Transparent Food

It never has been easier to discover what diners like: 18 blog updates are posted each second.

By Scott Hume, Editor-in-Chief -- Restaurants & Institutions, 11/1/2007

Every two years since 1971, Restaurants & Institutions has conducted the Menu Census, a survey of operators across the country and in all industry segments that seeks to discern what foods are being offered and which foods are most popular with consumers. The information this study provides always is rich in detail and often is surprising.

But as is evident from the report, the findings of the 2007 Menu Census are especially eye-opening. The emergence of new foods such as mini burgers and the trendiness of familiar dishes such as pulled pork and macaroni and cheese are the headlines. The full story, as always, is in the details, which reveal impressive increases in menu variety and sophistication. Panini top the list of sandwiches corporate-dining operations are thinking of adding. Among college- and university-dining operators polled, one in six is contemplating adding flatbread pizzas. Crab cakes sell well where offered at family-dining operations and rank high among dishes that may be added in this segment. In every industry segment, the Menu Census provides similar insights.

One explanation for this menu upheaval is that consumer tastes are changing more rapidly and substantively than they have in the past. The two years between Menu Census reports can be longer than the life span of a food trend.

For menus to have been rethought as significantly as Menu Census findings indicate that they have means that operators are listening to consumers. And it certainly never has been easier to learn what diners like and dislike. "Market transparency" is how economists describe the vast amount of information about goods and services available to end users, and foodservice has become at least as transparent as any other industry as menus have gone online.

As of the end of October, user-based-media researcher Technorati said it was tracking 109 million blogs, and the San Francisco-based company reported that 18 new blog updates were posted every second. Not every blog is about dining, of course, and not everyone finds time in a day to write or read blog postings. But food and dining are popular topics in the blogosphere just as they are in casual conversation. Of more importance, online postings carry significant weight. A recent study by The Nielsen Co. found that, worldwide, 61% of adults consider consumer-generated media such as blogs to be reliable sources of information. Faith in online opinions is higher in North America (66% consider it reliable) than anywhere else in the world.

A recent article in The New York Times described the lengths to which some restaurateurs have gone to make friends with online restaurant reviewers. Terrance Brennan of New York City’s Artisanal Bistro and Picholine invited bloggers to attend a cheese class free of the $75 charge otherwise levied. Dine restaurant in Chicago hosted an event for those whose restaurant raves and pans are posted on yelp.com.

Such efforts may be fruitful for some operators, but so is simply tuning into the online chatter for an occasional listen-and-learn session. One nameless reviewer’s ode to the most fabulous dessert ever eaten may be the beginning of the next menu revolution.