A Sure Sign of Spring

May 22, 2013

Snow fell softly, dropping a thin film of white in the parking lot of Nicky Doodles in North Utica.

It didn’t have time to gather on the lids of the 3-gallon tubs of Hershey’s Ice Cream quickly making its way through the door from the back of a truck.

Driver Rob Lillie looked at the restaurant’s Operations Manager Nick Twomey and pointed to a tub on the top of the pile on his dolly.

“We got this new flavor, do you want it in the back?” Twomey, 25, glanced at the lid of the tub of peanut butter pretzel and pointed to the front of the store.

“No, let’s put that up in the room.”

The tub would find itself nestled in the cooled drawers of the stand’s ice cream room, softening for its big season opening reveal this weekend.

The last few weeks began the choreography that is opening Nicky Doodles.

“People, our returning customers, like to say that us opening is a sure sign of spring,” said Twomey, whose four-location family business has been in the Mohawk Valley in one form or another for 15 years.

Seasonal businesses in the area are shaking off the dust and making their way out of hibernation, thawing for the start of a new season.

Operators of the businesses are excited to get the season under way but hope that good weather will prevail for their early spring openings.

Reopening isn’t just firing up the grills and unlocking the doors. Many of the local stands spend weeks stocking pantries and freezers, getting equipment in working order and preparing for the next few months.

Running a business that stays open for only part of the year has its advantages and disadvantages.

On one hand, a profit can’t be made in the winter months when windows are shuttered, but overhead expenses such as property taxes last all year long.

“We like to hear the cash register ring,” said Kenton Voss, operations manager of Voss’s Bar-B-Q in Yorkville, which is set to open at 11 a.m. Sunday, April 7. “All winter we’ve been paying out money.”

Voss warned, however, that just setting up an early opening day just to hear that ringing isn’t a smart idea if the weather can’t back up the business.

“There are some people who decide to just open in a break in the weather, but we want to have all our ducks in a row to be ready and open, to be ready to go,” he said.

Darren Tristano, executive vice president of Technomics, a food industry research and consulting firm based in Chicago, said climate is a large determining factor in the success of seasonal businesses, especially in the Northeast.

But having the winter hibernation, unlike year-round eateries, allows workers and owners to renew their energy, as well as building up customers’ anticipation for their summertime favorites.

“You’ve got that pent-up demand,” he said. “You’ve got to remind the people, ‘We’ve been away from you long enough and it’s time to come back.’”

You’ve got that pent-up demand.; You’ve got to remind the people, ‘We’ve been away from you long enough and it’s time to come back.’” DARREN TRISTANO executive vice president of Technomics, a food-industry research and consulting firm based in Chicago

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B.Good Ready to Grow

April 30, 2013

getimage.aspxAll-natural burger chain’s first franchise location is set to open in Shrewsbury, and dozens more are slated for New England over the next five years

First conquer New England. Then the East Coast. And finally, the country.

The founders of b.good, a Boston chain of nine farm-to-table burger and fry joints, are launching an ambitious campaign to spread their feel-good fast food in two weeks with the opening of the company’s first franchise store in Shrewsbury.

“We set out wanting this business to be huge,” said cofounder Anthony Ackil. “We never wanted to open five restaurants. We never wanted 50. We want hundreds.”

Ackil and Jon Olinto, the company’s other founder, developed plans and found partners last year for 23 new franchise stores. The restaurants, along with 12 more corporate locations, are slated to pop up in Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Massachusetts over the next five years.

The duo met long ago, in sixth grade at Dexter School in Brookline, and bonded over homemade meals cooked by Ackil’s late uncle. As adults, they shared a love of fast food — but not the post-consumption guilt it inspires.

Ackil and Olinto opened the first b.good nine years ago, serving all-natural burgers, fries, and salads. Now the chain’s restaurants feature wallboards identifying the farmers who raise the beef and cultivate the produce served at each location.

As the business grew in Greater Boston, Ackil and Olinto spent time dissecting every aspect of their menu, finances, and operations — down to the amount of potatoes an employee can cut in 15 minutes. The founders share these details with their franchisees and take a hands-on approach with the each store, believing the brand’s success relies on how these restaurants perform.

“We want to give our franchisees a road map to make money,” Ackil said. “It’s taken us a long time to get things right.”

John Freeley and his brother, David, owners of the Shrewsbury location, were drawn to b.good above other brands because of the owners’ attitude and the farm-to-table approach.

“One of the key factors was their involvement in the franchise,” Freeley said. “In most cases, you sign the deal and you’re on your own. That’s not the case with Jon and Anthony.”

B.good sold the New England franchise restaurants to four different investor groups in deals for four or five stores each. The Freeleys are on pace to open a store a year, like the other investors, for five years in Rhode Island and southern Massachusetts.

But one analyst questioned how b.good, which serves a niche market of health-conscious consumers, will perform on a national scale.

The company follows two different trends in the “fast casuals” restaurant category — farm-to-fork fare and better burgers, said Darren Tristano, an executive vice president at Technomic, a food industry research firm. That could be a problem.

A bleak national market for farm-to-fork fast casuals means b.good’s founders are either on the brink of something new, different, and ready to burst with growth or people just won’t buy it, he said.

“Only a minority of consumers want farm-to-table,” Tristano said. “Out of that minority there are those who aren’t willing to pay for it because the price is higher. Now you’re getting down to a small minority that want it and are willing to pay for it, and then there’s a small percentage that actually do it.”

