Once relegated to pancakes, waffles and French toast, maple syrup is now being tapped beyond breakfast for savory lunch and dinner dishes, as well as in beverages. Mentions of maple on menus are up overall by 3.4% year over year, according to Technomic’s MenuMonitor, but some menu sections are especially seeing growth, including nonalcoholic beverages (+166.7%) and adult beverages (+57.1%).
Maple syrup is not only very easy to procure, but it’s already offered at a fifth of Top 500 chain operators. Plus, as consumers continue to ask for more natural sweeteners as part of the clean eating movement, more operators are subbing in real ingredients like maple, honey and agave for artificial sweeteners, according to Technomic’s Healthy Eating Consumer Trend Report.
Here are five ways operators are tapping maple syrup beyond traditional breakfast dishes.