TASTE AWARDS Winner and “Bar Rescue” Star Jon Taffer Launches new Taffer’s Tavern Franchise

Long known to television audiences for saving bar owners from ruin on seven seasons of Paramount Network’s Bar Rescue, as well as TASTE AWARDS winner, renowned hospitality expert and entrepreneur Jon Taffer is bringing his famed level of standards to his own customers with the opening of the franchise Taffer’s Tavern. The first outpost of the casual-dining brand opened in the Fall of 2020 outside of Atlanta in Alpharetta, Georgia, with additional franchise locations coming soon to Boston, Washington, D.C. and other U.S. markets.

“Taffer’s Tavern truly reimagines the modern restaurant, with an emphasis on comfort and trust that spans from the ambiance to the food to the peace of mind that patrons will feel from our dedication to people’s safety”
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Inspired by the quintessential neighborhood pub, a regular gathering place for locals and visitors alike, Taffer’s Tavern is designed with traditional Old World taverns in mind, its ambiance is inviting, warm and comfortable, distinguished by dark woods, soft leathers, copper accents and exceptional food and beverage offerings. With an emphasis on providing the highest quality products and service, the menu highlights include such selections as a 72-Hour Short Rib (slow-braised for 72 hours then topped with rich demi-glace sauce and paired with mac ‘n’ cheese), BLT (Belly, Lettuce, Tomato – slow-cooked pork belly crisped and seasoned with smoked sea salt, topped with lettuce, tomato and zesty tomato aioli) and Tot Roast Fries (an inventive Southern poutine of tater tots topped with slow-cooked shredded beef, mushroom béchamel sauce, and creamy cheese curds).

Taffer’s Tavern boasts a best-in-class beverage program that Taffer crafted with master mixologist Phil Wills of Bar Rescue, featuring a diverse selection of spirits, wines and beers, many of local and regional provenance. Its signature cocktails, employing some of the most advanced mixology techniques, include The Campfire (Taffer’s trademarked Brown Butter Rye Whiskey, bitters and simple syrup is a perfect blend of bold flavors balanced with velvet-like smoothness) and Berry-Impressive (fruit-infused vodka layered with lemon, served bursting with fresh mixed berries in a French Press).

The innovative restaurant concept, developed by Taffer long before the COVID pandemic, features the industry’s highest safety standards for both guests and staff led by the “kitchen of the future” and the latest advancements in food prep/service technology. Always ahead of the industry curve, Taffer established Taffer’s Safe Dining System™ as a signature approach that sets new safety standards for the restaurant industry. Some of these safety and hygiene measures include hand-scanning detection technology to monitor every hand wash for contaminates, advanced glass cleaning technology for all drinkware, and reduced contact through department separation. Other elements include protocols for a no-contact, third-party order pick-up system, eliminating the need for delivery drivers to come inside the restaurant, and a unique meal preparation technology where food is minimally touched to prevent cross-contamination.

Taffer’s Tavern truly reimagines the modern restaurant, with an emphasis on comfort and trust that spans from the ambiance to the food to the peace of mind that patrons will feel from our dedication to people’s safety,” stated Jon Taffer. “American urban sociologist Ray Oldenburg talked about the concept of the coveted ‘third place’ – the first place is home, the second is work, and the third is a gathering place and nexus for human interaction. That third place is Taffer’s Tavern and Alpharetta could not be a better city to open our first franchise location. After spending months there prior to opening, I have found a community that I know will embrace Tavern and the Taffer brand.”

Taffer’s Tavern will open daily at 11:00 a.m. starting October 29 through November 18 for preview and training in advance of the grand opening on November 19. For more information, to make reservations, and for franchise opportunities, please visit.

About Jon Taffer

Jon Taffer is an award-winning hospitality expert, entrepreneur and thought leader with over 35 years of success in the entertainment, hospitality and nightlife industries. He’s best-known as executive producer and star of Paramount Network’s reality TV show Bar Rescue, which just wrapped its seventh season spotlighting Jon as he saves failing bars from looming closure. In 2019, he launched Taffer’s Mixologist, a line of craft, high-quality, pre-made cocktail mixes and hard seltzers available in retail stores across the country, including Walmart. Concurrently, Jon runs Taffer Virtual Teaching, his digital teaching platform, and Taffer Dynamics, his business consulting firm. Over the years, he has consulted for a range of well-known brands, including the NFL Network, Anheuser-Bush, Ritz-Carlton, TGI Fridays, Buffalo Wild Wings, Famous Dave’s Barbecue and Fortune 500 brands such as Hyatt Hotels and Marriott International. Jon is also the author of the best-selling book Raise the Bar: An Action-Based Method for Maximum Customer Reaction and his newest book Don’t Bulls*t Yourself. For more information, visit www.jontaffer.com.

