Food Trends: Ethnic FlavorNew Global Palate

By: Elena Flottmeyer

Introduction: Food and the New Ethnic Blend in America

Humans have survived over the last millions of years by learning to adapt their food when it was most necessary to stay alive. People have had to alter their food source throughout history and many times those alterations depended on what area of the globe the person lived on. Times now are changing; things are not in such a desperate state. Now humans are not only eating to survive, they are eating for their own pleasure. Restaurants are the biggest indicator of that pleasure, restaurants live to service your every food desire and give your mouth something it yearns to come back for. But the consumer’s palates and the population sizes are changing. Classic American restaurants have started to stray from what is known as “traditional” American food and have taken on some of the most difficult cuisines across the world: Hispanic and Asian.

Lately in the American economy we have seen a rise in both Asian and Hispanic culture. It is predicted that many of these minority cultures will soon be the majority in America, this is backed up in the articles ‘To be Asian in America’ and ‘Inventing Hispanics: A Diverse Minority Resists Being Labeled’, these articles state that, “Still only 4.6 percent of the U.S. population, the Asian-American segment is experiencing astronomical growth. Between 2000 and 2050, the population is expected to surge 213 percent according to the U.S Census Bureau.”(Meadows, 2012) and states, “Hispanics are particularly important for understanding the future of diversity in American society. Already they have overtaken African Americans to become the nation’s largest minority, and immigration patterns ensure that the number of Hispanics will continue to grow more rapidly than African Americans.”(Etzioni, 2012) It is no surprise than that both Hispanic and Asian Americans are now helping shape the appetites within the restaurant industry.

Americans are now being introduced to spicier, more ethnic foods in standard American restaurants. Classic American restaurants in the upcoming years will need to start switching over to more spicy ethnic options if they want to keep their business strong, some restaurants are already doing this as mentioned in the article, ‘Today’s top 4 food trends’, places like McDonalds have slowly been making small changes in menu options, in particular the article points out McDonalds Thai sweet Chile sauce stating, “Thai sweet Chile sauce, now so widespread that McDonald’s has such a sauce, tested during the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, available nationwide today.” (Thorn, 2012) Asian and Hispanic food made a long journey from simply being a mom and pop restaurant to now moving to many different restaurant chains, these include but are not limited to Qdoba, Burrachos, Chipotle, Panda Express, P.F. Changs, Leeann Chin etc. Though there are many restaurants that are coming to the market, it is important to focus on the changes within the standard American restaurants; to get a more in depth view this paper will analyze the menu changes within Chipotle, Buffalo Wild Wings, and Applebee’s.

Business Example: The Ever Popular Chipotle and Buffalo Wild Wings Goes Asian

Chipotle was started in the early 1990’s and gained popularity quickly through the use McDonalds Corp. In the article, The Amazing Story of Chipotle, the author tells of how McDonalds helped move Chipotle forward stating, “It was in 1998 when McDonald's Corp. purchased a minority stake in the restaurant stores were opened outside of Colorado. In 1999 McDonald's took a 90% stake and by 2003 the company had 300 stores all over the country. It was the first time McDonald's invested in a company that it hadn't developed itself.” and states, “Its eight years with McDonald's were not only tremendous growth years for Chipotle but it allowed the company to get access to the best supplies through its parent companies' huge distribution system and establish a loyal customer base.” (Lepore, 2011) This demonstrates how major corporations such as McDonalds are assisting Hispanic food growth. The market is now opening up for more restaurants like Chipotle to move in to new territory, as one author states, “There's also a lot of truth to its statement that "Everyone wants to be Chipotle ... even Chipotle." We've already seen Chipotle's design influence revamps of Taco Bell and Wendy's.”(Tepper, 2012)

Now Chipotle is taken on a new project called Shophouse, which according to the article, ‘Shophouse LA: Chipotle Opening First Asian Spinoff outside DC In 2013’, is a Southeast Asian Kitchen which is, “a spinoff of Chipotle Mexican Grill that's been dishing out rice bowls at one location in Washington, D.C. for just over a year, is going bicoastal.” (Satran,2012) Chipotle new project demonstrates where the key consumer interest lies; Chipotle was one of the first restaurants that offered a Hispanic menu with new spicy flavors. Now that this Hispanic restaurant is moving its focus to the Asian markets it is becoming a key element for restaurants to innovate a new palate of global flavors. While Chipotle grows in revenue, it is building up more revenue through the Shophouse and creating a greater industry for itself. More classic American restaurants will have to start changing their menus or branching out to more ethnic companies, one of the classic American restaurants that is doing is making that change is Buffalo Wild Wings, which has always been famous for Americana pub food.

Buffalo Wild Wings has always been famous for its spicy wings but wings always been a staple of Americana pub food. With the changes in the menu Buffalo Wild Wings will start offering more Asian style of foods, even offering rice with their famous chicken wings. A multiple array of Asian dishes are now being offered, in the article ‘Restaurant review: Buffalo Wings and Bowl’ the article talks about new Asian dishes, a few of the descriptions are as follows, “the dish Buffalo Chicken Bowl is an authentic Korean classic — rice rapidly crusting-up in a volcanically hot pot outfitted with the requisite fixins (fernbrake, zucchini, sprouts, carrots, greens, a fried egg, etc.) — crowned with the junky contemporary Yankee favorite. Another highlight was the frittata-like Korean Pancake ($12 for the “combo”). A huge, golden-brown beauty studded with a colorful array of veggies, tiny shellfish nuggets and iotas of bacon, it ate almost as great as it looked. Also delightful was a super-sized and perfect-for-November Veggie Noodle Soup ($9). Its veggie-infused salty chicken broth was brimming with long, thick and fun-to-chew-on glutinous noodles.”(Benton, 2012) The author of this article was very fond of all the ethnic changes but it isn’t just the author, much of the general public is impressed with

the Asian themed menu. All these changes can be related back to the increase in the Asian population.

