Lane Cardwell

Mini Me(at)

Burgers still reign supreme in the U.S. While the hot dog still holds the reputation as the All-American food, no doubt through clever publicists, the hamburger is still on top of the popularity ladder. In a national survey, 94% of consumers report eating a hamburger at least occasionally. Within the world of burgers, the mini-burger, or "slider", is hotter than ever.

The mini-burger has been around for a long time, but has been a niche product on the few casual dining restaurant menus that carried it. Usually, the mini-burger was offered as an appetizer. It was the perfect shareable food, usually served three or four to an order, and able to be gobbled down in just a few bites. The Cheesecake Factory was one of the first chains where I was aware of the offering. Their Roadside Sliders brought a touch of nostalgia to customers who have grown up on White Castle or Krystal's sliders.

Today, if you find a casual dining restaurant that doesn't offer them, either as an appetizer or entrée, it makes you wonder why. It is a sign of the times that we now reward the copycatters, and call into question those with an independent streak who refuse to play "me too". On the other hand, maybe we don't want to reward those who don't give us what we want, even if it is what everyone else has.

Mainstream casual dining restaurants like Chili's, TGI Friday's, Applebee's, and Ruby Tuesday all offer them up on their menus. Their popularity has stunned some of these restaurants, for whom burgers have long been a way of life. In other restaurants, they have been upscaled or retooled. Kobe beef sliders, meatball sliders, pulled pork sliders, po-boy oyster sliders, and Portobello sliders, are among the varieties popping up around the country.

Why sliders? Why now? Newsday tackled these questions in an article last year.

"What these sliders have in common is their universal appeal," says Clark Wolf, a restaurant consultant based in Manhattan and Sonoma, Calif. "The full-size sloppy burger is an American vulgarity, but a little guy can be appropriate anywhere," he said.

Food pundit Ed Levine, founder of the Web site seriouseats.com and author of "New York Eats," agrees. "Sliders are a great idea in theory and practice ... a reaction to burger elephantitis," he said.

Nancy Kruse, the high-priestess of food trends, has talked in recent years to the industry about the six big trends impacting restaurant menus: freshness, flavor, authenticity, healthful additions, tableside activity, and "-zations". "-zations" include miniaturization, customization, and premiumization. Miniaturization is being played out in the mini-desserts which have become prevalent, as well as mini-sandwiches like sliders. Nancy predicted that small bites would become big business, and she is right again.

In the world of restaurant trends, small is the new big. Small desserts, small burgers, and small sandwiches. Customers are loving the small sizes, their ability to share them with others, or being able to stop after eating just two or three. Higher end restaurants are living up to Nancy's "-zations" trend by taking the small burger (miniaturization), upscaling them with kobe beef or other products (premiumization), and letting people pick and choose their toppings or proteins (customization). A food trend that even Dr. Evil could find pleasure in.

Posted by Lane Cardwell on September 14, 2008 | Comments (5)