Among the biggest trends they see impacting poultry R&D and menu development:
• Left side of the menu moving right -- appetizers, sides and small meals gaining in importance.
• Handheld items and retro dishes.
• New poultry seasoning formulations to reduce sodium content.
• Value-priced, casual-dining style chicken sandwiches.
• Classics with a twist (i.e., chicken or turkey drumsticks replacing traditional veal shank in Osso Buco).
• Great focus on cross-utilization – finding creative new ways to uses an item an operator already buys.
• New menu items featuring boneless wings and low-cost boneless thighs (i.e., Sweet Citrus Glazed Chicken made from boneless thigh meat at 77 cents per serving).
• Asian cuisines, including Indian and Thai, whose intense flavors and kicked up heat levels compensate for lower salt levels in chicken products.
• Versatile thin-sliced chicken breast cutlets.
• Pre-portioning ready-to-use poultry chunks/strips/filets for speedier service and more healthful portion sizes.
• Pre-sliced, oven-roasted turkey strips that can be swapped out for chicken.
• Regional chicken dishes (i.e., chicken breasts in a light wine sauce with crab meat become Chicken Chesapeake)
Check out more menu-enhancing poultry tips and recipes to share with customers on www.monkeydish.com, keyword search “poultry.”
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