message stays the same across each social channel, the way it's told varies by platform, said Edwin Bragg, the company's vice president of marketing and communication.
Lifestyle content goes on Instagram. Real-time news and guest feedback happens on Twitter. Live events are captured in photos or 10-second clips on Snapchat. Longer videos and content are shared on Facebook.
Shake Shack combined its social messaging with the ability to place orders digitally in its app, newly launched in the Arizona market. Users can find community events as well as designate what time they want to pick up food.
"We have seen a change in mindset among the younger generations," Bragg said. "Gen Z has grown up with better options and it's all they've ever known."
Reach the reporter at jennifer.mcclellan@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8546. Follow on Twitter: @JenMcClel
MORE AZCENTRAL ON SOCIAL: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest
Things To Do app: Get the best in events, dining and travel right on your device
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Why is a two-by-four called a "two-by-four" if it's not two inches by four inches? Well, when the lumber is first cut from the log, the piece after that rough cut has the approximate width and depth (the nominal dimensions) by which the piece will be referred to from then on. At that point, a two-by-four is, in fact, about two inches by four inches. The next step in the production process is to either air-dry or kiln-dry the green lumber, in order to reduce the moisture content of the wood. This causes the lumber to shrink, reducing its actual dimensions, and ensuring that the lumber doesn't shrink significantly after it's finished, sold, and used. After that, the pieces are planed, smoothed, and have their corners rounded, reducing the actual dimensions even further, as well as allowing the producer to be certain that the final product has the dimensions required by industry standards (in the case of a two-by-four, that's 1.5" x 3.5"). To learn more, see American Softwood Lumber Standard.


MANILA, Philippines – The leading opposition bet in the senatorial elections, Manuel "Mar" Roxas II, filed a petition seeking to block the senatorial bid of a person with the same surname – Lemicio Jesus "Lemy" Roxas.
Lemy Roxas, a 77-year-old mechanical engineer from Pampanga, is running under the Katipunan ng Demokratikong Pilipino (KDP), a political party composed of allies of President Rodrigo Duterte.
Mar Roxas, 61, filed the petition against Lemy Roxas on Monday, October 22.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) declined to release a copy of Mar Roxas' petition. The camp of Mar Roxas has not released a copy of his petition as well.
KDP is a national political party that is registered with the Comelec. According to CNN Philippines, the party's members include pro-Duterte lawyers Glenn Chong and Larry Gadon, and Cristina Corona, wife of the late chief justice Renato Corona.
Like Mar Roxas, dozens of other potential candidates have filed petitions against other aspirants for the 2019 elections.
More or less 70 petitions have been filed at the Comelec headquarters in Intramuros, Manila, as of Tuesday, October 23.
In previous elections, aspirants for different positions have sought to block persons with the same surnames as theirs. Fielding an unknown candidate with the same surname is said to be one of the strategies used by political camps to confuse voters of popular ones.


The Backbencher – Miliband's War on Students!
Ed Miliband's policies hurt rather than help students.
There's something that I've noticed about the Labour party's policies during this election: they all seem to hurt rather than help students, which is odd coming from a man who claims to stand up for them. His war on students is based on ill conceived policies regarding zero hours contracts, renting property and tuition fees.
Let's look at the first element, zero hours contracts. This has become a flagship issue of the Labour party's bid for power. However where they may have good intentions, they will be harming students. I know a large number of my fellow students who are on zero hour contracts because it allows them flexibility to fit their work around their studying. Being on a fixed term contract would mean that they could be forced to work at times when they should be studying. Zero Hours contracts also allow them make extra money to pay their fees, living costs or for a night out. Why would the Labour party want to take that away from students?
The next proposal that would be extremely damaging to students is the notion of locking people into Three Year contracts when renting. As someone who rents privately, rather than living on campus, I can tell you that this would be a massive pain. I started renting my house with some friends when we had a year to go, why on earth would we want to be forced into a contract that would keep us in our property for three years? Most of us won't even be in the country a year from now, let alone two more. This poorly thought out proposal would mean that students would be stuck with renting a property they no longer need, long after they graduate.
Finally there are the proposals regarding tuition fees. If the Labour party truly believed in fairness they would leave them where they are. More people than ever before, from a wide range of backgrounds, enrolled in university after tuition fees were raised, contrary to everything that the Labour party had said at the time. I think it's also time for Labour to understand that university is not for everyone. I know a huge number of people who have opted not to go to university and have instead simply entered the workplace, started businesses or gone for apprenticeships. The cost of sending everyone in the country to university would force either taxes to rise or tuition fees to rise. The government is already losing money by keeping fees at a flat rate.


