Last week, we shared about how the “better-for-you” restaurant category is gaining a lot of traction in the industry. We explored different superfoods—nutrient-packed, healthy foods—like blueberries, salmon, and edamame. Other common superfoods include tomatoes, dark chocolate, almonds, quinoa, kale, and lentils. Superfoods provide several health benefits including an abundance of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and polyphenols.

If you’re looking to offer healthy dishes, superfoods are pivotal ingredients! Below we explore simple ways for you to incorporate superfoods into your menu.

Salad: Kale remains to be a popular and healthy green leafy vegetable of choice! A simple kale cobb salad (add hard boiled eggs, tomatoes, chicken breast, avocado) dressed with a balsamic vinaigrette is a healthy, nutrient-dense menu option.

Soups: Skip the heavy cream and go healthy and light. Wholegrain quinoa is delicious in soups. Mix in some hearty beef or chicken broth, lentils, veggies like broccoli (another superfood), and tomatoes for a delicious and hearty garden vegetable soup.

Pasta: Pumpkin doesn’t have to be just in pies and lattes! A pumpkin-filled ravioli with spinach pesto sauce is a great way to fulfill that craving for savory goodness. Pumpkins contain cancer-fighting alpha and beta-carotene while spinach is a great source of vitamins and iron.

Dessert: We all know how deliciously perfect chocolate and berries go together. Incorporating dark chocolate adds a wonderful decadent superfood full of antioxidants. Consider serving a dark chocolate mousse topped with strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries. If you want to get a little more exotic, serve the mousse with fresh goji and acai berries. For a breakfast spin, create a Greek yogurt parfait with berries and chia seeds, which are high in omega-3 fatty acids.

Drinks: Sweet iced tea can be very sugary! Try a sugar-free, refreshing iced green tea infused with fresh ginger root (ginger is known to help with relieving nausea, aiding in digestion, and reducing heart disease risk). A no-sugar-added watermelon drink is a tasty and refreshing beverage to add to your menu during the summer season.

There are so many options you can consider when working with superfoods. Next week, we will explore this further as we check out some awesome healthy restaurant menu items.

Milan is often regarded as the fashion capital of the world. However, every two years, professionals in the hospitality industry flock here to preview innovations in food and beverage. While attending the 2017 HOST show in Milan, Danny and I were able to check out the latest and greatest in restaurant technology and also traverse our way throughout Italy feasting our taste buds in delight.

Here at Synergy, we like to call ourselves the “pizza experts,” but that doesn’t mean we aren’t open to different methods of pie-making! To be successful means to have an open mind to new ideas and innovations. This brings me to our exploration of pizza oven technology at the HOST show.

Sure, we all know that a delicious crust typically comes out of a wood-fired oven, but… I had an amazing pizza that actually came out of an electric oven! The crust turned out beautifully and of course, the flavor was spot-on. In the spirit of good eats and ideas, I wanted to share all that you need to create a young, non-aged dough that delivers a great tasting and looking pizza.

Ingredients:

• Double O flour
• Water
• Salt
• Fresh Yeast

And by the way, there is NO sugar or oil required.

The moral of the story today? It’s amazing what is possible when you open your mind to exploring new and innovative ideas!

In our 30 years of being in the restaurant industry, we’ve discovered many different food trends. While the popularity of some simply fizzles out, there is at least one that keeps proving itself time and time again; and that is healthy eating. Being health-conscious is a concern that crosses over into how we eat. Now more than ever, Americans are watching their calories and the types of foods they consume.

It is no wonder that we are finding much of our consulting work to be focused on the “better-for-you” space.  What’s leading this trend? Superfoods. As their name implies, superfoods are powerful because they possess many nutritional elements. These foods are packed with vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and other beneficial compounds.

Take the humble blueberry. This common fruit is actually a superfood because it contains elements like anthocyanins (what makes the fruit blue) which fight off cancer-causing free-radicals and high amounts of phenols which can help protect our brains from degeneration.

Did you know that edamame is a great source of fiber, containing healthy omega-3 fats, protein and is low in calories? These green soybeans are also known to help decrease the risk of diabetes, obesity and heart disease. Speaking of omega-3 rich superfoods, sardines are full of this. Another surprising benefit of the small fish? Sardines provide more than 100% of your daily vitamin D (sorry, milk!).

If sardines are not your favorite fish, salmon is another superfood which is abundant in heart-protecting omega-3 fatty acids as well as B vitamins, protein, and potassium. Read more about the benefits of salmon here.

Looking for more superfoods? Check out Prevention magazine’s article on 52 healing superfoods.

Tune in next week for our next post where we share how you can implement superfoods into your menu.

Photo: Janine on Flickr CC by 2.0

Soft-serve, double-scooped on a cone or rolled—how do you like your ice cream? Yes, we said “rolled.” Rolled ice cream is just what it sounds like and it’s becoming very popular here in the U.S. and other countries. Invented in Thailand, this style of ice cream is as much a treat for the taste buds as it is to the eyes (it’s the perfect Instagram shot)!

