Steak Remains Mainstay on Restaurant Menus

It’s no secret that menus are shrinking. In fact, restaurants have reduced entrée numbers by 12.1% over the two years ending Q4 2017. However, in this “less is more” environment steak’s menu presence has held strong, with some cuts increasing their numbers on American menus.[i]

Recent analysis of Technomic’s Ignite menu database summarizes steak menuing across full-service restaurant menus.[ii] The data show how steak menuing for the year ending Q4 2017 remained particularly robust across the board, with classic cuts such as the Ribeye (+3%) and Filet (+4%) becoming more prominent. The menu count of other well-known cuts, such as Sirloin (-2%) and Strip Steak (-1%) has declined only slightly, despite the prevailing menu simplification trend.

That said, if a steak menu item doesn’t carry an official cut name, what might it be called on a menu? And, which of these descriptors is remaining most prominent? While Hamburger Steak is the most common non-cut callout, Cowboy Steak represents that high-end, bone-in Ribeye experience. Both are maintaining a steady presence on menus. Non-cut menu callouts that are increasing include Center Cut (+2%), Chopped Steak (+3%) and London Broil (+2%). Overall, actual cut name use remains more common than the non-cut descriptors. And finally, steak menuing for non-center-of-the-plate applications (such as sandwiches, salads and other beef dishes) has remained steady in the age of menu simplification, as well.

Steak Sizing

Have you ever wondered what the average size of a Ribeye Steak is on menus? What about Filets or Sirloin Steaks? Technomic summarized the cut size distribution on menus of more prominent steaks as well.

Overall, nearly two thirds of full-service restaurant steak menu items include cut size, with Strip, Prime Rib, Ribeye and Sirloin Steak cut size callouts being slightly more common. Not surprisingly, the largest cut is the Porterhouse/T-Bone (in part, due to its requisite bone). Filet, Sirloin and Flat Iron Steaks are generally 8–9 ounces, while Ribeye, Strip and Prime Rib callouts are frequently in the 12-ounce range. Ribeye and Prime Rib size callouts have a somewhat broader spread, as well.

By operator segment, size callouts are most common amongst Traditional Casual Dining Operators with fewer Fine Dining establishments including cut size in their item descriptions.

Slicing Sells

Finally, Technomic data shows that while restaurant operators continue to menu steaks in the traditional ways their patrons enjoy, they continue to find more creative and versatile ways to capture consumers’ interest, as well.

The Capital Grille serves a sliced Filet, which lends flexibility to the operator in cut selection and portion management. Lazy Dog Restaurant & Bar demonstrates how a sliced Flat Iron Steak can easily be incorporated into an attractive center-of-the-plate experience. Sirloin easily fits this approach, as well. Operators are even slicing Ribeyes and Porterhouses (a la Ai Fiori) to create succulent and easily shareable experiences.

Overall, nearly all full-service operators value steak’s presence on their menus.[iii] They understand steak draws customers to their restaurants[iv] and adds dollars to their bottom line. [v]

Further details on steak menuing trends and cut size callouts for each of the full-service restaurant segments (including Midscale, Traditional Casual Dining, Polished Casual Dining and Fine Dining) are available via this link.

Alison Krebs is Director Market Intelligence for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, a contractor to the Beef Checkoff. Her main responsibilities include researching, analyzing, understanding and disseminating information about beef markets and trends in the retail, foodservice and consumer channels.

Originally from the Midwest, she holds a B.S. in Agricultural Economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an MBA from Purdue University.

Prior to joining NCBA in June 2014, she served as Director Knowledge Exchange at CoBank where she led analysts, conducted research and wrote economic reports on the food and agriculture sector. Her career also includes agribusiness management consulting, sales, market research and global marketing with Elanco Animal Health and its parent, Eli Lilly and Company, and commodity market analysis and writing.

Her passion is to turn data and information into meaningful knowledge and insight for key stakeholders, enabling them to make impactful decisions for the food and beef industry.

[i] Entrée Menuing Dashboard, Technomic Ignite, March 2018.

[ii] Steak Smart Support, Technomic Ignite Database, April 2018.

[iii] 2017 Foodservice Volumetric Study, Technomic, December 2017.

[iv] 2017 Foodservice Volumetric Study, Technomic, December 2017.

[v] Chefs and Beef’s Value Study, Datassentials, December 2016.