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Historic wind energy auction offshore New York and New Jersey to be held next month
Christian Fernsby ▼ | January 13, 2022
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) will hold a wind auction next month for more than 480,000 acres offshore New York and New Jersey, in the area known as the New York Bight.
Topics: NEW YORK NEW JERSEY
This will be the first offshore wind lease sale under the Biden-Harris administration.
The February 23 auction will allow offshore wind developers to bid on six lease areas – the most areas ever offered in a single auction – as described in BOEM's Final Sale Notice. Leases offered in this sale could result in 5.6 to 7 gigawatts of offshore wind energy, enough to power nearly 2 million homes. As offshore wind technology continues to advance, these areas may have the potential to produce even more clean energy.
"The Biden-Harris administration has made tackling the climate crisis a centerpiece of our agenda, and offshore wind opportunities like the New York Bight present a once-in-a-generation opportunity to fight climate change and create good-paying, union jobs in the United States," said Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland. "We are at an inflection point for domestic offshore wind energy development. We must seize this moment – and we must do it together."
The Biden-Harris administration's goal to install 30 GW of offshore wind by 2030 is complemented by state offshore wind policies and actions throughout the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. Collectively, New York and New Jersey have set the nation's largest regional offshore wind target of installing over 16 GW of offshore wind by 2035.
The New York Bight offshore wind auction will include several innovative lease stipulations designed to promote the development of a robust domestic U.S. supply chain for offshore wind and enhance engagement with Tribes, the commercial fishing industry, other ocean users, and underserved communities.
The stipulations will also advance flexibility in transmission planning and make use of project labor agreements throughout the construction of offshore wind projects. Stipulations include incentives to source major components domestically – such as blades, turbines, and foundations – and to enter into project labor agreements to ensure projects are union-built. ■
Whisky tops Knight Frank Luxury Investment Index
Leading wind energy CEOs call for G20 to get serious about renewables
Offshore wind staff demand to triple, hundreds of thousands of workers needed


