MenuMine Trend

Asian cuisine presents boundless opportunities for bold and exotic menu development.  Asian cuisine includes Chinese and Japanese and increasingly Thai, Vietnamese, Indian and Malaysian.  Based on MenuMine research of over 500 chain and independent menus, Asian cuisine presents unique opportunities. 

Foodservice operators are concerned about meeting the increasing consumer demand for healthy and nutritious food.  Some chains are responding by adding high protein/ low carb profile items, some are reducing high carb/high fat items, others are finding success with salads.  Before stampeding in one direction or another it may be wise for operators and chains to examine whats already on their menus, it may be best to reformulate or re-position or rename some current items and forego the expense and time of development.

Italian cuisine is perhaps America’s oldest ethnic cuisine.  It is certainly the most entrenched and easily understood.  No other ethnic cuisine, including Mexican, has the spectrum of sauces, seasonings and flavor systems as has Italian. 

Appetizers---Mini Menu Test Market:  The appetizer part of the menu can be a low risk way to experiment for both Operators and Patrons.  As a “Test Kitchen”, so to speak, the appetizer menu part allows for experimentation with new cuisines and presentations.  Appetizers also present a venue to try out healthy options or sample a new deep fried creation.  They are perfect for sharing with the table and are often the first step for diners too timid to experiment on their own.  Operators can use appetizers to test interest in proteins, cuisines, cooking methods...virtually every component of a menu item.

More chains are now serving barbecue than ever before.  In 2003, over half (53%) of all chains served barbecue items, up from 46% in 1997.  And among those chains serving, a greater number of barbecue items are menued. Currently, there are 3.8 BBQ items on the menu of the average chain versus 3.1 items six years ago, for a gain of 23%.  Casual chains have an average of 4.7 BBQ items on the menu, up 34% versus six years ago.

 

Caribbean is emerging on restaurant menus as a food that appeals to a broad spectrum of tastes and textures.  As an ethnic crossroads, island cuisine was built on the foods of indigenous Carib and Arawak peoples.  And then it was influenced by slaves from Africa and the East Indies and by colonizers from France, Spain, the British Isles, Denmark and the Netherlands.  Each wave bought with them their own foods including the palm coconut, varieties of pepper, rice, curry, mangos, pineapple, peanuts, limes, even yogurt.

There is a distinction between side dishes and accompaniments.  Sides are generally priced individually (a la carte) and accompaniments are a component in a meal and accompany a meat and an other veggie or carbo.

Successful breakfast menuing calls for an item to be hot, temperature wise.  As shown on the left, 59% of breakfast menu listings are hot entrees or hot sandwiches.

"People are beginning to be aware of the differences in Mexican cuisine.  There's 'Mexican -American cuisine' and then there's 'regional - Mexican cuisine'."  Rick Bayless, author, chef and owner of Topolobampo and Frontera Grill restaurants in Chicago.

Grilled sandwiches are on the move on chain menus.  About 17% of all sandwiches have the word "grill" or "melt" in the menu item name.  Comparing MenuBook chain restaurant data collected in 2002 with 1997 data, menu incidence of grilled/melt sandwiches is up two percentage points, which translates into a 13% gain.