Catch Up 12-7-10

New Menus

New menus rolling out early next year, as our customers try getting back to business and getting business back after recession.  In the next year we are going to see most restaurants revamp their menus.  As a sales person this is the perfect opportunity to up your sales in an account by becoming a partner in the menu writing process.  Be supportive and helpful through the menu writing process, be suggestive, offer help, offer pricing, whatever it takes so that when that new menu comes out you have the market cornered on the items on it.

Children Menu Returns

We have seen more and more restaurants move away from children menus, look for those to come back this year.  Even in higher end restaurants.  As family time has become more important through the recession, and customers still trying to be thrifty by saving on the baby-sitter children will return to restaurants.  Offer new ideas for children’s menus:  real chicken tenders, breaded in house made with fresh sauces, petit steaks with mashed potatoes and veggies, fancy versions of grilled cheese, vegetable filled lasagna, fried fish sticks from quality pieces of fish. 

Smaller restaurants

We have seen mobile restaurants and pop up restaurants gain in momentum in the past few years, and perhaps that trend will continue.  But look for smaller restaurants to become a growing trend in the next couple of years.  A smaller restaurant means less staff, usually cheaper rent and other uncontrollable costs.  You can help these owners by offering them smaller cases, but check prices often there is not much different in the full case and a break down case. 

Side dishes

Side dishes have become almost an afterthought in many restaurants today, that trend may be changing.  Many restaurants will move to the more classic a la carte or even family style offerings for sides.  This allows the dinner more options, while at the same time lowering the plate cost for entrees.  Family style dining, where the dishes are placed in large containers in the center of the table and dished out onto the plates by the diners, may also be a growing trend in the next couple of years.  Coming up with cheap but elegant side dishes for our customers to feature will be key in helping them be successful in this type of service.  Items such as macaroni and cheese, roasted carrots, wilted greens, mashed potatoes, all would be good items for these restaurants to offer.

Gastropubs

A gastro pub is a bar where there is as much emphasis placed on the food as there is the drink.  We have started seeing this type of establishment in places such as Dugan’s or The House.  We have the opportunity to show these type of establishments how much better we are on items like produce than our competitors.  These types of places will likely be willing to pay for better quality items.

Meal deals

You have probably already noticed that many of the 3 for $20, two can dine for $19.99, ads have started to disappear, the customer has begun to see these as cheap, and while we are not out of a horrible economic time yet we are moving out of it, and people do not want to be seen as being cheap.  Not to say that these deals will be totally gone, they will simply move onto menus as permanent items at the cheaper prices. 

More diverse menu options

Just as these cheaper items will help diversify the menu, we will start to see more diverse menus offering a little taste for everyone in the family.  Many restaurants will broaden their range of prices, incorporating both cheaper and more expensive options.  Help your customers make wise decisions, just because a menu item is going to cost less doesn’t mean it should be a cheap product.  For example offering a cheaper cut of steak, like a flat iron or even a tough cut of roast gently braised may be good options.  On the other hand you don’t want your customer bringing in more expensive products to simply throw them in the dumpster after they go bad. 

Organic and Local

Organic will start decline, as a farmer being labeled is very expensive and as customers get wiser to what constitutes organic and what items are truly better when raised organically look for less organic goods to enter the market.  Local will remain a very hot subject and continue to grow in popularity over the next year.  The next phrase from this movement will be hyper-local, or grown on site, or extremely close to the restaurant.  Help these types of places out by being supportive; help them work with their local suppliers.  Honey, lettuce greens, seasonal vegetables will likely be the local items that will continue to be preferred in the market.