Hi guys! Hope you are having a great Martin Luther King weekend. It's always nice to have long weekends and having the hubby home. This weekend is low key for us. Just trying to rest and finish a bunch of home projects. We are halfway done our list and I am sure it will feel so good when we finish everything today.
Time just seems to be flying by for us especially now having 2 littles! Is it the same for you?
Cole is now 5 months old and weighing almost 22lbs!! I can't even believe that he is 5 months old!!!
Yep, we are now doing solid foods and switching over to big kid stroller seats and bigger baby car seats! Because he does not fit his infant car seat anymore.
I am pretty excited about it though because if you are a mama you would know how heavy those infant car seats are and I am so happy I don't have to deal with them anymore.
But just so crazy because with Carter when we hit all these milestones, they all were such a big deal and the switching of car seats did not happen until later for him. But Cole is a bigger baby to begin with.
Haha I remember with Carter everything was so carefully planned and researched. But not with Cole. Everything is done as fast as possible, research wise for all the products we use for him. But also because we learned so much with the first child. This time around we pretty much know what we look for on most of his basic necessities like clothes, blankets, accessories, gears, travel gears, bath gears, bath products, etc.
On this post I would like to share with you one of our favorite clothing brand, Olen Organic. That is the outfit Cole is wearing on these photos. I found out about them last year and really really love their clothes. I promise you, it's one of the softest clothing we've come across. When I put it on Cole I know that he is comfortable. Their products are made of organic cotton which makes them softer and made to last for a long long time. They stretch nicely and the designs are so cute!! Aaaand products are made from Los Angeles which is a really big plus!
They are a having a huge sale on their KUPLA Leggings today only for $10!! That is a really great deal guys!! I linked them here and below, I also linked the top and bottom that Cole is wearing. y links are actually directly to their store, but you can find this brand at different children's clothing boutiques too!
I will also try to do a post later that shows all of our current favorite baby and toddler products. There are soooo many brands and products out there and half the time it's hard to choose which one is a really good one and worth every buck you spend on it. So hopefully that post will be able to help!
But anyways, I hope you have a great rest of your day!! As for me, I will be going back to painting some of the shelves I am repurposing for our entry way. If it ends up looking good I'll post them on my instagram. ;) Linking all the products below!
Hi guys! How are you? Hope you guys are having a wonderful time this Holiday season. Are you guys done shopping for gifts and decorating? Well I am happy to say that I think I am. It seems really hard for me to spend quality time with the kids and celebrate and do Christmas-sy things when I have all these things in my head that I need to get done. So I try to finish them all right away so I can just enjoy, be present and create memories with them the remainder of the Holiday season.
Next year I think I will try to start earlier especially if I want to do an advent calendar with crafts as fillers. I figure we are going to be doing Christmas crafts anyway so I might as well wrap them and and add extra extra extra excitement to our activities! Haha!
Holiday events are rolling in as well and I am sure it's the same for you. So making sure you have the right outfit for each event is a whole new other story!!
Anyway, here is one casual but chic outfit that hopefully will inspire you. Did a belted blazer which is pretty chic and wore it with a casual denim shorts. Also if you are 50/50 on the bike shorts trend, these denim moto shorts can be a good option for you since the fabric is denim and not spandex-y type. And these Naturalizer heels for a pop of color! Perfect for brunch or a day event you might have. If your weather is cooler than ours here in Southern Cali, you can always put on a thick coat over this outfit.
Hi guys! I know it has been a little while since I have been on here. Have been busy with the new addition to the family and then now the Holidays. How are you guys and I hope you are doing well. I just wanted to do a quick life update and a post on 1 of the basics we all need for this season.
On life update: It has been pretty hectic transitioning from 1 child to two but also a lot of fun! Children definitely are hard work but I am grateful to have 2 and they seem both to be overall pretty good. (Don't get me wrong, they do have their moments of crazy too! Haha!) Cole is almost 4 months, I can't even believe it! Seems to really be flying by this time around. He is such a sweet boy and almost always has the biggest smile and just wanting to play.
Carter seems to have finally adjusted to having a baby brother. He now always wants to help mom and baby and play with the baby. He also loves his new school so that makes all of us at home happy.
Anyway, did you guys score a ton of good stuff from all the Holiday sales going on right now? I think I did pretty good this time, mine is mostly on home deals. Just trying to finish some spaces in the house I have left unfinished for way too long.
Now, about important basic pieces to have in your wardrobe this season or actually every Fall, the one that goes on top of the list is a pair of basic, comfortable, black boots or in my case ... black booties since the weather is usually nice and warm here in Southern California.
Aside from my success on finding home furnishing deals, I also scored a few great fashion pieces to update my wardrobe. One of them is this mustard top with puff sleeves, I'm really loving this color for Fall. And another great score is this nice pair of basic black booties from Naturalizer. It's light and soft and pretty much goes with everything. It also comes in many different color options.
Anyways, I wore this outfit 2 different ways here. One of them is a more casual look. Hope you like them!
MAMA TO BE (X2), REASONS WHY I'M CELEBRATING NOW!
Hi guys! These are photos we took while I was still 9 months pregnant. 39 weeks to be exact.
As you know I have always been a fan of slogan tees and when I saw this super cute Tee, I thought it was so perfect!
Not only perfect for the obvious reason that I will become a mom again to another human but perfect because I wanted to share with you reasons why I'm celebrating being a "Mama to be" again this 2nd time around.
And before I continue I just wanted to tell you a little bit about this cute slogan Tee from Isabella Oliver. It is maternity fit so it's bigger on the belly area, which is nice because it gives your bump room to grow.
And also to mark Isabella Oliver's15th anniversary, they designed this Blake Maternity Tee in partnership with Maternal Health Charity Every Mother Counts. 50% of the net proceeds from the sales of this Blake Tee will be donated to the charity to aid their efforts in making pregnancy and childbirth safe for every mother everywhere.
So not only will you own a cute and super comfortable Tee, you're also contributing to a good cause. And that sounds like a double win to me!!
1. It was another chance for me to experience the miracle of life growing inside of me for the last time. I seriously didn't think we would get pregnant again but we really wanted another one. So when we found out, we were ecstatic!
4. Celebrating our growing family. I can't wait to make new memories and experiences with them.
5. Celebrating Life and Health!!!!
6. Celebrating being a mom and how I get a chance everyday for a do over, to make things better especially when we're having rough days. I have the next day to fix things with them and keep working on becoming a better mom.
Cole decided to come 1 week early which was great because we were all ready to meet him. We are all home now, healing and enjoying our new little addition to the family.
I linked everything I am wearing below.
Hi guys! It has been a while since my last post here so I apologize. Hope you guys are all doing good and having a grand Summer!
And really the most important thing is for Cole to be all safe and healthy and same for me so I can recover fast and care for him and Carter as soon as possible.
So for now I really just want to enjoy the last remaining days as a mom with only 1 child and spend quality time with Carter every moment possible. He's seriously the sweetest boy and his age right now is so fun! He talks non stop now but I love the conversations we have all day haha! It's literally like having a partner in crime with you all day.
Although it has been a little challenging here now to do something outdoor with Carter since our Summer temps have been pretty high everyday. The heat has been intense. And now at 38 weeks I am actually starting to feel tired, always hot and uncomfortable and definitely no more jeans or pants. Right now, it's all dresses or some days maternity shorts and a cool top. So I am really thankful for stores that make and sell cute maternity clothes. The details in sizing , style and design really do make a difference.
On this post, I am wearing a dress from Isabella Oliver. They are actually one of my favorite maternity stores ever! I got some pieces from their brand too when I was pregnant with Carter and was able to use them post partum. They don't skip out on style, quality and details so every clothing is pretty much perfect. Their AW18 collection is out and I really love a lot of their pieces. They are are all SO cute!! From casual to dressy they've got it covered. So if you are expecting or if you know someone expecting don't forget to check them out, you will love their selections!!
Well we are almost ready for Cole's arrival. Nursery is done and just need to finish prepping baby gears but baby car seats are installed and hospital bags are packed. And just need to wash some baby toys and baby bottles.
I can't believe he is coming soon!! And that our lives are about to change!!