Also known as stir-fried ice cream, rolled ice cream is created by pouring milk-based liquid on a freezing flat metal pan where it is mixed, stirred, flattened and then rolled using metal spatulas. The result is a unique shape, much like a biscuit roll. Several ice cream rolls are then placed into a paper cup and adorned with your choice of toppings like fruit, whipped cream, syrup, nuts and candy. And it’s quickly made to serve!

Check out this video to see how it’s made in Thailand:

October is known for cool weather, autumn leaves, and yes, pumpkin-spiced everything! But did you know that the month of October is National Seafood Month? As restaurant managers, it may be easy to overlook seafood as a star ingredient while beef or chicken take center stage on the menu. However, seafood serves as a great protein choice for a variety of consumers, perhaps due to its taste or ability to meet certain dietary restrictions. Beyond that, sustainable seafood is also a hot restaurant trend for 2017. A recent survey conducted by Cargill found that 88 percent of Americans are willing to pay more for seafood that is certified sustainably and responsibly sourced.

A growing number of chefs and restaurants, even those in the fast-food sector like McDonald’s, recognize the importance of providing sustainable seafood. What exactly is sustainably-raised seafood? Any seafood that is caught or farmed in ways which support the well-being of the species, oceans and coastal communities is considered “sustainable.” For a guide on buying sustainable fish and shellfish, visit firstchoice.com.

If you’ve decided to take the plunge and begin offering sustainable seafood at your restaurant, you may want to consider how to highlight these ingredients on your menu. Consider the following dishes as menu inspiration:

–    Fish and chips with a unique house–made sauce like the one at Nobu 57 in New York City

–     Crab cakes with a spicy, Southern-style remoulade sauce

–     Manhattan clam chowder served in a bread bowl

–     Grilled or fried shrimp po’boy sandwiches

For more information on sustainable seafood and National Seafood Month, check out NOAA fisheries site here.

Marketing and Branding – An ongoing blog by Randy Lopez

Yesterday I went to a Starbucks for my morning caffeine-load and went through my usual ordering sequence (honed from years of practice) and waited for my coffee to be prepared. Nothing unusual. Just another routine day interacting with a favorite brand.

Once I received my coffee, I went to add a packet of raw sugar. Instead of my brown packet, the replacement was the generic packets of white sugar. I know it sounds minor, but this surprised me. First of all, this can happen for a number of reasons, but I kind of expect a chain of this size to keep an extra case or two in stock. Secondly, for a company that promotes quality ingredients, replacing generic white sugar as a substitute for raw sugar seemed like a brand disconnect.

Of course, I’m writing about this to make a point. I will still frequently visit this location. On the other hand, if I notice it again, I might just go to another Starbucks as my brown sugar is more a part of my daily routine. My cup of coffee is only a part of my experience. The brown sugar, the cardboard cup sleeve, the green apron, the logo, and all the other elements define the Starbucks brand for me. When one of them is missing or replaced with a knockoff, the brand loses a little bit of its shine. Take a look at the restaurant business. How many concepts started off with something simple like branded quality napkins and then for whatever reason, they went unbranded and ended up being switched to a generic, bargain product. We’ve all noticed brands that “take away” small touchpoints. The parmesan shakers in your favorite pizza concept are harder to find, the fries lose some of their seasoning, the menus get beaten up and not replaced as often, the table tents (and menus) begin to look like they are now printed in the back office copier…

Your guests notice these things, especially your regulars. When working with concepts that need to update their brand, often times the original concept’s experience and food quality are watered down with simpler presentations, shortcuts in quality, and brand disconnects.

At Synergy, my goal is to create brand touchpoints that are realistic, financially sound, and create a concept that stands out from your competition. As a brand leader, part of my process is to help you understand the complete DNA of your brand so if you run out of “raw sugar” the obvious solution is to get more so that a generic knockoff isn’t your first idea of a fix. And because our Operations, Culinary, and Design teams work together, our focus is working to support the brand through every touchpoint and guest interaction. Unlike other consultants, we don’t believe you can truly fix things unless all parts of your business understand the brand and the key touchpoints that will resonate with your guests.

Contact me at Synergy Consultants to create a lasting concept or to get your brand back on track.

You may have heard the term, “rebranding” used a lot in business, but the motives behind rebranding are not simple or straightforward. So what exactly is rebranding and why would anyone want to do it, especially after implementing a carefully thought-out business plan in the first place?

A company (or in our industry, a restaurant), may decide to rebrand itself to develop a new way customers perceive the restaurant. Think of it as a marketing strategy, or a makeover, to revitalize a brand and give it a new image. This “image” can take form as a redesigned logo, interior and exterior design changes, changed menu, a new philosophy or slogan.
There are plenty of reasons a business would look to rebrand.  Rebranding can come to light if a company is seeking to offer new items or services, appeal to a new audience, align their brand to the company’s original vision, combat an outdated image, reestablish relevancy, or even as a way to fight negative publicity.

Here’s a look at some recent restaurant rebranding examples—take note of changes when you visit these establishments. Do you think they’ve changed your perception?

