CHICAGO — Consumers are apt to be influenced by the power of suggestion when it comes to ordering non-alcoholic beverages at foodservice operations, according to the “Beverage Consumer Trend Report” recently released by Chicago-based research and consulting firm Technomic.

More specifically, 23 per cent of respondents say they would consider ordering a beverage they’d never had before, if the waiter recommended it. And, the same stat increases among the “heavy beverage users” surveyed, 30 per cent of whom agreed that a suggestion would impact their purchasing decision.

NEW YORK — Iconic editor, publisher and food and wine commentator Michael Batterberry died last week in New York, following a long illness. He was 78.

Michael Batterberry and his wife, Ariane Batterberry, founded Food Arts magazine in 1988 — now published by M. Shanken Communications — and consumer magazine Food & Wine in 1978.

NEW YORK CITY — The execs at Subway have taken company expansion to new heights with the opening of a location nestled atop the construction site of 1 World Trade Center.

The location, which sits on a crane, feeds the construction workers at the Freedom Tower, a skyscraper currently taking shape at Ground Zero. Franchisee Richard Schragger’s store will rise with the building, which is expected to be 108 stories high.

LONDON — Some beef farmers have come up with a creative solution to improve their product, while saving time and land — breed smaller cows.

According to a recent U.K Guardian article, American beef farmers who are losing acres of land, and, by extension, sources of revenue, are opting to replace their unusually large beasts with miniature ones.