Article

Does your menu reflect this year's top menu change?

Nancy Kruse, a restaurant menu analyst, shared information about restaurant change during the webinar, “Menus 2015: Turning Trends Into Money Makers.”

August 5, 2015

By Matthew Harper, contributing writer

Restaurants must embrace menu transparency if they want to stay competitive, said menu analyst Nancy Kruse, during a July webinar,"“Menus 2015: Turning Trends Into Money Makers." The president of The Kruse Company shared some startling and some not-so startling information regarding shifts in consumer viewpoints and restaurant menus and marketing.

“My proposition to you coming in this morning has been the shift from the point of view of your consumers," Kruse said. She also pointed out that consumer values are shifting, and it’s mainly in response to economic disruption. Because of that, menu R&D reflects the new reality, the “value of real, clean, unprocessed" menu offerings.

Kruse displayed a poll created by Technomic, which showed that foods described as “real” and/or “having no artificial sweeteners” had a greater chance of tasting better to consumers. Transparency in terms of menus and ingredients is essential these days, and consumers expect to be told what is in the dishes they order. All segments of the industry are being impacted, Kruse continued, so it’s critical to understand and track patrons’ expectations. To meet the new demand, operators will have to adapt every aspect of their operations models from procurement and prep to pricing, positioning and much more.

Kruse wrapped up the event with an emphatic statement of reality: Change is coming, and every restaurant will be affected.

“All of you will be impacted to a greater or lesser extent,” she said. “It is absolutely critical — now more critical than ever — given what we’ve talked about in terms of clean foods and authentic foods and ‘free-from' foods.  It’s more important than ever that you keep close touch with your own patrons’ expectations.

“They will shift; they will ebb and flow depending on where you’re located in the country, the segment in which you’re operating, and so on. But all of you are going to be affected.”