The plant-based-food movement is gaining momentum as more and more people are choosing meatless and dairy-free options both at home and when dining in restaurants. In fact, results from the National Restaurant Association’s 2022 What’s Hot Chef ’s Survey in Culinary Trends indicated that plant-based foods are one of the top five restaurant food trends for the year. Many restaurants have chosen to offer plant-based foods to round out menu options for guests that prefer vegan foods or guests that make a point of eating plant-based foods with regular cadence.

Dan Follese is a chef and culinary consultant as well as the founder of Food Trend Translator. With over 30 years of experience, he is a classically trained chef who focuses on “unleashing your products potential.” He is an expert in consulting and marketing the new food trends. He is helping to further the plant-based food market by supporting food manufacturers who create and market quality food items that are offered in restaurants as unique and tasty vegan food offerings.

Susie McKinley, editor of Florida Restaurant & Lodging Magazine recently spoke with Dan about this trend.

Q: Thanks for taking the time to talk with FR&L Magazine. It’s no surprise that plant-based foods are finally becoming mainstream, but it has taken some time. Can you explain what plant-based foods, also known as vegan foods, are and what makes them unique?

A: Susie, this is a loaded question and one that causes a lot of confusion. Plant-based and vegan are not exactly the same thing. Vegan is much stricter in that it cannot have any animal product in its ingredients and plant-based tries to adhere to this, but often they will slip in a functional ingredient that is not plant based to help complete their product. Items like whey isolate from dairy or certain amino acids like L-cysteine used to soften breads can often go unnoticed by a plant-based eater but a vegan will have nothing to do with this item.

Q: Can you share some of the reasons that folks are interested in plant-based foods? Is it health? Is it allergies?

A: Initially these foods were looked down upon by chefs, consumers and just about everyone until science caught up with the ability to mimic flavor, texture and even the heme from plants to deliver the expectation of eating an alternative meat. The visual of tearing open a plant-based “chicken breast” can actually look like whole muscle or exactly like an animal version nugget. Flash forward to today and the majority of consumers are in what’s called the flexitarian category, people that typically consume traditional animal-based foods but are interested in something new. The vegan group is statistically small, but they are outspoken and hold tightly onto the animal-free way of eating. Today chefs are creating plant-based in their own kitchens, capitalizing on the trend that is not going away and flexing their capabilities to explore and create a new type of cuisine.

Q: Is there a particular profile of foods best suited to the plant-based food translation from those with meat?

A: Ground animal protein has been at the forefront of this transition as it seems to translate better than whole muscle. Although they were not the first to deliver an animal-free burger patty, the Impossible brand broke through and created the most success by launching with Burger King over five years ago. Something McDonald’s has been challenged with; however, they are working on it.

Q: Can you discuss some of the misconceptions about plant-based foods?

A: The biggest misconception is healthy, there is a false health halo over these foods. Read the ingredients, compare them to traditional items and then taste it side by side with your current offering to see if it stands up to your testing. Today’s consumer is more focused on ingredients than in the past. Panera and Whole Foods have literally created the bible of “no, no ingredients” that many operators and manufacturers strive to reach.

Q: What is vegan cheese comprised of? Are the textures and tastes similar to animal-based cheeses?

A: This is often a blend of a starch-like tapioca, arrowroot, potato and blended with plant milk like coconut or soy. This is a category of great frustration for many as natural cheese like Cheddar and Mozzarella is hard to create with plants. Mouthfeel is often gummy and sticks to your mouth or leaves an oily residue of flavor on your tongue. Plus, the essential pull you get from cheese is due to the molecular structure that naturally happens with dairy and not with plant-based cheese — not yet.

Q: Can you tell readers about any hot new products that you’ve seen?

A: There are many cool alternatives happening, perhaps the freakiest idea is cellgenerated animal proteins. This is created when a culture of a live animal is used to “test tube” grow and deliver parts of the animal. This has been successful in chickens already but not yet scaled up for production.

Q: Can you explain to readers about your business and your food tours?

A: My pleasure. Our business is about unleashing the power of your product’s potential. So, from an operator perspective, it’s simply how can we create multiple uses for the least amount of ingredients. Space is limited in the cooler and freezer and most teams are challenged with staffing, so optimizing in-house pantries to create limited time offers or streamline a menu for operational ease is one way we can help. Our food tours have been created to bring innovation and inspiration. Having been a part of many tours I find the missing element is in capitalizing on what you experienced. We help by bringing these moments together, create concepts with your goals in mind to drive craveability with purchase intent.

