Article

Macro trends to shift thinking in fast casual

More modern and creative cuisine and beverages to make fast casual menu appearances.

April 5, 2011

By Steve Coomes

The United States hasn’t endured a war on its soil for nearly 70 years, but economically speaking, Americans have been hunkered in their bunkers since 2008.

The combination of the recent recession and the ongoing battle in Afghanistan has left the nation not only loathe to spend discretionary dollars, its hijacked people’s sense of culinary adventure. Researchers say lean times lead people back to familiar food and drink and away from arguably riskier and possibly rewarding repasts.

“Consumers did the same thing after Vietnam, a time when we also faced an economic crisis,” said Suzy Badaracco, president of Culinary Tides, a foodservice trends tracker in Portland, Ore. “But when those times end, though the war (in Afghanistan) isn’t over, the reverse happens. People start becoming more adventurous and playful again because there’s an emotional shift toward optimism. Consumers want all their senses to be tingled again.” (Read also, The expansion and contraction of consumer behavior.)

Melissa Abbott, director of culinary insights for The Hartman Group in Bellevue, Wash., said when consumers return to the hunt for new food and drink, they rarely know exactly the game they’re tracking. Yet they’re happy to let restaurants steer them along because of trust built up in better times.

“They’re responding again because they’re seeing new things being done by chefs with serious credentials and a lot of creative energy,” she said. “What they’re doing is more modern cuisine we expect to show up in fast casual.”

Honest authenticity

Researchers said the popular buzzwords of fine dining — local, sustainable and seasonal — will eventually become more popular in fast casual. This is reflected in the 2011 Fast Casual State of the Restaurant Industry Food & Beverage report, to be released April 22. The report found that 45 percent of fast casual restaurants participate in local sourcing efforts, compared to a slightly higher 54 percent of casual dining chains.

And while local sourcing is gaining ground, it’s not nearly as important now as the term “authentic.”

Global travel, television and the Internet have helped educate consumers about the differences in Thai and Chinese foods or Tex-Mex when compared to real Mexican cuisine. This means consumers aren’t so easily tempted to buy Americanized versions of those international creations, Badaracco said.

“The recession raised the level of general distrust so high in this country that if you claim something as authentic, it had better be,” she said, citing banking and government scandals as root causes of widespread consumer skepticism. “This is not the year to Americanize foods that shouldn’t be. Authenticity is now tied to an experience.”

Authenticity can mean the story behind the foods prepared, i.e. where their ingredients came from and how they were raised or cultivated. It also can be reflected in the correctness of ingredient choices and preparation techniques; if it’s supposed to be wok-seared, don’t fry it or grill it, and vice versa. The restaurant landscape is littered with failed attempts at fusion cuisines that broke these rules, Abbott said, and when diners figured it out, they didn’t return.

“Fusion ran amok in the 1990s because a lot of it didn’t work,” she said. “You can’t just mix ingredients from different cuisines and call it fusion. They have to work together, and we’re seeing that now.”

So what’s authentic in fast casual? Much of that sentiment is tied to the notion of visible freshness, said Darren Tristano, executive vice president at Technomic, a foodservice research firm in Chicago. Not only does that mean visibly fresh ingredients, it increasingly means food prepared before guests’ eyes, a style of preparation already popular in the fast casual segment.

Liquid assets

Like Abbott and Badaracco, Tristano said beverages will be fun to watch in fast casual this year.

Homemade sodas are part of the trend as indicated by the variety of housemade carbonated beverages at San Francisco’s Roam Artisan Burgers that range in flavor from the permanent Meyer Lemon, Prickly Pear and Caramelized Pineapple to the seasonal Blood Orange and Blackberry.

“We definitely didn’t want to carry Coke or Pepsi, or anything with corn syrup,” said Roam founder Josh Spiegelman.

The restaurant uses a proprietary soda water sweetened with agave and mixed with fresh fruit puree and juice. The flavors are created by Josh’s business partner, Lynn Gorfinkle, who was once a cooking instructor at Viking.

Abbott pointed to the ever-broadening range of bottled and fountain teas on the market that “really fit the more upscale profiles of places like Panera and Corner Bakery,” including a few carbonated teas. “There’s so much potential right there to present a unique drink and promote some health benefits.”

But she warned that “consumers are tired of hearing about organic and all natural. If you make a health claim, you can’t be hitting them over the head with it.”

Badaracco said restaurants that closely watch what customers are buying and then learn to innovate within those parameters will do well this year and beyond.

“I wouldn’t say restaurants are necessarily leading the way on these trends; I’d say they’re neck and neck with their customers,” she began. “Restaurants could not go down an adventurous path if customers hadn’t been there before to some degree. They’ll not go somewhere they’re totally unfamiliar with, but if they have some idea of what’s ahead, restaurants can lead them there.”