Tag: sandwich trends
May 2015 Newsletter
Greetings!
Ah, Paris: City of Lights, bastion of haute cuisine… place to sample a Big Mac? If you want to know how the iconic American burger giant adapts itself to the demanding Parisian marketplace, read the excellent article by our associate Mandy DeLucia, who visited the French capital on a recent reconnaissance for a project with the Synergy team. She came away with a distinct impression that the Americans could learn a thing or two about le hamburger from the French.
In other news, the restaurant industry continues its recovery, with the announcement that, for the first time ever, spending at U.S. restaurants and bars has overtaken supermarket spending. The surge is led by the 25- to 34-year-old cohort, which underscore’s the market’s need to stay relevant to the Millennial juggernaut.
It’s also led by dine-in traffic, rather than takeout, according to NPD’s Foodservice Summit Dine-in Study, which reveals that consumers of all ages are going out to get out, embracing more social activities after several years of “grabbing and going, ordering delivery or eating at home.”
And in a related development, Technomic reports that casual dining is back on the growth track, but that chains both large and small—rather than independents—are driving the improvement.
An American in Paris
By Mandy DeLucia, Synergy Product Coordinator
A recent assignment brought the Synergy team to Paris, world-renowned as the birthplace of haute cuisine and refined tastes. This reputation for elevated culinary traditions and the café culture sets a certain expectation in the minds of foreign visitors, so it came as some surprise to our team when a local recommended that we visit a “McDo,” the local name for McDonald’s.
McDonald’s has been in the U.S. headlines recently—most notably for the efforts of its new CEO to turn the Titanic chain around by streamlining the menu and aligning its offerings to contemporary expectations. More than one Parisian informed us that McDonalds had embraced the French culture to connect with locals, a “Glocal” strategy that allows a global company to address the needs and wants of the local market.
A visit to a location near the Arc de Triomphe highlighted the efforts the company has made to fit French expectations. The first, and perhaps the most surprising, change is that their logo features the golden arches against a deep green background instead of red. Throughout Europe the McDonald’s logo uses the hunter green base, a change that was made in late 2009 to highlight the company’s commitment to reducing its environmental impact.
Once inside the restaurant, we were greeted by a barista standing at a separate counter from the main service area who was surrounded by pastries and macarons. The dedicated drinks and sweets counter was called the McCafe, and it featured a modern design of dark woods and creamy surfaces. The beverage ranged from iced tea to milkshakes and espresso drinks, and the pastry case glittered with a beautiful display of baked goods, both American and French in origin. Cannelles, citron tartes and macarons sat comfortably next to muffins, cheesecake and chocolate chip cookies, a sugary marriage of cultures wrapped in pretty bakery boxes. The separate McCafé addressed the needs of the local population by adapting to the coffee and café culture in France, which includes a very strong daypart for restaurant sales in the mornings and late afternoons, and allowed them to compete with Starbucks for that business.
Moving past the McCafe into the main sales area, we encountered sales kiosks that handily provided service in 6 languages, accommodating the tourist traffic to Paris. The kiosks were easy to use, with touch-screen technology that allowed you to browse the menu at your leisure. While perusing the offerings, we found a petit bagel choice in the snack category as well as a Croque McDo and a side of cherry tomatoes. The salad category offered a fresh pasta salad with arugula and mozzarella as well as a beautiful potato salad. These elevated offerings matched the interior, a mix of modern materials and traditional artwork that made the restaurant feel more fast casual than fast food. Booths were upholstered with a rich caramel leatherette and the chairs were reminiscent of an Eames design.Ordering was simple: Insert a paycard and tap through the POS system to assemble your selections, adding customizations where offered. The machine took payment and dispensed a receipt with an order number that would be called by staff when the order was complete.
Online orders could be completed through the kiosk in the same way, and the service counter was divided into number ranges, which made it clear where to wait for your meal. Of course, if you did not want to order at a kiosk, there was still the option of ordering from a person, but the kiosk reduced the ticket and queue times by allowing foreign visitors to order in their own language with visual guides throughout the process.
The packaging was simple and very attractive, with the salad coming in a container reminiscent of the salad shaker days of McDonald’s U.S., and the ingredient list reading like a quality statement that spoke of fresh eggs and superior semolina. The Croque McDo was slipped into a white paper bag printed with brown ink featuring charming illustrations that spoke to the contents of the sandwich and that also included a quality statement about the ham.
