Vegetarian, vegan and seafood options continue to increase on menus, however, due to the flexibility that poultry offers operators to create innovative and premium dishes—and its lower price relative to beef—poultry is well positioned to remain a popular choice. To retain poultry's share of stomach, operators and suppliers will need to emphasize chicken and turkey's healthfulness and affordability and menu innovative takes on traditional dishes to pique consumer interest.

"Bold and spicy flavors can be used to differentiate, especially combined with alternative preparations—like spicy ground turkey in tacos or rotisserie-style chicken flavored with dry rubs. Touting poultry's health and overall value will help justify poultry price points," explains Kelly Weikel, director of consumer insights at Technomic.

In addition to tracking consumers' consumption behavior, the Center of the Plate: Poultry Consumer Trend Report compiles menu, industry and competitive data, and spotlights emerging concepts. Operator and manufacturer marketing teams can easily leverage the report's key themes, which include:

• 89 percent of consumers eat chicken at least weekly, while 36 percent eat turkey.
• Menu descriptors such as natural, unprocessed and organic are seen as more healthy by consumers.
• The most prevalent proteins at limited- and full-service restaurants are chicken, pork, beef and turkey, in that order.

The Center of Plate: Poultry Consumer Trend Report is one of many in Technomic's Consumer Trend Report series, offering the most current analysis, insight and opportunities to help grow your business. Our best-in-class intelligence combines 50 years of foodservice expertise with critical findings from more than 7,000 menus per year and nearly 30,000 annual consumer interviews.