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E.O. Wilson, a Pioneer of Evolutionary Biology, Dies at 92 – The New York Times
E.O. Wilson, a Pioneer of Evolutionary Biology, Dies at 92 The New York TimesEdward O. Wilson, Harvard naturalist often cited as heir to Darwin, dies at 92 The Washington PostOBITUARY E.O. Wilson, naturalist dubbed a modern-day Darwin, dies at 92 ReutersE.O. Wilson, evolutionary biologist who changed how we look at the world, dies at 92 The Boston GlobeEdward O Wilson, naturalist known as a 'modern-day Darwin', dies aged 92 The Guardian


Motorcycle enthusiasts build motorcycle trikes for different reasons. Some want the thrills of motorbiking with increased riding stability and the smoother ride a tricycle configuration gives them. Others prefer the additional cargo and towing capacity.
Bolt-on kits are a simple way to convert a two-wheel motorcycle to a trike. There are no alterations to the original motorcycle. The conversion kit attaches to the motorcycle via a trailer hitch. It can be attached and detached in less than 15 minutes.
The air-cooled, rear wheel drive Volkswagen Beetle converts to a motorcycle trike simply since its engine and transmission attach to the rear wheel transaxle. The rear seat can be kept as a bench for passengers and cargo. An old motorcycle frame is attached for the front wheel and handlebar steering system.
A two-wheel motorcycle can be converted to a trike by extension of the rear axle. Two steel bars are welded to the existing rear axle. Wheels and brakes are attached to the ends of the extended axle.
The axle extension method requires metal machining and welding skills. Do not attempt it unless you have these skills or are willing to pay skilled people to perform this work.


This week marks 25 Years since the Fall of the Berlin Wall, the most significant event in recent German history, and in celebration of this important day, Berlin is putting on a host of special exhibitions and events to mark the anniversary.
Berlin is also traditionally of the most popular Christmas market destinations – it's remowned for its sparkling markets that take on a whole new level compared to other European countries. Every street is littered in lights, houses a covered in decorations and huge trees fill city centres, and the scent of spiced cakes and mulled wine fills the air. From the end of November, Berlin turns into a magical fairy-tale buzzing with Christmas treats and stalls!
Unbelievably, there are over 100 Christmas markets around Berlin during Santa Season, so here's our GoTimeshare guide to help you decide. Below are some of the best.
One of the most popular markets in Berlin it attracts over 600,000 people every winter. This market is famous for its beautifully unique handmade products from manufacturers all over the world. This market is known for its origami designs and it's worth allowing plenty of time to look at all the artwork. When you've done the "art" part, try a few local delicacies such as fried apple and white chocolate milk.
Top tip: if you ask, many stalls will allow you to try their products free of charge. So feast of yummy treats, while admiring the huge tree and watch a festive play to get you in the Christmas mood!
You can't miss this market with its impressive Ferris wheel which can be spotted from far away. Berliner Weihnachtszeit is one of the oldest markets in Berlin and still holds this tradition as each stall is still styled the same as at the beginning of the 19th century – giving this market a historical and special feel. After drifting about the stalls and taking a ride on the huge wheel get your skates on and have a go at the large skate rink. At 600 square metres, and free entrance onto the ice either bring your own skates or hire a pair for just 4 euros – great fun for all of the family. Also the kids' favourite as it as a small farm of friendly animals to see and play with!
Completely different to the Berliner Weihnachtszeit, this market is the most modern of them all compromising of rollercoasters, bumper cars and again a huge Ferris wheel making it most popular amongst the youngsters! Of course, you can still submerge yourself in traditional festive goodies like gluhwein and yummy pastries in between goes on the rides making this the best mix between tradition and excitement! Great for all ages as rides cater from the young to the not so young, or let the kids play while you sit back with a jug of beer.


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package com.intellchub.banke.chat;

/**
 * Created by Adewale_MAC on 25/03/2017.
 */

public interface ChatPresenter {
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Whether it's expressing your opinions on what goes into Taco Bell's "beef" or telling us why you live an organic or vegan lifestyle, we can always count on you to actively make this wonderful community as great as it is. Thank you for giving us thousands of reasons a month to keep doing what we do. You rock!
@sjdorst: @OrganicAuthorit Quality is a few orders of magnitude more important than price unless price of quality vastly overpriced!
@LessofMimi: @OrganicAuthorit - My 10 yo daughter thinks school lunch is yuck & eats from home. My 5 yo son gets only occasional school meal.
Debi LeLievre Gray An organic radish sandwich! Yes, that's right, and it was delicious :) Spread some real butter on whole grain toast, add thinly sliced radishes and a little salt & pepper. I know what you're thinking, but try it. I think you'll like it...Yum!
James Ledbetter What This should bring to light is that taco meat, for any maker or restaurant, needs to only have 40% beef to be classified as "beef". How the FDA allows this is unphathomable. If it call Beef if needs to be 100% beef. In all the news repo...rts I have heard 1 program address this issue. How do we get the FDA to recognize that the only thing to be called beef is 100%.
Rich Radtke It's a cheese only a husband could love... I guess.
Tony Bambu Veggie to Vegan over the past 14 months. Lost 70 lbs painlessly by adding exercise. Blood Work is perfect now. THAT'S how I roll now!


