Menu Talk

Customers can order pancakes and eggs all day long at IHOP, but VP of Culinary Scott Randolph is making sure there are plenty of innovative but traditional lunch and dinner options, too. In his four years as head chef, he has worked to expand IHOP’s positioning from the breakfast leader to the all-day leader, adding signature burritos, bowls, melts and more. But he’s also busy elevating breakfast—...

Rick Petralia led menu innovation at Fazoli’s for many years before moving over to Wichita, Kan.-based Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers earlier this year, applying his deep culinary experience to a new platform. Burgers and frozen custard are very different from pasta, he admits, but menu development relies on the same principles. Petralia analyzes consumer research, focuses on seasonali...

Joe Isidori is chef-owner of Arthur & Sons, an old-school Italian restaurant he opened in New York City this past summer. Isidori comes from a three-generation restaurant family and grew up in his father’s red sauce joint, standing on milk crates to clean shrimp and plate pasta when he was just five. He went on to hone his skills in culinary school, head up Michelin-starred restaurants and cre...

Climate change is top of mind right now, with recent heat waves, droughts and wildfires directly affecting food production and the environment. Michael P. Hoffmann, professor emeritus at Cornell University and co-author of the book “Our Changing Menu,” relays how all this directly affects what foodservice operators can put on the menu. Some favorite foods and beverages, like sushi, salads, coffee...

Cristina Suarez is a self-taught “bargirl”—a name she is proud to call herself even as a skilled hospitality professional in her 30s. At 18, Suarez began her journey behind the bar at Hooters, moving on to several Miami hotels where she polished her cocktail-making expertise and learned valuable management, training and operational techniques. Listen as Suarez describes how she taps her Cuban-Amer...

Caribou Coffee is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, and menu innovation has shifted from hot drinks to cold in the years since. Gretchen Hashemi-Rad, beverage category manager for the 400-plus chain, says sales of cold coffee and other icy beverages outpace hot coffees and teas—especially among younger consumers and even in the winter. Listen as she talks about how Caribou is changing up...

Sabin Lomac and Jim Tselikis, actual cousins from Maine who founded Cousins Maine Lobster, started with one truck, a simple menu and a commitment to source the best-tasting, best-quality Maine lobster for their lobster rolls. That caught the attention of Barbara Corcoran when the pair pitched the concept on Shark Tank. She invested and mentored the partners, and 10 years later, Cousins Maine Lobst...

Marc Forgione was born into a restaurant family, but he wasn’t trained from birth to be a chef, he says. He worked at An American Place, the restaurant founded by his father Larry Forgione, from the age of 16, but it wasn’t until he cooked big dinners for his college friends that he changed his career path from psychiatry to hospitality. Next steps included backpacking in Europe, stints in France’...

Sam Polk, founder and CEO of Everytable, launched the social enterprise grab-and-go concept in Los Angeles in 2015. His goal was to provide healthy, affordable meals in neighborhoods that are often classified as food deserts. The chef-inspired food is prepared at a central commissary to keep pricing low and is delivered to Everytable store locations, refrigerated vending machines and directly to c...

Steve Sturm is senior VP of food and beverage and executive chef of the 55-unit Firebirds Wood-Fired Grill. The namesake wood-fired grill is the focal point of the menu at the polished casual chain, not only for items like shrimp, salmon, beef tenderloin, chicken, blistered vegetables and tuna, but for cocktails that feature charred pineapple and chilies. Chef Sturm is currently working on revampi...

Menu analyst Lizzy Freier, director of menu research & insights at Technomic, keeps a close watch on food and drink trends at the Top 500 restaurant chains. During her recent presentation at the National Restaurant Association Show in Chicago, she recapped the novel trends that are shaping menus as we move into the second half of 2022. Based on Technomic data, four Ps define the current state...