• Tender Greens: This is a brand is known for wholesome and healthy meals. See them now with a new logo that aims to show people that they’re not just a salad restaurant.
• Subway: A major redesign is taking place at Subway restaurants. Simplicity, freshness and modernity is what you’ll notice when stepping into a newly redesigned Subway. Sleek furniture and brighter colors hope to be more inviting to customers. Tech is getting a huge upgrade here too—Subways are rolling out self-ordering kiosks and charging stations for the technically-inclined patrons.
• Golden Corral: The buffet segment is certainly struggling in family casual restaurant sector. Golden Corral’s new redesign aims to boost customer patronage by presenting an, open, airy, sophisticated and homey feel.

It will be interesting to see how these rebranding efforts pan out. If you feel your restaurant needs a revival, please contact Synergy.

These days more and more people are interested in living a vegetarian or a vegan lifestyle. Sometimes people may identify as being a pescatarian; one who eats only fish. Others may opt for a semi-vegetarian diet and choose to only occasionally eat meat. In other cases, a vegetarian diet may be observed (daily or occasionally) due to a one’s faith, tradition or culture.

Wouldn’t it make sense then, to make sure your menu includes options for the dietary preferences of these customers? They’ll appreciate the availability of menu choices that fit their lifestyle. When it comes to vegetarian options, clearly items like salads, pasta, and vegetable-based meals are easy examples of meatless menu options. But how about something more varied and unique? What about vegan options? See our list below for some great menu ideas:

– Stir fry with seitan: Seitan is is a faux meat made from wheat gluten. It has a very similar look and texture to real meat after it’s cooked. This versatile meal can be made completely vegan as well. Test with vegetables of your choice or try making a vegan “beef” and broccoli.

– Fish burgers: Play with different fish types (breaded, non-breaded, cod, ahi, etc.) and buns. Throw on a special house-made sauce and you’ve got a great pescatarian, signature dish.

– Vegan alfredo: A rich and decadent alfredo pasta dish can be easily adapted for vegans too. Instead of dairy-based cream, create your sauce using soaked cashews or purchase nut-based cheese, or use tofu, or boiled cauliflower as your base. Add a variety of seasonal vegetables for a colorful dish presentation.

– Acai bowls: Oatmeal can get boring, so why not offer acai or pitaya bowls for breakfast? They are 100 percent vegetarian, vegan and very versatile. Popular toppings include bananas, strawberries, blueberries, coconut shavings, kiwi, sliced almonds, and granola. Let your customers customize the perfect bowl.

– Vegan fritters: Sure to delight all eaters, zucchini fritters with a side of house aioli are a great vegan/vegetarian shareable item. You can even alternate with lentils or onions—you name it!

We hope this list inspired you to think outside the box with your vegetarian and/or vegan menu options. For expert menu development strategies, please contact Synergy!

As we dive into the second half of the year, it is important to consider adopting new food, labor and menu optimization strategies that deliver RESULTS before 2018 approaches.

Restaurant Optimization is a process of carefully looking at all areas of one’s operational activities including, BOH and FOH Labor, Productivity, Production Systems, Complexity, Throughput, and Service Standards. Also examining processes and behaviors that have become inefficient, unproductive, and unprofitable – which no longer serve anyone’s best interest.

We view time and effort as money and if you do what you’ve always done you will continue to achieve the same results. Eliminating actions that do not grow, expand, or are no longer relevant, should be viewed as toxic, inefficient and should be changed.

At Synergy Consultants we measure success by RESULTS. Here are a few examples of IMPRESSIVE OPTIMIZATION RESULTS.

WOW!! What an extraordinary turnaround for the first 4 months. When we look at YOY at the end of April we went from ($120,400) in 2016 to $125,000 in 2017. That is a $245,000 turnaround. Stellar work to all! Biggest contributors to this turnaround are sales, labor, cogs and your great management!

This multi-million high-end restaurant was losing money. Within four months, Synergy successfully eliminated over 300 hours of kitchen labor, as well as improved productivity, throughput, and overall execution. Moreover, we changed the menu mix and the restaurant is now much more profitable.

Now is the perfect time to identify the things that are not working or not producing real results. If you feel that your restaurant isn’t as optimized and efficient as possible, give us a call and we can share innovative ways to improve your financial performance.

When you plan an outing with friends, it’s safe to say that most of the time, a restaurant is involved. A nice little café or dessert spot may do the trick if a full meal is too heavy. Socializing around food is perhaps one of the quintessential communal activities in recorded history. Some even spend their time at eateries as a “third place” to get studying or work done.

Examples of social eateries that offer community, as well as food and drink, can be found throughout history (think saloons). Today, it seems there’s a new revival of this concept.

A recent Restaurant Hospitality article details some new restaurant gathering places that center on socializing. In Atlanta, you can stop by Foundation Social Eatery where you will find a large open kitchen and not a single T.V. screen in sight to encourage conversation among patrons and the chef.  In New York City at Social Drink & Food, customers can mingle with others on the rooftop terrace, or they can relax on beach chairs or play a few rounds of beer pong.

People are looking to restaurants as a means to connect with others and it’s clear this trend is just beginning to grow. If you’re seeking a revitalization of your restaurant or need to find a strategy to turn your spot into a welcoming gathering place, please contact Synergy Consultants.