David Chang | Photograph by W. Scott Mitchell

Upscale barbecue and sushi are two underrepresented cuisines in the restaurant landscape, according to David Chang.

The celebrity chef, TV star and producer, media mogul, founder of the award-winning restaurant Momofuku and owner of a 16-site restaurant group including fine dining restaurants, casual noodle and ssam bars and multi-city chains Milk Bar and Fuku, made the statement during the opening session of the 2022 Restaurant Leadership Conference held this week in Phoenix.

Chang’s pansies were just one of many culinary currents running through the three-day conference. But most menu discussions have focused on one theme: the pandemic has reshaped the way culinary directors, chefs and marketers innovate the menu.

Over the past two years, menu R&D teams have been forced to adapt to supply chain and labor challenges, increased takeout and delivery, outdoor dining, digital controls and ever-changing technology. Many changes are now part and parcel of running a restaurant kitchen. But the industry leaders presenting at RLC forums and sessions don’t stop there: these changes pave the way for more innovation.

Back to barbecue and sushi. Chang thinks the time has come for these two culinary concepts to take off. “There are only 10 to 15 bespoke sushi restaurants in the United States,” Chang said, referring to the tiny, expensive places where a highly skilled sushi chef cooks up a multi-course tasting menu in front of six to eight guests seated at the counter. . “That’s only about 90 seats in total,” he said.

Create an experience

This kind of meal is as much about the experience as the food. The same goes for the barbecue, but it is much less formal and can reach many more customers.

“Barbecue is party, and for the next five years or so people will want to party in restaurants and have fun,” Chang told editor Peter Romeo during their onstage chat at RLC. . He cited an Oakland, Calif., restaurant in a junkyard that offers a communal barbecue experience and regularly waits three hours.

After a long quarantine, people are looking for ambiance and experience as well as good food more than ever, Chang said.

Demand for experiential dining has been building during the pandemic, but Damola Adamolekun began focusing on the dining experience as soon as he and his investment partners bought PF Chang’s in 2019, he said in a one-on-one chat with editor Joe Guszkowski on the main stage of RLC.

He started by refreshing the decor.

Adamolekun borrowed design cues from high-end Tao, a highly lucrative Asian independent withseveral places, with the aim of creating “a Tao for the middle class”, he said. “I took pieces of Tao and incorporated them into those of PF Chang.”

The CEO also changed the serving ware, swapping out stone plates for a more dramatic presentation. “Our signature fried dumplings were served on white plates,” he said. “Now they’re slapped on contrasting stoneware drizzled with soy sauce to make them sizzle when they arrive at the table.”

This small change increased posts and sales on Instagram. The presentation turned heads in restaurants and boosted customer orders at other tables, Adamolekun said.

He also worked with the culinary team to streamline the menu, reducing the number of items by 30%. “We removed dishes that strayed too far from PF Chang’s heart and comfort zone, such as Asian mac and cheese,” he said.

Reduced menus are here to stay

Shrinking menus have become a necessity during COVID, with many chains and independents reducing the selection. Two years later, labor and supply chain challenges are shrinking the size of those menus, and operators continue to streamline menus down to bestsellers, must-haves, and seasonal items.

Limited-time offers are taking over.

At an LTO RLC Innovation Forum, Shane Schaibly, SVP of Culinary Strategy and Business Leader at First Watch said “we use LTOs to maintain relevance and keep the menu fresh in front of our customers. It provides for a constant rotation of a starter and three fresh fruit juices every 10 weeks.

In the 435-unit breakfast and lunch chain, limited-time offers rely on seasonal produce, and Schaibly begins working with suppliers up to 24 months in advance to secure supply. Two of First Watch’s most successful LTOs return this summer: Watermelon Wake-Up, pressed daily from fresh watermelon, and Elote Mexican Street Corn Hash, made from summer corn.

But rounding out the hash are avocados, potatoes, cheese and eggs – staples that First Watch always has in stock from its distributor.

In addition to being fresh and seasonal, Schaibly strives for colors and formats that make an LTO “up to date”, he said. “Instagram contributes to the success of an LTO.”