And in the booming burger market, well-established brands are offering lower investment costs and yielding similar annual sales.

B.good’s owners said a franchise store requires an investment between $400,000 and $600,000 and is expected to generate annual sales of about $1.15 million.

Another strong, growing brand in the better burger business, Five Guys, has an entry cost of about $350,000 to $550,000 per store and produces annual sales of about $1.2 million.

“Franchisees, knowing the market for those other burger chains, will look at b.good and ask why the investment costs are higher,” Tristano said.

Olinto said the b.good restaurants require slightly more money upfront because of upgraded fixtures, furniture, and equipment that help drive home the farm-to-table theme.

“If you just come in and get a burger and fries and don’t learn about our concept or where your food comes from, we’ve failed in a sense,” he said.

B.good is also likely to see competition from other fast casuals such as Subway, Chipotle, and even Panera Bread, which also serve more affluent consumers who care about the food they put into their body.

Although franchise business growth is predicted to increase at a slightly slower rate this year — by 1.4 percent compared with 1.5 percent in 2012 — it is still ahead of other business sectors, according to an IHS Global Insight report released in December.

Burger restaurants continue to pop up in the franchise industry, according to Alisa Harrison, a spokeswoman for the International Franchise Association. Overall, about 3,000 new restaurant franchises are forecast to open this year.

“We continually see new burger concepts because burgers and fries never go out of fashion,” she said. “It’s a concept that people like and if it can be replicated from one region to another, franchising is a great way to grow your business.”

Ackil and Olinto are confident they can stick to their restaurant concept of serving real food, which they define as knowing its source and the farmers who produce it.

The all-natural beef served in the nine corporate-owned b.good restaurants comes from Pineland Farms, a co-op of 270 sustainable farms located east of the Mississippi River and as far south as the Carolinas.

Pineland also supplies Whole Foods Market Inc., and Olinto said b.good is likely to pursue new markets that the supermarket company has entered because they share a similar customer base and need for local suppliers.

Tristano said it’s no surprise b.good found diners and investors in New England, but the brand will be tested in markets that don’t place as much importance on their food’s source.

“They’ll likely grow in the short term, but the long term is going to be a bigger question mark,” he said.

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McDonald’s Cites Drop in Popularity for End of Walnut Salad

April 29, 2013

With new products in the wings, McDonald’s is trimming less popular items from its menu.

The Oak Brook-based burger giant said Thursday that it plans to discontinue its fruit and walnut salad and Chicken Selects. It’s also mulling the fate of the Angus Third Pounder.

The decision comes at a time when McDonald’s has been grilled by investors about a dearth of new products as well as softening sales.

With a number of items set to debut nationally — among them a spicy McChicken sandwich and the Egg White Delight breakfast sandwich — the cuts likely reflect the company making room for them, and others slated for this year.

“We are always talking to our customers and make decisions regarding our menu — what to add and what to remove — on a case-by-case basis,” McDonald’s spokeswoman Danya Proud said in a statement.

Darren Tristano, executive vice president of Technomic, said that while the current cuts are more than McDonald’s usually makes to its menu, it’s also introducing new products faster.

“The need to streamline their menu has become increasingly important,” he said.

McDonald’s posted its first monthly same-store sales decline in more than nine years in October, which led to a slew of questions about how the golden arches would fare against resurgent competition from Wendy’s, Burger King, and Taco Bell as well as fast-casual players like Chipotle and Panera.

During the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call in January, McDonald’s CEO Don Thompson acknowledged “some softening and some slowing” in the business.

“A couple of things needed to be stronger,” he said. “We needed to have and execute — we had it, but execute a more robust menu pipeline for our consumers, and that’s across the board in beverages and beef offerings and chicken offerings.” This year, Thompson said, McDonald’s will have new products in each of those areas.

Speculation involving the removal of the fruit and walnut salad, launched in 2005, and Chicken Selects, introduced in 2004, has circulated for years. But removing the Angus burger, which is sold with a variety of toppings, and as the primary component of three snack wraps, would be a more significant departure for McDonald’s.

Launched in 2009 with great fanfare, the Angus burger had been through years of testing and was the company’s first premium burger since the Big N’ Tasty debuted in 2001. It was pulled in 2010.

Angus currently represents the high end of McDonald’s menu, selling for $4 or more, depending on the toppings. The Big Mac, for example, was selling for $3.69 at an Evanston McDonald’s on Thursday.

The Angus faces stiff competition not only from other burgers on the McDonald’s menu, including the Big Mac, Quarter Pounder, and the McDouble, which sells for $1 at most restaurants, but from the entire so-called better burger category, a subgenre of the fast-casual category specializing in never-frozen burgers made to order with a variety of toppings.

Tristano said that while the Angus could be “too premium for McDonald’s,” it also might not be the right burger to compete with these high-end rivals. “Angus may be too lean, not enough fat, not enough flavor to compete with the more indulgent burgers out there,” he said.

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McLent? Fish Hits Fast Food Menus for Holidays

April 23, 2013

fishIf you suspect there’s something fishy going on at your favorite fast-food joint, you’re probably right. The countdown to Easter is on, and that means everyone from McDonald’s to Quiznos is cashing in on the Catholic tradition of skipping red meat in favor of fish during Lent. This year, several chains have created new menu options for customers during this, the holiest of seafood seasons.

