What’s on your mind today as you consider menu development? You may be reflecting on ways to incorporate new high-impact seasonings to refresh your fries. Or perhaps you’re puzzling out ways to cross-utilize ingredients you have on hand to introduce a new snack menu intended to attract a customer base that is changing up its dining hours. Maybe you’re pondering what you’d have to offer to compete with neighborhood coffee bars. Whatever is dominating your attention, it’s probably safe to say that you’re not thinking about fruit. And that’s too bad.

Fruit is seldom top of mind when developing new menu items, but this can be a shortsighted perspective that overlooks creative opportunities when it comes to casting for cost-efficient, easy-to-execute, trend-forward, flavorful menu solutions. Dole wants to help change that perspective—starting by doing some of the innovative thinking for you.

Oversight of fruit-forward culinary solutions may be a consequence of limiting considerations to fresh fruit inventory. “Let’s be honest: While delicious, fresh fruit can be bothersome,” says Chef James Bickmore-Hutt, CEC, CRC, WCEC, Dole associate director of culinary innovation and corporate executive chef. “It’s delicate. It needs special timing, storage and handling. It’s seasonal, which means that menus must adapt quickly to accommodate availability. It’s also inconsistent, with its quality, taste and texture varying from year to year and even delivery to delivery.” These factors create unwelcome challenges for operators, he continues. “As a result, fruit often gets pushed to sidelines or deprioritized.”

Dole stands ready to help operators look past the fresh fruit bias with a vast portfolio of frozen, shelf-stable and ready-to-eat fruit products that emphasize flavor differentiation, consistent quality and back-of-house ease. Its premium product lineup includes a wide array of fruit varieties, blends, cuts and formats specifically designed for culinary applications. With a strong innovation pipeline in place, the fruit giant regularly introduces new products, flavors and forms.

FRUITFUL PARTNERSHIPS

“For foodservice operators, we aim to be their back-of-house BFFs,” says Bickmore-Hutt. “But not every operation has the same desires, challenges and facilities, so we like to dig into the details and try to solve as many operational needs as possible.” Besides labor-savings and waste-reduction advantages, Dole products are well-regarded for their quality. “Our fruit is always picked for peak performance and processed efficiently to ensure that the flavor and texture always shines through, day after day and bite after bite.”

Beyond its products, Dole is a premier partner in collaborating with operators to incubate next-level menu solutions, applying a deep well of trend insights, category credibility, research and culinary expertise to help produce new, relevant—and profitable—fruit-forward offerings. Here, Dole offers thought leadership in three areas that present exciting opportunities: non-alc beverages, snacking and use of high-impact ingredients.

This Mango Chili Limeade refreshes with lime juice, Mexican chili-lime seasoning and a dash of hot pepper sauce added to Dole^® Chef-Ready Cuts Mango Cubes.

1

Non-Alc Beverages

“For a variety of reasons, people are reducing their alcohol consumption—or eliminating it altogether,” observes Bickmore-Hutt. “But when they go out, they still want to feel like treating themselves, and that’s where outstanding non-alcoholic beverages come into play.”

Research shows growth in the away-from-home beverage category, with cold options outpacing hot ones in consumer spending increases (14.9 percent versus 11.7 percent, respectively), according to Technomic’s Away-From Home Beverage Navigator Study, May 2023. Total cold beverage sales reached $145 billion in 2022, higher than pre-pandemic levels.

It’s a category with exciting opportunity for fruit-based applications. Frozen fruits, fruit juices and fruit purées already play a prominent role in cold beverage trends and the runway for further and deeper exploration is long:

• Frozen Beverages: Protein/enhanced smoothies is the fastest-growing beverage category in limited-service restaurants, up 40% in recent years, according to 2022 research findings from Technomic.
• Afternoon Pick-Me-Up: Flavored lemonades have found particular favor with consumers in the fast-casual space. Brands like Panera and Shake Shack offer caffeinated lemonades for afternoon wake-ups.
• Tropical Beverage Flavors: Look for such fruits as guava, hibiscus, lychee and dragon fruit to make more inroads on beverage menus. Dole certainly has strong credibility when it comes to tropical flavors and can help operators take full advantage of this trend.
• Fruit and Boba: Datassential has tracked the growth in boba from 0.2 percent menu penetration in 2013 to 1.5 percent in 2023. Several major urban areas saw a 60+ percent jump in the number of bubble tea shops between 2019 and 2022. These shops often incorporate fruit purées or chunks of fruit into tea creations.
• Fruit and Coffee: This area may be more boundary-pushing, but some progressive concepts are experimenting with bringing fruit purées and coffee together.
• Mocktails: This is considered the fastest-growing beverage category in full-service restaurants. “Fruit and fruit juice make a solid foundation for mocktails that explore other adventurous flavors, such as bitter, herbal, spicy, savory and floral,” says Bickmore-Hutt.

