Shopping, exercising, running errands or working, Americans now spend more time not eating during their lunch breaks — and that’s if they even stop to take a break at all. According to the National Restaurant Association’s 1999 Lunch Study, 27.3 percent of full-time employees frequently spend their lunch break doing things other than eating, up from 24.4 percent in 1996. The survey also found that four out of 10 respondents — or 40.6 percent — agreed that they usually do not take a "real" lunch break, a slight increase from 38.5 percent in 1996.

"We’re in a time-short society — the vast majority of Americans feel pressed for time," says David Pearce Snyder, contributing lifestyles editor of Futurist magazine in Bethesda, Maryland. The 1999 Lunch Study bears that theory out, as roughly half of full-time employees agreed that they are spending less time eating lunch than they used to.

"Consumers now see eating as something to be done while you do something else," says Snyder. "Everybody wants to save time by multitasking — eat while you work, drive, watch television."

"People are under the impression that we have less time — and so many things to do in that time — that lunch takes backstage," agrees Ann Clurman, a partner with the marketing-and-social-research firm Yankelovich in New York City. "It’s almost like you have to find something to eat that matches what you have to do today, because eating itself is not the primary focus of your lunch hour."

However, there is good news — the Association’s lunch study also found that most full-time employees do eat lunch most of the time, even if they don’t take much time to do so. "Twenty years ago, people took a full hour as a lunch break — had a cocktail and a meal," says Lee Michaels, president of Main Course Consultants in Evanston, Illinois. "Today, people are dining in less time, taking only 30 minutes or less to eat." Restaurant operators are keeping pace with their harried customers as they find ingenious ways to keep food a part of the lunch break.

The lunch rush

To meet consumers’ growing desire for compressed lunches, Bennigan’s introduced its Time Crunch Lunch nine years ago. "From ordering lunch to the food’s arrival at the table should be only 15 minutes, or it’s free. This really helped to develop our lunch business," says John Beck, vice president of marketing with Bennigan’s, headquartered in Plano, Texas. "We execute the Time Crunch Lunch at a 99 percent efficiency rate with the guest."

After guests order, the server starts the Time Crunch Lunch table-tent stopwatch, and the countdown begins. Nearly the entire menu — with the exception of such entrees as baby-back ribs and well-done steaks — qualifies as a Time Crunch Lunch, which is offered weekdays from 11 am until 2 pm.

"We will not sacrifice quality of cooking for speed of service, nor do we substitute speed of service for great service. We do realize that [people have] a time limit for lunch, so we deliver very high-quality [food and service] in 15 minutes," says Beck.

The upscale Le Bernardin in New York City doesn’t use a stopwatch to track the time but still guarantees that its Timely Lunch Menu — consisting of appetizer, main course and coffee — can be served in 30 minutes. "The Timely Lunch Menu helped increase lunch sales approximately 30 percent," says Executive Chef Eric Ripert, who introduced the menu last year.

"We wanted to have a menu we could serve quickly and still keep the food up to our standards," says Ripert. The French seafood restaurant does a brisk lunch business with its $32 Timely Lunch Menu and $42 prix-fixe bill of fare, he says.

A bright spot in the day

Although pressed for time, consumers are also looking for something a little bit different for lunch to liven up the workday. "People are increasingly bored in every part of their lives," says Clurman. "When they open the menu, they’re looking for a little originality...something whimsical, interesting or fun."

With three out of four full-time employees eating a lunch prepared away from home at least once a week, today’s restaurant operators have numerous opportunities to meet and exceed consumers’ desire for something special. "Customers’ expectations have increased during the last 10 years," says Andy Lansing, president of Levy Restaurants in Chicago. "As people have become more sophisticated about food and wine, they expect an ever-increasing quality and experience at restaurants."

At Chicago’s Bistro 110, a Levy operation, "lunch is a major part of our success," says Lansing. Bistro 110 serves traditional French bistro fare cooked in a wood-burning oven, and daily lunch specials offer variety from the regular menu. "Some people visit Bistro 110 very often — two or three times a week — so we make sure there’s a variety [on the menu]," says Lansing.