Darren Tristano, executive vice president of food service research and consulting firm, Technomic, told Nation’s Restaurant News that most restaurant chains should consider having some kind of fish or non-meat option for people observing Lent in order to prevent a loss of traffic during the season. Many chains are taking that advice and running with it this year.

McDonald’s, the largest of the fast-food chains, introduced a new item this year in addition to its popular Filet-O-Fish sandwich. Its snack-size Fish McBites are a guilt-free option for believers as well as those concerned with the environment, as they have been certified 100 percent sustainably sourced from the Marine Stewardship Council. The packaging for the Fish McBites, as well as the Filet-O-Fish sandwich, carries the council’s blue “eco-label.”

Other chains are also picking up on the trend of disclosing the sources of fish items on their menus. This season, Wendy’s is promoting its Premium Fish Fillet by advertising its 100 percent North Pacific cod origins. And Culver’s, a Midwestern fast-food chain, is selling a seasonal Northwoods Walleye sandwich.

“That’s part of the overall trend to improve perceptions of food and ingredients through marketing,” Tristano said, “so certain regions get called out. Marketers have enhanced perceptions with the way they’ve described menu items for years. Is it more appealing during Lent? Probably.”

Other chains that are getting creative with their Lenten offerings this year include Quiznos, which is promoting its Lobster and Seafood Salad sub, and Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s, whose brand-new Charbroiled Atlantic Cod Fish sandwich has arrived right on time for the seafood season.

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NAPICS ’13: Is ‘Better Pizza’ the Next Fast Casual Category?

April 22, 2013

pizzaPizza is rapidly moving toward a fast casual format, said Darren Tristano, executive vice president of market research firm Technomic, during his keynote address Sunday at the North American Pizza and Ice Cream Show in Columbus, Ohio, where he also discussed frozen dessert trends.

“We’re starting to see a ‘better pizza’ category (similar to the ‘better-burger’ category created by Five Guys, Smashburger, etc.). These pizzas are made in 3 minutes and they’re made to order and this is really an area pizza hasn’t seen before, but it’s what consumers want,” he said. “This will be very strong especially at lunchtime.”

Consumers are driving the emergence of “better pizza,” artisan and gourmet concepts as they demand more bang for their buck.

“Value-conscious consumers are making judgments about pizza based on what they’re actually getting,” Tristano said. “Quality is more important than ever.”

Tristano outlined other emerging menu trends in the pizza segment, including a bigger focus on chicken as a topping, particularly as barbecue chicken and buffalo chicken offerings. Not only is chicken more cost effective as the price of beef rises, it is also adaptable.

He also said more pizzerias are experimenting with seafood toppings such as shrimp.

“Fresh toppings” requests have risen 6 percent since 2010. Diners also want a large quantity of toppings and cheese, a variety of toppings from which to choose, and new and innovative toppings.

Consumers are also seeking out more premium ingredients than they were in recent years.

“They want more health-halo descriptors such as all-natural, locally-sourced, healthier components like whole wheat crusts, organic, artisan, gluten-free,” Tristano said. “This is good news because it means they’re willing to spend more.”

Other pizza menu trends include:

  • Ethnic toppings moving into the mainstream, such as Papa Murphy’s Thai Chicken deLite.
  • Artisan and upscale; pushed into the mainstream by Domino’s artisan line. “This allows you to sell pizza at a higher price point,” Tristano said.
  • Pizza providing a platform for other comfort foods, such as meatloaf pizza and mac and cheese pizza.
  • Breafast. Some pizza chains, such as Chicago-based Rosati’s, are offering morning options to add sales. “This also gives them an opportunity to innovate and will add value to the bottom line,” Tristano said.
  • Gluten-free is still growing fast. Chuck E. Cheese mainstreamed gluten-free last year, allowing groups to easier choose where to eat if one person is on a gluten-free diet.
  • Combo meals have emerged, particularly from Pizza Hut with its Big Dinner Box. “They generate value and put that value in front of the consumer,” Tristano said.
  • Restaurant to retail. Donato’s and Noble Roman’s are two examples of brands that have added a take-and-bake line for grocery stores.
  • Adult beverage. Tristano said there is a shift toward brewpubs and craft beer. Adding these options to the menu provides a “big opportunity to attract younger consumers with a high-margin item.”

Off the menu, consumers want pizza available from a convenient location, good-tasting pizza and pizza at a value.

“Convenience is the primary traffic driver, but it won’t provide a strong edge if you don’t have a better-tasting pizza,” Tristano said.

What about dessert?

The frozen dessert space has gotten increasingly crowded within the past 10 years and competition has flattened sales since 2010, Tristano said.

Although the Recession has ended, consumers remain cautious with their spending. However, according to Tristano, they feel better about their own situations and fewer consumers admit they’re struggling.

“The better news is consumers are more optimistic about 2013, by about 4 percent more than they were last year at this time,” he said.

Consumers’ primary concerns are gas prices (27 percent), grocery costs (26 percent), and their own financial health (26 percent).

“Grocery prices are rising faster than restaurant prices, so for consumers, restaurants are now actually a better value,” Tristano said.

While consumers are more optimistic for the New Year, operators have the opposite mentality. The big concern is commodity prices.

“Fifty-four percent (of operators) said they will raise their prices this year. They don’t want to, but most will have to,” Tristano said. He added that all eyes will be on McDonald’s. As the chain bumps its value offerings from $1 to $1.29, it makes other brands more comfortable to inch up prices as well.

