• Embed Doc
  • Copy Link
  • Readcast
  • Collections
Download
 
1
A Recipe For Success
By Leslie LynnHands down, themost important elementof any great restaurant isthe culinary experience itdelivers to its guests. Whether your guests are try-ing new and exotic tastes or coming back for oldfavorites, it’s your restaurant’s food that makes theexperience memorable. Your brand, and its promise, should comeshining through your menu items. Your success inaccomplishing that will be the defining differencebetween you and the competition.
 Appealing to the Senses
Creating a menu of carefully-selected, relevantand inviting items that speak your brand ensuresthat your guests not only experience your uniquedifferences through what they see, but also throughwhat they taste. Your guests are counting on youto deliver a dining experience that is authentic andappropriate for your concept.
Menu methodology 
One of the hallmarks of a great menu is thesuccessful “storytelling” of the brand through thenames and descriptions of its items. Guests are onthe lookout for menu items that reflect familiarfavorites that are prepared and presented in new andexciting ways.Remember, your guests will spend only anaverage of two minutes reading your menu so thenames, description and layout of your menu are vitally important. The organization of menu items,the typeface and color palette do not only convey your restaurant’s image, but can also be strategically geared towards increasing profits.
The Signature Dish
There is no better way to gain a strong footholdin a defined theme than through signature dishesand drinks. These items are the original creations of your restaurant and establish defining differencesbetween your concept and other restaurants in yourcategory.Own a dish and you obsolete your competitionin tat menu category. You want your guests to say,“When I want a steak, I only go to……” Don’t be thebest at what you do, be the only one who does whatyou do!
 Drink Up
 A savvy beverage menu will boost sales andcreate unique niches that will be hard for your com-petitors to duplicate. The repackaging of successfultraditional favorites through creative naming anddistinctive glassware can be combined with severalsignature cocktails of your own creation to create a unique offering.
Identify the Trends
Every menu should be in a constant state of evolution. It’s one of the most effective avenues tokeeping your brand fresh and relevant. Keeping ontop of current and emerging trends is a vital com-ponent to menu mix management. Determiningwhat’s hot and what’s not is easy.
 Good Impressions
Once you have perfected the menu items thatembody your restaurant’s brand, the best way to show-case them is through alluring plateware, serviceware,flatware and glassware. It is important that the pre-sentation you choose for your menu items enhancetheir unique characteristics, not overpower them.
The Proof is in the Pudding
 Your restaurant can be elegant, hip, creative,fun or offbeat, but if it can’t deliver the promise of your brand through its menu items, your conceptwill fall flat. Creating great menus is a process of blending creative force with analytical principles. Inessence, it is finding the perfect balance between artand science.
Leslie Lynn is senior director of restaurant opera-tions consulting for Quantified Marketing Group, the U.S. largest full-service strategic marketing and public rela-tions firm focused exclusively in the restaurant industry.For more information, visit www.quantifiedmarketing.com.
Feb. 2008 No. 1
MAGAZINE
Promoting U.S. food & agriculture in China
 
 
2
ATO speaks
With the establish-ment of the AgriculturalTrade Office (ATO) Beijing
(美国使馆农业贸易处)
in China and the U.S.’s most important market foragricultural trade, the ATO opened its doors to thepublic on December 15, 2003. Our primary objec-tive is to promote, expand and protect U.S. foodand agricultural product markets in North andNortheast China. We provide a link for Americanand Chinese food and agricultural interests seekingregional, national and local market requirementsand opportunities for food and agricultural producttrade.China’s accession to World Trade Organizationand resulting phenomenal growth continues tobenefit and provide enormous market opportunitiesfor traders from both the U.S. and China. By 2020,China will have an estimated 500 million house-holds with nearly 50% able to purchase many USfood products exports. And, over the next 15 years,China’s food consumption is expected to grow to$25 billion annually which makes it the world’s fast-est growing market!e importantly the political capital of the nationhas experienced rapid improvements in recent years.Investment in improving existing infrastructure forthe Olympics has helped push local GDP growth tonearly 10 % annually through 2008. More impor-tantly, North China Emerging City Markets aregrowing at a pace more rapidly than other majorurban areas including but not limited to Qingdao,Dalian, Harbin andShenyang whichhave undergone tre-mendous change andeconomic growth.The market is not simply “ripe” but at a “critical”stage of development as the cost of our productsbecome more accessible to urban consumers whohave seen incomes continue to rise along with fall-ing prices for imports in real terms based on recentappreciation of the Chinese Yuan vis-à-vis the U.S.Dollar.The opportunities are enormous for suppliers,and purchasers of high quality, safe, and healthy food and agricultural products in this market. We very much welcome you to the services of the ATOBeijing and the dynamic North China markets.Please do contact us if your organization has aninterest in U.S. agricultural and food product tradein North China. Located in the heart of Beijing’sCBD (Center Business District) and we look forwardto your next visit here in Beijing at the Kerry Center... Agricultural Trade Office (ATO) BeijingKerry Center South Tower (
嘉里中心南楼
)24th Floor, Suite #2425No.1 Guanghua Lu, Chaoyang District (
朝阳区光华路1号
)Beijing, People’s Republic of China Tel: (86-10) 8529-6418Fax: (86-10)8529-6692Email: ATOBeijing@fas.usda.govWeb site: www.usdachina.org
Hot Trends in Food
 
