Diners Seeking Healthy Meals

The National Restaurant Association published a study to their website indicating that more and more consumers are seeking healthy fare when dining out.

The report indicated that 78% of adult females are more likely to choose more healthful menu items, while 65% of adult males said they would make healthful choices. Additionally, younger adults are more likely to choose healthier fare than their older counterparts.

Much of this interest is due to the nation’s increased interest in healthful living among adults and children. Consumers are becoming increasingly educated on the importance of making healthy lifestyle choices. America’s restaurants are starting to recognize this consumer interest, and seem to be stepping up to the plate by offering more better-for-you items on their menus.

Consumers are more interested in what they are consuming, and are more interested in the nutritional content of their food. Restaurants across all segments can attest to this, as consumers’ interest in nutritional content has increased dramatically in the past two years.

What's Your Opinion on Displaying Calorie Content

Two researchers from the City University of New York School of Public Health at Hunter College are surveying the perceptions of restaurant owners and managers. The scientists are studying the consequences of the new menu labeling law that requires establishments owning 20 or more locations to list calorie content for standard menu items on their restaurant menus, menu boards and drive-thru menu displays.

With growing emphasis on health and obesity in America, researchers are investigating how increased food legislation is affecting the restaurant industry. The online survey takes about 10 minutes to complete. Take the survey now at: http://www.formstack.com/forms/?1093287-rjK3bxNSem

Creating Healthy Kid’s Meals

Healthy children’s faire seems to be on everyone’s minds these days, from meals prepared at home to school cafeterias to restaurants. Kids are notorious for being picky eaters, making it difficult to tempt their tiny palates with simply a plate of vegetables. However with a little creativity many meals can be made-over to be lower in calories and fat, without skimping too much on the tastes kids crave.

Did you know that Serv-U has an entire department on their website dedicated to school supplies? Visit our school supplies department to find everything you need to create healthy, fresh and flavorful meals in your school’s cafeteria.

What is your school or restaurant doing to ensure that children receive meals that encourage dietary variety and balance?

A new wave of healthy habits inspired by holiday overindulgence and New Year’s resolutions sweeps the nation each January. Diet season is in full swing, something that many in the foodservice industry see as a customer deterrent. The key to drawing the crowds to your door during this time of year is catering to their calorie counting. Here are some tips on restaurant equipment to rev up your post-holiday profits.

Salads are an obvious menu selection for those with a health-conscious New Year’s resolution. Take advantage of this by incorporating a salad bar into the flow of your restaurant and advertising the healthy selection available. Mobile food and salad bars are an eye-catching addition to attract customers. If a stand-alone food bar seems like a design challenge, Serv-U also offers a variety of tabletop food bars. Portable buffet bars allow for easy loading and unloading.

Stock your salad bar with insulated drop-in ice pans to keep the produce crisp and appetizing. These pans can be frozen overnight for ease of service. The technique keeps pre-chilled product at or below 40 degrees for 8 hours. Toppings and dressings can be stocked in round food storage crocks on the salad bar. The crocks are both freezer and dishwasher safe.

For another profit-boost during the diet season, have your chef create an in-house dressing that can be marketed as a special low-calorie option. Placing a cold crock of the homemade dressing at the end of the salad bar decreases your food costs so you can profit from post-holiday health consciousness.

Salads prepared with kitchen equipment behind the scenes and served as entrees can be profitable in a fine dining environment. While a self-serve bar is the ultimate labor-saving route, a chef-prepared salad takes fewer ingredients and energy than many other menu items, thus increasing your profit margin.

By stocking up on salad bowls, tongs and serving accessories, you can turn salad season into a profitable period for your restaurant.

“The reality today is you have to find a way to put golden handcuffs on a chef in some fashion…Typically that involves giving them some sweat equity.”

So says Michael Bonadies, formerly of Myriad Restaurant Group.  He and a few other industry pros were recently interviewed for a Pittsburgh Business Times article about chef turnover.