At Papa Gino’s Pizzeria, “we’re currently thinking about LTOs that will work with products we already have on hand,” said Deena McKinley, experience manager for the New England regional chain. Two types of cheese can be combined for a pizza topping, with tomatoes and broccoli from the salad section added as well. This strategy ensures a constant supply.

If a new SKU is essential to create a special limited time offer at Zoup! Eatery has to be here for the long haul, said Jason Valentine, president of the fast-casual chain. “We make sure that a new ingredient will work in all menu categories and be eligible for the permanent menu,” Valentine said.

A dual axis of R&D

Whether chefs are developing an LTO, introducing a new item to the regular menu, or refreshing an old favourite, it now needs to be tested for on-site and off-site consumption.

Takeout and delivery became the only game in town during the early days of COVID, but now these channels are integral to most operations, even those that never have before.

“From a menu perspective, you have to look both onsite and offsite,” said Kieran Donahue, CMO of IHOP, during a session on redefining marketing. The family restaurant chain pivoted to offsite overnight in 2020, she said, and has since developed a line of travel-friendly bowls and burritos. “Portability is so important now,” Donahue said.

Alice Crowder, CMO of Krystal Restaurants and a member of the same marketing panel, agreed. The QSR now performs bifurcated marketing tests on menu items. “We taste the product immediately after it rolls off the line, and taste it again 30 minutes later to see how it holds up after an Uber Eats delivery,” she said.

While Chinese restaurants have always had a strong takeout business, PF Chang’s has pulled out all the stops with the launch of PF Chang’s To Go. 12 of the stores now operating in urban areas with more to come, said Adamolekun. The menu includes bowls, stir-fries, noodle dishes and appetizers, in individual or family portions.

Push of factories and automation

RLC also included a bustling exhibit area, and this year new plant-based food iterations debuted. A vegan tuna product made with winter melon and other botanicals – but without soy or pea protein – had the color and texture of raw tuna and was a credible substitute for sushi, poke and ceviche.

Also had plant-based shrimp, shaped like the shrimp we get from the sea. When fried and in sauce, it looked quite similar to the seafood version. breaded in the market, the thicker exposed fillet-like product makes a fried “chicken” sandwich closer to popular real ones.

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Robot servers and automated bartenders also stood out on the crowded floor. In fact, the majority of exhibitors were technology companies, highlighting the growing role of data in menu development, kitchen efficiency, order accuracy and food waste.

Panelists in a conference session on artificial intelligence highlighted the two types that can benefit restaurants: Vision AI and conversational AI. Advances in this technology can alert an operator to discard cooked food that has been left out too long, eliminating potential health risks. Or reduce food waste by identifying fresh ingredients that are starting to spoil.

But breakthroughs in conversational AI are more customer-facing, taking order accuracy, upselling, and personalization to another level. Drive-throughs, quick-service restaurants and restaurants with digital menus are already benefiting from technological improvements, but David Chang sees benefits for fine dining on the horizon.

Total customization

The next iteration of data collection will make personalization much more precise, he said. “Before a guest walks through the door, the front of house will know they want to order Chablis wine or sparkling water, and we’ll open the wine or prepare the water,” Chang said.

What else does Chang see as having an impact in the future? “I’m still figuring it out,” he said, but offered a few ideas:

• You need to consider remote workers when developing a menu now

• Food trucks don’t make sense. “Why have something that is mobile and park it? Something that moves can be the next big thing.

• Social media is a key ingredient in the recipe. When Chang launched Fuku, his quick and casual chicken sandwich concept, “dark meat sandwiches weren’t a thing. So I cut off the thighs by hand and made them ridiculously big. Social media made it popular,” he said. “I designed the size and spice level to get people talking about it.”

•Keep an open mind. While the data can help guide menu development, “if it motivates me to start selling chili dogs or snow cones instead of ssam, I will.”

The annual Restaurant Leadership Conference is presented by Winsight Media, the parent company of Restaurant Business.

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