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Posts Tagged ‘restaurant’


Americans’ Taste for Healthy Eating Continues

February 8th, 2013 ::

 By Rieva Lesonsky

How do Americans define “healthy eating” today? If you own a restaurant, food business or food-service company, you’ll want to know what Technomic’s Healthy Eating Consumer Trend Report has to say about consumer eating, dining and shopping habits. Here’s some of what the new study found:

  • Nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of consumers believe it is important to eat healthy foods and pay attention to nutrition. That’s an increase of 12.3 percent from the last time this poll was conducted in 2010.
  • Half of consumers say they would like it if restaurants offered a wider variety of healthy foods. Nearly as many say they would probably order these options if offered.
  • Americans’ definition of healthy food has expanded from low-fat, low-sugar or low-salt foods to include words and phrases like “local,” “natural,” “organic,” “whole-wheat,” “free-range” and “sustainable.”
  • While low-fat, low-sugar or low-salt foods are widely perceived as not tasting very good, you can capture more customers by avoiding these phrases and instead using terms like “whole wheat” or “contains three servings of vegetables” on your menu. These phrases were identified as suggesting good-tasting, but healthy, food.
  • What other terms work on menus? Check out the most popular health claims on menus at the nation’s top 500 full-service restaurants:
  1. Gluten-free (1,056 mentions)
  2. Organic (266 mentions)
  3. Vegetarian (241 mentions)
  4. Natural (236 mentions)
  5. Low-Fat (111 mentions)
  • Consumers are increasingly trading off – they’re eating healthy most of the time in return for treating themselves to less healthy food on occasion.
  • More consumers today than in 2010 report eating local, organic, natural or sustainable foods at least once per week.

Image by Flickr user AndyRobertsPhotos (Creative Commons)

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Posted in Marketing, Small Business, small business | 1 Comment »

7 Healthy Food Trends You Need to Know About

October 26th, 2012 ::

By Rieva Lesonsky

Are you a small business owner in the restaurant or food industry? Then you need to know about 7 healthy food trends that will affect your business in the coming year. The New Healthful, a “Culinary Trend Report” from Packaged Facts, says consumers are redefining healthful to a more positive focus on the presence of beneficial nutrients and rather than the absence of harmful ones. Here are 7 growing trends:

1. Extraordinary Tap Water: Packaged Facts says we’re entering “a new era of customized and personalized, healthful beverages” all based on high-quality tap water. Consumers are cutting back on high-calorie, carbonated soft drinks, and focusing more on local, artisan crafted beverages. While this is still mostly occurring at upscale restaurants, there’s lots of room for home products to allow customizing your own drinks.

2. Heirloom Whole-Grain Bread: With artisan breads now in the mainstream at fast-food chains, the next wave is whole-grain bread featuring locally sourced, heirloom grains. Still primarily in higher-end restaurants, this trend taps into the desire for better nutrition as well as the local food movement.

3. Beans and Greens for Breakfast: There’s new interest in vegetables and beans for breakfast, as consumers look to replace sugary, starchy breakfast foods. More than just a few tomatoes in an omelet, this trend is putting main dishes featuring vegetables, beans and quinoa in the spotlight; some places are even serving up breakfast salads. So far, this trend is limited to higher-end eateries, suggesting room for growth in the more mainstream arena.

4. Healthful Vending: More and more consumers are looking for healthy alternatives in vending machines at school, work, gyms, sports arenas, airports and hotels, and companies are answering the call by developing nutritious foods specifically for vending. Oatmeal kits, grab-and-go tuna, fresh-cut fruit and vegetables with dips, and organic bowl salads are just a few of the new vending options, but the field is in the early stages and still wide open.

5. Vegan on the Menu: Veganism is attracting consumers who’ve heard about its role in preventing health problems and losing weight. New vegans are seeking more choices on vegan menus, and the addition of vegan options to mainstream restaurant menus. While vegan items are now starting to show up in mainstream chain restaurants, there’s still lots of room for growth in vegan-centric options in both foodservice and retail.

6.  Chef-Inspired Healthful Kid Fare: America’s childhood obesity epidemic is still getting lots of attention, and the newest solutions focus on chef-prepared and culinary-inspired meals that taste so good, they get kids excited about healthful foods. Healthy kids’ foods are showing up on restaurant menus, in school lunches and in packaged foods, and being spotlighted in mainstream publications.

7.  Veggie Burger Renaissance: The “gourmet burger” trend of the last few years is now expanding to the veggie burger. With more diners going meatless for health or moral reasons, better-tasting veggie burgers on menus and store shelves are another area with room to grow. This trend is already hitting quick-service restaurants and grocery store shelves.

Image by Flickr user Identity Photography (Creative Commons)

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Posted in Small Business, small business | No Comments »

Today’s College Students, Tomorrow’s Food Trends

September 12th, 2012 ::

By Rieva Lesonsky

Why do the nation’s 20 million 18- to 22-year old college students matter to you? If you’re in the food or restaurant business, it’s because these students—now being exposed to new cuisines at college—are going to shape the food tastes of the nation as they get older. Packaged Facts and CCD Innovation recently published a study, Collegiate Gen Y Eating: Culinary Trend Mapping Report, which looks at the Millennials’ food preferences.

The report identified four major needs college students want their food to meet (nutrition, flavorful food, comfort/indulgence, and speed/convenience), as well as seven culinary preferences that differ from prior generations:

  • Profile 1: Dining Along the Meatless Spectrum – More students identify with the less-meat to meatless spectrum of dining. They range from flexitarian to vegetarian to vegan and even raw diets.
  • Profile 2: The Mighty Chickpea – Students are crazy for this inexpensive, versatile and protein-packed food, found in many ethnic cuisines.
  • Profile 3: Nut Butters – Many of these students grew up without peanut butter thanks to so many of their peers being allergic to it. However, today college students are embracing nut butters of all kinds, including peanut butter and the more healthful almond butter.
  • Profile 4: Fruit and Vegetable Discovery – New college students are discovering unfamiliar fruits and vegetables thanks to cafeteria salad bars and retail favorites like Trader Joe’s.
  • Profile 5: Asian Love Affair – Younger Millennials have grown up eating global cuisine, and many continue the discovery in college. Dining halls are offering more ethnic foods, and nearby ethnic restaurants also give students the chance to try new foods.
  • Profile 6: Italian & Mexican – When a college student under stress needs a little comfort, something familiar, warm and filling—that is, Italian and Mexican food—fills the bill.
  • Profile 7: On-the-Go Fare – Students are busy, so they’re looking for foods that are “Easy to make.” “Portable.” “Eat quickly.” “Eat as I walk to class.”

How will these preferences affect your restaurant, food-service business or food manufacturing business in the years ahead? You’d better get ready.

Image by Flickr user Charlene Collins.Jamaica Images (Creative Commons)

 

 

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Posted in Generational Marketing, Marketing, Small Business, small business, What's next Gen Y, WhatsNextGenY | No Comments »

How to Market Your Restaurant Online

July 3rd, 2012 ::

By Rieva Lesonsky

Is your restaurant marketing stuck in the 1950s? A study by research firm Restaurant Sciences finds that far too many restaurants are failing to take advantage of the advertising, marketing and promotional opportunities the Internet offers.

Here are some of the shortcomings Restaurant Sciences found:

  • More than half of independent restaurants do not have a website.
  • Of those that do have a website, fewer than 40 percent display a menu on the site, even though access to menus is among the most popular reasons users visit a restaurant website.
  • Fewer than 1 in 8 full service restaurant chains and fewer than 1 in 20 full service independents have a mobile website, even though some data has shown that more than half of all visits to restaurant websites are from mobile devices.
  • Just over 1 in 8 restaurants has a blog.

“One of the most surprising aspects was the large number of restaurants with no online presence at all,” said Chuck Ellis, President of Restaurant Sciences. “An online presence today is critical to the success of any food or drinking establishment.”

Ellis notes that there’s no excuse for not having a restaurant website today, nor for not having a mobile site. What else should restaurant owners do to effectively market their businesses online?

  • Use emails, email newsletters or similar enrollment vehicles to keep customers informed of what’s going on at your restaurant.
  • Make it easy for customers to make reservations. At a minimum, prominently display your restaurant’s phone number on your website. However, consider adding more convenient options such as a click-to-call button so they don’t have to dial, or adding OpenTable or similar online reservation tool to your website.
  • Make it easy for customers to buy gift certificates online. Prominently display a link to a gift card order form.
  • Have a consistent presence on local search sites such as Bing, Local.com and Google Plus Local (formerly Google Places), as well as restaurant rating sites such as Yelp!
  • Use social media tools like Facebook and Twitter. These are especially important to attracting younger customers. Posting photos of your menu items, ingredients or chefs in action is a great way to engage customers. You can also post or Tweet current menu items, limited-time offers or special discounts.

Image by Flickr user Seattle Municipal Archives (Creative Commons)

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Posted in Marketing, Search Marketing, Small Business, small business, Social Media, Web Design | 3 Comments »

Entrepreneurs, Beware: Big Restaurant and Retail Chains Are Thinking Small

March 9th, 2012 ::

By Rieva Lesonsky

Independent retailers and restaurant owners who compete against massive chains have long felt that being small offers an advantage in terms of greater personalization. But now big retail and restaurant chains are honing in on what’s been the independent advantage: They’re testing smaller locations, reports the Kansas City Star.

Huge corporations including Best Buy, the Gap, Kohl’s, Lowe’s and Sports Authority are among the retail chains testing smaller-sized stores. In the foodservice arena, Houlihan’s and Sweet Tomatoes are two chains trying smaller eateries.

What’s behind the trend? The recession is one big motivator. Smaller stores cost less to lease, build or remodel, making it easier to get financing for them. They also have lower overhead costs to run and require fewer employees. Smaller footprints give chains more flexibility in finding locations in crowded markets. And if the store’s sales aren’t up to par, it’s easier for the company close the location without a huge loss.

Beyond small size, retailers and restaurateurs are getting creative with spaces in airports, at colleges and even on military bases. RadioShack is testing a format that creates a “store within a store” in some OfficeMax locations.

When retailers like Ann Taylor, Chico’s and the Gap opened larger stores, they didn’t necessarily see an equivalent rise in sales, if any rise at all, that would justify the added expense, Green said.

“Any retailer that is opening larger and larger stores, I question their long-term viability,” Green said. “Costco and Sam’s Club defy that theory. That’s because consumers really perceive them as great values, and value trumps the inconvenience of size.”

Careful targeting is key to this strategy’s success. For example, with its smaller Cabela’s Outpost Stores, retailer Cabela’s is targeting smaller markets but focusing on areas where a large proportion of the population is already customers.

Companies contend the greater intimacy of smaller locations appeals to customers. And having more small locations, as opposed to one massive “destination” location farther away, makes it more convenient for consumers to shop or dine on impulse. Restaurant chain Sweet Tomatoes, for instance, says it has put smaller units as close as 10 minutes’ drive apart. Convenience is a big factor in a world where retailers are competing against the Web for sales.

When it comes to big corporations, of course, small and intimate are relative concepts. The smaller Cabela’s stores, though about one-fourth the size of a traditional Cabela’s, still weigh in at about 40,000 square feet—not exactly a tiny, neighborhood boutique. And Houlihan’s smaller restaurant concepts are about 5,500 square feet—just 20 percent smaller than a traditional location, and bigger than most independent restaurants.

How can you compete as larger chains get small? Play up not only your size, but also your independent stature. Provide personalized service and, if a “small” big chain that competes with you opens up in your area, be on top of what they’re doing so you can stay one step ahead.

