Is 2012 the year of the locavore?

Planning to start a food business? Make sure your menu is locavore-friendly, and don't forget to communicate with your customers.

 

Of course, coming up with a fresh restaurant concept is key, but it would also be good to pay attention to what your potential diners are looking for. According to TNS Philippines Managing Director Gary De Ocampo, the new global is local.

 

In his talk on “Evolving Consumer Behavior and Dining Lifestyles” given at the 4th Annual Foodservice Convention last March 29, De Ocampo explains that a locavore is a person dedicated to eating food grown and produced locally. 

 

He explained that there are many reasons behind the growing locavore lifestyle:

 

 

"Rene Redzepi, the chef of the world's best restaurant Noma in Copenhagen, is considered to be a locavore hero. While many chefs seek to build empires, Redzepi wants only to dig deeper into his immediate surroundings," says De Ocampo, sharing that the chef has been leading his cooks on foraging trips ever since a burly forager showed up at his back door with a handful of wild plants in 2004.

 

Locavores call for a return to the earth, and honest home-style cooking. "Seasonal and local sourcing will continue to grow driven by the less is more culinary trend," says De Ocampo, adding that how sustainable this would be depends on the quality control systems and regulatory laws in a specific local market.

 

A demand for organic products

 

The movement goes beyond food to consumer goods, and there is already a rising demand for organic products whose productive methods reject synthetic materials and compounds.

 

Citing a study done by The Nielsen Company, De Ocampo says that 47 percent of shoppers in Asia Pacific buy organic products. Their reasons include that it's healthier, pesticide-free, more nutritious, environmentally friendly, better-tasting, not genetically modified, supportive of small farmers and rural communities. Shoppers perceive it as "the right thing to do ethically, and a vote against modern farming methods."

 

"It’s clear that consumers' hearts are in the right place," says De Ocampo, noting that they generally want to eat more nutritious food that are grown, raised and produced in responsible ways. "That said, when finances are tied, consumers tend to turn to those products that offer the most value whether they are healthy and environmentally responsible or not, which is a sad reality," he says.

 

Still, more and more people are going local. "We want to consume locally, we want to spend locally, we want the world to shrink back to manageable proportions," says De Ocampo.

 

In the Philippines, going local has something to do with the need for social connection, which is found to be much stronger among the least developed economies.

 

Social media and virtual dining

 

With the rise of digital connection, the manner by which meals are shared is another thing to consider. Traditionally, meals are shared at home or at a restaurant. Now, you can snap photos of your meal as you eat, and share the photos on social media platforms even before you swallow your food.

 

"You can dine virtually with friends and family via mobile video technology, and as you can imagine, things will definitely escalate in the face of innovation and discovery of new foods," says De Ocampo.

 

Technology has not only changed the way we dine, but the way we talk about our dining experiences. De Ocampo notes that historically, food trends started at higher-end restaurants, moving down the ladder to casual restaurants and eventually to supermarkets.

 

Because of social media and video technology, food trends spread in other ways. "People out there are becoming more and more engaged, particularly in the digital space," he says.

 

Apart from going back to the earth and revisiting connections, De Ocampo reminds restaurant owners that being local also means being culturally attuned. For instance, chicken is the most preferred meat choice in many Asian countries, as it is the only meat that is accepted by all the major religions in the region.

 

"The key to global brand success is to win at the local level," says De Ocampo, citing KFC in China as an example. With branches all over 700 cities across China and a host of imitators everywhere, KFC's success was such that at the height of its popularity, its new store openings were often greeted by stampeding crowds.

 

De Ocampo pointed to localization, constant innovation and digital connection as three factors in the restaurant's success.

 

Asian cuisine: the next big food trend?

 

Another thing to consider is the new global appears to be Asian. Citing HSBC's forecast that China and India will be among the top three economies in the world 38 years from now, De Ocampo says it is not surprising to see Asian influence in western behavior. 

 

One example of this is Bon Chon from Korea, which has made it big in the US, and Japadog. The hotdogs served with Japanese toppings appeal to those who wish to explore world food trends without breaking the bank, he says.

 

"Food is a way to travel vicariously for those who cannot afford to travel," he says.

 

Along with these food trends, the food truck revolution is another step toward the world becoming familiar and accustomed to Asian dishes.

 

According to De Ocampo, some tastemakers think 2012 will be the year that Asian cuisine is the next big food trend. "Food consultants in the know are pointing to Thai and Indian cuisines as the breakout stars of the new year," he adds.

 

There is also a growing use of offal or any of the internal organs or entrails of an animal. "Being Filipino we grew up eating ox tail, pig ears, etc. and in Asian cultures no animal part is wasted," he says, adding that now, it's often seen on menus. "Culinary rock stars like Anthony Bourdain have shown the masses that it's not really scary to eat these parts, and depending on how it's prepared, some dishes taste really good," he says.

 

Noting that there is not only one Asia, De Ocampo says that venturing into Asia is definitely not a cookie cutter endeavor. "There's a growing trend to being local as a requirement for entry and growth," he says. "It is not easy, but relevance or being local to the market you are serving is always the key. And it will always take an understanding of their culture, of their compulsions, their values and their aspirations," he says. –KG, GMA News