This intentional focus on the quality of ingredients is a response to the increasing public demand, especially in Europe, for real food. The French website, translated, mentions that they source their potatoes from Belgium and that their “ground beef is 100% beef, 43.6% from French cattle. At all steps of creating the hamburgers, strict hygienic regulations were followed.”
Our group ordered the Big Mac, perhaps to double-check that we were indeed in a McDonald’s, and not in some new trendy European chain. The packaging featured a minimalist illustration of the sandwich that led some to wonder if it would taste as expected. It did. It seems that the U.S. business could take some tips from its French cousin.
The Flavor Front: Take the Bitter with the Sweet
By Joan Lang, Editorial Director
Look up the word “bitter” in any dictionary, and you get the impression of an acrid, disagreeable sensation. But as Joni Mitchell sings in “Case of You,” it’s the bitter and the sweet that make love wonderful. The same could be said of food and flavor. And as the American palate seeks more diverse flavor, from the heat of chiles to the salty punch of anchovies, we’re falling in love with bitterness.
Many other cultures appreciate the bitter qualities of food and drink, especially among them the Italians and Asians. Think of Campari and Aperol, those uniquely Italian aperitifs that have become increasingly popular in craft cocktail bars—as-is or in cocktails like the Negroni—or vegetables like broccoli rabe and puntarelle, a beloved chicory that signals the coming of spring in Rome. The Chinese prize the bitterness of foods like, well, bitter melon, and Asian food in general is about balancing the flavor elements of salty, sour, sweet and bitter.
Bitter foods stimulate the appetite and intensify the characteristics of other flavors, especially sweetness. Think dark chocolate, one of the most seductive foods around right now, or kale, without which no menu would be on-trend. These ingredients are flagrantly, deliciously bitter.
Aromatics and Condiments
– Olives, olive paste, mustard, horseradish, capers, anchovy paste, Worcestershire: The list of flavor boosters that have a touch of bitterness in them goes on and on. Unusual ethnic condiments like Filipino banana ketchup and preserved lemons are upping the ante on complex, bitter-accented flavor.
Behind the Bar – Beers, aperitifs, mixers and other drink ingredients are legion for their bitter flavors, from India pale ale to Campari, tonic water to Angostura bitters. The Italian category of amari, which includes vermouth, has become very trendy lately. And many serious bartenders are making their own bitters to accent signature cocktails. In fact, a refreshingly hoppy beer or a properly made cocktail are all about keeping bitter in balance.
Chocolate
– Anyone who hasn’t been living in a cave for the past few years knows that dark chocolate represents one of the hottest food trends, in desserts, beverages, candy and other delectables. With its superpremium image and well-publicized health benefits, dark chocolate varieties include semisweet and bittersweet chocolate and other high-cacao-content products. Bitter cocoa nibs add texture as well as flavor. In addition to its obvious role in desserts, chocolate is indispensable in many Mexican mole sauces, with their mysterious, musky background notes.
Citrus Fruits
– A number of citrus fruits exhibit easy-to-love bitter qualities. These include grapefruit, bitter orange, citron and kumquats. The zest (peel) and oil of almost all citrus imparts a refreshingly bitter kick to foods.
Coffee and Espresso
– In addition to their role as beverages, coffee and espresso—in both brewed and powdered form—are being used in marinades, ribs and sauces, and in desserts like tiramisu.
Herbs and Spices
– Certain herbs and spices have an appetizingly bitter edge. These include cilantro, coriander, paprika, mustard seed, cumin, fennel, caraway, and epazote (a Mexican herb with a resinous, almost medicinal flavor)
Salad Greens
– Arugula, watercress, dandelions, endive, radicchio, escarole and such trendy new leaves as tatsoi and mizuna (both members of the mustard family) bring both texture and a pleasing bitter bite to salads. Use with an assertive dressing and flavor-forward ingredients like shallots, mustard and sherry vinegar.
Tea
– Although bitter tea can be unpleasant to drink, the beverage does have an edgy astringency that many people find appealing. When deployed as a flavoring, assertively flavored teas can be used for smoking and brining foods, adding a lively touch of bitterness.
