This article was originally published in Fast Casual magazine, October/November 2008.
In late 2007, consumers told surveyors for Tyson Food Service that comfort foods are hearty, stick-to-your-ribs items that remind them of Mom. It boiled down to "good, homemade food with real ingredients that takes your mind off your troubles."
Certainly that hits the spot with Shane Thompson, founder of Shane's Rib Shack in Atlanta."Part of the reason I had a passion to do barbecue was because I had a lot of memories of my grandparents cooking out on the weekends. It was a time when we really came together as a family, and sometimes in the world we live in, we don't slow down enough to really enjoy the things that were so important when we were younger," he said.
The medical world pinpoints exactly why this matters: According to University of California - San Francisco researchers, 24 hours after something triggers our chronic stress systems, the glucocorticoids that are part of the hormonal flood prompt the body to seek pleasure. That includes eating high-energy foods filled with sucrose and lard.
Some say it has an opiate-like effect in the brain.
Researchers in the restaurant niche have done their homework as well. Sales of comfort food menu items increased by 20 percent, according to Mintel Menu Insights, which compared fourth quarter 2005 numbers to the same period in 2006. The number of comfort food items also shot up by 12 percent.
Maria Caranfa, director at Mintel, believes economic hard times could be feeding this need to chow down on more meatloaf, hot dogs, pizza and fried chicken.
But for fast casual owners like Thompson, the reason he can meet this need is because he has the time – something diners lack.
Basic ingredients
It's not just a matter of flipping through Grandma's recipe book. For starters, thanks to the heavier nature of comfort foods, restaurant owners need to realize these items carry a stronger seasonality.
Even Thompson, whose entire focus centers on a comfort food, sees his traffic pick up once fall's cooler weather hits and stay stronger through spring. And the items lend themselves more to dinner crowds than the lunch bunch.
Second, a restaurant has to reflect a comfortfood atmosphere. For Chris Contino, vice president of marketing for Culver's, that means your staff knows how to serve.
"I think it doesn't matter how it's prepared in many cases," he said. "She might not have been the best cook, but when Grandma smiled, it felt good, it felt right."
Comfort foods also tend to attract a crowd, so it's important the unit offer moveable tables so families can scoot together to pass the containers of corn. The dining area must be immaculately clean, and the food served at the correct temperature.
"That all works together in the overall price they are willing to pay," Contino added. "If they can leave saying that Culver's did it right, there is no price sensitivity."
In fact, as long as the restaurant doesn't skimp on quality, Thompson sees no reason why comfort foods can't command a premium price. For example, meals at Shane's Rib Shack consistently feature a high-quality meat in the center of the plate: baby back ribs as opposed to a St. Louis or spare rib, a 100-percent Boston butt pork chop.
"The biggest upsell in comfort foods is to get into desserts," he said, which is why Shane's recently chose to roll out nostalgic dishes like banana pudding and peach cobbler.
Kitchen magic
But experts stop agreeing when it comes to the recipe for success. Tyson Food reports that 31 percent of diners say they mostly order something new in a restaurant while another 34 percent are equally likely to order something new as traditional.
Experts like Caranfa interpret the data to mean restaurants have leeway to experiment with their ingredients. For instance, it's OK to substitute mashed potatoes stuffed with cheddar cheese and green onions as opposed to the usual gravy poured over them. Or spark up macaroni and cheese by using fontina or Romano cheese as opposed to the expected cheddar.
Yet Thompson is timid to stray too far on comfort food recipes.
"My grandparents cooked three meals a day, so there was nothing really jazzed up about it, yet you yearned for it," he said.
So he's eschewed the exotic rubs and marinades for his ribs in favor of what he describes as a wholesome profile.
"It still has to stimulate an emotion," Thompson said.
