The Future of Fried Foods

Deep Fried Foods - such as French Fries - form a key part of the menu in most restaurants. However, as consumers become more health conscious, they may be looking for healthier menu options.

Some consumers are even avoiding fried foods... Technomic, a company keeping track of the US foodservice sector, just published the "Future of Fried Foods Consumer Trend Report". This report takes a detailed look at menus and consumers to understand where changes are really occurring.

This report does include some interesting data on the preparation of french fries that I want to share with you in this PotatoPro Newsletter.

A total of 1502 US consumers were interviewed, of which 309 were classified as "Fried Food avoiders" and 452 as "Fried Food curtailers". They were asked how each of the following would impact their decision to purchase french fries at a restaurant:

Preparing the french fries in a "better-for-you" cooking oil is something that appeals to all consumers and increases the likelihood to purchase among "fried food avoiders" and "fried food curtailers" with respectively 59 and 61%. Since many restaurants use a better for you cooking oil (cooking oils in use by various QSR chains), you may want to make sure that your customers know!

Offering baked french fries instead of fried french fries especially attracts "avoiders" and "curtailers".

Overall this research by Technomic shows that there are a number of ways to make french fries a more appealing choice for health conscious consumers.