A marketplace ripple worth noting

When a concept creator says he’s launching a New Age deli concept to fill a void in the lunch market, you make a mental note to see if his read proves correct. After he points out that virtually no mainstream deli currently roasts its slicing meats on-premise, as virtually every one once did, you might even put “check back frequently” on the to-do list.

After all, isn’t the burger echo-boom merely a back-to-the-basics improvement on a common menu staple? Isn’t this in the same vein? Might this be a trend about to boom?

Then you hear the same sentiment voiced about two weeks later, by a second chef with concept-shaping experience. He notes that some of the restaurant rivals to arise during the Great Recession, like supermarkets, have an opportunity to out-class streetside places that lack the space, staff and time to roast meats onsite. Retailers, he notes, could be just a few ovens away from seizing an advantage that the current generation of delis, never mind fast-food sandwich outlets, would be hardpressed to counter.

Of course, both stressed that they’re in the early stages of fostering what might or might not prove a trend. What’s a trend-watching journalist to do in the meantime.

How about put it in a blog?