Midday Snack Attack

Snacks are becoming the new lunch, so answer the call when 3 o’clock hunger strikes.

TREND 3

Midday Snack Attack

TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE HOURS BETWEEN LUNCH AND DINNER WHEN MANY CONSUMERS ARE AT THEIR HUNGRIEST

Whether it’s a late lunch, midafternoon snack, coffee break, happy hour, or a pre-event nibble, the hours between lunch and dinner can prove highly profitable for restaurant operators. Many will offer an abbreviated menu of snacks and sides that are easy to prepare yet still a boost to the bottom line. Working with an in-house bartender to pair snacks with cocktails, beer, and wine can deliver an extra win.

Sliders, wings, and chicken nuggets continue to grow in popularity due to their shareability factor.

Tea happens at 3 for a reason. It’s the perfect midpoint between lunch and dinner. Whether enjoying tea with a blueberry scone or coffee with a big chocolate chip cookie, there’s something special about sneaking away for a small snack and hot beverage in the afternoon. It’s worked for centuries and still works today. Entice guests with fresh-out-of-the-oven bakery items “every day at 3,” and highlight new and unique tea and coffee blends each week to keep them coming back.

Hyper-focused happy hour menus that focus on a restaurant’s demographic will go even further to increase ticket averages. Millennials typically crave different beverage options than the college crowd, choosing wine over hard seltzer or beer, for example. Operators can test the waters with mini versions of the full menu—including smaller portions, or flights, of popular beverages and meals.

When snacking calls for something sweet, almost two times the number of consumers prefer cookies over cake.

According to the National Restaurant Association, some of the snack trends in 2022 will include plant-based sandwiches and burgers, globally inspired salads, grain-based bowls, globally spiced fries, and upscale chips. Salty and spicy items are perfect with a sudsy brew, and lighter items work well with wine. Looking at trends and listening to customer favorites, happy hour menus practically build themselves.

Reopened workplaces, kids returning to school, and remote workspaces are creating a spike in packaged lunch and snack kits, forecast to do well through 2024.

Delivering on Cravings

Snacks are growing in popularity for delivery, with Grubhub reporting the following 10 items as the most popular delivery items of 2021:

Plant-based sausage wrap
Bubble milk tea
Birria taco
Everything omelet
Strawberry banana cream smoothie
Spicy miso tonkotsu ramen
Churro waffle
Beef empanada
Nashville hot chicken sandwich
Korean barbecue cauliflower wing

Depending on the region, consumers often crave different snacks. Those in the West enjoy snacks such as boba, café mocha, taquitos, chili fries, kombucha, and lemon bars. In the Midwest, you’ll find favorites like cheese curds, pretzel sticks, onion straws, and boneless chicken wings. Southerners crave cobbler, fried green tomatoes, fried okra, and crab dip. And in the Northeast, buffalo chicken tenders, scallion pancakes, and pizza fries are tops.

REGIONAL SNACK POPULARITY

Particularly common snack varieties in each region based on menu popularity; index values shown

_{^{Source: Datassential, Snacks, May 2021}}

OPERATOR SPOTLIGHT
Created to serve as a stop pre- or post-dinner, Revelers Hall in Dallas, Texas, serves a full lineup of cocktails alongside share plates, flatbreads, and a short list of sandwiches. Musical acts perform nightly and are compensated via a $5 surcharge added to each check.

_{^{Sources: Technomic Ignite Menu Data; The NPD Group Future of Lunch Study, 2021; National Restaurant Association What’s Hot in 2022; Technomic Snacking Occasion, 2020; Grubhub.}}