Barbecue is what Americans agree on

Even in this time of Zoom fatigue, thousands of food professionals every other week eagerly tune into Datassential’s webinar covering current food and beverage trends: The research firm keeps a close eye on the industry, conducting consumer surveys and menu studies to reveal what Americans will be eating next. Datassential recently delved into barbecue, issuing a report titled “What’s New in Cue: Fire Up the Future of Barbecue.” I spoke with Datassential’s Mike “If it’s not backed by data, it’s not a trend” Kostyo about his company’s findings.

Hanna Raskin: Tell me how this barbecue research came about.