Technology, lifestyle food choices evolving trends in 2015

Technology is a rapidly evolving trend for 2015. According to the National Restaurant Association’s 2015 Restaurant Industry Forecast, roughly one-quarter of consumers say technology options are important features that factor into their decision to choose a restaurant.

This is up from the nearly one-fifth the prior year that said the same, underscoring that technology quickly is becoming an expectation rather than a novelty when dining out. 

“Consumers – especially younger generations – have come to expect certain connectivity attached to their dining experiences, be it the ability to order restaurant delivery with a smartphone app, access wi-fi in their favorite coffee shop, or review menus and make reservations online,” said Hudson Riehle, the NRA’s senior vice president of research.

“While restaurateurs understand their guests’ desire for technology options and more are adopting various forms thereof, the cost and integration into existing store systems can still pose challenges,” Riehle said.

A gap remains between what consumers want and what restaurants currently offer. That gap is narrowing, though, and it will close further over the next several years as restaurant technology evolves and more options enter the marketplace.

Despite increased consumer use of tech, machines may be an inadequate substitute for the personal service that many consider to be the hallmark of dining out. NRA research clearly shows that consumers still want humans as part of their restaurant experience, yet look to technology to increase service speed and convenience.

Lifestyle choices

Another developing trend for 2015 is related to how today’s consumers tend to make lifestyle choices in a “big picture” kind of way and apply those preferences to a wide range of situations – including dining out. As Americans lead ever-busier lives with little leisure time, they want and expect menu options that allow them to adhere to their chosen life philosophies.

“As restaurants have become part of our daily lives, consumers want to stay consistent in their purchases across broad spending categories,” said Annika Stensson, the NRA’s senior manager of research communications. “Food choices very much fit into that pattern.”

“People who buy electric cars and eco-friendly household cleaners also look for environmental sustainability when picking a restaurant. And consumers who adhere to healthy lifestyles want to find nutritious options no matter where they choose to go without sacrificing convenience,” Stensson said.

NRA research shows that nine in 10 consumers say food quality is an important factor for choosing a restaurant, and six in 10 consider themselves more food adventurous now than two years ago.

Sixty percent of consumers say they are more likely to pick a restaurant that offers menu items that were grown or raised in an organic or environmentally friendly way, up from 55 percent the previous year.

In addition, consumers are showing increasing interest in local sourcing, and more restaurateurs are taking notice. More than eight in 10 tableservice operators say their guests are more interested in locally sourced items this year, compared with seven in 10 who said the same a year earlier. And, 69 percent of consumers say they are more likely to visit a restaurant that offers locally produced food items. That’s up 5 percentage points from what consumers said a year earlier.

Meanwhile, eight in 10 of consumers say restaurants offer a wider variety of healthy menu options now compared to two years ago, and three-quarters say they are more likely to visit a restaurant that offers healthy options; seven in 10 say they also order more healthful options in restaurants than they did two years ago.

For additional information and to buy the 2015 Restaurant Industry Forecast, visit Restaurant.org/Forecast. 

Sweeney: Industry's future depends on embrace of change, technology

Dawn Sweeney, NRA
President/CEO

Restaurants are standing at the brink of truly defining the 21st century for foodservice, National Restaurant Association president and CEO Dawn Sweeney said during a special presentation during NRA Show 2014.

In a session titled “The Future of the American Dream,” Sweeney talked with Bernie Marcus, the legendary co-founder of Home Depot; Eric Lefkofsky, CEO of online couponing site Groupon; and Jennifer Wesley, head of industry for restaurants at Google, about the future of restaurants.

Comparing the restaurant industry in 2014 to 1919, when the National Restaurant Association got its start, Sweeney noted that there were about 43,000 restaurants in America 95 years ago, or about one eating location for every 243 Americans. 

Today, she said, there are 980,000 restaurants, roughly one eating place for every 32 people. The 2,000 percent increase in the number of restaurants, compared to a 200 percent increase in the U.S. population, makes it a different world for restaurateurs, Sweeney said. Today’s norm is not only a wide range of choices, but a world where consumers are actively educating themselves about their choices.

“In today’s world, our customers have dozens of favorite restaurants−not just one stand-by−and they are actively looking to try places they haven’t even heard of,” Sweeney noted.  “It’s a world where the flow of information from consumer to consumer is so fast we are scrambling to keep up. Word of mouth is a lot faster than it used to be.”

Restaurants are dealing with a barrage of instant information – and sometimes instant misinformation. Legislative and regulatory red tape are increasingly common. “The government keeps its hand in − often more than it should,” she said. “We are drowning in regulations and new legislation.”

Marcus agreed that the regulatory landscape for businesses is a battlefield. “Between the SEC, the FDA, the NLRB, you name it…they’re just not helpful.” He urged increased political activism to get the word out about what it takes to create jobs. 

Groupon’s Lefkofsky said restaurants need to embrace change. The mobile revolution “dwarfs anything that’s come before … You can’t avoid it because too many consumers are going to be making pivotal decisions in real time on the fly. They’ll either come into your restaurant or go to the restaurant next door based on what they see and how they interact with the information they get on that phone.”

“Consumer expectations are completely different. They want instant gratification, infinite choice, customization and personalization,” said Google’s Wesley. ““There’s almost a tipping point happening. We need to think differently. Today I challenge you to take a ‘moon shot’ − to know what your next big challenge is … because things are changing. “

Red Fish Grill improves kitchen staff satisfaction with automation and data

Chefs at an award-winning French Quarter restaurant are now working in a safer, cleaner and more efficient kitchen.

That’s because Haley Bittermann, corporate executive chef for Ralph Brennan’s Red Fish Grill, found a more sustainable and efficient way to manage its cooking oil. Bittermann installed an automated oil management system from Restaurant Technologies, Inc. (RTI) in the restaurant, which is known for its seafood specialties. Just 60 days after implementing the RTI system, oil usage at Red Fish Grill decreased 48 percent.

“The results we have seen are tremendous,” said Bittermann, “and now the entirety of managing frying oil – from buying and storing, to filtering and cleaning – is very easy to manage.”

Before installing the automated system, Red Fish Grill was using an outdated, manual process to handle its cooking oil. Restaurant protocol required staff to filter oil twice a day, which required kitchen staff to shut down the fryers. Because busy chefs couldn’t afford the downtime needed, the staff threw out unfiltered oil to safeguard food quality – while unintentionally throwing out “money” by tossing the oil instead of filtering it.

                   
Bittermann noted, “Minimizing the space required for oil storage and reducing the amount of time spent manually filling, filtering and disposing of frying oil helps us be so much more efficient.”

Employees now filter oil according to the restaurant’s filtration protocols, and the general manager and chef are sent alerts in real-time when employees do not meet filtration standard operating practices. The general manager remotely monitors employee compliance though an online portal, which gives managers an easy-to-use dashboard for visibility into the restaurant’s oil performance and filtration trends, as well as delivery and disposal history and compliance to SOPs. This helps them improve training, correct employee behavior and identify areas to improve efficiencies.

On top of oil use and cost savings, employee safety and satisfaction has improved. Bittermann credits the system with a reduction in workers’ compensation claims, and providing peace of mind by not having to worry about employees slipping, falling or burning themselves while handling hot oil. Employees are happy because they don’t have to haul grease anymore.

“The cooks would kill me if I took RTI out at this point,” said Bittermann. "In fact, the automated oil management has been so successful at Red Fish Grill that we are installing it in a California restaurant."