Tristano also pointed out that while sales are rebounding from the economic fallout, they’re still well below pre-Recession levels. For example, the restaurant industry as a whole experienced 13.5 percent growth in 2007 versus 3.6 percent expected for 2013.

“It will likely take until 2020 to achieve 2007 levels,” Tristano said. “But we’re headed in a positive direction and that is better than a decline.”

Concepts and Consumer Trends

For the dessert segment as a whole, nothing is more popular than frozen yogurt. Pinkberry kicked off a high-end influx of these concepts in 2005, and was eventually joined by self-service and lower price-point brands such as Orange Leaf.

Also on trend and poised to grow are old-fashioned ice cream parlor concepts (such as Oberweis) and Pino Gelato, as well as international concepts finding their way stateside, like Costa Rica’s POPS.

“Many of these provide authenticity, which is what people want,” Tristano said. Other trends include:

  • Broadening menus to add winter weather business; for example Cold Stone Creamery’s cupcakes and novelties lineup. Also, adding complementary offerings such as crepes to go with a gelato, provides more chances to sell during any season.
  • The acceleration of breakfast offerings, such as Greek yogurt with fruit.
  • Smoothies and other specialty beverages. “They offer portability, and they can benefit from the lifestyle-oriented marketing people want now,” Tristano said.
  • Catering. Ben & Jerry’s is now offering catering, as is Cold Stone. “They said, ‘if you’re not going to come to us, we will come to you,’ and it’s a great option for business events, charity events, etc.,” Tristano said.
  • Super premium. “Raising the indulgence factor and playing with flavor innovation adds an element of sophistication,” Tristano said, pointing to Columbus-based Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream as an example.
  • Healthy promoted as a lifestyle.
  • Letting consumers control expenditures; for example, frozen yogurt concepts, like Menchie’s, that allow guests to mix, weigh and pay.
  • Community outreach. Yogurtland is a good example of providing philanthropic opportunities for its guests. “It won’t necessarily build sales, but it builds an emotional connection for guests and that makes them feel good. It also builds brand awareness,” Tristano said.

“Ultimately what operators need to keep in mind is consumers indulge when they go out to eat — they can eat healthy at home. But they want to have healthful options when they are out because it gives them more control over their decisions,” Tristano concluded. “Frozen dessert concepts need to be broadening their options to serve more occasions and differentiate.”

Leave a Comment » | Fast Casual, Flavor, Growth, Health & Wellness, Ingredient, Menu Development/Innovation, Menu Trends, Pizza, Price | Permalink
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American Regional Cuisines Make Their Way Across the Pond

March 12, 2013

The U.S. is home to numerous regional cuisines that are often thought of as “ethnic” by U.K. consumers. Among these are Creole, Tex-Mex and regional American barbecue—three American specialities that are all gaining traction in the U.K.

Technomic’s recent U.K. Ethnic Food & Beverage Consumer Trend Report found that more than four out of five consumers see Creole cuisine as “ethnic.” Louisiana’s Creole cuisine—dubbed “city cooking” in New Orleans—has its refined French roots. It’s a rich, indulgent style of cooking that incorporates plenty of butter, cream and tomatoes. Most consumers who think Creole is ethnic consider it to be an emerging ethnic cuisine.

More than seven out of 10 U.K. consumers see Tex-Mex fare as “ethnic.” Tex-Mex is Americanised Mexican cuisine, a twist on traditional Mexican fare. More than half of consumers consider Tex-Mex to be mainstream.

And one-third of consumers consider American cuisine to be “ethnic.” Familiar American staples include hot dogs, burgers, fried chicken and deli sandwiches. The vast majority of consumers who identify American fare as “ethnic” say it is mainstream.

ethnic_cuisine

Base: 1,000 consumers aged 18+
Percentages may not equal cumulative percentage due to rounding
Percentages do not add up to 100%. The remaining percentage of consumers do not consider the cuisine to be ethnic.
Source: The U.K. Ethnic Food & Beverage Consumer Trend Report, Technomic Inc., 2012

The United States is a melting pot of ethnicities. The foods Americans eat are deeply influenced by a vast mix of global cultures and traditions as divergent as European, Native American, Asian and West African, which have come together over centuries to represent something distinctly American. Different cooking styles abound from state to state, such as the regional barbecue methods that span the country. Other distinctive regional American influences are found in Creole cuisine as well as Tex-Mex fare. The following sections look at each of these cuisines and their influence on U.K. menus.

Creole Flavors Rose from the South

Born in the southern state of Louisiana, Creole cuisine is perhaps the first ethnic-fusion cuisine apparent in the United States. Creole cuisine combines Native American, French, Spanish, African, Caribbean, German and Italian influences. Certain elements of this cooking style reflect its refined French roots, resulting in rich and indulgent menu items that often incorporate butter, cream and tomatoes. A variation on this sophisticated cuisine is spicy country-style Cajun, also from Louisiana.

Once beloved only by those living in Louisiana and other parts of the South, Creole foods like gumbo (a traditional roux-based stew), jambalaya (a melange of rice, sausage, chicken and seafood, similar to Spanish paella) and étouffée (a thick and spicy stew served over white rice) now appear widely on restaurant-chain menus across the United States. So do traditional Cajun cooking methods and seasonings, like blackened proteins (meat, chicken or seafood that is heavily crusted with spices and cooked) and spice-rubbed barbecued meats.

