DAWN FARMS TOP 9 | ISSUE 8 2018

GLOBAL UPDATE ON CONSUMER, MARKET AND MENU INSIGHTS. 

1. ED'S DINER, NEW NAME NEW IMAGE

The customer dining experience featured heavily in this year’s Casual Dining seminar line-up. The challenge of high brand churn amidst consumers’ growing eating out brand repertoires was highlighted by CGA, reinforcing the higher expectations of consumers with stretched disposable incomes. Ed’s Diner is revamping its UK stores in a bid to enhance and personalise its diners’ experience. The American-themed restaurant, owned by Boparan Holdings, is introducing a pay-at-counter fast casual-style service, similar to Nando’s and Five Guys. New Liquid Sunshine touchscreen stations for cold drinks, a range of cereal shakes featuring Lucky Charms and Coco Pops, and bottomless hot drinks are new menu features as are build-your-own-burgers and all-day breakfasts.

2. RISE OF THE TESTAURANT

Last year in the Top 9 we featured the concept of ‘Testaurants’. Mexican street food chain Wahaca and Asian chain Wagamama both opened test kitchens in 2017 with the aim of developing and testing different ideas and recipes among London audiences. The test kitchens provided customers with tablets to provide instant feedback on dishes before they are rolled out on menus nationwide. When it comes to big data analytics, Yumpingo provides a platform for capturing customer feedback on everything from service to spice levels. Yumpingo was awarded Gold in Casual Dining’s Innovation Challenge Awards this week – click here to see the other winners >>

3. PAPA JOHN'S DUTCH EXPANSION

Papa John’s has opened its 4th Dutch store in Rotterdam, the Netherlands second-largest city and the first of a number of store openings planned in the Netherlands for 2018. One is opening shortly in Almere, while there are other potential sites in both the Hague and Leiden. Papa John’s first entered the country in 2016 and until now all its stores were centred in the capital Amsterdam. Rotterdam is increasingly well-known for its creative art and food scene and is certainly emerging from Amsterdam’s shadows in that respect. Look out for FG Food Labs and Markthal, while for Rotterdam food festivals, click here >>

4. MCDONALD'S BREKKIE BURGER

Australians’ love of ‘Brekkie’ is well-documented, and McDonald’s Australia has now launched its Big Brekkie Burger combining traditional breakfast items into a burger bun. This breakfast on a bun concept consists of bacon rasher, a ‘freshly cracked ‘egg, cheese, a warm crisp hash brown and barbeque sauce topping a 100% Aussie beef patty. To see other McDonald’s Brekkie Rolls from the Aussie BBQ to Smoky BBQ to Tomato Relish click here >>

5. POKER NIGHT AT LEON'S HOUSE

The tie-up between family, friends and food is the motivation behind healthy fast food chain Leon’s cookbooks. Its latest Poker Night Chilli aims to make the chilli available to its customers in store, delivered to their homes or made themselves by following the recipe in the Family & Friends cookbook (the 4th cookbook). Emphasis on ‘big flavour to difficulty ratio’. Watch the video here of co-founder John Vincent and his father Leon cooking Poker Night Chilli >>

6. POPEYE'S FRENCH DEBUT

Popeyes finally made its French debut this month with not one but 2 stores opening in quick succession. The chicken concept run by Lodarest, exclusive franchisee of the US group for France, is based on Cajun and creole recipes and its arrival has been well received according to the company with more than twice the customers it had originally forecast. It’s the 2nd largest chicken chain in the US after KFC and is planning 100 restaurants across France by 2027 including 12 in 2018.

7. CASUAL DINING NEWCOMERS

The casual dining crunch - the impact of Brexit on staff retention; rising business costs; oversupply – all reflect a sector under pressure in a market which has been flooded with over 4,000 new restaurants since 2013 (CGA). While the number of newcomers and organic growth by chains is predicted to slow, eating out is still Britain’s favourite leisure activity. In the Italian sector, celebrity chef Gino D’Acampo has 5 new restaurants planned to join its existing 8 My Restaurant sites by 2019. Vapiano has 6 sites currently in the UK with 3 in the pipeline this year. Venetian-inspired Cecconi is a new pizza bar opening in Soho serving cicchetti (small Italian plates), pizza and cocktails.

8. TACO BELL IN THE FAST LANE

Taco Bell has overtaken Burger King as the 4th largest domestic restaurant brand in the US, following McDonald’s, Starbucks and Subway, according to new research by foodservice analysts Technomic. Taco Bell’s indulgent Mexican-inspired food is appealing to cash-strapped Millennials, while its quirky and innovative menu items are credited with increasing Mexican food’s curb appeal. Click here to see some of Taco Bell’s “craziest” menu items >>

9. MIND BLOWING FLAVOUR PAIRINGS

Click here to read a great article in the Telegraph this week which highlights some classic food pairings (like beef & horseradish - mustardy sourish horseradish brings out the meatiness of beef) and recommends some new flavour pairings to try eg beef & pomegranate. Others include stilton & rhubarb, coconut & egg or orange & olive. Flavour expert Niji Segnit recommends “Keep an open mind. Flavour pairing is more like a series of crushes rather than a long-term relationship”.