Top restaurant soups

Supporting increased consumer interest in Asian cuisines, Technomic’s MenuMonitor finds that Asian soup is the top type of soup by a significant margin. Popular flavours in these offerings are coconut, lemon, spicy, miso and lemongrass.

Second on the list, soup of the day is a popular option on Canadian menus, allowing operators the chance to regularly change up their menus to reflect seasonality as well as consumer preferences. Some popular daily soup varieties include chicken noodle, minestrone, tomato, and pea.

Also making the list are vegetable soups, listed 133 times on menus. The top types of vegetables in these soups are mushroom, carrot, sweet potato, and yam.

For operators looking to innovate, soup flavours that are in the introduction stage of the flavour lifecycle (found at independents) include spiced, truffle, cucumber, cilantro, and lemongrass. Adding soups that spotlight these tastes may put an operator ahead of the curve when it comes to menu innovation.

More from Technomic’s Kristin Menas: Top chicken entrees