Chapter 1
Consumers are going their own way when it comes to food away from home.
The time-honored foodservice mantra of QSC (Quality, Service, Cleanliness—Ray Kroc’s motto for McDonald’s) now has another C: Choice.
Today’s consumers are no longer content with preordained menu selections, mealtimes, or even ordering methods. They want what they want, when and where they want it, from breakfast at midnight to a healthy midday snack to a meal that is custom-designed to their every preference and dietary demand.
As traditional fine-dining and special-occasion restaurants take a backseat to more casual, inclusive fare, the model for foodservice success is changing, especially when it comes to satisfying younger patrons. That signals amenities like customized menu platforms, flexible all-day menus, and more efficient tech solutions for ordering—all of which spell more variety and choice.
Choice also reflects the increasing diversity of the American diner, where cultural backgrounds and culinary traditions can impact everything from a taste for spicy heat to a proscription against eating meat.
More menu variety is a significant enticement for consumers to choose food and beverages away from home more frequently (cited by 34%).
Sources: Datassential/IFMA Consumer Planning Program 2018/2019, The Big One; Datassential SNAP! Choice (2019)
No doubt about it, this is the age of customization. A recent article in a prestigious business publication headlined it this way: “Marketing to Millennials? Make it Customized and Personal.” From weddings to hotel pillows, from smartphone apps to breakfast, these influential citizens want personalization, control, and immediacy.
Nearly two-thirds of operators think menu customization is a long-term trend, not just a flash-in-the-pan fad.
As Datassential points out, foodservice operators have come up with many ways to customize their menus including choose your own sandwich options, DIY pizzas, offering a variety of sauces or condiments, coffee and tea flavorings, or providing customization stations such as an omelet bar. Even if the menu doesn’t change, such options allow consumers to experiment.
The top reason for the growing consumer desire for customized options, according to operators, is focus on healthy options. Other top motivators are that consumers are more “food-aware,” allergies are a bigger concern, and foodservice competition has increased. Customization is also seen as more appealing and fun, especially to younger diners—an important target demographic for many operators.
Build Your Own is on 11% of U.S. menus, a 39.7% surge over the past four years.
Given that 31% of customers want something very new and different when trying restaurants, according to Datassential, offering customization can give operators a leg up on the competition.
The ability to customize one’s own meal experience is key to the success of the fast-casual segment, where patrons are free to construct their own salads, burritos, rice and noodle bowls, coffee beverages, breakfast sandwiches, smoothies and juices, pizzas, and more—and are then encouraged to post their creations on social media.
GEN Z SPOTLIGHT 38% of Gen Z meals are purchased away from home vs 25% of the general population.
Source: Datassential Generations of Change (April 2018)
Sources: Datassential Pulse Topical, Customized Menus (2016); Datassential/IFMA Consumer Planning Program 2017/2018, Emerging Concepts & Disruptors; Datassential SNAP! Build Your Own (2019)
A snack has long been defined as a food or beverage occasion that falls outside a regular meal, but amid big changes in demographics, eating habits, and the workplace, what constitutes a snack is shifting, too. Smaller, more frequent food and beverage breaks are increasingly common, lending new meaning to the words “all-day dining.”
Regardless of when or why snacks are eaten, consumers look for flexibility on portions and pricing and for items that are portable, neat, and easy to eat. Increasingly, freshness and a healthful orientation weigh into decisions. Dovetailing surging interest in world cuisines, ethnic flavors also play large.
Roughly one-third of consumers believe anything can be considered a snack if the portion is scaled down, so keep things simple by thinking about how existing menu items and in-house ingredients can be snackified. Beverages are also front and center when it’s time to snack.
94% of consumers reported having a snack food the previous day (with an average of four to five that day), and 91% had a snack beverage (three to four that day).
Then there’s the issue of mealtimes themselves turning into snacking occasions. Almost half of all snack food orders occur during midday lunchtime hours, according to NPD, while the dinner daypart generates 30% of snack-related visits; breakfast accounts for 23% of snack orders. The company predicts that Americans’ snacking habits will continue to evolve, and that snack orders will rise by 12% by 2024.
GEN Z SPOTLIGHT Generation Z is more likely to have last dined out for a snack than the general population (22% vs 12%), with that snack often shared as a social occasion.
Sources: Datassential Pulse Topical 2016, Snacking; Datassential Keynote Report, Snacking (2017); The NPD Group, “When snacking replaces a foodservice meal, the meal is most often lunch” (2017)
There’s an app for that, or a device, or a pay-and-go platform, or…in fact, just about anything that used to require a time-consuming and error-prone human interface in restaurants has been replaced by a tech solution, as onsite tablets and kiosks revolutionize the foodservice marketplace.
For the operator, these platforms provide a way to build incremental sales with items such as sides, desserts, and drinks; in fact, one kiosk manufacturer reveals that operators can realize 30% increases. In addition, menus can be updated more easily than can old-fashioned hard menus and menu boards. Some platforms integrate tablets and kiosks with point-of-sale systems, mobile ordering, and delivery and web ordering.
In full-service restaurants, putting tablets on tables can speed up service—and help turn tables—by enabling diners to order food and beverages or pay their check without having to wait for a server to appear. In theory, this allows tables to turn faster. Additional functions like games, loyalty program interface, and sourcing/nutritional information also build engagement with table tech.
Tablets are also being used in popular restaurants so that customers can put their name on a waitlist when they arrive, without having to deal with a host.
Kiosks in QSRs, fast casuals, c-stores, and other venues with high foot traffic provide much the same time-saving benefits, with touchscreen capability that allows customers to order and pay before even approaching the counter to retrieve their food and beverages. Not only do kiosks help reduce waiting lines, but their easy-interface technology makes customizing meals simpler and quicker—patrons select all options themselves, and then double-check a final review screen. In many cases, they can see orders on monitors at the service line, rather than on slips of paper. There are even kiosk systems that integrate with personalized digital cubbies for pickup.
53% of consumers have used a tablet or kiosk when ordering food and beverages away from home.
It’s important, however, not to do away with the personal touch. Datassential points out that even though amenities like self-service kiosks are being rolled out so customers no longer need to have human interaction to place orders, there needs to be flexibility for human interaction—since the process can be daunting to Baby Boomers and others who aren’t digital natives.
GEN Z SPOTLIGHT Among the top five most important restaurant attributes to Gen Z are offering mobile, kiosk, or tabletop payment (38.4%) and providing video or TV entertainment (36%).
Source: Technomic, Foodservice Digest (February 2018)
Sources: Datassential/IFMA Consumer Planning Program 2017/2018, Emerging Concepts & Disruptors; Datassential Creative Concepts, Technology and Robotics, November 2017; Datassential’s Automation & Mircomarkets Keynote Report (2019); Datassential Trendspotting, Creative Concepts, Convenience Stores (December 2018); Datassential Trendspotting, Creative Concepts, Spin-off Restaurants (March 2019)
