THE CRAVEABILITY FACTOR AND THE POWER OF FOOD

BY MARVIN ALBALLI, HEAD OF OPERATIONS FRANCHISE GLOBAL BRANDSINTERNATIONAL DIVISION

Food cravings are a key driver for repeat visits and, to an extent, building loyalty in the restaurant industry. In today’s social media domination, the visual impact of food, either on a plate or through an image, can briefly stimulate cravings for that item but what’s far more important is taste. This is because taste is what triggers our visceral responses and makes us act by booking a table, driving to a restaurant, or placing a delivery order.

When I think about craveability, I often think back to an episode of Seinfeld. Watching the “Soup Nazi” scene, I realized that food was—and will always be—the most important aspect of any food and beverage business’ success.

In the scene, guests line up in the freezing cold of a New York City winter because the soup is incredible. It’s not too unusual to see that—I have worked and traveled to many countries where I have seen similar mom-and-pop restaurants with counter service and only one to five menu items, each cooked to perfection, with a long line of people waiting outside.

In the sitcom, the restaurant is poorly designed and has terrible service, and the ‘Soup Nazi’ charges you for extra bread, but business is still booming. Why is this? Maybe because it’s a fiction, or maybe because the food is worth craving and people are addicted to it.

Ask yourself: how craveable is my food? Is quality obsession part of my restaurant’s DNA?

Are guests willing to drive to my restaurant, wait for a table, and perhaps pay slightly more to buy my food? Do you have signature dishes that no one else in the city has? Is your restaurant currently the talk of the town because of its unique dishes and incredible taste?

In my book titled “Restaurant Excellence” and through my consultancy work, I always work with chefs and restaurant owners on what I call ‘creating the crave’! The type of food that hooks people and keeps them coming back over and over again.

So how to achieve craveability?

The key today is in understanding how best to relay craveability—through flavors and texture cues.

Let’s face it, not every dish will be crave-able, focus your efforts on two to three menu items from each menu category - appetizers, main courses, and desserts.

Come up with recipes that embodies a mix of spices and flavors, cooking techniques which will resonate with your guests’ palates and taste buds.

Your historical sales mix /product mix, menu item popularity will tell you which dishes your guests crave. It is important to be cautious as sometimes food popularity is driven by its price.

Be careful with fake reviews as paying guests will share their honest opinion. However nonpaying guests such as friends, marketers, influencers often provide misleading positive feedback to avoid the awkwardness of giving constructive and direct criticism.

Some believe that creating the crave is built around: fat, salt and sweet (especially sugary products) which is true but it’s much more than that, as some people crave for carbs or even seafood such as Sashimi which is not sweet, salty or fatty.

Creating crave-ability comes through trial and error, there is no hard and fast formula to achieve it. It really depends on your guest’s profile, their background, their experiences, their demographics, their childhood food memories and to a large extent, your culinary skills.

Don’t fall into the trap of focusing on Instagram-able dishes, food presentation can make someone drool. We’ve all heard the term “mouthwatering food” but presentation without trial doesn’t trigger hormones such as insulin, cortisol, dopamine, leptin, and ghrelin, all of which play a role in cravings. These hormones are stimulated after trial, you will never crave something that you have never tasted before!

Presentation is important, but beautiful dishes are only worth something if they taste amazing too. Spending time, effort, and resources and putting effort into presentation without considering taste and craveability is a mistake countless chefs make nowadays. Take a quick look on social media and you will quickly see that.

You should constantly examine your menu development approach and philosophy to continually raise the bar.

Restaurant design, service, marketing, pricing, and positioning are important, but none of these qualities exceed the importance of the taste, quality, and of course, craveability of your food.

“Your restaurant success begins when people start craving your food”.