The National Restaurant Association every year releases expected trends for the new year and I bet no one was surprised to see this years report, at least not the top ten.

1) Locally sourced meats and seafood has my interest as five months ago I gave up eating meat and over all I am vegan by daily choices.  High cheeses and seafood are the categories I miss most and need to dig into the seafood segment to really understand where and how seafood is sourced and raised.   The Seafood Watch is the reference point Bon Appetit uses and a good place to start.

2) The locally grown produce is thankfully easy for us here in the Southwest and very dialed into that category. Everyday of the week there is a market somewhere and now with the Phoenix Public Market we have a place devoted to our local sustainable needs in Phoenix.

3) One of my newest connections is with a women who has her masters degree in sustainability from ASU.  This is exciting for a reasons yet to early to share; let's just say, I'm liking it.

4) Nutritionally balanced children's dishes is big segment with Chef Ann Cooper, Jamie Oliver, the White House and  Let's Move and Slow Food.  Today in the Food Safety News they high light the new USDA's School Lunch Standards.  I do have opinions in this area however they would bring no value to the our conversation so I'll just keep them to myself.

5) Hyper-local something that has interested me this past with restaurants in growing their own herbs.  Again, due to our location this is very do-able.  Community Support Agriculture (CSA) is another also fits the Hyper-Local segment and another area I do have my hands on the pulse of.

With 6-10 there is a lot of over lap with the information I have posted so far so I didn't expand on those.  Over all I'm sure you see where this is all going and it's all good in my book.

 

1 Locally sourced meats and seafood

2 Locally grown produce

3 Sustainability

4 Nutritionally balanced children’s dishes

5  Hyper-local (e.g. restaurant gardens, do your own butchering)

6 Children’s nutrition

7 Sustainable seafood

8 Gluten-free/food allergy conscious

9 Simplicity/back to basics

10 Farm/estate-branded ingredients

11 Micro-distilled/artisan liquor

12 Locally-produced wine and beer

13 Half-portions/smaller portion for a smaller price

14 Organic produce

15 Nutrition/health

16 Culinary cocktails (e.g. savory, fresh ingredients)

17  Newly fabricated cuts of meat (e.g. Denver

steak, pork flat iron, Petite Tender)

18 Fruit/vegetable children’s side items

19 Ethnic-inspired breakfast items (e.g. Asianflavored syrups, chorizo scrambled eggs, coconut milk pancakes)

20 Artisan cheese 

For the What's Hot in 2011 full report click here.

 

Madonna Kash

Restaurant Marketing Partners/ FoodService Geeks

Restaurantmarketingpartners.com

madonna@restaurantmarketingpartners.com

@restaurantmkt

voice    602.492.8419

mobile 602.692.1135