By Dan Follese (May 28, 2020 | Published with Prepared Foods)

Stock is defined as a cooking liquid that is flavored by simmering animal bones and/or meat, fish, in water or wine with vegetables typically comprised of onion, celery, and carrots (also known as mirepoix) and sometimes other vegetables (or vegetables alone) until a desired flavor is achieved. The classic stock flavorings are beef, chicken, fish, and vegetable/mushroom/miso, and each type finds itself at various stages of use on today’s menus.

Stocks are the foundation of flavor, the building blocks for creating thousands of varieties of sauces, soups, bases, and even sweet applications. They offer the flavor that elevates everything the chef mixes into it to create the most mouthwatering product.

Bases are created by prolonged simmering or boiling of the stock, rendering the collagen from bones and reducing the liquid, thereby creating a more viscous liquid body or even a paste. Due to their concentrated flavor, bases are used in smaller portions to create sauces, soups, and gravies.

Sauce is the finishing touch to create a flavorful dip or dressing and can be a liquid, cream, or semi-solid food. The category has the broadest reach for application opportunities. Sauces can be served hot, warm, tepid, or chilled, depending on the base of the formulation. Sauces can be used for sweet or savory dishes, and, in addition to those sauces served hot, can vary from a cold sauce like mayonnaise to a room temperature concoction like a pesto or a sauce such as hollandaise. The base for a sauce and how it’s prepared will dictate its functionality, application, and use.

Nearly 100 years ago, Auguste Escoffier – the “father of French cuisine” – developed classifications for sauces that still are in use today. He placed sauces into five “mother” sauces: Hollandaise, Béchamel, Velouté, Tomato, and Espagnole. From these five sauces, thousands of variations are possible.

Hollandaise: Eggs, butter, and lemon form the basis of this versatile sauce that goes beyond the breakfast or brunch table. The “make” process is one of the most challenging for cooks and today’s commercial operations as it’s classically created by whisking melted butter into raw egg until it forms ribbons of smooth, golden, sauce with a soft, custardy texture, then brightening it with a touch of lemon for acidity to balance the richness of the sauce.

It’s been poured over grilled and steamed vegetables like asparagus, artichokes, and broccoli, and served on the side as a dipping sauce for a range of dishes. Hollandaise has seen steady growth on menus over the past four years (with +13% penetration), according to Datassential and is most often paired with egg dishes such as Eggs Benedict.

Béchamel: The white sauce of the family, béchamel is a flavor canvas that begins with flour, butter, and milk. The seasoning is up to the individual chef. Classic French chefs usually keep it simple with a little salt and white pepper, while the Italian version often includes a dash of nutmeg.

Many chefs steep the milk itself with a bay leaf and a whole onion that’s been studded with cloves, giving the milk a rich flavor before it’s combined with the roux (cooked flour and clarified butter). Béchamel is the basis for nearly every butter- or cream-based sauce. Even a simple mac-’n’-cheese dish begins with this base.

Velouté: This silky blonde mother sauce shares some common traits with béchamel, but instead of adding milk to the roux, a clear stock is added. The velouté sauce has a pale blonde color because the bones aren’t roasted before creating the stock. Any bones – from fish, veal, beef, poultry – can be used as a stock base for velouté, as long as they aren’t roasted, as this darkens the stock and changes the flavor profile.

Velouté is not as commonly used as the previous two sauces, but with the right additions, it can be an excellent flavor delivery system. Once you have the base, a variety of other liquid ingredients can be added, such as wine, cream, or juices. Inclusions and particulates also can be added, such as mushroom, garlic, onion, or tomato. The unassertive base allows for limitless imagination and versatility.

Tomato: Escoffier’s traditional “sauce tomate” begins with salted pork belly, onion, bay leaves, thyme, puréed or fresh tomatoes, roux, garlic, salt, sugar, and pepper. With variations, this sauce remains a delicious foundation for tomato-based recipes. Today, tomato sauce has evolved into a variety of simpler versions – starting with stewed, rough-chopped tomato with garlic and basil – and is most often encountered in Italian foods, especially pasta dishes and pizza.

Other variations on this profile have blurred the lines of what a classic tomato sauce is. For example, tomato jam is a reduction of this sauce and is used more like a condiment. Rustic and bold-flavored, it can be paired with bacon, burgers, or other smoky flavors to deliver a slightly sweet yet acidic burst of flavor to elevate the dish.

