Fresh Focus: What’s for Dinner?

When I was growing up, my parents took us to a restaurant once in a while on Friday night for the fish fry or Sunday afternoon to the S&W cafeteria, and it was a big deal. These days, if I forget to pull something out of the freezer for dinner, we just decide which restaurant we feel like patronizing and off we go. In fact, according to the National Restaurant Association (NRA), 46.7 percent of America’s food dollar in 2005 was spent on food prepared outside of the home, and that number keeps growing.

While not surprised at this, I am fascinated by the resulting implications for our industry. Are you seeing growth in your foodservice sales? Is innovation in foodservice products increasing, too? That’s what I am hearing.

Foodservice buyers quickly bring new product ideas to market, since they have to innovate to survive in their competitive environment. They also know what their customers want. It could take lots of time and money for a processor to go through formal product testing and market surveys to determine what would appeal to consumers.

The fresh-cut produce industry actually got its start thanks to the foodservice industry’s innovations. McDonald’s created the original salad-to-go and pushed the fresh-cut industry to mix carrots and celery into a new chopped lettuce product. And remember where Caesar salads came from? That’s right – restaurants. Many of the items we cut today originated at restaurants and became popular as retail items later on.

That’s why I like to watch the foodservice industry to see what’s cooking. What do you think about some of the trends listed below? Maybe you can capitalize on one of them to create an innovative new product for your customers.

Tomatoes

If you’re not cutting tomatoes this may not appeal to you, but one cannot deny their growing popularity in the foodservice market. Chopped tomatoes are perfect for new uses like fresh mix for Bloody Marys, soups like gazpacho and fresh salsas.

In addition, many chefs are looking for the taste and color of heirloom tomatoes. There is growing interest in specialty crops in general, but there are many barriers to success for heirloom tomatoes. They have shorter shelf lives, thinner skins making shipping difficult and non-uniformity in size, shape and color. All of these traits make the job even more difficult for a processor. But the demand is there and this product is not going away. Maybe there are creative ways to satisfy the need – you could source them for your best customers or try some local varieties in place of the regular tomatoes you currently buy to offer a “seasonal special.”

Low Calorie

Restaurants are receiving the brunt of criticism from the government and other entities on the issue of obesity in America. That is driving a new effort toward lower-calorie foods on menus. Produce has been identified as a simple alternative to high-calorie side dishes, and is taking a front row seat in new products across the board. Entire restaurants are being designed around low-calorie eating.

For instance, a new chain developed by Darden Restaurants (the largest casual dining restaurant company in the world, according to its Web site) is called Seasons52. Like the name implies, its menu has been designed around fresh, seasonally inspired foods – such as produce – that change weekly. Freshly harvested foods on the menu “…contain less than 475 calories, and each meal is nutritionally balanced to include the highest quality lean meats and seafood, good carbohydrates and beneficial oils such as extra virgin olive oil,” according to the Web site.

In addition to their list of fresh ingredients, Seasons52 provides healthy cooking techniques like grilling and roasting over open-fire oak burning grills. Keep your eye on this trend, as there are five locations in Florida and two more opening in the Atlanta area this year. You can bet their competitors are watching carefully. As produce suppliers, you are positioned perfectly to provide fresh, convenient products to fit this new category in menu selections.

Take-Out

Another interesting trend popped up a few years ago. I noticed the Outback Steakhouse I frequented had new curbside pick-up service, which sounded like a lot of trouble to me, but it seems to have caught on. In fact, takeout sales at casual dining chains have grown about 10 percent annually over the last three years – double the annual rate of their overall growth, according to Technomic, a restaurant consulting firm in Chicago.

Unlike fast food restaurants, where customers usually eat their take-out food in the car, these casual dining chains’ curbside food is better suited to be eaten at home. That speaks to a larger trend, where consumers want to eat together at home more often, but they still don’t want to cook it themselves. Most chains have gotten the kinks out of the service and provide a quick and accurate delivery through cell phones and curbside cameras, resulting in continued growth.

Curbside delivery opens the door for more fresh produce items to be sold in a convenient, take-home package. Fresh-cut processors can participate in driving this trend by designing menu items that pack up easily, or they can stimulate innovations in packaging for a prepackaged product that goes from the store’s microwave and into the bag without being touched by human hands.

Additional Surveillance

Conduct some of your own surveillance to see where restaurants are leading the industry in the future. Eat out more often. Be adventurous and choose establishments that you might not visit on your own – go on behalf of business research. There’s a new restaurant here that is all about fondue and we want to try it, but we need to organize a group to take advantage of the experience. I’m hoping there are lots of fruits and vegetables on the menu so I can write about that someday. Instead of the once a month treat, eating out has become part of America’s weekly entertainment and it looks like the new crop of chefs is intent on bringing us back for more.

Edith Garrett & Associates is a consulting firm specializing in helping the produce industry with third-party food safety audit preparation, fresh-cut product development, market research, marketing strategies and advertising plans. For more information, call (616) 784-2728 or visit www.edithgarrett.com.




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