Restaurant Trends

The restaurant industry is about to make a major change with the upcoming government law to label menus with health information and calorie counts. Any restaurant with 20 units or more will have to enforce this law, as reported by the Los Angeles Times.

Along with the upcoming law, restaurant-goers are already expecting full disclosure on menus. Social networking is of increasing importance with restaurant reviews. Consumers trust friends on Facebook and reviews on Yelp compared to marketing professionals. Both Technomic national market research firm and QSR Magazine state that smart phone applications are becoming essential for restaurants as well as the ability to text orders ahead of time or receive discounts.

Sullivision.com training and consulting company claims that consumers are starting to flock to food items with the name “artisan” in it because of the fresh and local aspect. Authentic foods are becoming more important than unhealthy fast food. Specifically, Southeast Asian foods and Indian foods are trending right now on menus. Technomic also predicts the rising trend in ethnic and artisan foods in addition to global cuisine. Consumers are asking for fresh food that supports the local farmers and also serves their community.

Restaurants will also be doing more spontaneous promotions instead of discounting their food. Flexibility will be another trend from fast casual to full service with opportunities to begin catering. Food trucks and seasonal pop-up restaurants are continuing as a fad. Both trend watcher Andrew Freeman & Company and Zagat claim that self-built restaurants and mom and pop shops are increasing in popularity, in addition to single-purpose restaurants such as Peanut Butter Palace

Foreign Restaurant Invasion

Until recently there has been very little foreign chain expansion into the U.S. This is due to several reasons such as the sheer distance from Europe and Asia, lack of franchise experience, the fierce competition, the earlier strength of the dollar making it more expensive and the laws and regulations to figure out. My company the John T. Evans Company is part of the Council of Internatinal Restaurant Real Estate Brokers that tracks the international scene. CIRB has
assisted restaurants with substantial operating partners ... most recently bringing about partnerships in the Middle East for famed U.K. restaurateur, Jamie Oliver, and in India for 75-year-old chain, Trader Vic's. In recent years we are seeing greater numbers of foreign restaurant chains coming to the U.S. Here are a few examples:

South Africa - the fast growing grilled chicken chan in with its famed piri piri flavoring: NANDO'S
France - 100 year-old, patisserie and cafe: Paul's has locations in various US cities.
Spain - 100-unit, mini-sandwich chan: Cerveceria 100 Montadito's has just opened in Miami
U.K.- Spanish-cuisine, La Tasca has opened units in Washington, D.C
U.K-Asian cuisine, Wagamama, with over 60 units worldwide, has opened units in Boston
U.K. - Asian cuisine, Zuma just opened in Miami
Canada - Extreme Pita
Cananda - Firkin Group Of Pubs is opening in western U.S
Italian cuisine restaurant chain, Vapiano's is opening throughout the U.S

New flex-casual idea helping Mama Fu's drive sales

Many fast casual restaurants typically do well at lunch while dinner business falls off. Mama Fu's Asian House has developed a hybrid to boost sales at dinner and weekends. During the day, Mama Fu's locations operate with counter service for the lunch rush, but at night and weekends, the concept turns into a full-service format, making it more appealing for the dinner crowd, such as families. Randy Murphy, the president and CEO of the brand based in Austin, TX says, " the hybrid concept has proven very successful with Mama Fu's costumers, bringing in a dinner crowd that skirts most fast-casual concepts." He goes on to indicate, "Whereas most fast-casual concepts will do 60 percent revenue from lunch and 40 percent revenue from dinner, we do the opposite with 40 percent lunch and 60 percent dinner, and a lot of it is because of our flex-casual service model." This is one reason Mama Fu's has turned around from a struggling brand to a successful concept looking to grow. Will keep you posted if other fast casual concepts transition to flex-casual prototypes in the future.

Food Trucks entering Dallas

Much has been written about the success of food trucks or mobile restaurants in cities like LA, Portland, Austin and New York and the failure in Dallas. However, I see the trend will come about in Dallas in time. Austin saw the explosion of food trucks like Torchy Tacos that has since
grown into a full fledged restaurant chain opening up storefronts in Dallas. The codes for operating food trucks were poorly written or not well defined. This created problems until comprehensive codes were developed. Dallas codes are currently very restrictive preventing
food trucks from traveling the streets. Right now developers are meeting with Dallas City officials to mirror some of the new Austin codes so that Dallas can have a well coordinated approach to monitoring food trucks. There are plans to turn the old Arcadia Theater site on Lower Greenville in to a food park with space for chefs to park converted trailers and trucks with picnic tables and public restrooms. Also, Bishop Arts District the Dallas Arts District and West Village are other areas discussed as possible food parks. This will create new
energy to different areas of town and give Dallas more variety as chefs bring in new food ideas.