Restaurants turn to science to determine consumer preferences

DALLAS (July 28) - Looking to create new menu offerings, the casual-dining business has historically relied largely on gut intuition and instant feedback from customers. But these days, as the growing segment of the restaurant industry has become more competitive, the major chains are following in the path of other consumer-products businesses. A lot of large groups includeing Carlson have recently repaved their road to menu development. They're hiring focus groups and poring over spreadsheets with all types of data. "Not everything we develop makes the menu," said a senior manager of Carlson. "In the past, we said: Let's throw it into the restaurant and hope it works." Now, he said, the M.O. is: "If it's going to fail, let's let it fail in test and either fix it, or dump it." Some consumer input comes from sensory groups that answer questions about a proposed product based on information presented via computer. There are also focus groups, which can include eight or more consumers with a moderator leading the discussion. The restaurateur can watch via live video feed. Some groups consist of regular users. Others seek out "trial rejectors," consumers who took a pass after their first try with a brand. Chains may also brainstorm with suppliers, who have done consumer research of their own. That approach is not unusual, said Ron Marks, founder of Focus on Food, a food-research center based in Norcross, Ga. "R&D groups internally are looking to partner with key suppliers and vendors to share the risk, the burden and the cost of developing new products," said Marks, who was formerly vice president of R&D for Applebee's International Inc. Risk and cost are two key factors helping to fuel the recent data drive. "If you're a restaurant chain of 1,000 restaurants or even 300 restaurants and you support the launch of your new product (with advertising) you'll spend a couple hundred thousand dollars," largely to pay for ad production, said Marks. That does not include the cost of the media buy, or the cost of field testing, staff training and ingredient purchases. "To roll the menu item out, when you are a midsized chain, you're talking commitments of multiple millions of dollars," said Marks. "The risk of failure is much too great now, compared to five years ago."