About Taffer’s Tavern

Jon Taffer, Bar Rescue star and award-winning hospitality expert, has launched his own innovative, full-service restaurant franchise concept, Taffer’s Tavern. Taffer’s Tavern is the quintessential pub, a place to gather with your old friends and make new ones along the way. The tavern will feature outstanding signature cocktails, delicious bar food, a streamlined hoodless/ventless restaurant format with small footprint, and the latest advances in food preparation technology, with partners including Cuisine Solutions, Krowne, PathSpot, and Shift4. Taffer’s Tavern will launch its first tavern in Atlanta, Georgia in 2020. For more information, visit www.tafferstavern.com/.

A World of Chocolate: Lindt Home of Chocolate opens near Zurich

If you love chocolate then you are about to be in heaven. If you love Switzerland, this is the best reason to travel there.

Starting in 2020, the Lindt Chocolate Competence Foundation invites small and large guests to take part in a journey of discovery into the wonderful world of chocolate. Planned and designed by ATELIER BRÜCKNER, the Lindt Chocolate Tour provides information on the origins, history and production of the mouth-watering delicacy, and involves all the senses in an exhibition area covering 1500 square metres.

The museum exhibition is located in the Lindt Home of Chocolate, a new building by Swiss architects Christ & Gantenbein at the headquarters of Lindt & Sprüngli in Kilchberg near Zurich. The world’s highest, free-standing chocolate fountain in the foyer of the museum serves as the prelude to the world of chocolate. It is 9.30 metres high and circulates 1000 litres of liquid chocolate, flowing from a large, hovering wire whip down into a Lindor ball on the ground.

Borne along by the aroma of chocolate, visitors proceed on a tour of discovery on the first floor of the building. Sounds, smells, media stations and visitor-participation systems allow them to become part of the different scenarios. Designed individually, each exhibition room communicates through the senses and with information to convey an aspect of the world of chocolate.

To start, visitors travel to a cocoa plantation in Ghana where they learn everything about the cultivation, harvesting, fermentation and drying of cocoa beans – as well as about the quality assurance process. Being all about the 5,000 years history of chocolate, the “Chocolate History” room features a digitally animated 360-degree panorama picture and has a round media table in the middle. It shows how the preparation and consumption of chocolate has changed over the centuries. How Switzerland became the “home of chocolate” is conveyed in the “Swiss Pioneers” room. The first chocolate factory was opened in Vevey as early as 1819. The all-round, hand-painted Swiss panorama is an invitation to make one’s own discoveries.

The subsequent time tunnel “From Past to Present” illustrates the changes in the manufacture and marketing of Swiss chocolate from 1900 until the year 2000. And how does chocolate production function today? Visitors find this out in the “Production” room, which, with its smooth, shiny surfaces, is based on an actual factory. In this room, three chocolate springs, where the different composition of white chocolate, milk chocolate and dark chocolate can be tasted are a special attraction – and not only for young visitors.

The darkened adjacent room with the name “Chocolate Cosmos“, which is surrounded by an atmospheric projection of stars, finally places chocolate as a product in a global context before visitors are taken to the “Chocolate Heaven” where they can taste a sample of Lindt products. Large-format Lindor balls supplement the narrative space. They are designed as photo booths.

Finally, the visitors cross a bridge over the foyer of the building to reach the “Innovation Lab“, which opens out towards the light-filled interior. The exhibition architecture takes up the architecture of the building. This area concerns some questions about the future: Can there be chocolate without cocoa trees? How is artificial intelligence changing the production of chocolate? And can chocolate be made in a carbon-neutral manner? As soon as the visitor approaches, the initially opaque glass of the display case becomes transparent and reveals explanatory films and selected exhibits, including a replicated cell culture.

