Asian Cuisine Spices Up Chain Restaurant Growth

CHICAGOConsumers love for Asian cuisine has moved beyond traditional Chinese fare to include Thai, Japanese, Indian, Vietnamese and Korean, and restaurants are responding by serving up items similar to those served from Asian street purveyors and with flavorful iterations of upscale dishes, according to new market data from Technomic.

According to Technomics Market Intelligence Report: Asian", the number of Asian concepts is growing in both limited-service and full-service, and chains large and small are seeing annual sales and unit counts rise.

Looking at sales and unit numbers, we see that established Asian concepts have been able to grow, while newer Asian concepts have also been emerging. Both limited- and full-service Asian concepts within the Top 500 were even able to grow sales and unit counts through a sluggish economy, signaling strong opportunities for chains within this underrepresented segment," said Mary Chapman, Director at Technomic.

Chapman said the emergence of Chipotle's new Asian fast-casual concept as an indication of things to come in the segment. She also said traditional varied menu chain operators can benefit from consumer familiarity with Asian cuisines by adding new appetizers and entrees to their menus.

Data revealed among the Top 250 restaurant chains, there were 19 percent more Asian items on menus in the second half of 2010 compared with the same time period one year earlier. Between 2008 and 2010, the number of consumers who said they would be very likely to order a Chinese-style beef dish at a restaurant increased from 30 percent to 46 percent. Fifty-eight percent of surveyed consumers have tried and liked Asian sauces (teriyaki, soy, sweet and sour, Szechuan). The sauces were second only to barbecue in the number of consumers who said they had tried and liked an Asian sauce with a pork dish.