The National Restaurant Association recently surveyedmembers of the AmericanCulinary Federation to rankfood and beverage items. Here are the top ten “hot”choices as ranked by member chefs. 1. Bite-size desserts2. Locally grown produce3. Organic produce4. Small plates/tapas5. Specialty sandwiches6. Craft and microbrew beers7. Sustainable seafood8. Grass-fed items9. Energy drink cocktails10. Salts (sea, smoked, colored,kosher)
 
3
 7  0  0 2  r  e  b m e  t   p e  S 
 a i   s A  l  i   a  t   e R 
FOR starters, the new Global Food &Style Exposition (GFSE 2008) prom-ises to be the first major food-relatedtrade show in the US that is interna-tional in scope and not specifically focus-ed on one class of trade such as retail,restaurant and ingredient.The debut event — jointly organ-ised and sponsored by the National As-sociation for the Specialty Food Trade(NASFT), the Organic Trade Associa-tion (OTA), and the National Associa-tion of State Departments of Agricul-ture (NASDA) — is garnering strongsupport in the US in terms of exhibitorparticipation.Industry leaders view the new showin a positive light. It will be a brand-new venue for American exhibitors to show-case their products and services to the world.“Ninety-five per cent of the world’spopulation lives outside the US, andthey all need to eat. Minnesota is blessed with productive land,skilled farmers and world-class processors. It onlymakes sense for us to focuson building a presence inexport markets,” says GeneHugoson, Commissioner of the Minnesota Departmentof Agriculture. A past president of NASDA, Hugoson hasmade numerous trips to Asia, both on Minnesotaand NASDA business, andhas a keen interest in Asia,especially China.“Minnesota’s agricul-tural sales to China toppedUS$363 million last year,and we expect to doubleFood Export-Northeast will be hostinga pavilion, making it easy for Asian buy-ers to locate high-quality producers fromthe Midwest and Northeast.” As US products are reputed for theirquality, innovation and high standardsof safety, the new show will give retailersand distributors in Asia an additionalopportunity to shop for some fine prod-ucts for their home mar-kets.The export of US con-sumer-oriented agricul-tural products to marketsall over the world contin-ues to grow. In the first sixmonths of this year, USexports of these productstotalled US$15.9 trillion, anincrease of 11.9% over thesame period in 2006, ac-cording to figures releasedby the US Bureau of theCensus Trade Data. And, Asia is one of themost dynamic regions whenit comes to the buying andselling of made-in-the USproducts. In the first sixmonths of this year, Japan importedUS$1.96-trillion worth of consumer-ori-ented agricultural products, a 12.47%increase over the same period last year.With its new status as a World TradeOrganisation member, Vietnam is anemerging market that has become thefastest-growing importer of US prod-ucts, buying US$61.1-million worth of goods in the first six months of this year,a surge of 52.27% over the same periodlast year.One of the most significant marketsis obviously China, which is currentlythe US’ sixth-largest market for suchproducts. Its US imports grew by a whop-ping 41.07% — from US$325.4 billionin the first six months of 2006 toUS$459.06 billion for January-June2007.DeWitt Ashby, director, trade showsfor NASDA, notes that Chinese visitorsto NASDA’s Chicago events have pur-chased more than US$50 million from American exhibitors at the NationalRestaurants Association (NRA) Showand the USFES over the past five years.
Brand-new GFSE 2008 a‘must-visit’ trade show
that withinfour years.China is ourthird-biggestcustomer, andthere’s still plenty more growth poten-tial.”Under Hugoson’s watch, Minnesotahas risen to the fifth-largest agricul-tural exporting state in the US, trailingIllinois, Texas, Iowa and California.Sharing Hugoson’s views, Tim Ham-ilton, executive director of Food Ex-port-Midwest and Food Export-North-east, notes:“Asia is an extremely im-portant market for Midwestern andNortheastern food and agricultural pro-ducers. Food Export-Midwest and FoodExport-Northeast have been facilitat-ing trade between Asian importers andUS producers for many years.“The 2008 US Food Export Show-case (USFES 2008), which will be anintegral part of the Global Food andStyle Expo, is another terrific opportu-nity to bring these groups together. Atthis event, Food Export-Midwest and
Two months ago, R
ETAIL
A
SIA
brought to you the firstannouncement of a brand-newinternational show,
Global Food& Style Expo 2008
, which is set for April 27-29 in Chicago, Illinois,USA. Here’s how the show isshaping up.
SPECIAL PREVIEW
Commissioner ofthe MinnesotaDepartment ofAgriculture GeneHugoson:“Minnesota’sagricultural salesto China toppedUS$363 million lastyear, and weexpect to doublethat within fouryears.”Food Export-Midwest and FoodExport-Northeast’sTim Hamilton:“[We] will behosting a pavilion,making it easy forAsian buyers tolocate high-qualityproducers fromthe Midwest andNortheast.”
of 00

Commenting has been disabled.