News You Can Use

By FES Staff -- Foodservice Equipment & Supplies, 6/26/2008 1:20:00 PM

NPD Group Finds Green Menu Options Equal Success
Environmentally friendly menu options have a good chance of improving a restaurant’s bottom line and providing competitive differentiation if marketed aggressively to consumers, according to a report by The NPD Group, a market research company based in Rosemont, Ill.

Almost half of consumers say it is important to them that restaurants be environmentally friendly, according to the findings. Consumers also expressed concerns about antibiotics and hormones given to animals, and the importance for food to be organically grown or raised.

“To fully leverage this opportunity, restaurants will need to invest in an ongoing effort to build awareness, a marketing expense that could pay dividends in the long-term,” the report said.

To assess the potential of an eco-friendly menu item, NPD tested the appeal of a breakfast sandwich described with a variety of “green” attributes against the same sandwich described without those attributes. Consumers perceived the “green” breakfast sandwich as healthier, and were willing to pay a premium for it.

Fast-Casual Chains Continue to Outperform Others, Survey Says
The Top 100 fast-casual chains continued to be the growth vehicle for the limited-service restaurant industry in 2007, and outperformed the restaurant industry as a whole, according to a study released by Chicago-based Technomic. The study showed that fast-casual chains posted sales growth of 13.3 percent, compared to just 5.3 percent for the overall limited-service segment and 5 percent for the restaurant industry.

When It Comes to Design: Size Matters
When asked how big a kitchen should be during a panel at the NRA show, Rick Tramonto, the culinary director of Cenitare Restaurants in Chicago, quipped, “as large as possible.” In a subsequent Chain Leader write-up on the panel, Dave Farkas mentioned that the kitchen for Tru, one of the kitchens that Rick designed, is 50 percent of the restaurant footprint. But, SRE Principal Mark Godward writes in the Foodservice Equipment & Productivity blog, even though Tru is a fine-dining kitchen, he believes kitchens, and in fact all the operating areas, should be kept at less than 50 percent of the facility’s total square footage in limited service and less than 40 percent in casual dining.