Americans are changing the way they dine out by looking for places that offer healthier and greener options. When a dining guest steps into a restaurant, they are looking for value, convenience, variety and healthy items. More and more restaurants are accommodating these needs and are making their clients happier. The number one trend among chefs was local sourced food products. 89 percent of fine dining operators serve locally sourced products, according to the National Restaurant Association.
The restaurant industry is thriving in this economy. They remain resilient to the economy and are becoming more innovative than ever to attract guests. They are not doing as much business as before the recession, but people still dine out instead of dining at home. They might even consider that dining out is a key part in their lifestyle. "In 2009, it is predicted that nearly half of consumers' food budget will be spent in restaurants..." This basically says that consumers spend half of their food costs dining out and having a meal cooked for them.
The industry's resilience to this terrible economy just shows how important dining out is to us, as consumers. This is shown by the industry's attempt to fulfill the desires for convenience, value and social aspects. To me, eating out is a great time to share with family or friends. As much as I love to cook for my family or friends, and strive off of the feedback, I still love to dine out. Dining out is not just about the food, it is about the experience that comes along with it. I dine out to have a great meal, don't get me wrong, but the atmosphere and experience that comes along with dining out is amazing. I love eating out because I get to be on the other side of the totem pole. Normally, I am in the kitchen cooking up a storm that ends up being the consumer's food. Being on the other side and being served food is a great experience that I take home with me with each restaurant that I attend.
I do not think that the food service industry is doing the best that they have ever done in this economy but I also don't think that they are having a hard time either. People have to eat to survive. With Americans being extremely lazy, dining out is here to stay and more restaurants are thriving under the economic pressure.
This article sort of goes into detail as to how 5 of the top trends for 2010 fall under the category of Green and Sustainability. Although it was interesting how they tied the bad economy and consumer demand into the restaurateurs business decisions, but as the article stated the restaurant industry employs a lot of people.
ReplyDeleteAs the article explains cutting costs is always an objective for any business, but they must also fulfill the demand of the consumers, which seems to be green and sustainable foods.
So now the restaurant owners must try and balance the two. They must try and cut costs by being more energy efficient, composting, recycling, etc, but also try and purchase more local foods to keep the money they spend within their local economy. I enjoy the fact that more and more recent articles are coming out about people going green in our industry.
Other peoples laziness is key to the growth of the food service industry. People are always going to have to eat, and there will be people that will always be lazy. This is where Andrew's cooking up a storm comes in, greatly appreciated by those hungry customers.
ReplyDeleteConsumers aren't oblivious to all the environmental issues the world is dealing with (not all of them, anyway). They see and hear what is going on, and are making wiser decisions at least as to where they eat, and how those establishments run their business. Studies have shown that people do make conscious decisions like these and in the end it does help not only the environment, but I feel it also nudges food establishments to start changing the way and the 'from where' they order their inventory.
The point of our job is to feed people and make them happy all around about their experience and everything they are paying for. Our job is to give them what they want and at the same time do what's best for our business and industry, wasting as little resources as possible.
I'm really liking all these articles on more establishments jumping on the green movement. It should have happened a long time ago, but nevertheless, its here to stay.