Vegetables
– Many bitter-edged “ethnic” and niche vegetables are becoming more popular as side dishes and in other specialties. These include broccoli rabe, kale, collards, mustard greens, turnip and their greens, and Brussels sprouts, as well as Asian greens such as bok choy and gai lan. Radishes can also be pleasantly bitter, as well as peppery. Robust flavors like garlic, anchovy, olive oil, salt and chiles help temper and balance the bitterness in sautés, soups and other applications.
Feed the Fetish for Sandwiches
By Joan Lang, Editorial Director
It’s official: Americans are in the midst of a full-blown sandwich fetish. Luke’s Lobster is bringing its lobster rolls to the Windy City, shouts Chicago magazine! Grubstreet devotes a full spread to the spring’s most highly anticipated new sandwiches, from the Asian Bacon Sandwich to the Three Way Muffaletta! And the New York Times spends untold thousands of dollars on a gorgeous interactive “Build a Better Sandwich” feature that deconstructs sandwiches in a way that gives new meaning to the words food porn. Along with its “Field Guide to the American Sandwich” (a taxonomy of regional sandwiches based on the type of bread they’re traditionally served on), this becomes one of the Paper of Record’s most emailed for that week.
It’s a sandwich, people. Not a new wonder drug or the hottest way to earn millions on the stock market.
But let’s put things in perspective. All kinds of food has been elevated in the past decade or so, from burgers to pizza to tacos. In part this is a result of the increasing sophistication of the marketplace—there’s both a more demanding guest, and availability of better products like grass-fed beef and imported prosciutto—to say nothing of a new generation of innovative chefs who are less tied to the traditional definition of fine-dining.
But this also has a lot to do with the recession, and the transformative effect it had on the restaurant industry. With their backs against the walls financially, chefs and growth-minded operators had to find new ways to attract wallet-strapped consumers, without giving up on their creative vision. Sandwiches offer convenience and affordability, plus the opportunity to upgrade every single element in a way that—when executed correctly—presents one perfect, fully conceived bite. A great sandwich is the very definition of the sum being better than the total of its parts.
That’s why chefs like Tom Colicchio (‘wichcraft) and Rob Evans (Duckfat) are selling the likes of pole-caught tuna with fennel and Nicoise olives on ciabatta, and Overnight Night Duck Confit Panini with pickled apples, herb mayo and local greens. The fact that both of these chefs have ensured their fortunes on these latter-day sandwich shops is not incidental.
In fact, the bar has been raised for good on the sandwich, and the trickle-down effect will continue to be huge (hello, Wendy’s Smoked Gouda Chicken Sandwich on Brioche!).
And phenomenon like:
1. Earl’s Beer and Cheese in New York City, where the concept emphasis is on craft beer but the menu includes a sandwich-like contraption called the Foieco (foie gras, American cheese, french fries, and balsamic-glazed onions on a tortilla)
2. The fried housemade bologna sandwich at Au Cheval, in Chicago
3. At Star Provisions in Atlanta, the addictive Fluffernutter is made with housemade fluff and Big Spoon Roasters artisanal peanut butter on house baked bread
4. The famous Saratoga Club at Parm in Manhattan is a chicken salad sandwich to the nth degree, complete with potato chips in the sandwich to give it salty texture
5. Now six locations strong in the Portland, OR, area, Bunk serves traditional sandwiches with super-premium ingredients and cheffy twists, like a Pork Belly Cubano and Salt Cod with locally made chorizo, oil cured olives and Italian parsley
6. Luella’s Southern Kitchen brings Dixie classics like authentic Oyster Po’ Boys and a Fried Green Tomato BLT to Chicago
7. Paninoteca by Scarpetto, in Beverly Hills, features a casual sandwich menu including porchetta, house made roast beef, and house made pastrami
8. The sandwich selection at Red Apron in D.C.’s Union Market includes, among other things, a grilled cheese sandwich made with spicy smoked pimento cheese, and the Choripan, with chorizo made in the in-house butcher shop, avocado, smoked chimichurri, pickled onions and sour cream
9. Bookstore Bar & Café, in Seattle’s Alexis Hotel, features a Reuben variation on its brunch menu that’s made with pork instead of corned beef—spice-rubbed, cured, and slow-roasted, then served with housemade slaw, Gruyere cheese and spicy Russian dressing on rye
10. The many roasted meats that are the specialty of the house at Lo Spiedo (“The Spit”), Marc Vetri’s casual new restaurant in Philadelphia, are utilized in panini sandwiches at lunch, along with such unusual far as a “New England-style” Octopus Roll and a vegetarian sandwich made with celery root Milanese with apple slaw
Tip of the Month
If you haven’t had enough sandwich porn, here’s a list of 50 Sandwiches You Should Eat Before You Die, complete with mouthwatering photos, to build a field trip around. It includes lots of local and regional specialties, like Beef on Weck (Buffalo, NY) and Chicago-style Italian beef, that are worth knowing about for your sandwich menu.