Variety is what Executive Chef James Hudock strives to provide with his prix-fixe lunch at the Jefferson Restaurant in Washington DC. "People are really receptive to new things, because they’re dining out more and are more knowledgeable about foods," he says. Hudock uses the prix-fixe lunch to introduce new taste sensations to guests, such as a recent menu featuring "Watercress and Endive Salad With Red-Wine Hawaiian-Honey Vinaigrette" and "Panache of Seafood With Tricolor Tagliatelle Pasta and a Saffron-Tomato Sauce."

"One trend we’re seeing is that people are looking for a wide flavor range at lunch," says Robert Carl, vice president of public and media relations for Chi-Chi’s corporate headquarters in Irvine, California. "Not everybody is comfortable getting the same thing, and they’re looking to experiment with fringe flavors — they want to have a little bit of pizazz at lunch."

This summer, Chi-Chi’s introduced the El Cheapo Luncho, which offers guests 15 luncheon dishes for $3.99 Monday through Thursday. "These inexpensive lunches offer variety and smaller portions than dinner," says Laurie Katapski, senior vice president of marketing for food and beverage at Chi-Chi’s regional headquarters in Louisville, Kentucky. "We’re really trying to push the weekday lunch traffic, and traffic has increased at lunch in double digits since the debut of the El Cheapo Luncho."

To capitalize on that momentum, Chi-Chi’s debuted Cabo Coolers last month. This new line of nonalcoholic beverages includes such blended drinks as margaritas, strawberry daiquiris, orange-cream margaritas and pina coladas. "People are looking to treat themselves without the alcohol portion at lunch," says Katapski. "People are looking for simple indulgences, a bright spot in their day."

Less wins more customers

American consumers are more value-conscious than ever. "I think everybody’s got a calculator running and a budget," says Bill Reilly, vice president of the food-and-beverage division for Sheetz in Altoona, Pennsylvania. According to the 1999 Lunch Study, full-time employees who buy lunch away from home typically spend $4 to $5 a day.

"Customers are looking for value, and convenience stores are known for value," says Reilly. "For lunch, people aren’t looking for a complete meal like in the dinner daypart — a sandwich on the run meets expectations."

As more workers have begun using carryout for lunch, convenience stores like Sheetz have built a loyal following. For 15 years, Sheetz convenience stores have been offering made-to-order sandwiches and salads available 24 hours a day through touchscreen ordering. "Ninety percent of the ordering is pictures," says Reilly. "This touchscreen system simplifies ordering and allows for speed and accuracy."

"People definitely look at pricing, expediency, quality food and excellent service," says Ken Boxer, owner of Palazzio’s in Santa Barbara, California. Boxer, who operates two restaurants, says he devised quarter-orders, to offer a smaller-portion option to his lunch customers, and lowered his midday prices.

"If you want to see people come back on a daily or semiweekly basis, you have to be competitive in the marketplace. Creating the $6 quarter-order lunch menu solved that problem for me," says Boxer. "All of sudden, within two weeks of introducing the new menu, people were returning here for lunch."

Snaring lunch orders with the Web

Some restaurant operators have found the answer to lunchtime blues by soliciting orders online. Although the 1999 Lunch Study found that few full-time employees currently use e-mail or the Internet to order their midday repast, more than one out of five indicated that they would like to do so but were hampered by lack of access to e-mail or the World Wide Web.

To meet consumer demand, Souper Salad in Boston recently debuted its online catering service, and response thus far has been great, says President Larry Reinstein. "This is very convenient to guests, because they don’t have to communicate with our personnel — it’s fast for us and for our guests," he says.

