12 restaurant trends for 2010
I always like getting trend reports from international restaurant consultants, first because, as you know, I'm a sucker for trends and second, these are the things that may get foisted on us in the future because restaurateurs are paying these consultants big bucks to tell them what to do next.
Anyway, here's the provocative list I got in an e-mail from Joseph Baum & Michael Whiteman Co. Inc. of the 12 top restaurant and hotel food-and-beverage trends for 2010. ...
We'll discuss them in more detail later -- oh, yes, boys and girls, you know we will. But for now, just enjoy considering what they may mean for you at some future time when you feel like going out and having dinner at a nice restaurant.
Twenty-five buzzwords. The mind boggles.* How the downturn has altered consumer expectations and what it will take to lure them [sic] diners out of their economic storm shelters.
* Emotional resonance and the left side of the menu.
* Going downscale to go upscale: What’s really behind the hamburger craze.
* Fresh = Local = Hand-Made = Safer.
* Why fried chicken is the new pork belly.
* Food additives are back, but this time they’re “good” ones (maybe).
* All about Innards and Odd Parts.
* How “Voices of Authority” have lost control over food and beverage language.
* Why tart/sour is the New Bitter.
* Menu churn
* Meet you at the supermarket
* Catering to kids
* Plus: 25 buzzwords for 2010
(Photo courtesy of Baum & Whiteman)
Comments
Um, doesn't #8 undermine the whole existence of this list and these consultants?
An excellent point. EL
Posted by: michael | November 4, 2009 9:37 AM
Also, am I missing something, aren't there only 10 items on the 12 item list?
I was just testing you. Haha. Unfortunately I didn't count, just accepted their number, so I will now go to the Web site and see if I can hunt down the missing two. Actually missing three. The buzzwords don't count. Thanks. EL
Posted by: etucker | November 4, 2009 11:25 AM
* Fresh = Local = Hand-Made = Safer.
As The Granny, I ask: How clean are these hands? When were they last washed? Are. You. Sure. You Used Soap?
* All about Innards and Odd Parts.
Do not speak to me of these things.
Posted by: Eve | November 4, 2009 11:25 AM
Going downscale to go upscale
and
All about Innards and Odd Parts
means ---- it's time to open my drive-thru haggis shack! "You want tatties and neeps with that?"
Posted by: bawlmerbeav | November 4, 2009 11:39 AM
You joke about drive thru haggis. A friend of my parents really thought the world needed frozen chitlins TV dinners. When he went belly up, so to speak, my parents freezer was full of the leftovers for a loooooong time. This was in the 70s and I think they found some buried in the bottom of that freezer when they sold their in the 90s. I guess he was just a man ahead of his time.
Posted by: Sarah | November 4, 2009 11:45 AM
I'm so there for drive thru haggis! But, can I please walk up? Using a drive thru on a motorcycle is a bit of a challenge.
"Churn" is a word that should never be used in a restaurant.
Posted by: Lissa | November 4, 2009 1:11 PM
Heh...until Lissa's comment made me take a closer look, my eyes "bled" the 'r' and 'n' together as an 'm', and I thought they were reffering to something called "menu chum".
Posted by: TheBeav | November 4, 2009 2:30 PM
"Churn" is a word that should never be used in a restaurant.
Unless they make their own butter.
Posted by: Hal Laurent | November 4, 2009 2:39 PM
Ha - I thought it said "chum" too, Beav! Made sense to me!
Posted by: Joyce W. | November 4, 2009 3:06 PM
Hal, I don't know where you've been eating lately, but I've never seen "hand churned out back by virgins during the full moon to the strains of solo dulcimer music" on a menu.
Posted by: Lissa | November 4, 2009 6:56 PM
I've never seen "hand churned out back by virgins during the full moon to the strains of solo dulcimer music" on a menu.
The way the trends are going, you never know.
Posted by: Hal Laurent | November 4, 2009 10:50 PM
That's what scares me, Hal.
Posted by: Lissa | November 5, 2009 8:42 AM
"How the downturn has altered consumer expectations and what it will take to lure them [sic] diners out of their economic storm shelters. "
This is the biggest myth to come out of journalists and businesses who just don't get it. The 'downturn' didn't do anything but amplify the ever increasing expectations of consumers across the board. And there's no such thing as "...luring diners out of their economic storm shelters.." because they don't exist. The recalibration of the consumer's mind was underway long before the economy went south. Operators who do not understand that past levels of spending won't return anytime soon or that the consumer isn't looking for deals as much as they are value, will be left behind.
Posted by: Jeffrey Summers | November 6, 2009 12:24 PM
I was all set to slag Mr. Summers as a spammer, but he's absolutely right. I want value, not necessarily a deal. I'll pay full price for the Prime Rib, when I can afford it, because it is worth the price. I won't pay $8 for McDonald's because it isn't. The former has value, the latter does not.
Posted by: Lissa | November 6, 2009 2:56 PM
The 2:06 comment is particularly inept shilling spam.
Posted by: Lissa | November 9, 2009 2:42 PM