Challenged with one of the toughest years on record, restaurant operators may be looking ahead to 2010 with an eye towards further cost-cutting measures. Menu innovation, however, also plays an essential role for success over the coming year by enticing recession-weary diners with compelling reasons to eat out.
Technomic sees these five trends as continuing to stand out for restaurant operators in 2010:
1. New Spin on Old Favorites: Comfort Foods
Look for increased menuing of upscale comfort foods, with an explosion of simple foods with a small number of “real-food” ingredients. Expect to see a fresh, premium or high-quality spin on familiar, humble foods, such as artisan cheeses used in macaroni and cheese. Interest in premium burgers and burger concepts will continue, with even greater emphasis on freshness, customization, toppings and condiment bars. Sandwich and other concepts will focus increasingly on hearty melts. Cassoulets, chili and other rustic bean-based dishes may get new respect.
2. Exploring New Corners of Asia (and the world)
Korean foods (including Korean barbecue and Korean-style tacos) will hit the mainstream. Look for new interest in Indonesian and other Southeast Asian fare as well. The fascination with global street foods will also play out in the proliferation of Baja-style fish tacos, now moving beyond Mexican restaurants. Expect to see continued emphasis on regional versions of ethnic cuisines, especially with Mexican and Italian fare.
3. Frontiers of Flavor
It’s time for umami to become a household word, at least among foodies. Expressions of the savory, earthy “fifth taste” will range from burgers and other hearty meat dishes to truffle- or truffle oil-accented pasta, cheese, french fries and pizza. Beverage flavor frontiers of 2010 will include tropical ingredients (hibiscus flower, agave nectar, pure cane sugar). Starring in the American regional flavor pantheon is bourbon, used to sauce or spike everything from burgers to chili to desserts.
4. Back to the Future: Tending Our Gardens and Farms
With the First Lady now tending an official White House garden, look for more chefs to follow suit with proprietary herb or vegetable gardens. The emphasis on local and seasonal ingredients will grow and flower. Fascination with heirloom farm products—from tomatoes to pork—will continue; by the 2010 holiday season, look for a flap of interest in heirloom poultry breeds.
5. Breakfast ’Round the Clock
Look for breakfast to break out of its traditional boundaries, with breakfast-style fare available all day (and night) at both full-service and limited-service eateries. As fast-food restaurants expand and upgrade their menus of budget-priced breakfast sandwiches and wraps, more full-service operators will be offering hearty brunch buffets well into the afternoon on weekends.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Wednesday, December 09, 2009
Snails Rich in Protein, Iron
Snail pie may be a cheap source of protein and iron for school-age children and young mothers and may contribute in the fight against iron deficiency anemia in Nigeria, according to a new study published in the International Journal of Food Safety, Nutrition and Public Health.
The study examined the moisture, protein, ash and iron composition of beef and fresh indigenous land snail and the sensory properties of their pies. The edible parts of the snail (Archachatina marginata) and beef and their pies were analyzed using standard methods. The beef and beef pies served as controls. The snail and its pie had higher (p < 0.5) values for protein and iron than beef and its pie. The snail pie was preferred (p < 0.5) by the judges (school-age children and young mothers) over meat pie in terms of appearance, texture, taste and flavor.
Sources:
* International Journal of Food Safety, Nutrition and Public Health: Snail (Archachatina marginata) pie: a nutrient rich snack for school-age children and young mothers
The study examined the moisture, protein, ash and iron composition of beef and fresh indigenous land snail and the sensory properties of their pies. The edible parts of the snail (Archachatina marginata) and beef and their pies were analyzed using standard methods. The beef and beef pies served as controls. The snail and its pie had higher (p < 0.5) values for protein and iron than beef and its pie. The snail pie was preferred (p < 0.5) by the judges (school-age children and young mothers) over meat pie in terms of appearance, texture, taste and flavor.
Sources:
* International Journal of Food Safety, Nutrition and Public Health: Snail (Archachatina marginata) pie: a nutrient rich snack for school-age children and young mothers
Senate Panel Approves Food Safety Bill
Reuters reported that a U.S. Senate committee approved an overhaul of FDA’s food-safety system. The full Senate likely won’t vote on the bill until 2010, according to Tom Harkin, chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
The Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009, passed by the House of Representatives in July, focuses on prevention of foodborne illness outbreaks by giving FDA the power to order food recalls and expanding the agency's access to company records. The bill also requires all facilities to have a food safety plan in place and increases the frequency of food inspections.