The catering options encompass the Souper Salad’s regular menu of homemade soups, salads, sandwiches, pastries and wraps, including its signature item, the "Walkabout Sandwich" — a rolled sandwich filled with fresh vegetables, cheeses, dressings and other items. "Lunch is our most important meal. Consumers are looking for quality, speed and value," says Reinstein, adding that having online ordering has helped the company to meet customers’ needs.

Barry Katz, owner of Katz’s Deli and Bar in Austin, Texas, also recently set up an Internet address for ordering and partnered with the American Yellow Checkers cab company to deliver orders. Open 24 hours a day, Katz’s serves New York-style deli food, such as pastrami and Reuben sandwiches, and appetizers like fried pickles and potato skins.

"With our online ordering, people can tailor their order, add special notes and even save their last five orders and five favorite meals for easy retrieval and reordering," says Katz. Katz’s upgraded its carryout packaging to first-class containers to increase customers’ satisfaction with the food and delivery. "Within our first three weeks of Internet ordering, we had very good sales," says Katz, "and our takeout and delivery is expanding."

Ringing up your order

Although ordering restaurant food on the World Wide Web is slowly gaining customers, according to the Association’s 1999 Lunch Study, about 14 percent of full-time employees frequently phoned in their orders.

It’s A Wrap in New York City has added a new twist to phone-in orders — picnics in the park. Besides delivering to nearby office buildings, It’s A Wrap will bring lunch — complete with a red-checkered tablecloth — to four locations in Central Park. "People can call in their order from a cell phone, and we’ll call back when their order is ready to direct them to one of four landmark locations in the park," says owner Bobbie Lloyd of the year-old park-delivery system. "We just started to really promote it this summer, and people love the idea, although we don’t do a ton of business yet."

Lloyd says her overall deliveries account for 30 percent of her lunch business.

"It never ceases to amaze me that we do phenomenal lunch business," says Lloyd of her two It’s A Wrap locations. Each day It’s A Wrap serves between 200 and 300 fresh-bread wraps with typical New York-style, gourmet and vegetarian fillings in addition to its soups, smoothies, salads and fresh-squeezed juices.

Angela Majerus answers customers’ calls for convenience in Fort Worth, Texas, with her What’s for Lunch faxing service. "I’m an escapee from corporate America, and I remembered receiving faxes from individual restaurants," says Majerus. So she created a single-page fax listing several restaurants’ lunch specials and faxed the sheet to local offices. Thus far, 10 restaurants — who pay for the service — use What’s for Lunch to broadcast their lunch specials to 500 area businesses.

"It’s a good way to advertise, and a lot of restaurants offer coupons on the fax, like ‘bring in this fax for a free drink or dessert,’ " says Majerus. She’s looking to expand to other Texas business districts and to develop a Web site listing menus and other restaurant information.

Keep ’em coming back for more

Once you’ve enticed a customer into your operation for lunch, the key is to turn that person into a repeat diner. "It all comes back to providing quality and value in the eyes of the consumer," says Reinstein of Souper Salad. "Take a look as a consumer at your operation: Is it accommodating, fast, efficient, and will the guest feel good about the experience?"

Lloyd echoes Reinstein, adding, "Listen to your customers and take their advice...Endear your lunch crowd: those are the people you have to work the hardest on to have a loyal following."

One way to develop your regular clientele is to simply make it a point to let them know you remember them when they come in. "Have a guest history with his or her likes and dislikes, create a file with notes on each guest, and prep the waitstaff to know who’s coming in," says Matthias Nawroth, the Jefferson’s food-and-beverage manager. "You’ve got to make the guests happy, especially for lunch." When you do, he says, you’ll build your repeat business.

What’s for lunch in the future?

Most of these analysts and restaurateurs agree that people will always eat lunch — at least, most of the time. "Eating is secondary to getting through the day’s schedule, because we’re all into multitasking," says futurist Snyder. "Increasingly lunch orders are placed by phone, faxed in advance or ordered online...All these things will make lunch a seamless part of the day. And the good news [for restaurant operators] is that people are going to have lots of money and will spend that money on convenience."

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