Restaurants are shrinking, going greener, and popping up in unconventional places. Marketing campaigns are moving online and bold flavors are finding their way into all cuisine types. Restaurant concepts and cuisines are both changing form, and consolidation is happening on several fronts of the restaurant industry.

Americans develop an appetite for epicurean vacations. This concept has been grasped by some top-end brighton hotels. What could be more relaxing than enjoying the luxury of a fine hotel combined with a cutting edge restaurant? More and more establishments are rapidly catching on, pouring even more brilliance into hotel restaurants than before, both here and abroad. American brands go overseas while foreign brands build here. Niche restaurant concepts continue to prosper and ‘baby gorillas’ strive to be the next big thing.

Quantified Marketing Group founder and CEO Aaron Allen predicts the top trends poised to influence the restaurant industry in the coming year in Quantified Marketing Group’s 2008 Restaurant Trend Forecast.

Modified-casual dining
A new category in the restaurant industry, modified-casual dining, is poised for rapid growth over the next several years.

Modified-casual dining offers the same service and amenities of a large casual dining chain or mega-independent casual operation, but in a much smaller footprint.

Like fast-casual restaurants, modified-casual concepts generally open inside in-line or end cap spaces, which are smaller than free-standing structures, and offer a specialized menu which allows for scaled-down back-of-the-house operations.

But modified-casual restaurants are more sophisticated than fast-casual operations because they offer table service instead of counter service. They also carry a higher check average than fast-casual establishments.

Modified-casual operations offer more promising sales-to-investment ratios than fast-casual concepts. A modified-casual operation may cost less than $800,000 to develop, but can generate more than $1 million in sales. In contrast, fast-casual operations costs $500,000 or less to develop, but traditionally produce less than $1 million in revenue

Compressing size to drive sales
Restaurant operations are diminishing in size as restaurateurs strive to boost efficiency and profits. The core aspect of new development is a high sales-to-square-foot ratio which leaves no room for inefficiency in design or floor space. Operators are scaling back kitchen designs and operations to save on floor space and turning to commissaries to produce original recipe products off-site.

Global consciousness
One of the most powerful words in branding is 'consciousness'. Consumers today are seeking out businesses that are focused, not just on making profits, but on making the world a better place. The restaurant industry is beginning to make global consciousness a top priority by showing they care on every level.

More and more restaurant companies have taken steps to make a difference by preserving natural resources, designing operations with conservation in mind, building affiliations with non-profit organizations, and by fostering personal growth in the workplace through mentoring, educational and diversity programs.

Non-traditional sites
Escalating real-estate prices and dwindling availability of premium locations are convincing many quick-service and fast-casual operators to open in non-traditional sites where construction costs are lower, rental terms are more reasonable, and volume and sales rival traditional venues.

Operators are opening on campuses, hospitals, office buildings, airports, stadiums, kiosks, and mini-outlets in convenience stores. In these non-traditional sites, competition is less fierce and brand-building is easier.

Consolidation
Consolidation is changing the face of the restaurant industry. Top restaurant companies are merging to boost their economic and growth potential and win a larger market share.

Consolidation is also gaining steam in the form of purchasing cooperatives. Small restaurant operators are teaming up and forming or joining buying groups that allow them to enhance their purchasing power, lower costs, and improve their competitiveness, all while retaining their own brand identity.

Drastic Concept Overhauls
As the casual-dining segment continues to erode, mid-market chains like Bennigan's Grill & Tavern, Applebee's Neighborhood Bar & Grill, and Chili's Grill & Bar will be forced to reinvent themselves to win back guests. Many will need to introduce new menus or conceptual designs to survive.

Experiential Branding
Restaurants can't just be concerned with good food, good service, and good ambience anymore. Experiential branding is a restaurant's opportunity to build lifelong relationships with guests.

The guest experience is everything. Operators must ensure the restaurant's brand is in action through all touch points, including culinary offerings, service, uniforms-- even wall decor-- to win credibility and loyalty with customers.

