From Starters to Small Plates

The practice of grazing on little dishes goes back centuries and has been a practice in some form or another across many cultures. Traditionally, the starter serves as the first of a multicourse dinner, helping slow the pace of a meal and stimulate conversation across the course of a leisurely evening. Today, pre-meal options are standard fare in most restaurants and bars; whether they're called appetizers, shareables, or small plates, they can have several operational benefits.

History of Appetizers and Finger Foods

Like many of the best elements of American cuisine, we inherited our traditional appetizer from the French. In its native tongue, hors d'oeuvres means "outside of the work" – the work in question being dinner itself.¹ Hors d'oeuvres are typically smaller, bite-sized appetizers, served at catered events such as bruschetta with tapenade or toasts with avocado, that don't require utensils.

Hors D'oeuvres vs. Appetizers

During Prohibition, speakeasies sold bite-sized snacks such as cheese balls and deviled eggs to increase alcohol sales from their patrons. After Prohibition was repealed in 1933, the practice of offering appetizers, small plates, and finger foods became a common practice in many American foodservice businesses.²

Tapas, dim sum, small plates, and antipasti are all a trend that's been thriving in the restaurant industry trend for decades. On many menus, bite-size shareables have been transformed and elevated beyond what we think of as a traditional appetizer to include more elegant and versatile "small plates," primarily distinguished from appetizers by how they're eaten.

The most familiar of these customs is tapas – a format of dining that originated in Spanish pubs where patrons spend leisurely evenings drinking, socializing, and grazing on savory bites of food ranging from scallops to fried potatoes.

Tapas bars and similar small-plate-centric restaurants continue to pop up across the United States. This form of dining focuses more on sampling a variety of dishes and flavors as opposed to filling up on one main course and a side or two.

Why Should You Offer Appetizers?

Small plates and appetizers make it easier to offer something for everyone – innovative vegetable dishes for vegetarians, smoked meats and sliders for carnivores, and sushi and shrimp dishes for the seafood lover – without limiting a guest to a single dish. Restaurants providing a variety of small plates can ensure some are free of common food allergens, such as dairy and gluten, while letting chefs be creative with new flavors and techniques. Small plates also let guests familiarize themselves with new flavors they may be reluctant to order in full portions.

Serving these shareable plates emphasizes the communal aspect of dining out, giving large tables the opportunity to order several dishes meant to be split amongst the group.³ In fact, 55 percent of people prefer sharing with the table when they order an appetizer.⁴ Appetizers, tapas, and other shareables are also a great way for customers to share a meal while being mindful of, and learning about, each other's preferences.

Offering small plates and appetizers at your restaurant can also help reduce your establishment's food waste. United States restaurants generate between 22 and 33 billion pounds of food waste each year,⁵ but incorporating excess ingredients into shareables, especially weekly specials, helps limit food waste while giving chefs an opportunity to experiment with new dishes.

If your establishment has bar service, some patrons are likely to come in for just drinks. These customers aren't typically going to order full meals offered on your menu, so having small bites they can snack on can boost your overall sales.

For diners concerned about their calorie intake or the amount of food included with a full entree, grazing over a small plate or two at dinner is a sensible alternative to oversized individual portions.⁶

Offering appetizers also gives chefs more time to properly cook the main course. These typically take less time to make and satiate your patrons while they wait for their meal, so restaurants and bars can offer many quick, pre-meal options that are easy to incorporate into the guest experience.

Benefits of Serving Appetizers

References

1. Types of Hot & Cold Hors D'oeuvres. Homebody Eats. Accessed July 2022.
2. Prohibition, Speakeasies and Finger Foods. History. Accessed July 2022.
3. Appetizers Are Bad Entrees. Eater. Accessed July 2022.
4. 6 Reasons Why You Might Want Small Plates On Your Menu. Rest Labs. Accessed July 2022.
5. You Can Thank Prohibition for Giving Us Finger Foods. Wide Open Eats. Accessed July 2022.
6. Servings Sizes and Portion Sizes: Making Smaller Sizes the New Normal Again. Food Insight. Accessed July 2022.