Restaurants Spice Up Menus With Seasonal Flavors

CHICAGORestaurants nationwide are getting into the holiday spirit by spicing up their seasonal menus with familiar winter ingredients and flavors that resonate with consumers, according to a new report from market researcher Mintel.

In 2009, food and beverage menu items featuring familiar fall ingredients and flavors, such as pumpkin, squash, apple, cinnamon, caramel and hazelnut increased by 13 percent from the summer to fall season.

Pumpkin is an especially popular fall ingredient, as its incidence on menus increased by a whopping 161 percent from summer to fall in 2009. Squash dishes increased by 150 percent, and menu items flavored with cinnamon and hazelnut increased by nearly 5 percent, respectively.

Cider also shows seasonal increases. Warm cider drinks have appeared in many of the major coffee chains, Tim Hortons has cider donuts and cider vinaigrettes bring autumnal touches to salads. Some of the latest seasonal limited-time-offers showing up on menus this year include Culver's eggnog shake, Denny's gingerbread french toast, Panera Bread's mint crinkle cookie and Sonic's holiday spiced sugar cookie blast.

Last week, Mintel Menu Insights released its 2011 food and menu trends, but the seasonality trend remains constant," said Kathy Hayden, foodservice analyst at Mintel. For restaurants, seasonal dishes are a natural way to draw interest, but the challenge is not to simply add items to the menu, but to add items that resonate with your current customers and have enough seasonal interest to draw potential guests."