The vast majority of American consumers consider these home-grown cuisines to be ethnic. Survey responses for Technomic’s U.S. Ethnic Food & Beverage Consumer Trend Report showed that 86% thought of Creole and Cajun cuisines as ethnic.

Louisiana-style regional American cuisine has a tiny niche on restaurant-chain menus in the U.K., suggesting that these cuisines may have room to grow on menus. According to MenuMonitor, Technomic’s exclusive menu database, most of these Louisiana-style items on U.K. menus simply call for Creole or Cajun spices incorporated as a rub for chicken or shrimp, a seasoning for burgers, a flavour for batter or breading, or an accent to mayonnaise or another condiment.

Going forward, the trends for regional Louisiana cuisine will include more experimentation by restaurant chefs in order to showcase not just spice blends, but actual Creole and Cajun specialities. Here are two examples of classic Louisiana-style main courses as seen on the menus of major restaurant chains:

  • Creole Gumbo—served with garlic bread (Bodean’s)
  • Louisiana Cajun Jambalaya—chicken, spicy chorizo, crayfish and rice, in an authentic Creole sauce with mushrooms, onions and tomatoes (Smollensky Bar & Grill)

Tex-Mex: Americanised Mexican

Another distinctive ethnic cuisine in the United States is Tex-Mex, which melds Mexican culinary traditions with the food ingredients and preparations of the Southwestern United States—specifically, the state of Texas. Sprung from the ranching culture of southern Texas and northern Mexico, Tex-Mex fare originated among Tejanos—Texans of Mexican descent. Traditional Mexican ways of cooking were incorporated with North American food products (such as yellow cheeses) that were affordable and readily available, leading to a blended cuisine that has become known as Tex-Mex or Southwestern.

Today, popular Tex-Mex foods include chilli con carne (diced or ground beef with chillies or chilli powder), fajitas (marinated, grilled steak or chicken, cut into strips and served with warm flour tortillas, grilled onions and peppers for diners to assemble into wraps) and nachos—crisp tortilla chips topped with melted cheese (typically cheddar), chopped jalapeño peppers and assorted components ranging from seasoned meat to tomatoes, lettuce and sour cream.

Tex-Mex preparations and flavours have thrived for decades in the U.S., and there are signs that this regional American cuisine has established itself as a menu favourite in the U.K. in recent years. For example, fajitas and nachos are fixtures on many full-service casual-dining menus, and there are even major chains in the U.K. that directly position menu offerings as “Tex-Mex.”

  • Artisserie offers Tex-Mex Chicken Soup
  • Hungry Horse offers a signature Tex-Mex Burger, as well as a Tex-Mex Combo, featuring ribs and chicken
  • Pizza GoGo offers a Tex-Mex starter sampler
  • Wacky Warehouse’s Tex-Mex Criss Cross Fries are topped with guacamole, Heinz tomato salsa and sour cream

American Barbecue Is Deeply Regionalised

In the U.S., barbecue (including smoked pork, beef, chicken, sausages and other proteins—and all of its sauces and accompaniments) is a regionalised cuisine. Ask Americans in one part of the U.S. to describe their favourite barbecue meal, and the answer will differ widely from that of Americans in another part of the country. The Southern-style barbecue in Memphis, Tennessee, differs from a style of barbecue that is beloved in the Midwestern city of St. Louis, which in turn will differ from the barbecue style and barbecue sauces that are traditional in Texas.

Promoting quality and skill of preparation for regional barbecue is a solid trend on North American restaurant menus. There are signs that both brick-and-mortar restaurants and food-truck operators in the U.K. are beginning to underscore regional differences in American barbecue as well. Regionalising barbecue means successfully executing the culinary nuances between “dry” (spice-rubbed, served with no sauce) and “wet” (drenched in barbecue sauce) barbecued meats, as well as distinguishing between sauces—from the thick, molasses-based, sticky barbecue sauces of St. Louis or Kansas City to the thinner, mustard- and vinegar-based sauces of the coastal Carolinas.

For most U.K. operators attempting to operate within this sphere, it is enough at the moment to simply position American barbecue offerings as “Southern,” while also playing up the decidedly British love of roast meat preparations. This positioning works for Pitt Cue, the Southern-inspired barbecue concept that first built a customer base off its food-truck operation before launching a standalone restaurant venture. Pitt Cue offers a British take on Southern-style American barbecue. “Our food is inspired by the Southern United States of America, but as Brits we love to make things our own,” the chain’s website proclaims. “We make all our own sauces and rubs and our meat is cooked low and slow, smoked in-house and finished over charcoal. Our produce is British, ethically sourced, and our menu changes with the British seasons.”

Here are a few examples of mainstream U.K. restaurant chains that are trying to emphasise regional qualities for American-style barbecue in order to build the perception of quality:

  • Bodean’s signature pulled pork shoulder is accompanied by a Carolina-style barbecue sauce
  • Miller & Carter’s St. Louis Ribs are served with an “authentic American barbecue sauce”
  • Tavern Table offers a Memphis Cherry BBQ sauce as a barbecue accent to various items, including rotisserie chicken

Key Takeaway

Consumer interest in and demand for ethnic foods at restaurants and other foodservice locations is on the rise. For operators seeking to differentiate their menus through globally influenced offerings to gain an increased share of consumers’ foodservice spending, American regional cuisines can be a flavourful tool in their arsenal.