Espagnole: Unlike the other mother sauces, the brown sauce espagnole has strong flavors and is usually diluted with another sauce or broth; it’s rarely served on its own. Its rich, distinctive flavor comes from roasted veal bone broth, rather than beef, setting it apart from its milder mother sauces. Sauce espagnole is the base of favorites such as sauce Bourguignonne, mushroom sauce, and the Creole-inspired sauce Africaine.

Today’s stocks, sauces, and bases are getting a new life beyond the classic French styles that were made famous by Escoffier. An interesting recent development in stocks and bases, however, is one that Escoffier would approve of: a renewed focus on the meat and bones of a stock. Culinary artists are employing the highest standards of quality in sourcing meats, as well as taking advantage of the entire animal. For example, many chefs are using additional tendons in their stock to produce increased levels of collagen.

“High concentrations of collagen in a stock or base create a functional benefit and mouthfeel, offering a more voluptuous, flavorful sauce, stock, broth, or base,” agrees Brad Sacks, chef and CEO of More Than Gourmet, Inc., makers of the Kitchen Accomplice line of broths, stocks, and sauces. “The higher quality of these ingredients naturally offers a flavor booster, allowing the product to organically evolve its true flavor and not having to supplement it with artificial boosters and sodium.”

One example is the combination of heat, sweetness, and spice. “Sauces like a standard honey mustard as a replacement for yellow mustard [up the ante with] a touch of sambal, the Indonesian chili paste, to deliver on a bigger global flavor,” says Perry Stancato, CEO of Signature Sauces Co. “They also are tapping into fruits like plums and strawberries to bolster sweetness yet meet customers’ clean-label requirements. The popularity of ‘sweet heat’ is driving the combination of these fruits with peppers to stay on trend with consumer expectations and demands.” Stancato notes that one popular way the combination has been applied is in innovative dipping sauces for items such as fried chicken tenders.

While the mother sauces are the base for nearly all sauces used in savory formulations, condiment-like sauces, such as vinegar-based hot sauces and mustard sauces, and brewed and fermented soy sauce-based concoctions (like tamari, hoisin, and other Asian sauces) are increasingly popular additions to the sauce and base toolbox. (See “Soy Good Sauces,” page 38.)

As with soy sauce, mustard has been growing beyond its usual field of play, becoming a more central ingredient for sauces. Mustard is one of the oldest flavoring agents, with evidence of its use dating back at least 5,000 years. This long historical significance is a function of mustard’s broad utility, as mustard contributes to sauce innovation in multiple interesting ways.

“Mustard seed offers a variety of benefits, including emulsification, stability, water and fat binding, preservative properties, and nutritive properties,” explains Dorothy Long of the Saskatchewan Mustard Development Council. “While yellow or white mustard is one of the most common mustards used for condiments, they can offer more than just a yellow squirt on a bologna sandwich. Mustard protein concentrates or isolates can be used at levels up to 1% for soups, sauces, and bases to replace other proteins such as gluten, casein, or soy proteins.”

Long adds that these potential uses give sauce developers an edge in creating a cleaner label with a recognizable ingredient. Mustard gums and mustard flours also have exemplary rheological and texturizing capacity and can be used in formats and at levels that do not negatively impact flavor or production costs. It should be noted that using mustard-based ingredients in sauces also supports non-GMO, gluten-free, and dairy-free claims.

Fermentation is another trend finding its way into sauces. In the dairy category, fermentation creates clean-label building blocks of flavor. Fermented cultured dairy boosts the savory perception to replace ingredients such as monosodium glutamate (MSG). Cultured dairy ingredients are especially useful for crafting smoother cheese sauces, as they will naturally enhance cheese flavors and allow for lower levels of cheese solids.

The magic of these ingredients is that they contain natural glutamic acid, whereas MSG is an isolated salt of glutamic acid. While numerous studies have failed to conclusively support negative health impacts associated anecdotally with MSG, consumers do not accept it as a clean-label ingredient. Natural glutamates inherent in tomato concentrates, yeast, fermented and aged cheeses, and similar sources, however, can be used in formulations while maintaining the clean-label classification.

Cheese sauce manufacturers also are working more frequently with fermented cheese, cheese powders, and concentrated cheese pastes. These ingredients offer all the benefits of clean-label status as well as allowing for “real dairy” marketing. They also are available in a comprehensive portfolio ranging from the basic cheddar, Swiss, Jack, and the like to Parmesan, French Bleu, Asiago, and other more trendy cheeses.

