Your mother was wrong: Breakfast probably isn’t the most important meal of the day — from a health standpoint, anyway. From the perspective of restaurant operators, however, breakfast is very important indeed.
At a time when restaurant sales are slumping, breakfast consumption continues to climb. The NPD Group’s research forecasts breakfast occasions (both in restaurants and at home) will grow by 5 percent through 2019. If you’re currently offering breakfast, are you hitting customers’ sweet spots? And if you’re not, is it time to expand into this segment? It’s worth keeping an eye on current breakfast trends.
11 Breakfast Trends Customers Really Want
All-day breakfast: Apparently Americans have round-the-clock cravings for biscuits and bacon. Around 72 percent of all adults wish restaurants would offer breakfast items throughout the day, the NRA Forecast recently found. McDonald’s attributes its turnaround, in part, to introducing all-day breakfast in 2015.
Authentic ingredients: Panera’s not the only chain cleaning up its menu. In 2016, Denny’s improved its already-popular pancakes by revamping the recipe to include better ingredients, including fresh eggs, vanilla and buttermilk. (Denny’s is now the biggest user of fresh buttermilk in the U.S.!) Customers have noticed: Pancakes are ordered by 35 percent of Denny’s customers, up from 29 percent before the changes.
Consistency: “Breakfast offers huge potential for repeat business, because many people get entrenched in morning routines,” the National Restaurant Association points out. Having your customers come in every single morning means huge profit potential, but it’ll only happen if your food’s prepared to the same high standards every day.
Fancy toast: The continuing popularity of avocado toast is inspiring other creations: asparagus toast, smoked-trout toast, mushroom toast; the list goes on and on. Honey Hi in Los Angeles goes one step further with “chayawanaprash & banana toast”: caramelized banana, ayurvedic herbal jam, grass-fed ghee, mint ribbons, dehydrated raspberry and bee pollen. We love this cool take on unicorn toast: “fantasy toast” made with rainbow-hued cashew butter and fruit.
Fresh juice: Fresh-pressed juice is difficult for customers to make at home, because of the equipment and effort needed. That makes it a no-brainer, high-ROI addition to any breakfast menu.
Decadence: Sure, most people say they want healthy, low-sugar, high-protein options for breakfast. But if you put tiramisu-flavored oatmeal or French toast s’mores in front of them, they’ll have a hard time saying no.
Global flavors: Shakshuka, congee porridge, chilaquiles and other ethnic dishes have all been named hot breakfast trends for people who are tired of conventional American fare.
Smoothies: Americans’ appetite for breakfast smoothies remains high, and customers are searching for ever-more exotic and healthful ingredients. Think maca, bee pollen, chlorophyll, dandelion greens, mushrooms, hemp millk, etc. Unlike juices, smoothies are simple to make with a high-performance blender.
Snacks: More people are craving a 10 a.m. nosh instead of (or in addition to) a full breakfast. Morning “snack occasions” increased by 17 percent from 2010 to 2016, The NPD Group’s research found. Au Bon Pain has picked up on this breakfast trend by offering “petit plates” — small but elegant servings of fruit and cheese, or chickpeas with roasted tomatoes — as well as parfaits.
Speed: There’s a disconnect in consumers’ thinking about breakfast, a recent Nielsen study found: They really want to eat a hearty meal in the morning, but they don’t have the time to fry up their own omelets and hash browns. “That is perhaps the biggest commercial opportunity in this space: How close can you get to a traditional home breakfast without requiring someone to sit down at home?” From this line of thinking we see the origin of the growth in popularity of rapid-serve or grab-and-go sandwiches, burritos and bowls.
Vegan options: While Americans do love their bacon, egg and cheese, more people are experimenting with vegan breakfast alternatives. Consider options like VeganEgg, which can be scrambled so that it’s fluffy, or jackfruit, a trendy stand-in for meat.
Want to launch a breakfast menu? Talk to us! Our expert sales consultants are happy to advise clients on the equipment needed to start serving smoothies, fresh juices and more.