Darren Tristano is Senior Managing Director of Technomic Inc., a Chicago-based foodservice consultancy and research firm. Since 1993, he has led the development of Technomic’s Information Services division and directed multiple aspects of the firm’s operations. For more information, visit http://www.technomic.com.

Leave a Comment » | Creole, Darren Tristano, Ethnic, Flavor, Ingredient, Menu Development/Innovation, Tex-Mex, Uncategorized | Permalink
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Hot & Healthy; On the Menu: Chipotle Teaming Up with Oakland Tofu Company for a New Veggie Dish in Selected Markets

March 6, 2013

It’s an unlikely union: tofu and Mexican fast food. But a restaurant chain known for burritos the size of footballs and nighttime crowds of college students has teamed up with a small Oakland tofu company to use the vegetarian-friendly Bay Area as a testing ground for a new menu and image.

Starting Tuesday, Chipotle will add a new vegan burrito filler made with tofu from Oakland’s Hodo Soy to the menu at seven Bay Area restaurants. If diners approve, Chipotle says it will add the tofu dish, called Sofritas, to restaurants across the country, part of the company’s efforts to hone its reputation as healthier and more earth-friendly than its fast-food competitors. That move could also catapult Hodo Soy from a locally grown, 30-or-so-employee company into a major supplier for one of the country’s most popular quick-serve food chains.

But for Hodo Soy founder and chief executive officer Minh Tsai, the thrill of the new partnership is more about the opportunity to change tofu’s bad rap than the potential sales boost. He’s on a mission to demonstrate that tofu can taste better than the mushy, tasteless white cubes that gather dust on supermarket shelves.

“The win here is people will be exposed to tofu like they’ve never been,” said Tsai, 42, who models his recipe on the tofu he grew up eating in Vietnam.

But before Hodo Soy can change the minds of tofu skeptics everywhere, Bay Area vegetarians first have to approve of Chipotle’s new dish, which will compete with the likes of San Francisco’s Gracias Madre and Berkeley’s Flacos, popular vegan Mexican eateries, and dozens of veg-friendly taquerias in San Francisco’s Mission District — the very place Chipotle co-CEO Steve Ells began his culinary career. Chipotle will track sales for several weeks, but expectations are high.

The San Francisco Vegetarian Society has given Chipotle’s idea a thumbs ups, and the Maryland-based Vegetarian Resource Group, predicts the new dish will be a hit. John Cunningham, consumer research manager for the resource group, said Chipotle already has a loyal following of vegetarian customers who order meat-free versions of its tacos and burritos. The restaurant was hailed as the No. 1 choice among vegetarians for quick-serve food in a survey by Vegetarian Resource Group, which educates the public about vegetarianism.

It may not be the totem of health food — its chicken burrito has been named among the 20 worst foods in America for its high calorie and fat content — but Chipotle is a popular hangout and lunch spot for college students and millennials, among whom vegetarianism is most popular.

“This provides the type of alternatives” that vegans and vegetarians want, said Darren Tristano, executive vice president for Technomic, which studies food industry trends.

Chipotle joins a growing number of restaurants adding vegetarian and vegan items to their menu. Burger King has added a veggie burger, Subway tested vegan sandwiches and Smashburger won praise for its black bean burger. With more people going meat free, Cunningham said, restaurants without a veggie option are bound to lose business.

This isn’t Chipotle’s first try at pleasing the meatless crowd — it tested a vegan burrito a few years ago that was pulled from menus after even the company agreed it didn’t taste so good. The Bay Area is the obvious place for Denver-based Chipotle to try again.

“They’re definitely looking at a market with high concentration of vegan and vegetarian eaters,” said Angelica Pappas with the California Restaurant Association. “That’s smart. They’re going to see right away if there’s a demand for what they’re serving up.”

And the Bay Area sits conveniently between other prime vegetarian and vegan markets — Southern California, Portland and Seattle. If Chipotle passes muster in San Francisco, it likely will appeal too broader West Coast demographic, Tristano said

But don’t expect Chipotle to be the next vegan mecca. The company has made strides to debunk its image as just another fast-food restaurant — McDonald’s was its largest investor until 2006 — but it hasn’t been a smooth transition. Chipotle outraged vegetarians a couple years ago after customers discovered pork was added to a bean dish that had been passed off as vegetarian, and its 1,000-plus calorie burritos are shunned by some as worse for the waistline than a Big Mac.

“They’re moving in the right direction, but I don’t think most consumers think of them as healthy,” Tristano said. “Their target audience is still going to be a young male looking to a one and a quarter pound burrito packed with chicken and steak.”

Leave a Comment » | Flavor, Food, Franchise Activity, Future Plans/Announcements, Health & Wellness, Hispanic, Ingredient, Menu, Menu Development/Innovation, Menu Trends, New Product Tests/Mentions, Vegan | Permalink
Posted by bnoone

Growing Taste for Mediterranean

March 5, 2013

Inside a refurbished two-story warehouse in Paterson’s down-at-the-heels Bunker Hill area, a homegrown company is riding the nation’s wave of enthusiasm for Mediterranean cuisine.

Workers dressed in white overalls operated a mechanized production line Wednesday morning, mixing, cutting and shaping fillo — a paper-thin dough made by Kontos Foods that is used to make Greek or Middle Eastern pastries.

