BEHIND THE MENU: THE EVOLUTION OF RESTAURANT DISHES
By Stokely Wilson
Monday, June 15, 2009
Restaurant menus are continually evolving and adapting to seasons, trends and customers’ needs. Creating fresh and mouthwatering selections keep guests coming back for more.
Recipe development is an extensive process and instrumental part of a restaurant’s success. The key is knowing the brand, clientele and maintaining invaluable relationships with suppliers.
Developing new menu ideas should be an ongoing process – one that requires continually gathering inspiration from travels and seasonal ingredients. Keeping a pulse on local and international food trends will help dictate menu changes and new recipe development. However, it is important to only adapt trends and ingredients that fit the restaurant’s brand to continue to appeal to current guests.
The first step is to determine which seasonal new items will be introduced and what, if any, are the needs of the menu. Continually analyze the menu to determine good versus poor sellers. If adding new dishes to an existing menu, remove or consider adapting poor selling items. If multiple locations are involved, find out what items sell well at which locations. If an item is a great seller at four out of six locations, removing it may disappoint regular customers. Sometimes slightly tweaking a dish is all it takes to revive it. Consider adding a new side, garnish or condiment.
Working two to three months in advance, meet with suppliers to source ingredients and find out what is available in upcoming months. When possible, negotiate fixed pricing on certain ingredients to avoid fluctuation of menu costs throughout the season.
Ideally, when developing a new recipe start with the protein. Create five ideas per protein – first considering where the protein will be featured on the plate.
Take chicken breast. Is it on a salad, part of a pasta entrée, with classic vegetables and a starch, in a sandwich or incorporated into an appetizer?
Keeping in mind menu needs, narrow down one or two concepts and then create an additional five ideas per concept with various flavour profiles. Present ideas on paper first and once final concepts are selected, test and tweak the recipes keeping in mind two important elements – presentation and execution.
Plate presentation is crucial, especially if the dish will be photographed and used in promotional materials. Customers always want the food they order to look exactly like it did in the photo. Visuals and taste go hand in hand and each plate should create a full dining experience for the guest. Also, menu items featured with a photo tend to be better sellers.
Depending on the style of restaurant, it is vital to consider how many “moves” it takes to finish a dish. In other words, how many steps does it take to complete the dish from start to finish?
For higher end restaurants, more “moves” are acceptable as clientele are willing to wait longer for their meal. In a family-style restaurant, it should take no more than four to six “moves” to complete a dish.
Once a dish is at the final stage it is ready for the team to taste. Depending on the restaurant, the decision-makers vary and may include the president, owner, partners, and food and beverage managers. Dishes are tasted anywhere from three to five times before getting the green light.
When tasting keep in mind all the steps that brought the dish to this point: seasonality, trends, menu placement, presentation and execution. Once approved, the next step is training the kitchen team followed by organizing a tasting for front of house staff.
Largely, a company dictates menu changes; with the immense knowledge of the brand combined with years of experience, it gives decision-makers confidence in the success of new dishes. Knowing the restaurant’s customers is also essential as well as always being mindful of their feedback. Success is measured by the trust customers have in trying new menu items because they know what to expect. New items should still fit the restaurant criteria and brand but offer something slightly different.
This year’s top menu trend is simple: Customers want good food at a great value. Inexpensive food made with poor quality ingredients will not cut it; guests are simply not willing to sacrifice quality for price.
Stokely Wilson is the executive chef for the Pickle Barrel Restaurants, which, 35 years ago, started out as a north Toronto deli and has since evolved into a chain of nine Greater Toronto Area eateries. Stokely graduated from Humber College’s culinary institute and obtained his Red Seal certificate in 1992. He has been in the culinary field for more than 20 years and helped the resurgence of the Pickle Barrel brand. Under his leadership, Stokely significantly dropped food costs, improved food presentations and currently participates in purchasing, kitchen layouts and new builds.
