Good vittles alone will not suffice for restaurants expecting to succeed in the 1990s - the accent is now on making the customer feel comfortable, the incoming chairman of the National Restaurant Association believes.
That is what incoming chairman Michael Hurst will tell the group at its annual five-day trade show, which opens here Saturday."Now that we have moved to a supply-driven economy, we must go back to basics, making the customer a principal focus," Hurst told Reuters in an interview.
In addition to acceptable food, the right location and competent service, Hurst believes restaurateurs must put their best foot forward by providing an enthusiastic, knowledgeable serving staff that makes patrons feel welcome. They also must make their dining establishments less pretentious, as dress codes, for example, fall by the wayside.
The stakes are high. He said food and drink purchases for the food-service industry in 1990 are projected to reach $91.5 billion, of which $52.5 billion will be spent away from home.
To fuel the expansion, Hurst said, he expects restaurants to drum up excitement by capitalizing on several trends:
- Old food favorites with new accents. "Meatloaf and pot roast will score with customers as they `discover' these old-fashioned staples," the executive said.
- More choices in ethnic cuisine. Foods such as couscous, sushi and curried chicken from Africa and the Pacific Rim - from Thailand to Malaysia to the Philippines - remain popular. Hurst also noted a continuing interest in unusual vegetables and exotic fruits.
- Health and nutrition concerns. Restaurants will respond by featuring cooked-to-order meals, more choices in the size of portions, fewer sauces made from animal fats, a variety of low-alcohol drinks and broader no-smoking sections.
At his 15th Street Fisheries restaurant in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Hurst said, "bugs" are a hot item. He said Moreton Bay Bugs, lobsterlike crustaceans imported from Australia, are "the No. 1 seller among 75 items on my menu. At least 10 percent of my customers want to try the `bugs.' "
In the future, Hurst expects fast-food restaurants to use more double drive-through lanes and offer less sitdown service in order to speed delivery.
One thing he does not foresee is any rush by upscale restaurants to impose automatic gratuities. "The (automatic) service charge will come as quickly as wholesale acceptance of the metric system. The fact is that all my life I've kept hearing it's just around the corner."