The production line, which was opened about a month ago, is the latest move in a steady expansion by family-owned Kontos, which in recent years has included buying its leased manufacturing and distribution facility, expanding the building and buying another one to house the fillo dough operation.

The projects were backed by the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, which issued bonds that were acquired by TD Bank. The two property acquisitions, the purchase of machinery and equipment, and related expenses cost $11.5 million, according to EDA records.

And despite the fact that the company added a second floor to double the size of the latest acquisition to 45,000 square feet, the expansion is still not enough, said Warren Stoll, the company’s marketing director.

“This was pretty much maxed out the day we started,” said Stoll, as he showed off the refurbished building with Steve Kontos, company vice president and a co-founder.

“We are working 24 hours a day to fill orders for Singapore, Taiwan, Korea and China,” Kontos said. He said the company added a second floor to the building, rather than develop the parking lot, so that it would still have space to expand there in the future.

The company was started in 1987 by Kontos and his father, Evris, at the time making pita bread. It now has 200 employees, 10 of whom were added when the new facility was opened. And the product line has since expanded to include 50 bread products, as well as yogurts, crepes, wraps and other items sold nationwide through retail outlets and to restaurants and hotels.

While the expansion is driven in part by growing name recognition for Kontos products, another key factor is the rising interest among American consumers in Mediterranean foods, Stoll said.

Darren Tristano, executive vice president for Technomic, a Chicago-based food industry research company, said the increased interest in Mediterranean foods can be seen in the rise of Greek-concept franchises, such as Little Greek and Hungry Greek in Florida, and the Garbanzo Mediterranean Grill chain, which is soon to open a restaurant in Florham Park. In New Jersey, the It’s Greek to Me chain now has 10 restaurants, six of them in Bergen or Passaic counties.

“The second important indicator is the health and wellness trend,” in which Mediterranean food is perceived by consumers to be healthy, Tristano said. “These Mediterranean-style foods are designed for healthfulness, for lower calorie counts and are generally fresh in nature.”

Leave a Comment » | Beyond Foodservice, Distributors, Economy, Expansion Strategy, Experience, Financial Activity, Flavor, Food, Franchise Activity, Future Plans/Announcements, Growth, Health & Wellness, Ingredient, Mediterranean, Menu Development/Innovation, Menu Trends | Permalink
Posted by bnoone

Health Is Good Business For Restaurant Chains

February 27, 2013

Growth at fast-food and sit-down restaurant chains is coming primarily from offering lower-calorie chow and drinks, according to a study released today by the Hudson Institute that’s partly funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

“Over five years, chains that increased the amount of lower-calorie options they served had better sales growth, larger increases in customer traffic, and stronger gains in total food and beverage servings than chains whose servings of lower-calorie options declined,” according to a press release this morning.

A live-streaming of the formal release of the report — “Lower-Calorie Foods: It’s Just Good Business” — can been seen here from noon to 1:30 p.m. EST today. It analyzes trends at 21 of the nation’s largest restaurant chains, including McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Burger King, Taco Bell, Applebee’s, Olive Garden, Chili’s and Outback Steakhouse.

“The bottom line is, if restaurants don’t get more aggressive behind these low-calorie products, they’re leaving sales on the table,” Henry Cardello, director of the Hudson Institute’s Obesity Solutions Initiative and lead author of the report, tells the Wall Street Journal’s Julie Jargon. “It’s a business imperative.”

Lower-calorie servings are defined as sandwiches and entrees containing 500 or fewer calories, beverages with 50 or fewer calories per eight ounces and side dishes, appetizers and desserts with 150 or fewer calories, Jargon reports.

Federal regulations requiring operators of restaurants with 20 or more outlets to post calorie counts by early next year have no doubt put pressure on the industry to come up with the healthier fare but “many operators are finding that cutting calories, sodium, sugar and fat pays off,” Stephanie Strom writes in the New York Times.

Executives at several chains indicate they are just giving customers what they want.

“When the public starts saying it wants healthier options — and we are hearing that — we have an obligation to help show you what that means in our restaurant and give you choices to help you achieve that,” Pita Pit USA CEO Jack Riggs tells Strom.

“There’s also been a lot of finger-pointing at the industry by the media and others, including customers, that is spurring the movement,” registered dietitian Anita Jones-Mueller, president and founder of Healthy Dining Finder, tells Strom.

The Hudson Institute describes itself as a nonpartisan policy research organization dedicated to innovative research and analysis. The mission of Its Obesity Solutions Initiative is to bring about practical, market-oriented solutions to the world’s overweight and obesity epidemic.

This is all on the heels of a report published in JAMA Internal Medicine that Baby Boomers, despite all the stories that would have us believe they are exercising compulsively and eating healthily in a last rebellious refusal to act their old age — are actually in worse condition than the generation that preceded them.

Examining data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, West Virginia physician Dana E. King finds that while fewer Boomers smoke, have emphysema or get heart attacks, conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity are on the rise.

“Only 13% of people said they were in excellent health compared with 33% a generation ago, and twice as many said they were in poor health,” King tells NPR’s Rob Stein. “And that’s by their own admission.”

King, who is among those troubled by the implications for health care costs as Boomers get ever older, traces the problems to more fat and less exercise.

Meanwhile, Pizza Hut on Tuesday offered free mini Big Pizza Sliders pies in pepperoni and cheese varieties for carry-out or dine-in at participating locations in “one of the largest product giveaways in the company’s history,” Ron Ruggless reports in Nation’s Restaurant News.