Culinary Tourism
In 2008, more vacationers will base their travel plans around culinary endeavors or will participate in food and wine activities as part of their vacation. As American food culture grows, an increasing number of restaurants, resorts, and travel agencies will focus on creating unique eating and drinking experiences such as cooking classes with executive chefs, restaurant, brewery, winery and farm tours, culinary cruises featuring chefs and sommeliers, and wellness resorts that offer nutrition courses and educational cooking classes that emphasize healthful eating.

Baby Gorillas
Unknown restaurant concepts being cultivated today are the industry’s ‘baby gorillas’. Like a baby gorilla, a fledgling upstart restaurant may be small enough to pick up now, but too large to handle within just a few years. An increasing number of restaurant concepts being launched and nourished now will be category killers in the next decade, blazing past national chains and forcing a significant change in the top 400 restaurant companies. Because change unfolds at an exponential rate, keep an eye on ‘baby’ brands that show signs of growing into the next 800-pound gorilla.

New Franchise Frontiers
A growing number of U.S. restaurant concepts are expanding into international markets where consumers want access to established brands’ products and where competition is less fierce. Conversely, international restaurant concepts are seizing the opportunities afforded by franchising stateside. Sophisticated supply chains and purchasing systems make it easier for these companies to operate their restaurants here in the U.S. than in their home countries.

The Future Of Hotel Dining
Traditionally, hotel dining rooms are largely overlooked, primarily attracting only business diners and hotel guests. However, new thinking will reinvent these restaurants as dining destinations, even attracting local diners. Features like new menus, chefs, and décor will all play roles in this process. This evolution will also, by extension, make host hotels all the more attractive to prospective guests.

Seasons 52 Continues To Define The Trend
Restaurant brands across the nation will continue to emulate the culinary approach, menu offerings, and service standards first introduced by Seasons 52 in 2003.

Like Seasons 52, restaurants everywhere are incorporating more healthful preparation techniques, abandoning buttering, frying, and heavy sauces, and instead adding flavor by grilling, roasting, seasoning, and marinating foods.

Seasons 52’s petite-sized ‘shot glass’ desserts have shown up on an increasing number of restaurant menus across the nation. Expect small-portioned desserts to become even more ubiquitous in 2008.

Similarly, a growing number of restaurants have adopted Season 52’s high-tech payment solution: waiters toting hand-held palm pilots and portable machines that allow guests to swipe their own credit card.

Single-Product Concepts
Specialization will continue as a primary factor fueling restaurant industry growth.

Restaurant brands that find a following with a single, well-produced product (e.g. Starbucks and Pinkberry) will stand out in the restaurant world and potentially dominate a market niche they help carve out themselves.

Restaurant Execs Jump Ship For Start-ups And Turnarounds
More and more often, CEOs of mega restaurant chains are trading in lucrative paychecks, sizeable marketing budgets, and lavish perks to pilot the growth of start-up concepts or propel the comeback of fading restaurant chains. Expect to see this pattern continue throughout 2008.

Town Centers
Urban restaurant rows continue to perish as dining establishments relocate to new multi-million dollar town centers. These ‘new urbanism’ communities offer the charm of a downtown environment with convenience of a strip mall.

Future Brands
Traditionally, there has been something of a law of inertia at work in the restaurant industry; large, successful brands will overall continue to be successful unless something significant changes. However, new and innovative concepts can now quickly gain market share if they find the right approach. In the coming years, industry leaders will be determined by business and marketing strategies, entrepreneurial spirit, and innovation in cuisine, service, and technology.

Healthful Eating
The growing emphasis on healthful eating will continue. Americans will focus their attention on portion control, moving away from trans fats, and will seek out products offering health and convenience and foods that claim to have a medicinal effect on consumers’ health.

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Launched in 2001, Quantified Marketing Group ( www.quantifiedmarketing.com) has grown into the nation’s largest full-service strategic marketing and public relations firm specializing exclusively in the restaurant industry. The Orlando-based restaurant marketing firm has represented more than 3,000 restaurants around the world. Quantified Marketing Group meets the diverse needs of high-volume independent restaurant operations and regional and national restaurant chains through a menu of services that includes public relations, concept development, design, marketing strategy, culinary development, beverage development, training, local store marketing, business planning and grand opening programs.