Matt Weingarten believes in the power of community and of shared meals around the table. As head chef of 30-location DIG, that was his driving force when creating the menu for the brand’s new all-day cafe, DIG on 4th, where guests are encouraged to linger. Along with the plant-forward, customizable bowls from the original concept, this new fast-casual/full-service hybrid offers all-day happy hour,...

Menu guru Nancy Kruse, who writes the State of the Plate column for Restaurant Business , keeps a close watch on trends in chain and independent restaurants. She is seeing that several favorites that gained popularity in the last two years—like chicken sandwiches and cauliflower—are still going strong, showing up with global flavor twists. And burgers and pizza will always be platforms for creativ...

Graze Craze Founder Kerry Sylvester and President Brady Lee are taking the charcuterie trend nationwide through franchising. The focus of the 12-location chain is the charcuterie board, which became an Instagram sensation as photos of more and more elaborate creations were posted on the social media platform. Operating out of a small-footprint store, Graze Craze offers several charcuterie variatio...

Barbara Sibley opened La Palapa 20 years ago, bringing authentic regional Mexican cuisine to New Yorkers who thought nachos, fajitas and burritos were what Mexican food was all about. While the menu has evolved over the years, there are many “untouchables” that she will never take off. This became especially apparent during the pandemic, when regulars were comforted by ordering the menu items they...

Molly McGrath is director of culinary and operations for All Day Kitchens, a distribution platform for independent restaurants. Through its satellite kitchens in four cities, All Day puts the finishing touches on menu items and packages them for delivery. Each satellite kitchen houses 20 local brands and Chef McGrath works with every restaurant to curate and optimize their menus for delivery—wheth...

When 16” on Center opened Revival Food Hall in 2016, the collection of chef-driven eateries was an instant hit with Chicago’s downtown crowd. Like other urban food halls, the buzz died down during the pandemic as customers stayed close to home. But now Revival is gearing up for its next chapter, infused with fresh ideas and new concepts. Electric Greens, a new-age salad bar, just opened, with Chef...

Mawa McQueen grew up in an immigrant family in France and was educated at a leading culinary school in Paris, but was only offered dishwasher jobs once she graduated. She made her way to England to work as a nanny so she could learn English and realize her dream of coming to America—a country she saw portrayed on TV as a place where Black people could excel.

Rohini Dey broke the Indian cuisine mold when she opened Vermilion restaurant in Chicago. The Indian-Latin independent is still going strong 18 years later, and Dey is now on a mission to break through the gastro ceiling, collaborating with other women chefs and restaurateurs to boost their businesses and impact in the industry. Last year, she launched “Let’s Talk Womxn,” banding operators togethe...

Tara Gilad and her husband Roy were pioneers in the now trendy bowl segment, launching their superfoods café 10 years ago, before many consumers even knew how to pronounce acai. Their daughter, who was born with severe allergies, was the inspiration for the healthy concept, and the chain has since grown to 146 locations.

David Burke, the groundbreaking chef and restaurateur who helped pave the way for elevated American restaurant cuisine, is on a roll—despite an ongoing pandemic and several decades in the business. In the last year alone, he opened three new restaurants, expanded internationally into Saudi Arabia, partnered with Kentucky ranchers to start a Wagyu beef operation and received the 2021 Ernst & Yo...

CEO Graham Humphreys and Associate Director of Strategy Nikki Freihofer both stay ahead of the trends in their positions with The Culinary Edge, a food and drink innovation company. Together, they share their insights on the 2021 menu trends that have staying power and what we can expect to see emerging in 2022.

On this episode of "Menu Feed," listen as he describes how to craft well-balanced, flavorful and complex drinks with or without spirits and the importance of seasonality in a beverage menu.

Director of Menu Research and Insights Lizzy Freier reveals how the firm pinpoints the most relevant trends and why operators should pay attention to its forecast.

Anchal Lamda is a master franchisee with Gong Cha, a bubble tea concept that originated in Taiwan and is quickly expanding across the U.S. Lamda is just over 30, but she already operates 69 locations of Gong Cha in states ranging from New York to Texas.