It’s hard to imagine a product that has weathered COVID-19 restrictions better than hamburgers. America’s classic patty was already portable, comforting, and innovative. Now, new and bolder exotic flavors are bringing excitement to the burger category.
While burgers remain a core part of restaurant menus (46.9%), they have slightly declined over the past year on menus (-3%), although all menus shrank over the past year. “So, this is actually considered holding steady as compared to items in general,” says Claire Conaghan, associate director at Datassential, in Chicago. “Demand remains strong, as does innovation. We track new items and limited-time offers introduced by the top 150+ major chains; just in the past year, there were 169 new, returning, and limited-time-offer burgers.”