Center of the Plate event explores menu applications for pork

Nation's Restaurant News,  August 13, 2007  

• E-mail
• Print
• Link

MINNEAPOLIS -- New menu opportunities, particularly using pork, were the focus of a three-day meeting held here recently and attended by more than a dozen restaurant research and development executives.

Sponsored by Hormel and produced by Nation's Restaurant News, the Center of the Plate Solutions Symposium offered invited attendees insights into food trends, menu marketing and consumer preferences. Participants also toured Hormers processing plant, took part in a hands-on R&D workshop and visited some of the area's trend-setting restaurants.

"Our goal is to share rich insights into today's consumer," said Steve Binder, group vice president for Hormel, in kicking off the symposium.

Susan DeSimone, a Minneapolis-based marketing specialist, noted that most people responded, "Chops," when asked what comes to mind when they think of pork, according to a recent survey of 750 consumers. And when it comes to cooking the protein, many survey respondents said, "It takes an expert to do it right," she said.

DeSimone also noted that younger people, between 18 and 39 years old, are "less interested in meat as a center of the plate" component, compared with 40- to 65-year-olds. Nonetheless, she said, pork is growing in popularity, largely because of its healthful qualities. Pork, she added, is perceived as a "good value and change of pace" from other proteins.

Victor Gielisse, associate vice president of The Culinary Institute of America's Continuing Education's Industry Solutions Group, discussed global food trends and offered proprietary menu options for attendees to taste.

He said the factors most influencing the foodservice industry today are "globalization, a decrease in expendable time, dwindling culinary competence among the average consumer, and increasing concerns about health and wellness." He added that "people want to know where their food comes from" these days.

He also noted, "Global flavors will move from the fringes of cuisine to take center stage." He pointed out that Southeast Asian and Indian, Latin American and Caribbean, and Mediterranean are currently the most influential cuisines.

Hormel flew the R&D executives in corporate jets to Austin, Minn., where they toured the company's harvest and processing plant. At a site nearby Chuck Anderson, Hormel's national sales manager, fresh pork, demonstrated a carcass cutting and explained that the butt, which is actually cut from a shoulder, received its confusing name from "butt barrels," where the cut historically was stored.

Finally, attendees were divided into teams for a hands-on culinary workshop at Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Mendota Heights, Minn. The teams developed several new dishes, from Italian pork rib pops stuffed with prosciutto to pork belly with braised beans.

Attendees included research and development executives from BJ's Restaurants, Bennigan's Grill & Tavern, Bertucci's, Buca di Beppo, Dick's Last Resort, Granite City Food & Brewery, Harvard University, IHOP, Jack in the Box, La Madeleine, Maggiano's Little Italy and Romano's Macaroni Grill.

COPYRIGHT 2007 Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission.
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning