What the future holds....JWD Restaurant and Food Trend forecast 2017

JWD Restaurant and Food Trend forecast 2017

Here is what I see as continuing or emerging patterns in the food world. I will update this again in June 2017

Cauliflower Rice is the future "non-rice" of rice, as vegetable centric eating more than one time a week grows in middle America, not just meatless Mondays…..

Vegetable Noodles are spiraling into the mainstream in 2017 after some successful limited introduction by regional chain players these will be the new pasta of the veg centric meal

Zatar becomes the new “it” spice as we move further east in the Mediterranean culinary pallet

Nutrient dense coconut oil becomes a favorite of boomers – millennials still prefer animal fats – yum butter, lard and beef fat will be growth areas of fats in 2017 and beyond

Indian jalfrezi becomes the new marinara for 2017 showing up as a dipping sauce, pizza and pasta sauce as well as its more traditional uses

Clean labels and products will be come table stakes as we move into 2017 and beyond, especially with the rise of Anti Biotic Free meats and proteins but also dyes, flavors and GMO

Ancient grains and heirloom varieties of wheat will lead gluten free in a different direction as gluten awareness continues amongst boomers focused on gut health

Foods of the South will continue to expand and we will see more heritage cooking move into Fast Casual and Casual channels

Consolidation will occur across the Fast Casual sector in certain cuisines – so broadening of their offerings – you see it already with Noodles & Co trying shift perception away from a purely Asian concept by changing branding elements and signage

Carrots are the new “it” vegetable of 2017 – they will be everywhere and in many  forms – grilled, BBQ, smoked, pickled, raw – the use of heirloom varieties will start to move mainstream into casual segment

Probiotic meals and food items will continue to quietly weave their way to mainstream America’s diet as we see the connection continue to grow between gut health and overall health

Non Dairy, Nut milks will continue double digit growth and this will lead to emergence of non dairy ice cream outlets serving better for you treats in 2017 mirroring the last 24 months of retail growth of these items

Brunch is so almost over now that QSR is jumping in – but the hybrid day part will still be strong since everyone loves “breakfasty” stuff all day………

Jim

www.jwd-consutlancy.com  all you Culinary consulting needs

Passion for food…. always wanting it to deliver the best

Cook with love the food taste better

The other day I had someone ask me when did I know I wanted to be a chef? Well it was a long time ago when I was 3 years old; I stood next to my grandmother and watched her cook sausage gravy. She explained to me how to cook the sausage properly in an iron skillet and why she followed the steps to make it. She was not a professional cook but someone that had a love for feeding here family great tasting food to nourish their minds and souls. I watched as she browned the sausage and the little crumble bits came off in the pan, all in that warm fat. She removed the cooked sausage patties, adds some flour and then made a paste of goodness; to this she added some whole milk. This is when I got the job of stirring the pan until the milk and flour paste magically became gravy. She then crumbled up some of the sausage into the pan, then she tasted it to make sure it was just right.  I got to taste it too as she told me about how it needed to be just right, not too thick or too thin, not too salty but maybe a little peppery. She was teaching me that to cook food for anyone you have to “feel” how it will taste to people. It is a lesson that I will never forget – you could feel the love and care in the food she cooked every time, she was breathing passion into her food. I always remember this as the earliest memory of food, especially when I spent the rest of that summer playing “cook” with my own little pots and pans at my grandmother’s house.  You see passion for food extends to the serving of food with warm hospitality and a desire to exceed the expectations of your guest.  Do you realize you have the ability to be passionate about the food you serve your guest each and everyday? Do you know they can taste the love in the food you are serving, but how can you make sure that passion is coming through? It is easy; taste it, make sure it is properly prepared, seasoned correctly and served at the right temperature every single time, every single guest.  Passion for food and creating a culture of food starts with every single member in a restaurant delivering a consistently high quality experience that is a craveable celebration of dining, not simply a plate of food. So take some time to really taste and understand everything on the menu and make sure you make every single item to spec, you will become passionate too.

Lessons from a car designer - Lesson 2 - "stay on story", "be brand led and customer driven"

Lessons from a car designer – Lesson 2: “Stay on story, be brand led and customer driven”

When J Mays talks about the interaction of the design team and the marketing team it reminded me of some of the same challenges we faced in menu development. He had two key points that are really easy to understand but tough to act upon consistently. First a notion about “staying on story”, or as we all know it avoid “scope creep”. Staying on story is one of the key elements to being able to be true to your brand. It requires a discipline that provides “guide rails” to focus the energy of creating something new that will be able to be true to brand, meaningful to the customer while still differentiating from the competition. This staying on story approach really can be used as a filter as you brainstorm new ideas for the business. Does it make sense to add an obscure new item say “shrimp burgers” when you are all about farm to table? But hey “shrimp burgers” are all the rage on the Florida Gulf coast, as they should be, but by staying on your brand story of farm to table, they have no place in your brand. I know this is a simplistic example but in most cases “scope creep” and staying on story are just that simple. We have a tendency to over complicate things just because we over think the solutions or new ideas because we want to be competitive, who are we really competing against. Sometimes “staying on story” helps us strengthen our brand instead of dilute it. Too many times I have sat in meetings and watched folks dilute the heck out of a brand to just compete in the short term instead of for long term growth of the brand.  So “staying on story” is a tool to focus us on being “brand led and customer driven”.  Again sounds so simple and it is, but really hard to live it with each and every decision. In the past we have treated being “true to the brand and driven by the customer” as mutually exclusive ideas but they are both intertwined in a successful brand life. Being “brand led” is making the first round of decisions based on filtering using brand standards to determine if the new ideas fit or are an evolution of the brand. If they don’t stand up to this test, it is best to discard them even if they are resonating in the greater competitive environment. This early filter supports a “fail fast/ fail forward” mindset which we will cover in later articles. Now if the new ideas are on brand or support the evolution of the brand, move on to the next step, are the new ideas customer driven or better yet do they meet a need that the customer is seeking from your brand. You have to have a clear picture of your core user or targeted user to really be “customer driven”. The best example I can give of this is the turn around of Arby’s led by Paul Brown and his team. He presented a case study of how they did this by embracing this “brand led and customer driven” mentality to achieve the success they have now. When Paul came on board he looked at the research to see what the core user wanted or thought of Arby’s. He found that Arby’s clearly owned the male millennial user group because of their love of meat based sandwiches. He focused everything around the brand target of owning this position with millennial males. And the next several months of revamping the menu and food all were customer (target) driven while being lead by the brand position of “we got the meats”. Ultimately Arby’s has continued to “stay on story” which is why they have sustained consistently positive same store sales since 2009. Also they have benefited because their relationship with the franchise community has become an asset to their system because franchises like staying on story.

So you see a car designer knows they have to create cars that build and evolve brands by being brand led but customer driven – literally. In the case of Arby’s, no difference other than staying on story has delivered more customers, sales and delicious food. There is one last lesson I learned from listening to J Mays, how to innovate by “playing to the edges”. We will cover off on that in the next time.