Small Bites, Big Business
Tasty Tidbits Move to the Forefront


By Brenda Owen and Amy Lorton




Latino and Hispanic foods may be the hottest trend around now in the beverage and food business, with Latin-inspired cocktails and cuisine selling hotter than jalapeños, but there is a new food fad developing that may be just as long-lasting and influential on the bar and club business. In fact, it may have been spawned by the popularity of Spain's most popular export –– Tapas.


According to experts on trends, appetizers, whether simple or sophisticated, are in high style now. Instead of going to restaurants to eat a two-hour, five-course meal, consumers in this country are choosing to visit several venues for “drinks and apps.”


“Americans are becoming more European in their going-out habits," Russ Davis, owner of Cafe Vecchio Mondo, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel about customers at his downtown Milwaukee bar and bistro. “They're taking more the Spanish Tapas approach. That way, they can try more things and be more adventurous, yet keep things relatively light and not have to commit to an entire entree.”


Finger Foods, Galore

Nowhere is this trend more apparent than at the 10 Brothers Bar and Grill locations scattered across the Midwest, says Eric Fortney, who founded the chain in 1990 with his brother Marc Fortney.

“We refer to our appetizers as finger foods because they have gone beyond just something you order before a meal,” he says. “Our appetizers are the meal.”


The old-fashioned ‘40s- and ‘50s-style décor draws a clientele too young to have experienced those styles the first time around. “Our customers mostly consist of a college-age crowd and young professionals. Our primary demographic is ages 21 to 35 — really heavy between ages 21 and 27, which represents better than 50 percent of our customers,” Fortney says.


While they dance, play video games or watch sports on television, these young patrons quench their thirst with their choice of more than 50 domestic, imported or microbrewed beers on tap and chow down on an array of finger foods. “As far as the appetizers go, it's not so much the newer ones that we see as we do the mainstay old standbys,” Fortney says.


Fortney says customers did the sampler stuff with the onion straws, the onion blossoms and the poppers. “There are different things that are hot … and you can get table tents on them and they can drive sales. But at the end of the day, overwhelmingly, it's the chicken fingers, the nachos, the beer-battered cheese curds, the Mozzarella sticks and Buffalo wings that are selling consistently.”


Brothers appetizer menu features 20 items ranging from $4.95 for a mountain of seasoned fries to $6.50 for a plate of crispy chicken strips. The strips come in either regular or spicy, a flavor profile that has spiked on sales charts in the past year, Fortney says.


Looking Good

When serving appetizers, Fortney says, plate appeal is important. “It's like curb appeal. They've got to look good when they are coming through the crowd,” he says. “You want to entice the next table to order up an appetizer.


Brothers tends to super-size it appetizer portions. “What we see in a bar atmosphere is that people go out in groups and they order appetizers in groups. So you like to have enough of an appetizer quantity that a group of four can order up an appetizer and everybody gets a little bit.”

Although some Brothers locations offer full foodservice, Fortney says appetizers definitely sell better as bar food.


“We try to be ahead of the curve with trends … And over the past 14 years, I think we've been good at identifying what will actually stay put in the marketplace and grow some market share,” he says.


Beach Blanket Bonanza

Like Brothers, the bar appetizer menu at Duke's Malibu, a restaurant located on the edge of the Pacific Ocean in Malibu, Calif, is not too urbane or trendy, despite its being located on the more adventurous West Coast. In fact, says General Manager Paul Spooner, the bar menu was designed by the executive chef to reflect the Hawaiian theme of the venue –– the restaurant was named after legendary surfer Duke Kahanamoku –– as well as the fun and laid-back atmosphere of the eatery's famous Barefoot Bar.


“It (the bar menu) is something a little faster, less sophisticated –– more of a modified lunch menu,” Spooner says. “If they (customers) want a fresh fish with a sauce, they'll go to the dining room, not the bar.”


The casual atmosphere at the 26-table bar that averages 20 to 25 percent of the venue's business draws a wide array of customers, from locals to surfers to plenty of tourists. They all come to enjoy a cocktail and a quick bite to eat on the bar patio, which features a sand area and thatched umbrellas. As a bonus, add the spectacular views, spray from Pacific breakers at high tide and beautiful Malibu sunsets –– a combination that has lured customers since 1996, when Duke's opened.


“We are on the Pacific Coast Highway, so we are subject to visits from just about anyone,” Spooner says with a laugh. “Food is served in the barefoot bar, as well as another bar at the venue from around 1 p.m. until close. The bars each have their own separate kitchen. “It enables us to serve food all day long, not just lunch and dinner,” Spooner says.


The most popular appetizer on the menu is Macnut and Crab Wontons ($6.50), which are filled with Dungeness crab, cream cheese and macadamia nuts and served with mustard plum sauce.

“They have a nice flavor, are individually wrapped and easy to share,” Spooner says.


Other starters range from Panko Dipped Calamari with Guava Dipping Sauce ($6.95) to Peel and Eat Shrimp with Guava Cocktail Sauce ($9.95) to Sashimi with Wasabi and Shoyu ($10.95). And yes, the all-time two bar favorites –– nachos and chicken wings –– are on the menu as well.


Spooner says the diversified clientele calls for a varied menu and that the nachos and wings go well with the venue's two favorite drinks –– Margaritas and Mai Tais. “Most of our guests are pre-disposed to these drinks because of our tropical atmosphere . . . It all just kind of works together.”

A lot of the venue's respectable food sales may be because of the bars unusual Happy Hour, where only food items are sold at half-price. There are no drink discounts.


“The company (TS Restaurants) has long thought that discounting alcohol is not in the best interest of anyone,” Spooner says. NCB