From one end of the menu to another, some noteworthy trends stand out. Although restaurants and their menus can’t be everything to everyone, there has still been a broad attempt to deliver food and drink with contemporary attributes around health, flavor innovation, value and premium quality, as well as menu offerings designed for very specific dining occasions.
Appetizers—long-standing tools used to whet customers’ appetites for their meal while providing operators with a bump-up in the check average—are being repositioned on a number of menus as a way to help develop fun, interactive dining occasions. Technomic’s new 2012 “Menu Positioning & Occasion Driver Consumer Trend Report” uncovers how restaurant chains are promoting shareable new finger foods and small plates as a part of bar, happy-hour and late-night menus.