Applebee’s Fusing Food

When thinking of American restaurants that have recently offered an array of different Hispanic and Asian food, Applebee’s was at the top of the list. Applebee’s in recent years has started to perfect the art of fusion food, they often try to mix classic American with an Asian or Hispanic palate. The Applebee’s was recently promoting a Southwest menu which offered a great mix of the great flavors of Hispanic mixed with the richness of American food. When meeting with a manager to discuss their new promotions Applebee’s manger Alison was happy to discuss the recent promotions and how those promotions were helping shape a more ethnic menu. She pointed out right away menu items that were keeping up with the ethnic style of other dishes seen in other restaurants, when questions on how the growing ethnic palates in America were changing the menu she states, “If you see our menu we offer both a variety of American classic mixed with a variety of flavors from other ethnic cultures. Our goal is to offer something everyone will like we find the Americans enjoy both Asian and Hispanic foods, as well as Italian and European flavors.”

Applebee’s always seems to have a promotional menu that helps add to their overall regular menu. The manager pointed out that this is how Applebee’s decides what will go over well amongst their guests, if an item sells well during its promotion it stays. Upon looking over the Applebee’s menu this time around there was a significant amount Hispanic-American fusion food, dishes noted from the dining experience include Southwest Shrimp Fettuccine, Chicken Quesadilla Grande, and the Fiesta Lime Chicken. When the menu was discussed with the menu I asked what made these dishes become popular and how did they create so many different examples of fusion food between these two cultures, the manager stated that, “We only keep what our customers are interested in, fusion food has become increasingly more popular. If there is demand we have to meet that demand.” While it is impressive the amount of work Applebee’s must put into keeping up with new flavors, it is important to know in a place like Menomonie Wisconsin is spicier food going be popular for some of the most mild palates in the US, when the manager was asked she explained, “For right now people are split down the middle, still more and more people are willing to try spicy food. Our main age groups that eat the more spicy dishes are between 20 and 50, after that most of the older people don’t enjoy it.”

Still with Chipotle constantly branching out, creating new restaurants, and Buffalo Wild Wings offering new Asian dishes that are unmatched by most standard American restaurant, Applebee’s must be a little worried about the competition. When discussing with the manager about how she felt about these new restaurants branching out and the changes they were making, she seemed untroubled, and said that, “We will keep up with what we are doing, offer food our

competitors can’t. Many of those restaurants can’t and won’t enter into our area and we are still constantly altering our menu to make it more satisfying for the costumer.” While she is correct about it being difficult to enter our market area, it is the food we should focus on, the simple truth is that Applebee’s isn’t afraid of change and has an accurate way of offering people an ethnic fusion food that brings together both American and Hispanic/Asian culture into food.

Conclusion: Ethnic Food Growth

Ethnic food is changing in America, with the growth of both Hispanic and Asian culture we will continue to see the staple food in America change. America can no longer just be a nation of just burger and fries, as a nation we are reaching greater heights with our ethnic food growth. Food is becoming spicier and more flavorful with the adaption of these cultures and it is important to see the popularity behind these dishes. Chipotle has been gaining in popularity since it first began to branch out, now with its new Shophouse restaurants it may become and unstoppable for within the restaurant industry, still there are innovators like Buffalo Wild Wings and Applebee’s which still offers a cuisine which combines the American and the ethnic taste. In the future, we will see growth within Hispanic and Asian restaurants that branch out across the nation as more and more people are willing to try a new global palate.

Trends References

Benton, G. A. (2012, November 14). Restaurant review: Buffalo wings and bowl. ColumbusAlive. Retrieved from http://www.columbusalive.com/content/stories/2012/11/15/restaurant-review-buffalo-wings-and-bowl.html

Etzioni, A. (2012). Inventing hispanics: A diverse minority resists being labeled. In C. Harvey (Ed.), Understanding and Managing DiversityUpper Saddle River: Pearson Education Inc.

Lepore, M. (2011, March 31). The amazing story of chipotle . Business Insider. Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com/the-chipotle-story-2011-3?op=1

Meadows, A. (2012). To be asian in america. In P. Harvey (Ed.), Understanding and Managing DiversityUpper Saddle River: Pearson Education Inc.

Satran, J. (2012, October 19). Shophouse la: Chipotle opening first asian spinoff outside dc in 2013. Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/19/shophouse-la-chipotle_n_1988345.html

Smith, A. (2012, November 14). Interview by E Flottmeyer [Personal Interview].

Tepper, R. (2012, October 23). Food trends 2013: Baum & Whiteman report predicts next big things in dining. Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/23/food-trends-2013_n_2005773.html

Thorn, B. (2012, August 2). Toda'ys top four food trends. Restaurant News. Retrieved from http://nrn.com/article/today’s-top-four-food-trends?page=0,1