SugarCreek: Brandworthy Food Solutions

The USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service website lists the following meat recalls for April and May, 2014:

While you know that understanding the eating habits of your customers is vital to the success of your business, gauging how Americans eat means more than just keeping track of what menu items are selling.

As a nation, we’re famous for our appetites and our hectic lifestyle— two factors that don’t always combine well, especially when it comes to nutrition. Because we always seem to be on the go, many Americans have relied on fast and convenient meals to fill us up, regardless of how healthy or unhealthy they may be. Unfortunately most of these foods are high in calories, saturated fats, sodium, preservatives and other less-than-healthful ingredients, and our convenience-based eating habits have led to a significant increase in health complications.

In fact, the Centers for Disease Control report that more than one third of all adults in the United States are currently suffering from obesity. Fortunately, public awareness of the need for better nutrition is increasing, and supermarket trends indicate that Americans are slowly changing the way they eat in response.

Relevant Research and Trends

As you know, a successful business is always evolving to keep up with what their customers want. Whether that means changing their product or their process, it is a vital part of continued growth. And when it comes to food service trends, restaurants and suppliers find themselves adapting to new eating habits every year. Some of these are merely fads that fizzle out quickly, but some trends have a long-reaching impact on the food service industry.

Americans have a reputation for fickle eating habits – a menu item might be so hot one year you cannot serve it up fast enough and so cold the next year that you can’t even give it away. Sometimes it seems impossible to predict how consumer tastes will change, but food industry scientists are able to synthesize data from restaurants and suppliers across the country to identify the food service trends that you can use to create a menu that is always exciting and new.

Americans are predicted to return to restaurants with a vengeance in 2014.

The National Restaurant Association expects restaurant-industry sales to hit a record high in 2014. The organization predicts a stronger economy and pent-up consumer demand will drive restaurant-industry sales earnings to an excess of $683 billion dollars this year. The lion’s share of sales will go to eating places, including fast food and table service restaurants, rather than to bars or hotels.

Technomic is not so optimistic. While the 500 largest U.S. restaurant chains registered a 3.5 percent annual sales increase in 2013, it paled in comparison with the 4.9 percent increase the year before.

"Although we have seen overall growth within the Top 500, the pace has slowed since last year," said Ron Paul, President of Technomic. "Competition for share of stomach is getting more and more challenging. But brands that have found a way to differentiate themselves are gaining market share."

This means food service organizations that can recognize emerging trends and create unique, branded products that cater to those trends will gain a larger share of the market than those who continue to serve the same old menu.

According to the young American social activist group Do Something, 52% of Americans polled in a recent study said that doing their taxes was easier than figuring out how to eat healthy. It’s a noteworthy statistic considering the fact that, in recent years, there’s been a tremendous growth in scientific knowledge that has informed dietary recommendations to promote good health and longevity.

In other words, how can the average American know so little about nutrition when there is so much information available nowadays? Or perhaps they do understand the relationship between diet and health but are somehow unable to change their eating habits.

Lunch is easily the most overlooked meal of the day. It’s not given the significance of breakfast or characterized as a family meal like dinner, but when it comes down to simple numbers, lunch is definitely a meal you don’t want to ignore when setting up your marketing strategy. Why? Because a recent report by Forbes looked further into American eating habits and discovered that the average person spends close to $1,000 per year to eat lunch out.

Who is eating lunch away from the office?

As it turns out, 70% of the working public eats lunch out occasionally. This includes everyone: men and women, people making six figures and those making minimum wage. All around the country, professionals are making the most out of their lunch break by enjoying a freshly prepared, delicious meal that doesn’t involve Tupperware and a microwave.

To stay relevant, the food service industry must be innovative and responsive to eating trends in the U.S., continually reinventing itself to offer consumers the culinary treats that satisfy the ever-changing appetites of Americans. But while dining trends ebb and flow overtime, there is one thing that has remained constant— the American family loves to eat together.

Even as Americans change how they eat based on nutrition or health concerns, families in the United States still gather around the dinner table most nights each week or enjoy other meals together at restaurants and fast food joints.

American Eating Habits– a Family Affair

It’s no secret that how you eat has an impact on your health. In fact, studies have shown that good nutrition can lower your risk for some of the leading causes of death in the United States—heart disease, some kinds of cancer, type 2 diabetes, stroke. And, with a record number of Americans struggling with these chronic conditions, diners finally seem to be taking note.

American eating habits have begun to reflect an increased awareness of the importance of healthy eating. The ability to access fresh foods year-round, patronize local businesses and farmers’ markets, and select natural and organic foods have helped many Americans follow healthier diets.