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So, consumers want to eat fruits and vegetables, but they arent getting them away from home. This sales opportunity should be of particular interest to the quick-service segment, since two-thirds of consumers report they eat at a quick-serve restaurant at least once every two weeks, yet only 18 percent of them regularly consume a fruit or vegetable there.

Why? While restaurants fruit and vegetable offerings have improved over the past year, evidence suggests there is plenty of opportunity to expand the average menu, including quick-service. Fruit menu mentions increased 18 percent between 2002 and 2003, while vegetable menu mentions were up 5 percent, according to Food Beat Inc.s study of the top 200 chains menus. However, more than 50 of the 200 chains didnt mention fruit at all, and 41 percent of fruit menu mentions were desserts. While menu mentions of vegetables were seven times higher than fruit mentions in the survey, the majority of this growth comes from the explosion in entre salads.

With the proven success of salads in quick-service, savy marketers are already working on the next items to satisfy the customers continuing desire for healthy eating options.

Full article in QSR

Nonalcoholic drinks, paired with a tasting menu at Charlie Trotter’s in Chicago, blend flavors like prickly pear and kaffir lime leaves; barley and black cardamom; huckleberry and sesame; and cauliflower and turmeric root.

Now there’s a way for people who are limiting or avoiding alcohol finally to feel like grown-ups at the table: the nonalcoholic beverage pairing. [Read more…] about Juice for Caviar, Soda for Foie Gras

Chicago Sun-Times
A study by NPD Group, an independent marketing information company, found that the percentage of American adults on any low-carb diet in 2004 peaked at 9.1 percent in February and dropped to 4.9 percent by early November.

That means many companies that rode the low-carb wave are either out of business or refocusing their strategies.

MGP Ingredients Inc. of Atchison, Kan., which profited from the low-carb trend, earlier this month cut its fiscal 2005 per-share earnings forecast by more than half — from $1.08 to no more than 50 cents.

The reason is reduced demand for its specialty proteins and starches used to remove carbohydrates from foods. MGP said low-carb demand had peaked, and it did not expect it to return to anywhere near the level that sparked a 123 percent increase in sales in the third quarter of fiscal 2004.

USA Today

Not with lettuce and tomato, but with a fried egg and ketchup. Carl’s Jr., the fast-food chain that loves to thumb its nose at political correctness, this week will unveil the burger.

The national trend toward lunch at breakfast is clear. About 12.5% of fast-food diners ordered burgers for breakfast in 2004, compared with 7.5% in 2003, reports Sandelman & Associates, a restaurant consulting firm. In trend-setting Southern California, 17.6% of fast-food breakfast eaters got burgers this year.