Sources:
* Reuters: U.S. food safety likely to get overhaul in 2010
Related Articles:
* House Passes Food Safety Bill
The Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009, passed by the House of Representatives in July, focuses on prevention of foodborne illness outbreaks by giving FDA the power to order food recalls and expanding the agency's access to company records. The bill also requires all facilities to have a food safety plan in place and increases the frequency of food inspections.
Sources:
* Reuters: U.S. food safety likely to get overhaul in 2010
Related Articles:
* House Passes Food Safety Bill
Monday, December 07, 2009
Consumer food purchases are tied to gasoline prices
Shoppers trim their food budgets when gas prices rise, but they don't always give up the name-brand foods they like.
Store brands have gained ground among consumers in recent years, a new study shows, but their popularity among thrifty shoppers may be overstated, says Kusum Ailawadi, a professor of marketing at the Tuck School at Dartmouth College and one of the study's authors. "It's not as big as conventional wisdom has it," says Ailawadi, who conducted the study with business-school professors Yu Ma of the University at Alberta in Edmonton, Dinesh Gauri of Syracuse University, and Dhruv Grewal of Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts.
Housing, Transportation, Groceries
The study, An Empirical Investigation of the Impact of Gasoline Prices on Grocery Shopping Behavior, studied the everyday phenomenon of how households adjust their food spending to accommodate rising gas prices. It's a common tradeoff, with food and gas being households' two most common everyday expenses. Groceries take the third-largest chunk out of the average U.S. household's budget, after housing and transportation, the study shows.
Researchers studied data from 1,000 Midwestern households of various sizes and economic circumstances from January 2006 to October 2008. Participants used home scanners to record all the groceries they brought home, their prices, and where they bought them, which the researchers then related back to the price of gas at that time. The period covered by the study saw the average price of gas in the U.S. rise from $2.24 per gallon to $3.48, after peaking at $4.11 in July 2008, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
Some of the findings are what you would expect. For every $1 increase in the price of a gallon of gas, households reduced their shopping trips by 7.5%, spent 4.4% less, and bought 11% fewer items. Larger households reduced their shopping trips more with each gas price hike, while households with lower incomes made more trips, which the researchers suggest was due to financial pressures that made them shop around for deals.
Brands v. Private Label
More eye-opening was how shoppers made those cutbacks. As gas prices rose, the study showed, consumers cut back on shopping at grocery stores and bought more food at supercenters and club stores. With every doubling of gas prices, groceries lost 7% of their dollar share of the households' food budget, while supercenters gained 41% and clubs gained 24%. The researchers theorize that shoppers turned to supercenters because they could save trips by getting all their shopping done in one place, while the clubs gained because they sold gas at low prices.
It looks like the warehouse clubs can't win. Chains such as Wal-Mart Stores' (WMT) Sam's Club, Costco Wholesale Corp. (COST) and BJ's Wholesale Clubs (BJ) had been complaining that shoppers are spending more on low-margin necessities like food and health items, and less on more profitable discretionary items like clothes and electronics.
And while lower gas prices may have attracted shoppers when the U.S. average was peaking, that didn't last. As the price of oil dropped, so did their sales during most of the last 12 months. Most warehouse clubs had seen their same-store sales dragged down by gasoline sales until they passed the anniversary of summer 2008's peak gas prices.
Searching for Sales
Once in the store, shoppers more often reached for national brands on sale to save money, instead of switching to private labels at full price. For every doubling in the gas price, the researchers found, households' share of food budget spent on regular-price items prices dropped by 10% for national brands and 4% for private label items, but the share spent on national brands on sale rose by 39%, while spending for private labels on sale rose 30%.
As factored into the overall households' spending, marked-down national brands gained 6.5 percentage points in market share, while private labels gained only 1 percentage point -- not insignificant in a grocery segment where profit margins are single-digit rates, but not a massive move of the needle for store brands, Ailawadi says.
"If you look in the context of the private labels in the mass media, it is surprising," she says. "It certainly puts in question this conventional wisdom that everybody is shifting to private labels."
Looking at the Recession
Ailawadi acknowledges that some of this behavior may have changed as the recession took hold, and households had to cut deeper. Most reports of private labels gaining ground have come in the last year, as unemployment rose and household incomes dropped.