Normally, the new “mega mini pizzas” — reportedly 3.5 inches in diameter — come nine to a box for $10, or three for $5, and customers can choose up to three toppings on each, according to a press release from Pizza Hut. A tomato- topped pie contains 230 calories; add beef, pork and Italian sausages and you’re up to 350.

The Los Angeles Times’ Tiffany Hsu reported on the Sliders, as well as McDonald’s short-term Fish McBites promotion for the Lenten repast season, on Monday.

“Pressure from the nutritional disclosure legislation has prompted the food-service industry to reduce calorie counts in meals,” Technomic EVP Darren Tristano says in a statement quoted by Tsu. “As a result, Americans are now more inclined to ‘graze’ throughout the day, seeking snacks that provide fuel between traditional meal parts.”

Grazing (from the Middle English grasen, from Old English grasian, from græs grass, according to Merriam-Webster, and first used before the 12th century,) is a practice popularized by domesticated herbivores and adapted by homo sapiens sometime in the late 20th century. But with cows now munching on “taco shells, gummy worms and fruit loops,” as Andrew Moran reports on Examiner.com, how long will it be before they’re lining up at the trough for a mash of pepperoni, anchovies and mushroom Big Pizza Sliders?

Leave a Comment » | Financial Activity, Food, Franchise Activity, Growth, Health & Wellness, Ingredient, Menu, Menu Development/Innovation, Menu Trends, Snacking | Permalink
Posted by bnoone

Pop-up Restaurants: One-Night-Only Dining in Orlando

February 25, 2013

Pop-up RestuarantEric Hanke didn’t know what he’d be eating when he walked into the ClandesDine restaurant Saturday night.

“That kind of mystery and mystique adds to the whole event,” said Hanke, 38, who went for a date night with his wife, Frieda Lamberg.

The couple were pleased with what they got for $75 each at the one-night restaurant in the back of an ad agency: a five-course gourmet meal with wine but with a kiddie twist. The appetizer featured peanut butter that looked like sand, grape jelly with port and brioche. Royal red shrimp were fashioned into fish sticks. The main course of wild boar meatballs with spinach linguine came on school-lunch trays.

Now that Orlando has embraced food trucks, some promoters have turned their attention to another big-city trend: the pop-up restaurant.

Mark Baratelli, an Orlando events promoter who runs the Daily City website, hopes to make ClandesDine a regular happening. Restaurant critic Scott Joseph recently held his first pop-up and will soon sell tickets for his second. Barbecue restaurateur John Rivers and even the Citrus Club have also experimented with them.

Here-today-gone-tomorrow restaurants have become a way for chefs to get exposure and test new concepts. Adventurous foodies, meanwhile, get a new kind of mystery dining. They buy tickets — usually pricey ones — often not knowing where they’ll have dinner, who they’ll sit with or what they’ll eat.

Baratelli stressed on his website that diners should come with an open mind and a daring palette. “Do not expect white-glove service. Don’t ask for your sauce on the side. Just come and enjoy.”

The novelty is appealing to some Americans who are weary of casual dining and find fine dining too stuffy.

“Today’s consumer doesn’t think of dining away from home as traditionally” as in the past, said Darren Tristano, executive vice president of Chicago-based food-industry research firm Technomic.

Tristano said such concepts can work even in Orlando, which doesn’t have the same heavy concentration of urban dwellers as larger cities such as New York and San Francisco.

Baratelli agrees, although in Central Florida, organizers might have to think more creatively, he said.

“Some cities have hundreds of buildings and crazy spaces, things that are really old and interesting,” he said. “I think Orlando has those. We’re just going to have to dig and look for them.”

Baratelli held his debut dinner in the Mills 50 District, in the same place as his weekend Cardboard Art Festival. A few musicians from the Florida Symphony Youth Orchestra played Beatles tunes as the 36 diners got to know one another among displays of cardboard animals and robots.

Much of the food came from chef Bryce Balluff’s Fork in the Road food truck, parked outside.

Baratelli is getting the word out about his pop-ups through his website, as is Joseph.

For his first pop-up, Joseph chose a chilly seafood-processing room at Gary’s Seafood & Specialties, where the dinner included a fish-filleting demonstration.

“I like the location to be logical, that it has something to do with the food or with the dinner, to help educate [people] about what we eat, what we drink,” Joseph said.

Just a few days before Joseph’s pop-up last year, legendary New York City restaurant Le Cirque opened for one night at the Citrus Club in downtown Orlando. That was one of a series Le Cirque held around the country.

Also last year, 4 Rivers founder John Rivers tried out a new concept called Cowboy Kitchen at Alaqua. Ultimately, Rivers decided to let the idea for a restaurant featuring upscale Southern cuisine wait so he could focus more on his growing smokehouse empire. But he plans more pop-ups, just for fun.

For Balluff, who cooked at ClandesDine, the pop-up is also a chance to expand his horizons.

“I wanted to be able to still do fine dining. That’s my first love,” said Balluff, whose food truck serves up dishes such as braised short rib sandwiches and paella-covered hot dogs. A pop-up, he said, is “kind of my outlet.”

Leave a Comment » | Future Plans/Announcements, Menu Development/Innovation, Menu Trends, Pop-Up Restaurant | Permalink
Posted by bnoone

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