The Dole chef offers a few specific applications operators could explore. In the frozen category, “Our Dole Whip^® makes a fantastic base for a fizzy, bubbly, non-alcoholic ‘float’ when paired with sparkling apple cider or lemon soda,” he notes. Another suggestion is making a spicy mock Bloody Mary with a spoonful of Chef-Ready Cut Mango Cubes placed in the bottom of the glass to balance the heat. For operators intrigued by the “newstalgia” trend, the company’s Pineapple Coconut Juice mix can be used for a non-alc piña colada or a fun spin on an Arnold Palmer.

Contemporary snacks take many forms, from beverages to bowls, providing a broader spectrum of options to incorporate fruit. This vegan Pickled Plantain and Avocado Salad, featuring Dole^® Chef Ready Cuts Diced Avocado, can be served as a snack or a meal.

2

Snacking

Non-traditional mealtimes and snacking are on the rise in foodservice settings. Research from Datassential sees snacks actually replacing meals, especially with younger consumers, but a trend involving all demographics, with 74 percent of consumers having a snack in place of a traditional meal at least once per week!

“It’s clear that the way people are eating today, our society is shifting away from the ‘three-square-meals-per-day’ model,” says Bickmore-Hutt, citing tight schedules and current dietary trends as possible factors behind this movement. This presents foodservice operators with a potential sea change in the definitions of “meals” and “snacks” as they assess their menus to meet consumer demand.

Another challenge comes from the longstanding success of fruit at the center of numerous go-to snacks. Fruit is ubiquitous on the snacking trend adoption curve, leaving many operators blind to its innovative potential.

Limited-service establishments would seem to have a leg up in meeting the needs of customers seeking snacks and/or eating at non-traditional times of the day. Both their hours and their emphasis on take-away menu items align well with this goal, and many can easily accommodate making branded, single-portion, prepackaged items available. This is one niche where Dole can provide solutions through its Dole Fruit Bowls™ & Parfaits, Dole Smoothie Bowls™, Dole Wiggles^® Fruit Juice Gels and Dole Good Crunch™.

Bickmore-Hutt notes that easy-to-execute fruit-centric snack menu options are available to full-service restaurants. “Offer fruit to elevate a yogurt bar, an ice cream station or a meal bowl bar,” he suggests. “It doesn’t have to be mind-blowing to be effective. Simple can be approachable and craveable at the same time.” As smoothies, energy drinks and beverage refreshers gain in popularity and more robust ingredient builds, many consider these to be satiating snack alternatives.

Healthy snacking is an important sub-category where fruit is a natural fit. The key is to address consumer expectation that better-for-you snacks be just as craveable as more indulgent alternatives, say Datassential analysts. Bickmore-Hutt suggests leaning into the spicy trend. “A spicy fruit cup is a quick snack that packs a flavor punch. Take Dole® pineapple, mango or even diced avocado and dust it with chili-lime seasoning spice, a little salt and a squeeze of lime.”

This Dragon Fruit Avocado Smash Sprouted Grain Toast stuns with vibrant color, making a flavorful and aesthetic impact.

3

High-Impact Ingredients

In some dishes, one ingredient can be the difference-maker. It might be a bold flavor burst, an unexpected crunch in a sea of smoothness or a pop of color that captures the eye before captivating the palate. Fruit and fruit juices can serve as such accents and unlock a world of flavor opportunities.

Fruit is particularly effective in pairings with savory flavors, offering contrast and complexity. For example, chefs can amp up their offerings with fruit that has been fermented, pickled, caramelized and/or roasted. “One standout ingredient is pickled cherries, which are just as good—and beautiful—on a pork roast as on vanilla ice cream,” says Bickmore-Hutt, also suggesting roasted pineapple served over grilled fish with a sprinkle of lime zest and finely chopped jalapeño.

Topping a spinach salad with caramelized strawberries, almonds and crumbled goat cheese is another easy execution that adds impact to a traditional salad without adding a heavy lift for the kitchen. Transform fruit’s natural flavors by incorporating fresh herbs (rosemary, thyme, sage) and spices (cinnamon, ginger, pepper) to give fruit more depth.

Operators can swap pineapple juice or another fruit purée for sugar, honey or agave to create a differentiated flavor. Tropical fruits like mango, guava and passionfruit are staples in global cuisines, and incorporating them into dishes allows operators to tap into the growing consumer demand for such flavors. Most fruit additions are low-risk, easy-to-execute, high-impact menu moves.

Bickmore-Hutt offers three more examples that showcase the big flavor a little fruit can deliver in dishes across menu categories.

• Taste of Dole Island Pork Sliders use Dole^® Pineapple Tidbits and Mango Chunks to complement tender spiced pork for a shareable handheld.
• At breakfast, Dole^® Chef-Ready Cuts Sliced Bananas are used to fill freshly baked Banana Honey Buns.
• Serve up a healthy helping of flare with a vivid Dragon Fruit Sorbet that is guaranteed to turn heads. Add Dole Good Crunch™ dried pineapple chips for textural interest.

A FRUITFUL FUTURE

Operators shouldn’t need to think too hard about fruit-forward menu solutions that add flavor as they save labor. Dole has and will continue to do that thinking for you with a bevy of recipes, resources and products all designed to help you make flavor-forward dishes with barely a second thought.

Want more fruit for thought? Click here to discover new ways to create standout menus, while cutting labor and prep time.