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Fads and Trends

By Lloyd M. Gordon, President
GEC Consultants, Inc.
Skokie, IL 60076

A fad is a startling innovation that hits the industry, turns its head, the clientele are shocked. They tend to use word of mouth to bring people in to try it.

The restaurant that's faddish, gets heavy inquisitive action. As the fad tends to peter out, after period of six months, year or year and a half, the fad has run its course.

Some of the features of a fad are:

  • Highly unique
  • Unrelated to normal type food, or procedures or decor
  • A spectacular concept
  • Ahead of its time
  • Possible relationship to a temporary topical subject or occurrence

A trend can start as a fad, and a fad can turn into trend.

Some of the features of a trend are:

  • Has some relationship to current food, system, and/or decor.
  • Has uniqueness tied to an identifiable pattern which the customer can relate to.

People who start fads are really pioneers who go out on a limb. If the fad catches on, they become folk heroes of the industry. If the fad falters, they've had the distinguishment of having been a meteor flashing through the sky for a short time.

Trends tend to develop and reinforce themselves as more and more institutions adopt them. We could take the Paul Prudhomme blackened seafood was a fad that turned into a trend. We can see that this trend is still developing and reinforcing itself through adoption by more and more institutions.

Paul Prudhomme has anchored himself in the industry as the pioneer and the guru of "blackened" food. For most restaurateurs its far safer and financially wiser to hop aboard a trend after its is recognized as trend. Invest in a trend that’s evolved from a fad to the point where its leaving the faddish and entering the trendy.

The trick, however, is to get aboard at the right time. The key to that is good information sources. Read, read, listen, listen.

Mr. Lloyd M. Gordon, President of GEC Consultants, Inc. has an MBA from the University of Chicago. He has concepted more than 390 restaurants and has been consulting for over 44 years. He helps people enter the restaurant industry, points the way to profitability, and helps keep them successful. To discuss "Fads and Trends" he can be reached at 847-674-6310.

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