Image by Flickr user Maxwell Hamilton (Creative Commons)

 

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Posted in sales process, Small Business, small business | No Comments »

How Background Music Can Help Your Store or Restaurant’s Sales

August 5th, 2011 ::

By Rieva Lesonsky

You hear music every day when you’re out shopping or at restaurants. Most of the time, it’s just “background.” But did you ever stop to think about how that background music could be affecting what you do and buy? If you’re a retailer or restaurant owner, you should be.

Consider how teen/young adult clothing retailer Abercrombie & Fitch sets the mood for its stores with loud, throbbing music that effectively lures its target audience inside (while driving away anyone not in the right demographic). How can you employ some of the same tactics? BusinessInsider recently reported on seven ways background music can help or hurt a business, summarizing findings from a variety of academic sources.

  1. Loud music makes shoppers go through a store faster, but doesn’t reduce how much they buy.
  2. Slow-tempo music causes shoppers to go through a store more slowly and buy more. It also makes restaurant customers spend more time over their meal, but spend more.
  3. Classical music prompted customers to spend more—and buy more expensive items—than Top 40 music did. (This test was conducted at a wine store.)
  4. Classical music at a restaurant makes customers spend more than either Top 40 music or no music at all.
  5. When does classical music backfire? It can make customers think your store or restaurant is “too expensive” for them or more expensive than it really is.
  6. When music is played on-hold, customers are willing to wait longer before they hang up.
  7. When people hear music they like, they perceive wait times as shorter than they really are.

Of course, not every test is going to work out the same way in the real world as it did in these experiments. (If it did, every store would be playing loud, slow, classical music.) However, it’s worth experimenting to see what different types of music have on your customers.

If you own a fast-food restaurant or other business where you want customers to move on quickly, try playing faster-paced music or turning up the volume. If you want them to linger, try something slow. Also match the music to your customers—if your target market is seniors, playing rap music while they wait in line to pay for their purchases or hang on-hold isn’t going to endear you to them.

One conclusion all these tips seem to point to: Music is better than no music at all—so make sure you’re taking advantage of the power of music to not only soothe the savage breast, but encourage sales.

Image by Flickr user Kevin Dooley (Creative Commons)

 

 

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Posted in Branding, Marketing, sales process, Small Business, small business | 1 Comment »

Ethnic Food Trends Spice Up Restaurant Sales

March 7th, 2011 ::

By Rieva Lesonsky

What’s the hot new food trend these days? According to Mintel’s Global New Products Database (GNPD), lesser-known ethnic fare—specificially, Thai, Japanese and Caribbean food–has experienced rapid growth.

In 2010 alone, Mintel’s GNPD tracked a 150 percent increase from 2009 in new food items containing “Caribbean” in the product description. “Japanese” product launches increased more than 230 percent from 2009-2010, and “Thai” product launches rose by 68 percent  from 2009-2010.

“Italian, Mexican and Asian cuisine are the more mainstream, popular ethnic cuisines,” said David Lockwood, senior analyst at Mintel. “But Thai, Caribbean and Japanese foods are seeing healthy growth, and consumers seem to be getting more comfortable with a wider variety of ethnic flavors.”

One reason ethnic product launches are increasing, according to Mintel, may be the wide variety of outlets consumers can use to learn more about foods that aren’t common to their ethnic background. Some 26 percent of ethnic food-lovers say they were introduced to the cuisine by TV programs, newspapers or magazines featuring cuisine from other countries.

  • Twenty-three percent of ethnic food users said they tried the items after reading cookbook recipes that included ethnic dishes;
  • 18 percent said they grew to like ethnic fare after travelling abroad;
  • 25 percent said they were introduced to a new ethnic cuisine because of living in a culturally diverse neighborhood.

 

Mintel said these outlets are contributing to a trend called “professionalization of the amateur,” in which consumers are more interested in doing things at home that would normally be done by an expert, such as preparing a complex ethnic dish.  Says Lockwood, “Cooking programs, culinary magazines and recipe websites are an easy way to get more comfortable with ethnic food preparation.”

Image by Flickr user Bangkok_Diary (Creative Commons)

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Posted in Small Business | 1 Comment »