Turnover rates are notoriously high in the foodservice industry and employee retention is consistently ranked as a leading concern among restaurant operators, as well it should be.  Employee turnover is an expensive ordeal; just try out the employee turnover cost calculator mentioned in an AllBusiness.com article.  And while the costs may be evident, the solution to the problem is less obvious.  How can restaurateurs overcome the perception of bad pay and worse hours to appeal to highly qualified and dedicated applicants?  Perhaps more importantly, how does a restaurateur go about keeping those well qualified workers?

The Pittsburgh Business Times article suggests offering chefs a “stake” in the restaurant, some “ownership.”  At first blush, this seems like a pretty good idea—a chef may be less likely to leave if she or he feels integral to the continued success of the restaurant—and if she or he is fairly compensated for ensuring that success.  But does it work?  What are the complications of this approach?

An NRN article today highlights other ways to motivate and retain restaurant employees.  One restaurant mentioned in the article feeds their employees for free.  Another holds recipe creation competitions.  One of the larger chains holds conference calls between their store managers and company execs.  Recognition of good work seems to be a common theme, and one that I think anyone can appreciate—even if we sometimes forget its importance.

So what are your tips to retain your best employees?  How do you motivate them to give their best every day?

How do you compete with Wal-Mart’s deli?  With the local supermarket’s tempting cases full of prepared foods?  If you haven’t yet come up with a strategy, now is a good time to start.  The truth is that many consumers are now turning to supermarkets to spend their limited “dining out” dollars.  Supermarket prices are one part of the equation, but a search for healthier alternatives is another part.
 

Add to that the fact that supermarkets are trending towards a more manageable building size, and the American public has been given some very convincing reasons to make the switch from restaurant dining to grocery take-out.  As one New York Times article says, “After years of building bigger stores — many larger than a football field and carrying 60,000 items — retailers are experimenting with radically smaller grocery stores that emphasize prepared meals, fresh produce and grab-and-go drinks.”

What strategies do you suggest to cope with the increase in grocery shoppers?  If your eatery has been unaffected, to what do you attribute your continued success?

The buzz around the blogosphere lately seems to be slow.  Slow food, that is—specifically, the Slow Food Nation event recently held in San Francisco.  People are blogging about it, sending me tweets about it (seriously, join Twitter!), foodservice pros are discussing it over on FohBoh, and even the mainstream media has covered some aspect of the “slow food movement.”

Slow Food Nation was actually founded by a restaurateur, the much-celebrated chef Alice Waters of Chez Panisse.  The slow food topic isn’t a new one to this blog, but these days, it’s really in the national spotlight, and it sounds very appealing to a lot of Americans.  However, the price tag associated with fresh and/or organic food has lead some to call the idea “elitist.” 

But I’m wondering if there’s a way to bring fresh food to a quick serve operation without breaking the bank; ideas?  Even those who call slow food “elitist” don’t deny that fresh food is delicious and good for you.  If a quick serve were able to pull it all together—fresh food, prepared quickly, and at a fair price—even the skeptics might be convinced to give it a try.  (And while that might not strictly qualify as “slow food,” it’s a step in that direction.)  What do you think?

If you’re interested in seeing more of the San Francisco event, just go to YouTube and search Slow Food Nation.  There are plenty of relevant videos to peruse, and there will probably be more to come as attendees upload their film clips in the coming weeks.

A recently released study has unveiled the the best and worst restaurants for kids. This study focused on what was available on children’s menus and how healthy (or not) these items were. The best restaurant they found Chick-fil-A, which has the “healthiest” chicken nuggets and healthy side options, according to the article. The worst offender listed in the article: a list of chain restaurants that have fought off releasing nutrition info (but who are possibly going to have to as more places require the information on menus).

This study has shed light on the fact that kid’s meals need to be reconsidered. Parents (and health experts) realize that offering a child a choice between chicken fingers, macaroni and cheese, and pizza is a lose-lose situation for the child. Very few restaurants offer healthy choices for children, although many are starting to. This study is helping to push the demand for healthy, nutritious options for children. Parents can order grilled chicken and fish with vegetables off the regular menu and now want to know why they can’t order a smaller version of the same for their children.

What is your kids menu like? Do you have one? Do you make smaller portions of the regular items for kids or do you have a separate menu they are supposed to order off of? Have you considered re-evaluating your kid’s menu? Let us know below.