Although the study didn't factor in the recession that hit the economy as the data collection was ending in October 2008, Ailawadi says she may continue the research, analyzing another year of scanner data to see if households stick with the changes they made, and how they reacted as gas prices came back to earth and the recession bore down.
The average U.S. gas price was down to $2.63 a gallon at the end of November -- and unemployment was up to 10.2%. These days, gas prices may be the least of those households' worries.
Store brands have gained ground among consumers in recent years, a new study shows, but their popularity among thrifty shoppers may be overstated, says Kusum Ailawadi, a professor of marketing at the Tuck School at Dartmouth College and one of the study's authors. "It's not as big as conventional wisdom has it," says Ailawadi, who conducted the study with business-school professors Yu Ma of the University at Alberta in Edmonton, Dinesh Gauri of Syracuse University, and Dhruv Grewal of Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts.
Housing, Transportation, Groceries
The study, An Empirical Investigation of the Impact of Gasoline Prices on Grocery Shopping Behavior, studied the everyday phenomenon of how households adjust their food spending to accommodate rising gas prices. It's a common tradeoff, with food and gas being households' two most common everyday expenses. Groceries take the third-largest chunk out of the average U.S. household's budget, after housing and transportation, the study shows.
Researchers studied data from 1,000 Midwestern households of various sizes and economic circumstances from January 2006 to October 2008. Participants used home scanners to record all the groceries they brought home, their prices, and where they bought them, which the researchers then related back to the price of gas at that time. The period covered by the study saw the average price of gas in the U.S. rise from $2.24 per gallon to $3.48, after peaking at $4.11 in July 2008, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
Some of the findings are what you would expect. For every $1 increase in the price of a gallon of gas, households reduced their shopping trips by 7.5%, spent 4.4% less, and bought 11% fewer items. Larger households reduced their shopping trips more with each gas price hike, while households with lower incomes made more trips, which the researchers suggest was due to financial pressures that made them shop around for deals.
Brands v. Private Label
More eye-opening was how shoppers made those cutbacks. As gas prices rose, the study showed, consumers cut back on shopping at grocery stores and bought more food at supercenters and club stores. With every doubling of gas prices, groceries lost 7% of their dollar share of the households' food budget, while supercenters gained 41% and clubs gained 24%. The researchers theorize that shoppers turned to supercenters because they could save trips by getting all their shopping done in one place, while the clubs gained because they sold gas at low prices.
It looks like the warehouse clubs can't win. Chains such as Wal-Mart Stores' (WMT) Sam's Club, Costco Wholesale Corp. (COST) and BJ's Wholesale Clubs (BJ) had been complaining that shoppers are spending more on low-margin necessities like food and health items, and less on more profitable discretionary items like clothes and electronics.
And while lower gas prices may have attracted shoppers when the U.S. average was peaking, that didn't last. As the price of oil dropped, so did their sales during most of the last 12 months. Most warehouse clubs had seen their same-store sales dragged down by gasoline sales until they passed the anniversary of summer 2008's peak gas prices.
Searching for Sales
Once in the store, shoppers more often reached for national brands on sale to save money, instead of switching to private labels at full price. For every doubling in the gas price, the researchers found, households' share of food budget spent on regular-price items prices dropped by 10% for national brands and 4% for private label items, but the share spent on national brands on sale rose by 39%, while spending for private labels on sale rose 30%.
As factored into the overall households' spending, marked-down national brands gained 6.5 percentage points in market share, while private labels gained only 1 percentage point -- not insignificant in a grocery segment where profit margins are single-digit rates, but not a massive move of the needle for store brands, Ailawadi says.
"If you look in the context of the private labels in the mass media, it is surprising," she says. "It certainly puts in question this conventional wisdom that everybody is shifting to private labels."
Looking at the Recession
Ailawadi acknowledges that some of this behavior may have changed as the recession took hold, and households had to cut deeper. Most reports of private labels gaining ground have come in the last year, as unemployment rose and household incomes dropped.
Although the study didn't factor in the recession that hit the economy as the data collection was ending in October 2008, Ailawadi says she may continue the research, analyzing another year of scanner data to see if households stick with the changes they made, and how they reacted as gas prices came back to earth and the recession bore down.
The average U.S. gas price was down to $2.63 a gallon at the end of November -- and unemployment was up to 10.2%. These days, gas prices may be the least of those households' worries.
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