While fermented dairy can be used to boost cheese flavor and umami in a sauce, yeast ingredients can function in the same capacity. Nutritional yeast flakes and yeast extracts are excellent turn-to ingredients for creating vegan sauces that mimic the flavor profiles of animal protein-based broths.

Innovation is not dead in this sector, but consumer demand for sweet items with less sugar but no change in the unique flavor and organoleptic properties of sucrose makes for a host of challenges. The demand has driven manufacturers to offer a multitude of better choices in this space. Most of the sugar-free sweet sauces have been based in fruit purées, juices, and syrups.

Some sauces, such as chocolate, sauces and especially true caramel are entirely dependent upon sugar. Creating a caramel sauce is challenging, because caramel changes at different temperature levels. At ambient temperature, it is a chewy solid; as it warms, it softens and becomes a thick sauce; and at high temperatures it becomes a highly viscous sauce that melts ice cream. If taken to extreme temperatures, the caramel crystalizes, becoming hard again and is no longer a sauce.

Manufacturers are using alternative sweeteners like monk fruit, stevia, and sweet potato juice or syrup to keep products as sweet as the consumer demands without having the label reflect added sugars. Top of mind for these manufacturers is leveraging the “natural” and clean label trends.

Looking at sauce flavor trends on the front lines, menus in midscale, casual, and fine dining operations have increasingly been highlighting “stock.” And they’re not alone. Although QSRs might not call out special stocks or sauce bases, they definitely are making use of the new flavors at hand.

On the retail side of business, there’s an incredible race to create the next flavor combination that will fly off the shelves. Using regional products or calling out the cooking technique seem to be popular ways to get consumers to pick up the jar. Makers of stocks, bases, and sauces need the courage to try something new, pushing past boundaries into new cuisines, ethnicities, and applications while maintaining their products’ authentic value.

Dan Follese is a classically trained chef and founder of Food Trend Translator, a forward-thinking culinary innovation firm with a focus on simple, unique development and formulation. Built on the belief that nothing is more exciting than creating new ways for clients to wow their customers, the company helps clients gain advantages, inspire flavors, and expand products beyond typical use. Food Trend Translator supports food manufacturers, restaurants, and retail operations, leveraging data, connections, and creativity to uncover easy yet profound opportunities in food and open doors to exciting new product applications and revenue streams. Learn more at www.FoodTrendTranslator.com or dfollese@foodtrendtranslator.com.

By Robert Danhi

Not all soy-based sauces are created – or used – equally. Each one has different biological, physical, and chemical attributes that play functional roles in processing and the resulting organoleptic qualities. The most common families of soy-based products are “light” soy sauce (casually termed “regular” soy sauce), dark soy sauce, thick soy sauce, sweet soy sauce, and soybean paste (miso). These are used separately or in combination.

For example, in a braised meat dish, regular soy sauce can act as the primary sodium source, yet dark soy sauce can also be incorporated for a deep, rich, almost reddish color as in the Chinese “Red Cooked” dishes from the Fukian region. Thick soy sauce has added caramel color, and its syrupy texture doesn’t dilute the marinade or make stir-fried noodles soggy. It also lends a rich brown color to nearly any food without severely raising the sodium content.

Soybean paste was originally created as a byproduct of soy sauce production but has become the main umami taste component of hoisin sauce. This concentrated form of soy sauce, very similar to the now-familiar Japanese miso, enables the manufacturing industry to leverage all the flavor-enhancing capabilities of soy sauce (including sodium reduction) yet not add all the moisture and jet-black color. It can help to control water activity levels and can even play an important role in organoleptic characteristics that must be considered during the R&D and scale-up process.

One example is using hoisin sauce in a thick marinade. Its consistency can help keep marinade viscosity high so it adheres to and flavors the target proteins. It’s packed with fermented soy protein, hence adding a small percentage to vegan stocks and broths can emulate the meat flavor profile that is partially developed by the same Maillard reaction that makes those brown ends of a prime rib taste so good.

Cleaning up food labels can be as simple as going back to basics, such as with soy sauce-based products that have been around for thousands of years. The various umami taste-active compounds (amino acids, nucleotides, and peptides) contributed by fermented soy sauce products have been proven to increase consumers’ perception of salt and sugar and reduce bitterness and sourness in nearly any liquid food system. Also, evolutionary biology suggests that humans have developed a craving for protein-based foods, and the various fermented soy-based products deliver that protein punch.

