Crisp romaine lettuce hearts make classic salads,
and fresh artichokes always steam up as perfect appetizers. Restaurant industry
trends for 2016 indicate that these diners’ favorites will be joined by a new
take on traditional produce that elevates vegetables from sides to starring
roles. As you rethink your restaurant’s menu design for the upcoming year,
think about consumers’ latest preferences for plant-based dishes and entrees.
Options Across Demographics
This new direction in dining taste isn’t about a mass conversion to the vegan
lifestyle. Instead, consumers are tuning in to reports that
suggest some processed meats may be carcinogenic. As grocery shoppers and
restaurant patrons consider healthier options, they change their buying habits
and redirect their spending power.
A trip to the store offers an array of plant-based personal care products and
vitamin supplements. Fresh produce is quickly moving from salads and sides to
featured menu entrees. Vegetables are widely viewed as more sustainable,
healthier alternatives to animal proteins, and that appeal reaches across
demographics from Boomers and Millennials to Generation Z.
Plant-Based Menu Preferences
How does this new respect for venerable vegetables translate into diners’ plant-based menu preferences?Consumers are more aware of the healthy benefits
that every veggie bite delivers. They appreciate choices that focus on variety
ranging from cucumber noodles to cauliflower steaks. Diners relish vegetable
dishes that display culinary creativity and raise the delicious profiles of all their
favorites from Brussels sprouts to artichokes.
When you open up menu planning to the possibilities of plant-based entrees, you
reach out to a new market of consumers who know what they want. When they
discover it in your restaurant, they become loyal customers who enjoy the
experience and share it with family and friends. Diners across the country are
taking notice of plant-based menus, and their response has been overwhelmingly
positive.
Bottom Line Benefits
Focused market research indicates that most
consumers think of themselves as foodies, and more than 60 percent enjoy
entrees that center around vegetables. Consider how this taste for fresh
produce can help hold down food costs. Maximizing the use of each produce item
allows you to develop new recipes that cut back on waste and please palates. Steamed
stalks add crunch to sauteed broccoli while braised tops complement grilled
carrots.
Consider the marketing advantages of offering locally sourced fresh produce
with a variety of options that change with the seasons. Compare the cost per
serving of a mini iceberg lettuce and dungeness crab entree to that of
a rib eye steak. A plant-based menu served with creativity and an eye to
satisfying appetites for healthy choices benefits both your dining customers
and your bottom line.
Options Mean Opportunity
the lookout for trends that are easy to incorporate into your restaurant’s
operations. Plant-based menu ideas offer opportunities to satisfy new appetites
and enhance your bottom line. We know that you want the very best, and
Boggiatto is always happy to supply the very freshest produce available from
our home here in California.