According to an annual survey of chefs by the National Restaurant Association, locally sourced ingredients and sustainability will be the top trends for restaurants in the coming year. When the National Restaurant Association surveyed 1,527 members of the American Culinary Federation as to what they thought the next big trends for restaurants would be in 2011, the top responses were locally sourced meats and seafood along with locally grown produce. Sustainability came in as the third most cited trend as American diners are becoming more interested in what’s on their plate and sustainability and nutrition are fast becoming the most important issues for the nation’s nearly one million restaurants operating today.
The American Culinary Federation chefs also were surveyed on what they thought about operational trends, recession strategies, nutrition and the use social media to promote restaurants. It quickly became apparent that simplifying menus to save on labor and food costs, offering value specials and increasing marketing efforts were the most common strategies employed last year. Nearly a third of the respondent chefs said they thought
mobile food trucks and would be a hot trend in 2011 and 18% said would be restaurants with gardens would be getting hotter too. Just 17 % said they thought social media marketing would be the biggest new trend as over half of the chefs surveyed said they were already using social media and another 16% said they planned to use it later this year. One fifth of the respondents said creating diet-conscious menu items would be big factors and suggested adding far more fresh produce options to their menus.
Other highlights from the National Restaurant Association Top Trends for 2011 survey included:
Smaller portions at lower prices
Nutritionally balanced children’s dishes
Sustainable seafood
Locally produced wine and beer
Gluten-free menus
Simple back to basics menus
Farm or estate-branded items
Fruit and vegetable side items
Organic produce
Ethnic-inspired menus
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