Soy sauce is not just for the cuisines of Asia. Tex-Mex fajitas often use soy sauce as a primary seasoning. A small percentage of soy sauce in an Italian-style tomato sauce rounds out the flavor profile, and since it influences the other four primary flavors — sweet, sour, bitter, and salty — it actually makes the sauce taste like it cooked longer.

In larger production facilities, developers are challenged to emulate the cooking techniques that chefs use in creating the gold standard in the lab. Take, for example, that notable flavor-layering technique used in most global cuisines, caramelizing onions. Adding some soy sauce to the fat and onions as they cook in the massive kettles will cause the onions to brown more quickly and develop a deeper flavor and color, thereby saving processing time.

For plant-based or ground meat mixtures, either soy sauce or soybean paste adds a tremendous layer of flavor, and if a sweeter flavor profile is desired, adding hoisin sauce that has a fermented soy base works nicely.

With so much attention on plant-based foods, it’s no surprise that vegetable stock has been trending upward. Vegetable stock in menu mentions has grown 19% since 2009, according to reports by research group Datassential. Still, and considering all the plant-forward innovations flooding the market, it has some catching up to do versus chicken stock, with Datassential reporting continued double-digit growth for that ingredient – up 31% in the past year and 13% over the last four years.

By Amelia Levin (August 28, 2020 | Published with Prepared Foods)

Plant-based is here to stay. In fact, it likely will be even more of a wave in the future, due to the growing desire among consumers to cut down on, or completely eliminate meat consumption for health and/or out of concern for the environment.

The numbers back this up: In a 2018 study conducted by Nielsen, nearly 39% of Americans said they were attempting to incorporate more plant-based options into their diets. This year, a study by the NPD Group indicated that figure rose to about 60%. In addition, a study conducted by Ipsos Retail Performance revealed that more than 9.7 million Americans follow plant-based diets, up from just 290,000 in 2004.

At once supporting and driving this surge are remarkable technological advances in crafting plant-based products that mimic the texture of beef, chicken, fish, and dairy. Developers of such analogs are using everything from soy, pea, and chickpea protein isolates and concentrates to hemp-based proteins, mushrooms, algae, nuts, grains — and even tomatoes — to create new products.

But the plant-based revolution is about more than just analogs for animal proteins. Vegetables are moving to the center of formulations traditionally made from processed grains. Examples include such products as pizza crusts, breadsticks, and “rice” from cauliflower and pasta from artichokes and broccoli. Meanwhile, vegetables are increasingly replacing significant portions of traditional items, successfully sneaking their way into frozen desserts, cookies, sandwich bread, and beverages.

A letter from the chef:

With everything happening in the world of food and hospitality I wanted to create a report that could give us all something to ponder going forward. Unfortunately, COVID-19 has literally stopped the world and together I would like to think we can get it to spin again. Perhaps even a little slower than before to allow us a chance to truly appreciate everything we have.

Everyday I work to buildup those in and around my community, guided by fairness, honesty, curiosity, gratitude with an appreciation for beauty and excellence. In this brief presentation I want to bring you new ways to do business moving forward for the short term and long-term.

Our why is simple, we love finding unique innovation and advantages that inspire tons of flavor and expand a product beyond its typical use.

Food operators are scrambling to figure out how to stay in business since the COVID-19 breakout. 24 states have mandated that restaurants transition to delivery and takeout only, so the number of consumers avoiding dining at a restaurant continues to climb. Even with the opportunity to offer to go and carry out nearly 53% of consumers have stated they are definitely avoiding eating out.

Let’s face it, unless you are a QSR with a drive thru window this type of service for many restaurants is not the ideal way to experience the food offered. Keeping the fries from getting soggy or the buns too steamy or the veggies from going cold sometimes this is fixed by a better batter or brushing a glaze on the bun. But more recently you hear about innovation in food packaging for sustainability that addresses the functionality too, but often the cost of using these options would prohibit operators from diving in completely. DYK 41% of consumers feel sealed plastic utensils are somewhat risky? There is new packaging that provides peace of mind and freshness that restaurants should be using now. Here are just a couple of ways to keep in fresh, safe and tasty.