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Guilty plea by restaurant which caused anaphylactic shock
A restaurant which served a customer with an ingredient to which they were allergic, has pleaded guilty at York Crown Court which today (16 November 2018) ordered it to pay a total £10,721.
On 9 February 2018, the Garden of India served a customer with a severe pepper (capsicum) allergy, an onion bhajii.
The customer checked twice when ordering and was told by an employee that there were no peppers in the bhajii. But it did, in fact, contain green pepper.
The customer only realised this when she had eaten the food and began to go into anaphylactic shock.
On 24 September 2018, Garden of India (York) Ltd and its director Mr Shahin Miah (aged 46 of Colwyn Road, Leeds) pleaded guilty to offences under the Food Safety Act 1990.
In mitigation, the business said it has been running for 26 years and this is only their second time in court, it's willing to take advice and has improved a number of procedures already.
Today, York Crown Court imposed a £3,334 fine for the company, a £1,800 fine for Mr Miah and £5,587.66 costs.
Cllr Andrew Waller, deputy leader of City of York Council and executive member for environment, said: "This is a concerning case which illustrates the absolute need for businesses to recognise and act on the importance of food allergens, customers' health and the law.
"Food businesses have a legal and moral responsibility to control allergen risks by knowing what's in the food they serve, by avoiding cross contamination and training staff."
Cllr Jenny Brooks, executive member for housing and safer neighbourhoods, said: "Customer confidence in the city's food premises is so important and, while this is a very rare case for York, complying with the law around food allergies is crucial.
"We give advice which, if not complied with, can lead to legal action and we welcome customers reporting concerns to public.protection@york.gov.uk."
Advice on food safety and standards is available at www.york.gov.uk/FoodSafetyStandards or, any businesses wanting tailored advice and guidance, are welcome to call us on (01904) 551525.
Posted on November 16, 2018 by Steve Galloway	in Health, News	| Tagged Food Allergies, Garden of India, Health	| Leave a comment


The first of two big home games takes place tomorrow night as the CIS #1 Ranked UNB V-Reds (21-0-0) host the CIS #7 Ranked St. Mary's Huskies (12-6-4) at the Aitken University center.
UNB is riding its perfect record and 11 media poll #1 rankings into this game, having already secured a first round bye, but looking to move towards locking up first over all for the regular season. After Captain Kyle Bailey's 4 goal performance last Saturday, the fans will be looking to see if he can continue his goal scoring ways, and to see if Hunter Tremblay can continue his CIS leading point performance, which currently sits at 15 goals and 25 assists for 40 points in 21 games.
SMU comes into the game four points back of Acadia (15-4-2) for second place, and looking to make up some ground for that second quarter final bye position. Since the Christmas break, SMU has struggled somewhat, going 3-3-1. Wednesday night, they fell to Acadia 4-1, so they will be looking to get back in the win column again.
The game will be available on Rogers TV, News-Cast.com, and can be followed on UNB Hockey on Twitter.


Parker was a sleepy little guy. He seemed pretty comfortable in my home studio and even gave a little baby smirk or two! Mom Nicole was given an AllisonAnne Gift Certificate by her sister-in-law Stephanie. And of course (everything comes back to Hammonton) I went to Edgewood High School with Stephanie! So the girls hung out in the studio while I photographed little Parker, and then Daddy Nick came in at the end for a sweet pose with his new son. Such a lovely family. I am also shooting one of their family member's wedding next year at Brigalias, so I am already looking forward to our next meeting!