Menus Embrace Americana Introduction More and more menus are waving the American flag when it comes to culinary inspiration. Traditional American food is on the rise—up 26% from Q3 2008 to Q3 July 2012 2011—and more regional American references are coming into focus. Also on the rise: old-fashioned food that evokes Americana, from apple pie to fried chicken, and even dishes that accentuate the country goodness of certain meals. There are several factors fueling this trend. First, the “locavore” movement of the last decade has brought attention to local, regional and seasonal food sourcing, and this has inevitably led chefs and diners to knowing more about what states and regions have the best crops and some unique dishes. Now, consumers are interested in seeing how even basic things, like chowder or a steak sandwich, can have different meanings from state to state and even from city to city. Interest in regional American food also got a boost from the way New Orleans chefs worked to retain the culinary culture and food sources of that city post-Katrina and in the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. These events brought attention to New Orleans and Louisiana, which rippled out to an interest in Southern cuisine, which continues to build interest throughout other regions. Emerging American Hot Spots This trend continues to build because, over the past decade, the foodservice industry has circled the globe in terms of culinary inspiration. Chefs and diners have learned a lot about Mediterranean, Asian and Latin cuisines. Now the food world is turning inwards and looking at America’s rich culinary heritage. Often, culinary interests follow wider cultural concerns, and with a presidential election quickly approaching, the economy still in limbo and many troops returning from the Middle East, Number of Menu items with American Regional References Americans are focused on domestic issues. 0 50 100 150 200 250 Interest in the regional cuisines of the United Memphis States will most likely evolve much like interest in Chicago global cuisines, moving from broad regions to Philly-Style smaller areas, more refined ingredients, more New Orleans specific pockets of influence and increasingly Georgia authentic ingredients. Menus are already Louisiana narrowing the focus from broader regions like the Virginia Northeast to finer points of these regions, with San Antonio citations narrowing from New England to Maine Northwest Low Country to Bar Harbor, Maine. This pattern is reflected in the number of regional or city-specific ingredient references. For instance, St. Louis references grew by 51% from Q3 2008 to Q3 2011, same goes for Memphis, which has grown by 195% in the 3- year period, and both references reflect diners’ refined tastes in different barbecue styles. Many regional sandwich, hot dog and burger chains ran American regional promotions in 2011, which accounts for a big bump in "Philly-style,” which is up 108%. American pride permeates all dining segments. From fine dining to fast food, this report examines how menus of all types are taking advantage of home-grown foods and flavors. Fine Dining and Independents Top 10 Ingredient In fine dining and among independent chefs, there’s a very academic Geographical Claims component to discovering more about American culinary history. Many % Change New York City chefs are taking inspiration from both American regional Rank ’08-‘11 foods and local restaurant nostalgia. Chefs Mario Carbone and Rich Torrisi 1 New York-Style 23% serve upscale Italian-American food at Torrisi Italian Specialties, but the two chefs researched old menus collected at the Brooke Russell Astor 2 Texas -10% Reading Room of New York Public Library for their newer Parm restaurant. 3 Southwestern 3% The ever-evolving retro menu pays homage to all five boroughs of the city 4 St. Louis-Style 11% with sophisticated updates on everything from Jewish deli food to 5 Chinatown’s takeout. California -30% 6 New England -2% In Chicago, Big Jones is one of many thriving independents serving Southern food. The menu is “coastal southern cooking with a focus on 7 Southern 50% locally-grown, sustainably-farmed food, and progressive American kitchen 8 Cajun-Style -59% techniques. Chef and co-owner Paul Fehribach’s vision is forward-thinking 9 Philly-Style 112% cuisine grounded in the traditions of Lowcountry, Floribbean, Cajun, and Creole cuisines served with gracious hospitality.” Many of the menu 10 Memphis 195% descriptions include the date of origin, like “Ponchartrain Lump Crab Cakes, ca. 1885.” Casual and Family-Midscale Dining In casual and family-midscale settings, some well-established brands have built their reputations on good, old comfort cooking. More and more, Southern accents go with the country goodness, as was seen in the chicken-waffle LTOs run both at IHOP and Shari's in 2011. For other regional tastes, fish-focused concepts like Red Lobster Source: IHOP and Legal Sea Foods take much of their inspiration from the East, but the West and Northwest are also well-represented in casual dining. Focusing on the flavors of Big Sky country, Ted’s Montana Grill is built around beef and bison. This past May, the chain revamped the menu to include a new batch of burgers named after different parts of the West. The Montana Breakfast Burger includes American cheese, grilled ham, a fried egg and spicy house-made tomato jam. The Canyon Creek Burger is “topped with melted cheddar cheese, bacon, diced jalapeños, blackberry jam, and a fried egg over-easy, and served on a corn- dusted Kaiser roll. New Mexico is represented with pepper Jack cheese, roasted Anaheim pepper, fresh guacamole and Ted’s spicy tomato jam. The casual full service segment is also a place where menus often cut-and-paste from a variety of global and regional influences; the trend is not to focus on one region, but rather to represent some greatest hits from across the nation (and sometimes the globe). For instance, the Cheesecake Factory’s globe-trotting menu has, in recent years, added more domestically-inspired dishes like sweet corn fritters, mini corn dogs, chicken and biscuits and many New Orleans shrimp dishes. Quick Serve and Fast Casual Quick service (QSR) and fast casual restaurants are also borrowing an array of regional flavors to bring new interest to familiar favorites like hamburgers, sandwiches, and fried chicken. Sonic has made news with its Coney and city-inspired hot dogs. The Chicago dog is embellished with pickles, sports peppers and celery salt, and the New York version has sauerkraut and spicy brown mustard. Other chains adjust menus based on regional tastes. At Smashburger, “every Smashburger menu is specially crafted to reflect the tastes and flavors of your city or state.” Regional burgers include the Spicy Baja with pepper Jack cheese, guacamole, lettuce, tomato, onion, spicy chipotle mayo and fresh jalapeños on a spicy chipotle bun. The Windy City burger layers of melted Consumer Interest in Regional Cuisine cheddar cheese, haystack onions, lettuce, 100% tomato and Gulden’s spicy mustard on a 80% 60% hand-cut pretzel roll. Smashburger 40% launched its sweet potato “smash fries” as 20% a Southern regional special, but expanded 0% them nationally based on customer demand. The QSR and fast-casual segments are also Familiar Interested a place where beloved regional chains often flourish beyond their places of origins. For example, Culver’s has managed controlled franchised growth to 443 units in 19 states, while still keeping a grip on its Wisconsin roots with specialties like butter burgers, frozen custard and cheese curds, described as “a dairyland delicacy made using the freshest, un-aged yellow and white Wisconsin Cheddar, deep-fried golden brown for a warm, buttery crunch. Provided exclusively to Culver’s by La Grander Hillside Dairy in Stanley, Wisc.” Menu Momentum: What’s Next • American regional food is not static and will evolve as more influences, groups of people and knowledge of our culinary history continues to define it. • Familiarity in American regional cuisines is high, and consumer interest is even higher (see chart above). There is plenty more room for exploration in the cuisine of the United States, as areas become more specifically defined, even within cuisines, as in Cajun to Creole to New Orleans style. • Many American regional foods appeal to consumers’ desire for comfort, nostalgia and familiar food with new twists, like updated Oyster Rockefeller or a sophisticated version of shrimp and grits • Less expensive, slowly cooked meats—from beef brisket to rotisserie chicken—are important to many regional cuisines. .