One way to provide a fresh cooked meal to go is with the “self heating pot” which is already in use with Asian inspired noodle dishes and broth. This is a double layered plastic bowl with a small packet that when it is submerged in water the packet omits steam, thereby cooking your meal to order. Knowing you have to provide high quality ingredients is something many restaurants pride themselves with and it’s a cool way to deliver a hot to go item. Other ways to consider are providing home baked goods that are not filled with questionable ingredients yet because of the packaging these items can stay fresh for over 40 days.

Some interesting facts pre-pandemic:

• 60% of consumers ordered delivery once a week
• 34% of orders spend is at least $50 per order when ordering online
• 70% of consumers prefer ordering directly from the restaurant, ensuring their money is going to the operator and not the delivery service.
• Food orders placed via phone or app is a $38B industry and growing
• Operators that use these delivery services typically increase their volume by 20%

Part-grocery, part-restaurant, providing the quality consumers want and the convenience they demand. Luckily, the trend of grocerant is being pursued as a viable way to keep the doors of restaurants open during the COVID-19 pandemic. Restaurants have the resources to buy in bulk and fabricate items into easy to prepare, cook and heat items and send you off with a hot bite too.

This is not a new concept the most common grocerants are C-Stores’. Convenience with quick grab of the necessities and a fresh baked or take-home pizza. Other names you may recognize in this game is Whole Foods, Walgreen’s, 7-Eleven & Wawa. Millennial’s are some of the biggest advocates to this type of experience.

Datassential released a new study that demonstrates the generational gap on what consumers are concerned with now. Food Preparation was the highest concern with the Boomer+ generation and Gen Z was most worried about when it comes to prepared foods.

Another big topic that has not gone away or was solved by this outbreak is SUSTAINABILITY. This is at the core for many operators and some have figured it out on a large scale. On a recent webinar Dale Ray, Head of Global Food at LinkedIn shared “It can be done; we’re doing it now” it just takes some more planning. Moving forward he feels they will be able to continue with their current format and deliver the best, local, sustainable foods to their staff at all their global locations.

With so much happening in the hospitality/food industry many restaurants of all sizes are shuttering their doors and hoping to weather this storm. From a financial perspective this makes sense but what might be the bigger opportunity is to convert your store into offering a walkup window, curbside pick up or a online ordering system. All of these ways can convert more transactions for the immediate and long term of your business.

Brainstorm with your staff on ways to pivot and listen to those ideas that will provide greater ability to be a win for all.
If you currently do not offer a TO GO menu then create a special menu that features your top selling items that will perform well in short distance travel.

Designate a walk-up zone in your store that allows guests to keep their distance when they come in for a pickup order and create special offers to make them a repeat customer.

Food is your business. Which means you need business results. Not just new ideas, but the kind of smart, strategic ideas that draw new customers and drive new revenue. We’ll arm you with the know-how of our experienced chef and the data to make calculated decisions about your product offerings. All to help you open up opportunities for the kind of growth that can take your business to the next level.

Let’s get to work. Food Trend Translator is here for you…think positive and keep moving forward!

What are the 5 W’s to answer before you go on a tour?

Every time I go on a food trend tour I want to make sure that we capture not just images and video but also the 5 most important considerations so that when we present the final draft there is no doubt the goal has been met. I realize that the 5 W’s are not a mystery and you certainly have heard of them before, but when you are doing a food trend tour they take on a different meaning as it pertains to the goals of your tour.

It is important to decide who should actually spend their time on the streets, and ask if they will bring a benefit to the tour? If you are seeking ideas to innovate New Product Development (NPD) perhaps you should bring along a food scientist. If you are looking for exciting new ways to apply your existing product to a concept, I would suggest you bring your chef along. This is someone who will be able to examine the steps it would take to bring a new product to life, while also considering the challenges your customer may have in putting it on their menu. At the #RCA2019 expo Ana Maria, Basurto Head of Food Innovation KFC Global, claimed that they have scrapped very good ideas simply because it took only a few seconds too long to make a new item in their kitchens. Really… just a few seconds too long and your product has been passed up for another idea.

Exactly what are you searching for? This doesn’t need to be overly complex but it does need to be answered. Perhaps you are freshening up your perspective on Macro Trends, like “Instagram-able”. This is real and with trillions of food photo’s taken every year you need to make sure your next idea you pitch is worth someone taking its picture and posting it. Food & Beauty are becoming more closely linked than ever before, consider collagen in your beverage…yeah, its real just search “drinkable collagen” on Amazon and get ready to slurp up this peptide.

