Asian
cuisine presents boundless opportunities for bold and exotic menu
development. Asian cuisine includes Chinese and Japanese and
increasingly Thai, Vietnamese, Indian and Malaysian. Based on
MenuMine research of over 500 chain and independent menus, Asian
cuisine presents unique opportunities.
MenuMine Trend
MenuMine Trend is a series of articles pertaining to information extracted from the MenuMine Menu Information Database. To signup for this service in the form of a newsletter delivered to your inbox, simply enter your Name/Email Address on the left column.
If you’re like most in the foodservice business, you are already very familiar with Mexican cuisine. Eleven percent (10.7%) of all items on chain menus are Mexican cuisine and this is up from 8.9% in 1997. What about the rest of Latin America? What about Cuba, Jamaica, Puerto Rico and others in the Caribbean? What about Central and South America including Brazil, Argentina, Peru and others? And yes, what about Spain and Portugal in another hemisphere? Cuisine from these countries may all be classified as Latino cuisine.
Foodservice operators are concerned about meeting the increasing consumer demand for healthy and nutritious food. Some chains are responding by adding high protein/ low carb profile items, some are reducing high carb/high fat items, others are finding success with salads. Before stampeding in one direction or another it may be wise for operators and chains to examine whats already on their menus, it may be best to reformulate or re-position or rename some current items and forego the expense and time of development.
Italian cuisine is perhaps America’s oldest ethnic cuisine. It is certainly the most entrenched and easily understood. No other ethnic cuisine, including Mexican, has the spectrum of sauces, seasonings and flavor systems as has Italian.
Appetizers---Mini Menu Test Market: The appetizer part of the menu can be a low risk way to experiment for both Operators and Patrons. As a “Test Kitchen”, so to speak, the appetizer menu part allows for experimentation with new cuisines and presentations. Appetizers also present a venue to try out healthy options or sample a new deep fried creation. They are perfect for sharing with the table and are often the first step for diners too timid to experiment on their own. Operators can use appetizers to test interest in proteins, cuisines, cooking methods...virtually every component of a menu item.
Page 8 of 10
Move
Other MenuMine Trend Articles
Top Headline
Versatility of Mushrooms
The average price of menu items using mushrooms in 2009 is $11.51, up from $10.75 in 2007.
Read More...Prepared Entree Trends in 2009
There is a considerable difference in preparation and average prices between Center of Plate Entrees and Prepared Entrees. COP entrees include a whole cut protein, whether a chicken breast or tender,...
Read More...Peppers Proliferate on Restaurant Menus
Virtually all restaurant chains (85%) and independents (83%) integrate peppers into their creations. On average, chains use peppers in 8 or 9 entrees. Institutional use of Peppers is relatively soft...
Read More...Newsletter Signup
Sample Newsletter
To view an unbranded sample PDF of our custom newsletters writing service, click the image below.
MenuMine Trend
-
Emerging Sauces MenuMine has identified more than 2000 unique sauces and toppings in addition to another few thousand unique dressings, marinades, glazes, condiments, spreads, seasonings and dips. Needless to say, tomorrow's flavor heroes are now beginning to creep up from the bottom of usage tables, where they may have ascended from 0.3% to 0.9% to 1.2% and now...
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8