The changing consumer

Nation's Restaurant News, April 17, 1995

FOOD? Lot's of variety and many menu alternatives.

BEVERAGES? Variety and intensified taste.

SERVICE? Fast, fast, fast, friendly, and convenient, convenient, convenient!

PRICE? Better than reasonable, they are looking for a BARGAIN.

These basic demands are driving changes in the way restaurants and restaurateurs operate, from creating menus to buying real estate and designing kitchens, to packaging items and increasing perceived value.

On today's competitive landscape, saving a few seconds here, a few cents there and keeping a level head through it all can mean the difference between roaring success, merely surviving or shutting your business.

With that in mind, NATION'S RESTAURANT NEWS offers our special supplement, "Capital Gains from Convenience."

Here are the value-added and convenience trends, the advances and the ideas that are shaping our industry. The ideas that will help you excel and get capital gains on your competition.

Time, for today's consumers, is a very limited resource. Few, if any, experts dispute the fact that restaurants are now a major source of meals for people who don't have time to shop for groceries, or prepare and cook a meal. As proof, according to the NRA, 43.1% of the consumer food dollar is spent away from home.

This lack of time was cited as patrons' primary motivation for dining in restaurants, according to nearly half of restaurateurs and foodservice managers surveyed recently at the New York Restaurant & Foodservice Show. Dining out has become a necessity. Fortunately, choices are wide; meeting every taste and price demand.

Restaurant goers also consider dining out as a way to indulge themselves. In the Master Card 1994 Dining Out Survey, 82% of respondents say they go out to dinner to relax and unwind. 60% say they go out to "treat themselves." And 67% agreed that eating out is their "favorite way to get away from the house." Both the Master Card Study and the latest NRA Dining Trends Study state that price/value is a major factor in selecting a restaurant. So is having an experience.

Dinner remains the meal most commonly eaten in a restaurant. Weekdays seem to be increasing as an away-from-home dinner occasion, driven by our hectic lifestyles and increasing lack of time for at-home preparation and clean up.

But as time constraints caused by personal and career demands continue to mold our habits, our food-away-from-home patterns continue to change. In fact, more than half the food purchased from restaurants these days is not even eaten there but taken home for comfort and convenience, or to the office where the desk now 'serves as a part-time dining table. This phenomenon has contributed to major changes in packaging, equipment and serving sizes.

It has also given rise to new software and whole new industries, i.e. mobile merchandising and food delivery. Nevertheless, customers still like the option of an eat-in meal and the opportunity to enjoy the full restaurant experience.

It becomes obvious then, that continuing consumer lifestyle changes point to the need for convenience and value-added products to provide meals quickly and efficiently, with a high taste profiles and little waste. In essence, they meet consumers' lifestyle changes and their demands from your restaurant business.

Technology has gone a long way in changing consumers forever, at work, at home, and now in the restaurant. Games entertain children and adults, vibrating pagers give a boost to both service and noise reduction, both on the consumers list of positives restaurant attributes.

The penchant for low-fat and no-fat foods compete with consumers' increased interest in steaks, desserts, and premium wines, beers, and spirits. Nevertheless, meeting the lifestyle trend for calorie and fat gram banking means expanding your menu for wider variety at the bar, in the kitchen, and on the dessert tray.

Given the state of the industry, having an ample supply of value-added possibilities and convenience alternatives throughout your business are important elements to your success for the second half of the nineties and into the next century.

RELATED ARTICLE: Dining Out: A Time to Relax, Enjoy, and Try Something New

Be nice to yourself!

Restaurant goers consider a dinner out as a way to indulge themselves. Letting someone else do the cooking is a way for 82% of these diners to relax and unwind. For many restaurant patrons, dining out is a luxury, a treat to themselves (60% says so).

Dining out is a popular way to spend a night out, with 67% agreeing that it is their favorite way to get out of the house. It is a luxury to be enjoyed at any time -- only 25% say that it is something they do only on special occasions.