Make sure you are aware of your production capabilities and your customers pipeline. Typically Food Service operators plan out 1 year in advance. If you want to find out what they are focused on try becoming active with their “culinary summits” or when you have a meeting bring them a bit more than just a catalog. Bring your chef along and let the flood gates open for opportunity.

Make sure you are aware of your production capabilities and your customers pipeline. Typically Food Service operators plan out 1 year in advance. If you want to find out what they are focused on try becoming active with their “culinary summits” or when you have a meeting bring them a bit more than just a catalog. Bring your chef along and let the flood gates open for opportunity.

Very important if you are creating regional offerings, or if what menu item you want to influence has a strong presence in multiple cities. Trend tours can be exhausting if not planned for and especially if there is not a end destination.

This is the most crucial question to ask because it shapes the entire mindset of everyone on the tour. If you do not know why you are going on this tour then what’s the point of this event?

What’s the difference with Macro Trends & Micro Trends?

The definition of Macro Trend from Whalts.com states that “a macro-trend is a pervasive and persistent shift in the direction of some phenomenon on a global level.” A trend is much smaller in most minds of developers, manufactures and consumers. Often it’s looked at as a passing phase but with the right positioning alongside a Macro-trend it can be something far more impact-full.

According to Datassential you can track the trends and predict their future path of influence. They have created a simple way to demonstrate this with a chart called the Menu Adoption Cycle, aka the MAC. The MAC helps guide you through the trends by simplifying it into 4 phases. Each phase represents a new step towards the trend being more accepted and popular. These phases start at the beginning of trends which they call “inception”. Typically this represents the earliest stage, then it moves into the next phase called “adoption”. Here a trend has gained some momentum and is getting noticed by trendy restaurants and specialty grocers. The third phase is “proliferation” which indicates that the trend is moving into mainstream and chain restaurants. The last phase of the cycle is “ubiquity” and it is here you will easily recognize the trend and find it just about anywhere. Mark DiDomenico, Client Solutions at Datassential recently stated, “When we look at food trends, a designation for us that a trend is going to stick around for a long time is if it can cross multiple applications”.

Tracking the trends is a smart way of entering the market and influencing the nuances of a product, especially with food. When considering how to create something special with your innovation process it is incredibly important to understand both the Macro-trends and the trends in general.

As mentioned before with the Flexitarian Macro-trend, one should first be familiar with what this is. One way to describe it is to say someone is vegetarian curious but not quite ready to completely give up the animal foods. There are so many ways to approach this trend and capitalize on it as recently discovered by the team at FoodTrendTranslator. On a recent Food Trend Tour they explored this trend and discovered places like Earle’s on Crenshaw that was once a humble hot dog cart and has now evolved into one of the few locations where Vegans and Meat eaters dine in harmony. They offer items like Vegan Chili Cheese Fries, fresh cut french fries loaded in spiced Vegan Chili and melted Vegan Cheese”, it seems so simple and offers customers what they are searching for as an option to try Flexitarian eating alongside a traditional hot dog.

It wasn’t just happening at Earle’s we found it at other fun, cool places like Jewel where they served up foods that offered functional attributes and substitution to animal proteins like their Avocado toast that was dressed with fermented veggies (fermented foods are good for your digestion) and cashew spread (a high in protein seed) in place of cream cheese or mayonnaise.

One of the most interesting parts beyond the actual food was the discovery of what customers had to say about these menu items. Comments made were “you won’t even notice the difference from the real thing” or “It tastes so good that even my die hard meat eating husband wants to join me for a meal”. We call this “Social Listening” and when you combine this together with the trends and foods they are ordering you actually gain insights to your target customers expectations and even what your next NPD or LTO should be.

If you want to discover the right trend for your next project and make sure your item is on the menu try talking with the food trend experts at Food Trend Translator. They offer 3 levels of food trend tours that are focused on your goals and product.

A: you don’t even need to book a flight, let us help.

Food trend tours have become popular as a the sole intent of vacationing…surprisingly 13% of people have claimed they would get on a plane or plan a vacation around a “must try” dish. According to eInsights.com food trend tours saw a 57% increase on their global bookings.

Unfortunately for you this is not for pleasure it’s work and you have a lot of restrictions, including a budget! Not to mention all the fires you have to put out on a daily basis…

Luckily, FoodTrendTranslator can save you the hassle of having to clear your schedule, miss critical meetings and hinder you from developing deeper relationships with your customers. Not to mention the pain of booking flights, hotels, transportation and then all the research of knowing where to go in order to get the biggest bang for your buck.

