Menuing Frozen Foods
Frozen fruits, vegetables and juices offer operators the flexibility to use the freezer like a pantry.
The top reasons for frozen food popularity include:
- Advancement in frozen food technology
- Labor cost savings (time savings)
- Year-round product availability
- Excellent product consistency
- Less waste
- Easy storage
More than half of operator purchases include French fries, shellfish, and chicken in frozen form.
Operator perceptions about the nutritional value of frozen foods are primarily positive. The quality issue is where frozen foods come into their own in the foodservice kitchen. Customers can no longer tell the difference between a frozen corn kernel, for example, and one that has been shucked from the ear. And the resulting time-savings, cost-savings, ease of storage, and reliability have earned frozen foods a good reputation in foodservice operations worldwide.
Trends
Speed-scratch cooking is an emerging trend that refers to dishes that aren't necessarily made from scratch, but rather, something is added to enhance their flavor, texture, or both. A good example of this is frozen tomato-based sauces. This creative combination of raw and frozen products results in menu items that taste terrific and appear labor intensive, but are not.
Frozen foods are also making the incorporation of Mexican and Asian flavors into the average American menu easier than ever.
Frozen appetizers on menus are growing by leaps and bounds. The "best sellers" are frozen convenience items. For example:
- Onion rings
- Chicken wings
- Mozzarella sticks
- Breaded calamari
- Breaded vegetables
Of course, desserts remain ever popular, and frozen desserts are a boon to operators who either don't have the time, or lack a trained staff to prepare a variety of enticing desserts.