So, consumers want to eat fruits and vegetables, but they arent getting them away from home. This sales opportunity should be of particular interest to the quick-service segment, since two-thirds of consumers report they eat at a quick-serve restaurant at least once every two weeks, yet only 18 percent of them regularly consume a fruit or vegetable there.
Why? While restaurants fruit and vegetable offerings have improved over the past year, evidence suggests there is plenty of opportunity to expand the average menu, including quick-service. Fruit menu mentions increased 18 percent between 2002 and 2003, while vegetable menu mentions were up 5 percent, according to Food Beat Inc.s study of the top 200 chains menus. However, more than 50 of the 200 chains didnt mention fruit at all, and 41 percent of fruit menu mentions were desserts. While menu mentions of vegetables were seven times higher than fruit mentions in the survey, the majority of this growth comes from the explosion in entre salads.
With the proven success of salads in quick-service, savy marketers are already working on the next items to satisfy the customers continuing desire for healthy eating options.
Full article in QSR
A monster turkey big enough to feed a small village has been sold for £1,700 at auction in Aberdeenshire.
The 74lb bird will take more than 24 hours to cook and provide Christmas dinners for more than 100 people.
BBC
Nonalcoholic drinks, paired with a tasting menu at Charlie Trotter’s in Chicago, blend flavors like prickly pear and kaffir lime leaves; barley and black cardamom; huckleberry and sesame; and cauliflower and turmeric root.
Now there’s a way for people who are limiting or avoiding alcohol finally to feel like grown-ups at the table: the nonalcoholic beverage pairing. Read the rest of this entry »
“The consumer is not an idiot. She is your wife.”
David Ogilvy
restaurantbusiness
In a study conducted by Alex Susskind of the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University in upstate New York, a subject group of customers was asked to describe a recent dining-out experience where they experienced some dissatisfactory element that caused them to complain.
From this list, Susskind’s researchers compiled a list of the errors, the remedy (if any) that had been offered to make up for the flub, and if that remedy influenced customers’ decisions whether or not to return to that eating establishment. Read the rest of this entry »
