The season of hearty food is upon us. As the weather cools, customers will be craving warming, filling options that taste good on autumn days. In the months leading up to the holidays, which are often filled with classic American dishes, take a broader view and consider these chillier months as opportunities to add some global flair to your menu – especially as international travel remains slow. Where can you add some interest to your menu with authentic dishes from other places? Summer is sandwich time as your guests seek out foods they can eat at the beach or on the go. To make your menu stand out from anything people would prepare at home, weave some of the excitement of your appetizer or entrée menu into your sandwich offerings. Is there a popular item on your menu that, with a little creativity, could be reinvented as a sandwich (and help you make your ingredients go even further in the meantime)? It’s salad season – and chances are the weather is making salads all the more appealing to your guests as not just simple side dishes but also as entrées. Make them a more interesting and satisfying menu option by playing with textures and unexpected ingredients. Beyond greens and vegetables, think whole grains, nuts, berries and seeds – especially options like rice, pistachios, blackberries, pomegranate seeds and other items you wouldn’t immediately think of adding to a salad. How adaptable is your menu? Consumers nowadays not only have wide-ranging food preferences, but they also have a growing list of dietary requirements and restrictions, whether a need for gluten-free or dairy-free options, or simply items lower in salt or sugar. That could mean reinventing your popular burger or modifying your apple crumble. Across your menu, how well do your menu modifications or substitutions of key ingredients still manage to preserve the ideal experience of a dish? Summer is a great time to pack your menu with the vegetable-dense dishes people crave in the heat. As you build everything ranging from salads to stir-fries to bowls, incorporate a mix of textures to ramp up the satisfaction of a dish and make it more memorable than something a guest might prepare at home. Think crisp noodles and cabbage, crunchy nuts and seeds, delicate scallions and tomatoes, and soft bites of chicken or tofu. Chicken is always popular, but chicken consumption has really taken off during the pandemic. It ticks a lot of boxes for consumers: It’s functional, nourishing, nostalgic and customizable in so many ways. It’s a workhorse for restaurants too, since it can be prepared in so many ways and easily elevates dishes that have a broad range of international flavors. Guests are eager to have restaurant experiences right now. How can you take the existing chicken on your menu and offer something a little bit different from what a guest might prepare at home? Consumers are still crazy about bowls, and for good reason: They often pack a lot of nutrients into one satisfying, colorful, easy-to-eat, easy-to-transport dish. They also present restaurant operators with exciting possibilities for every daypart, all while boosting a kitchen’s efficiency with a collection of ingredients that can generate seemingly endless combinations. Try offering a traditional savory bowl with grains, greens and textural elements like nuts or seeds, plus extra elements like feta, halloumi, herbs or dipping sauces. Or, invent your own version with a handful of your most popular ingredients. Summer is prime time for salads. The heat makes lighter, cooler meals more appealing and the abundance of local produce enables chefs to get more creative with the combinations they offer. Summer fruit – from berries to melons to peaches – can boost eye-catching color on the plate, along with nutrition, texture and sweetness to contrast with accompanying greens, vegetables, grains and pulses. Offering unexpected dressings and dipping sauces can add to the interest too.
It seems like a long time ago that restaurant guests would gather around big tables at restaurants and share overflowing platters of food, family-style. But doesn’t that sound great after months of eating at home and away from groups? As we ease back into gatherings, your menu can safely promote the sense of community that people have been missing. Consider offering some comforting appetizers and entrées that can be shared. You might provide individual serving spoons to promote safety or serve up individual portions tableside.
Even as the pandemic looks to be winding down, consumers will likely hold on to some habits and patterns they adopted in the past year – working from home more often, for example, or flexing their meal schedule. As a result, restaurant operators may see a need to blend their day parts by extending their breakfast menu beyond the morning hours or developing new dishes that can work at various times of day. Blending day parts can help kitchens make the most of their inventory by spreading it out farther – and simply give guests more reasons to order throughout the day.
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