Food

Most menu optimization advice focuses on paring down your offerings to what’s most popular and most profitable. For example, a TURF (Total Unduplicated Reach and Frequency) analysis can identify the core essentials: that is, the shortest possible list of items needed to satisfy the vast majority of customers.

But you shouldn’t neglect the second step: expanding the menu to include innovative new dishes. These creative approaches can help you start thinking about how to shake things up — successfully — in the year to come.

“We’ve created a somewhat unrealistic dining culture in senior dining,” Jonathan Pinsker, Regional Director of Culinary and Nutritional Services for Acts Retirement-Life Communities, told the Senior Dining Association. “We found at one community that 70% of residents were eating a 4-course meal — soup, salad, main course, and dessert — every night, which isn’t what you normally do at home.”  

Today's 55+ community residents crave more modern dining options. Here’s a look at the trends we’re seeing. 

Purple cauliflower. Congee. Skhug sauce. Cajeta. Chermoula.

Are you scratching your head? Don’t worry: Restaurateurs across the country are doing the same. These five foods are among dozens, if not hundreds, predicted to be the flavor trends of 2017. (And in case you, like us, need a cheat sheet: congee = rice porridge, skhug = Yemeni/Israeli hot sauce, cajeta = a sweet, caramelized goat’s milk sauce and chermoula = a green Moroccan marinade made with lemon and herbs). 

But how popular will these, or any other, fashionable flavors really be with your diners? Here are a few tips for identifying food trends worth following.