| Fast food just isn't what it used to be. Not so very long ago, whatever a fast-food venue served, people ate, and they were happy to have it in value sizes for a good price. New products were rolled out all the time, and if a fad came along -- like heart-healthy/low fat, for example -- the chains paid lip service, adding a few new items to the menu, which were often pulled when few people ordered them.
While core menu items continue to define the top chains, a shift is taking place. Attribute it to the popularity of fast casual, the sophistication of America's taste buds, or the changing demographics, but fast food has a new look, flavor and quality. "We baby boomers grew up with fast food, but it didn't grow up with us," says Dennis Lombardi, executive vice president, Technomic, Inc., a foodservice consulting and research firm in Chicago. "Now it has grown up. Spoken as a boomer, I go to Arby's now when I wouldn't have before. The Market Fresh Sandwich is really good. The company, like many other chains, has repositioned itself, and it works." Quick-service restaurants (QSRs) today have to be vigilant in keeping track of what patrons want. "It's not a homogeneous group of people coming into these restaurants anymore. And people go into restaurants for different reasons every time. What works for a business lunch may not work for the same person lunching with young children on the weekend," Lombardi adds. "Quick-service restaurants have to appeal to a lot of different people in a lot of different circumstances, all with a low price point." Jumping on the low-carb wagonSeveral years ago, low-fat, heart-healthy food tried to have its day, except it never really took off, mostly because the food simply wasn't satisfying. Now we have the low-carbohydrate craze thanks to the popularity of the Atkins and South Beach diets, and QSRs are grabbing onto it with gusto. "My take on all of this is that basically, marketing determines what people will try, but flavor will determine what people will eat over time," says Reid Wilkerson, president of McClancy Seasoning Company, Fort Mills, SC. But it isn't something fast-food restaurants can ignore, mainly because they have been blamed in part for the fattening of America. The National Center for Health Statistics, Hyattsville, MD, through its 2002 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, estimates that 64.5% of Americans are currently overweight and that 30.5% are obese, weighing at least 30% more than their ideal weight. That's a huge difference from the 1991 figures when only 12% were deemed obese. There's a rush to determine how to correct this problem. Some blame super-sizing portions. In 1960, the average order of McDonald's fries contained 200 calories. The super-sized version, which was recently downsized, weighed in at 610 calories. So what are fast-food restaurants doing to address this new concern? Quiznos Sub, headquartered in Denver, just added more than 20 "Toasty" flatbread sandwiches, 14 of them containing less than 11 grams net carbohydrates. Atlanta-based Blimpie Subs & Salads passes out a Blimpie Carb Counter Menu listing its low-carb offerings. A number of burger chains are offering no-bun burgers: St. Louis-based Hardee's has a Low Carb Thickburger, a 1/3-lb. patty topped with cheese and wrapped in lettuce leaves instead of a bun (fewer than 10 carbohydrates); Irvine, CA-based In-N-Out Burger has had a bunless burger for years; Back Yard Burgers, Memphis, TN, offers a lettuce-wrapped burger made with two leaves of green leaf lettuce folded around a hamburger patty; McDonald's, Oak Brook, IL, just began offering bunless sandwiches served with a knife and fork on a piece of lettuce in a plastic bowl (for the same price as one with a bun); and Burger King, Miami, which has always said you can "Have it Your Way," provides a list of sandwiches patrons can have sans bread. While fast-food restaurants and food manufacturing companies are rushing to offer low-carbohydrate choices, many believe this fad won't last forever -- at least not at its current frenzied level. Still, it looks like this particular trend will continue for a while and that products will continue to come along that address low-carb mania. Low-carb breads and highly flavored, but low-fat and low-carb, sauces, spreads and dips are the kinds of products that operators will look for in the future. As Wilkerson says, fast-service venues may be able to market low-carb today to get patrons to try them, but the challenge will be to find those items that will having staying power. Healthful: more than low-carbQSRs seem to have learned from past experiments that offered menu items that only spoke to a specific fad. Chains today are offering healthful alternatives that go beyond low-carbohydrate items, even offering programs that go beyond the menu itself. Whether or not it's true that fast food has been responsible, at least in part, for the obesity epidemic, restaurateurs do recognize that they have some responsibility. A recent study conducted by Springdale, AR-based Tyson Foods, Inc., "Obesity: Attitudes & Actions," found that 61% of restaurant operators surveyed feel an obligation to offer menu options that will help Americans slim down, while less than 16% feel it's the sole obligation of the patron. Also, 54% say they now offer more weight-reducing choices than they did a year ago and 54% say they plan to broaden such selections during the coming year.
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The Changing Face Of Fast Food
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