Imagine the possibilities of having a trend tour that focuses on your product, customers & goals.

Why does ‘passion’ feel overused?

According to Wikipedia “passion” is considered a feeling of intense enthusiasm towards or compelling desire for someone or something. Passion can range from eager interest in or admiration for an idea, proposal, or cause; to enthusiastic enjoyment of an interest or activity; to strong attraction, excitement, or emotion towards a person.

Realizing the myriad of levels this word represents it seems to come into focus a bit more. The problem with overusing a word like passion is defining the level of passion one is referring to, it has made me search harder for a way to express myself, especially when it relates to work-related subjects more than the romantic use of the word.

All too often I hear people comment, Chef Dan you are so passionate about your work. To that I say thank you, I truly appreciate the kind gesture and it does make me feel good that I am able to convey an emotion like passion with my work but what does that mean to me?

For some, your job is a chore although you may be very good at it. However, for me, I have tried to quit culinary and couldn’t. Culinary is my Prozac, without this creative outlet I get down. It’s not because I am the best chef to walk the earth or that I know it all when it comes to creating innovative new food ideas. It’s because I have this passion thing that can’t be explained so easily.

I feel amazing when I am working with food. Creating LTO’s, innovation of new flavors that are being combined with everyday foods we already enjoy, and when I am in front of customers doing the demonstration I’ve been told that my face lights up. So why is culinary and food ingrained in my subconscious so deeply that I am not happy unless I am creating something new and exciting?

I thought long and hard on this one and what I realized is that it boils down to one thing, my beliefs. To me, this is “my” why. If you have ever read any Simon Sinek books you will understand that statement. The more I follow his insights the better I realize what drives me to believe.

“I believe in flavor, I believe in delivering more than expected, I believe in simple creations that push the boundaries of the unexpected and I believe in doing the right thing. It’s these beliefs that drive me to give my best efforts to generate results that hopefully wow my customers.” – Chef Dan (Founder of Food Trend Translator)

Being able to translate products, flavors, and trends into actionable applications that create operational efficiencies, invigorating core products with strategic menu options is empowering. Believing your product is the one thing that can transform the menu and creating new ways to wow your customers is why we believe in your success. What we bring to the table is PRICE: Powerful, Invigorating, Strategic & Empowering Synergy with a process.

Is your catalog a boring list of commodities?

All too often we walk out of an introduction meeting with a potential new customer and find it amazing that this company has been creating quality food products for nearly a century, yet they have no clue as to what makes them special or how to share this.

It is exactly this reason Trend Translators have decided to help these companies pick themselves back up and learn how to march back out there with confidence in their products and a new perspective on what was considered just a commodity or a #10 can of the same old stuff.

F.O.M.O is real but you can do it, I promise!

1. Free Advertising – This all depends on how tech-savvy you are but with all the advancements with apps for your phone or drop & drag platforms you can create ads that go viral right on your phone. As of now, all social media platforms are free. There is no charge to open an account on Instagram or Facebook. All you have to do is post the picture, plus let your guests help you out and they pay you to do it.
2. Real-Time C.L.T. Feedback – Testing is crucial to making sure you don’t waste a ton of marketing dollars and doing this at a formal setting is great but use your social media to do a bit of your homework before you take it to the secret conference room with two-way mirrors and a moderator. Social listening is what this is called and it’s free on Instagram and Facebook. Once again a small test at 1 or 2 stores with the new item on the menu, customers first validate it with a purchase and then when they post it they have a few comments about what they liked or disliked. It’s a NO BRAINER!
3. Effective Marketing – According to Datassential they have tracked Instagram and report that 56% of Gen Z’s & Millenials see LTO’s on their Instagram feed. That is an amazingly high rate of exposure for little or no money spent.
4. Discover New Guests – If your foot traffic is dwindling and your AUV would soar with only 1 more person in the door per hour, then you must read this. 47% of Gen Z’s & Millennials have reported visiting a restaurant for an LTO. (read reason 3 and figure it out.)
5. Keeping It Fresh! – Recently we spoke with Chef Greg Grisanti CRC, CFSP about social media and phone cameras in the restaurant. He shared an interesting perspective that this is the best thing ever to happen to a menu. His reasoning is simple; when your kitchen staff is aware of their food trending or the simple fact that almost every meal that is eaten out gets a selfie or snapped, therefore keeping his staff on their “A-game”.