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Nancy Kruse
It wasn’t long ago that the appearance of fresh apples on chain menus caused quite a stir. McDonald’s put them in its Fruit & Walnut Premium Salad and sent the domestic apple industry into overdrive. Burger King slyly added Fresh Apple Fries — apples sliced to look like French fries — and fast-casual chains like Panera Bread added Granny Smith and Fuji apples to their entrée salads.
Since that time, corporate chefs’ use of fruits has evolved at warp speed, driven partly by the versatility and accessibility of a wide range of products and partly by consumer receptivity to their flavor, color and healthful image. In a relatively short time, fruit has become a menu workhorse.
Fruit is familiar. As much as we like apples, our go-to fresh fruit is the banana, which we put away to the tune of more than 25 pounds per person per year. They’re highlighted in Corner Bakery Cafe’s Chilled Swiss Oatmeal with apples, currants and cranberries. They take a starring role in Nutella and Banana Crepes at Coco’s Bakery Restaurant, and they make a surprise appearance in Gordon Biersch’s new Banana Spring Rolls dessert. In a real ingredient tour de force, Houlihan’s created banana-ginger vinaigrette to accompany its Seared Ahi Tuna Salad, which also includes sliced bananas.
Pears are another traditional fruit getting a second wind. They’re popular in salads, as in The Cheesecake Factory’s new Carlton Salad, which includes both pears and orange slices, and Uno Chicago Grill’s seasonal D’Anjou Pear Salad, which pairs pears with grapes. California Pizza Kitchen caramelizes the fruit for its Pear and Gorgonzola Pizza, and Burgerville looks to local growers for the Oregon Anjou pear chutney that rotates onto the autumn menu.
Fruit is exotic. The growth and acceptance of Latin foods opened the door to a host of equatorial fruits that brighten and lighten menu items. Bahama Breeze lives up to its name by using a range of tropical produce. On the summer menu are Jumbo Fresh Sea Scallops with creamy lemon sauce and mango-jicama slaw, and Cuba Libre Shrimp Salad with pineapple and candied almonds tossed in sugar-cane vinaigrette. All that’s missing is sunscreen and a beach umbrella.
Applebee’s relies on citrus flavors to punch up its latest Weight Watchers offerings, like Chipotle Lime Chicken and Spicy Pineapple Glazed Shrimp & Spinach. On the beverage side, there’s mucho mango in new libations like spiked, frozen and flavored lemonades.
Mediterranean fruits are also coming on, albeit more slowly. Pomegranates have led the pack, turning up in beverages like Jamba Juice’s Pomegranate Tea Infusion made with green tea, and in salad dressings like Au Bon Pain’s pomegranate vinaigrette. The latter chain also offers Turkish apricots as a snack and adds Kalamata olives to a salad. CPK’s Moroccan Chicken Salad uses Medjool dates, and dried figs are a very tasty topper for the Fig, Goat Cheese & Broccoli pizza at Uno.
Fruit is super. No sooner did nutrition gurus anoint the blueberry as one of the so-called super fruits than the item skyrocketed onto menus. Fresh Choice’s recent Organic Blueberry Extravaganza promoted Blueberry-Blues Spinach Salad, Blueberry Lemonade and numerous blueberry-based baked goods and desserts. Other berries are super, too. Strawberries are already ubiquitous and will doubtless receive an additional boost from McDonald’s new Strawberry Lemonade, the latest in a line of specialty beverages. And Shari’s Restaurant & Pies focused on seasonal blackberries grown in the Pacific Northwest in an engaging limited-time offer.
Looking ahead, fruits will multiply on menus. Watch for growth of reputedly beneficial exotics like goji berries, as in Tropical Smoothie Café’s Get Up and Goji smoothie; açai, as in açai vinaigrette on Quiznos’ Farmers Market Salads; and coconut water, now on the menu at Hard Rock Cafe.
Nancy Kruse, president of the Kruse Company, is a menu trends analyst based in Atlanta. E-mail her at [email protected].
