Specialty Food Magazine

Spring 2020

Specialty Food Magazine is the leading publication for retailers, manufacturers and foodservice professionals in the specialty food trade. It provides news, trends and business-building insights that help readers keep their businesses competitive.

Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1220124

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 3 of 75

Specialty Food Association members: Discuss this topic in the Solution Center on specialtyfood.com SPRING 2020 1 editor's letter Denise Purcell Editor, SFA Specialty Food dpurcell@specialtyfood.com 4 TRENDS TO WATCH IN FOODSERVICE T he foodservice channel is facing important issues like minimum wage changes, tariffs on imported products, and gender equality. You can read how some chefs and restaurant operators are addressing these challenges in this foodservice- focused issue of Specialty Food magazine, starting on p. 24, in addition to other channel-specific content like tackling food waste (p. 31) and tips makers should know when pitching restaurant or hospitality establishments (p. 64). We also gathered more information on current trends in foodservice at the Winter Fancy Food Show in San Francisco, where we interviewed several chefs, cookbook authors, and restaurant operators as part of the SFA News Live platform. Here are four trends to know. 1. Fast-fine dining. Marrying the flexibility and affordability of fast casual and the standards of fine dining (think wine, candles), the fast- fine trend is here to stay, said Charles Bililies of Souvla, a Greek restaurant chain at the forefront of the trend with six locations in San Francisco. The appeal of this shift in dining expectations is approachability while still offering quality products with a global flavor focus. 2. Chef-maker partnerships. While chef- branded products have often held cache and name familiarity, partnerships between startups and chefs are emerging as a business model, said Natalie Shmulik of The Hatchery Chicago. Shmulik pointed to successful partnerships like Think Jerky, where founder Ricky Hirsch partnered with notable chefs like Gale Gand, Doug Sohn, Matt Troost, and Laurent Gras to create jerky flavors that minimize sugar and salt and emphasize quality. 3. Regional Asian cuisine. Authentic foods from all over Asia are trending as mainstream audiences become more familiar with the distinct flavors and ingredients of the continent's sub-regions. (You'll find that the SFA Trendspotter Panel agrees. Check out their selections for the Winter Fancy Food Show trends on p. 51). Restaurant operator Thao Pham of Turtle Tower, a three-location San Francisco chain, has had success introducing unfamiliar Ha Noi-style northern Vietnamese cuisine to patrons. She and Boom Wanvisa of Daughter Thai and Farmhouse Kitchen, which feature foods of southern and northeastern Thailand, respectively, note the health halo of many Asian cuisines as a draw. Wanvisa, for example, expands on the concept of food as medicine by offering dishes like jasmine rice with butterfly pea flower, which offers a visually striking blue color and is high in antioxidants. 4. The (non) cocktail hour. Mocktails, or nonalcoholic drinks, are a sweeping trend in foodservice right now. Joanne Weir, chef, restaurant owner, cookbook author, and host of the SFA's Winter Show Front Burner Foodservice Pitch Competition, noted the growing interest, as did Adam Jed of Amuse Management Group, a restaurant management firm. Jed expects to see more tinctures and botanicals on menus as they help bring a heightened level to offerings. You can watch these SFA News Live interviews and more segments at specialtyfood.com/news/section/videos/.

Articles in this issue

Links on this page

Archives of this issue

view archives of Specialty Food Magazine - Spring 2020