Expanding menus and driving sales through seafoodExpanding menus and driving sales through seafood

Buoyed by increasing consumer demands for healthy and flavorful menu items, seafood is on the rise at restaurants across the dining industry.

Among restaurants that offer seafood, more than half (56%) say they expect sales to increase in the coming year, including 11% who expect sales to increase significantly, according to research from Nation’s Restaurant News and the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute. Another 42% say they expect sales to be about the same or flat, with only 2% projecting a decrease in sales.

Seafood most often appears as a center-of-the-plate entrée, the research found, with 78% of full-service restaurants reporting that they offer seafood as a center-of-the-plate item. Slightly more than half (53%) of restaurants fea...