The heart of the “Innovation Lab” is a real testing system, the entire interior of which can be seen. Specialists use this system to develop new chocolate creations. Augmented animation enables an X-ray view into the insides of the machines. The Chocolate Tour ends with a chocolate souvenir: A small bar of chocolate from the testing system, packaged in a golden ball, rolls through a lovingly designed marble run before it falls into the hands of the visitor.

The Lindt Home of Chocolate is open from 10 am to 6 pm, Monday to Sunday. Inquiries for guided tours and workshops, in which it is possible to design one’s own chocolate creations, can be submitted at: https://www.lindt-home-of-chocolate.com/en/tickets-and-prices/

 

 

TASTY CREATIONS: The 6 Best Artisan Chocolate Bars of the Year for Chocolate Lovers

Each year the International Chocolate Salon tastes scores of artisan chocolate bars from around the world. The goal is to discover the Best Chocolate Bars of the Year. Even though this has been a challenging time due to COVID-19, the judges were able to make their choices, mostly because they say that the bar selections were so amazing.

If you have a taste for great chocolate, and possibly even for a little luxurious edible gold on top of it, then these 6 top-ranked award-winning bars should be on the top of your list.


The 6 Best Artisan Chocolate Bars of the Year

GOLD MEDAL

  • Michael’s Chocolates Bourbon Caramel Pecan Barre

SILVER MEDAL

  • Panache Chocolatier Columbian Gold Bar
  • Wildwood Chocolate Honey Cardamom Caramel

BRONZE MEDAL

Baetz Chocolates Return of the Bison


HONORABLE MENTION

Michael’s Chocolates Hazelnut Crunch Bar
Delysia Chocolatier Wine & Cherries Chocolate Bark


 

2020 Chocolate Salon Ambassadors Honored for their Support of Artisan Chocolate

In honor of their support for and contribution to artisan chocolate during the Summer 2020 Virtual Chocolate Salon Panels, TasteTV and the International Chocolate SalonInternational Chocolate Salon has designated each of the panelists and moderators who participated as:

HONORARY CHOCOLATE SALON AMBASSADORS

We congratulate and thank each of them!

  • Amy Sherman food writer
  • Art Pollard of Amano Artisan Chocolate
  • Barbie Van Horn of Finding Fine Chocolate
  • Ben Glass of The Good Chocolate
  • Charly Kayle radio host and food writer
  • Cindy Wong Chen of China Live
  • David Gambill of Sonoma Chocolatiers
  • Elisia Otavi of Raphio Chocolate
  • Elyce Zahn of CocoTutti
  • Erin Andrews of Indi Chocolate
  • Joey Garcia author
  • Julie House of Panache Chocolatier
  • Karen Urbanek of Flying Noir
  • Kimberly Yang of Formosa Chocolates
  • Margaret King of Magnolia Chocolatier
  • Michael Benner of Michael’s Chocolates
  • Michael Poole of Hot Chocolat
  • Phillip Ashley Rix of Phillip Ashley Chocolates
  • Robert Bowden of Vivere Chocolates
  • Seth Bain of the Confectionist
  • Syovata Edari of CocoVaa Chocolatier
  • Tonet Tibay of Marti Chocolatt
  • Wendy Lieu of Socola Chocolatier

 

Virtual CHOCOLATE SALON Panel: In Conversation with Bean to Bar Chocolatiers

TasteTV & the International Chocolate Salon in conversation with award-winning Bean to Bar Chocolatiers about their creative inspirations & business challenges, including tips for great chocolate, flavor profiles, travels, and tips for success. Discover and support these great artisans!

Featuring Amano Artisan Chocolate, Indi Chocolate, The Good Chocolate, and moderator Barbie Van Horn of Finding Fine Chocolate.

WATCH THE VIDEO FROM THE PANEL


 

Virtual Chocolate Salon Panel: In Conversation with Asian-American Chocolatiers

TasteTV & the International Chocolate Salon in conversation with award-winning Asian-American Chocolatiers about their creative inspirations & business challenges, including tips for great chocolate, flavor profiles, travels, and tips for success. Discover and support these great artisans!

Featuring panelists such as Tonet Tibay of Marti Chocolatt, Kimberly Yang of Formosa Chocolates, Wendy Lieu of Socola Chocolatier, Elisia Otavi of Raphio Chocolate, and moderator Cindy Wong Chen of China Live

Watch the video from the panel here.