April 2013 Newsletter
Greetings!
We’re seeing all kinds of data about how the consumer economy—and the restaurant industry—is faring as the economic recovery gathers steam. Some of it is conflicting, to be sure. A recent Harris Poll, as reflected in Restaurant Hospitality, suggested that many customers were still “sitting on their wallets.” And yet there was significant momentum in several segments, most notably the booming fast-casual sector, and the anecdotal evidence we see every time we dine out—new places open, customers out in bars and restaurants, having a good time again—suggests that the situation is definitely improving.
Notice, however, which restaurants are experiencing the boom: those that offer good food at a price that represents value, in whatever segment they occupy. Distinctive food and beverages options. Great service. Comfortable ambiance. It’s a formula that’s working for many, and should be a lesson for all of us moving forward.
To your success,
Dean and Danny
The Importance of Prime Cost
By Brad Miller, Operations Associate
In the restaurant business, a lot of percentages are thrown around as gauges of success or financial health. Food cost, liquor cost, occupancy cost, labor cost, controllable costs… just to name a few. None are more important, however, than the big one: PRIME COST.
The prime cost is a calculation of your total food, beverage, paper goods, labor and all labor-related expenses (payroll taxes, workers comp, employee benefits and health insurance), divided by total revenues.
Prime cost for a typical full-service restaurant runs 60-65%, and for a fast-casual concept 55-60%. These benchmarks are dependent on your specific operation and are a rule of thumb to follow, not necessarily a “golden rule.” For example, steakhouses can run significantly higher prime costs because of the high costs of proteins, although revenues are higher than that of a hamburger stand. Fast-casual restaurants typically have lower labor costs which can bring your prime cost down.
Why is prime cost so important? It’s the most controllable cost in your business. Food cost, liquor cost and labor costs can be tracked on a monthly, weekly or daily basis, if necessary. Most POS systems have the capability to track labor cost on a daily basis. Most restaurants can easily track food costs by simply tracking purchases, sales and inventory levels once per week. What are the biggest pitfalls in not tracking your prime cost frequently?
• Too little, too late: Finding out that your labor cost jumped up 10% from one month to the next, 30 days after the end of the month, can be difficult to remedy immediately.
• I’m making money, so I don’t care about costs: You may be making money, but will you know if your new employee is stealing steaks from the cooler?
• Lost opportunities: It’s much easier to find the cause of a jump in cost if you know at the end of the week as opposed to the end of the quarter.
Possibly the most important reason to keep frequent track of prime cost? When employees see that management takes the time and effort to track costs, it breeds a culture of responsiveness. Take the time for the simple calculations; it will help in the long run.
If you need help controlling your costs, ask Synergy for a free evaluation.
The Power of Umami
Sweet, salty, sour, bitter… and umami. Derived from a Japanese word for “deliciousness,” the so-called fifth taste has taught us not only about why some foods are so satisfying, but also about the very nature of human appetite.
You may have heard or read about umami (pronounced “oo-MA-mee”), which is generally described as the savory taste. Discovered by Japanese scientist Kikunae Ikeda more than 100 years ago, umami is the flavor of glutamate, an amino acid that is one of the essential building blocks of protein (Dr. Ikeda went on to submit a patent to produce monosodium glutamate, or MSG, which is the primary ingredient in Accent seasoning).
Not coincidentally, many Japanese foods are loaded with umami, including soy, seaweed, green tea, dried bonito flakes, miso, and the ubiquitous stock known as dashi. Italian food, too: Parmesan and other aged cheeses, tomatoes and olives all have significant umami content, along with mushrooms, truffles, potatoes and nearly every form of meat and seafood, from sardines and squid to shrimp. Anchovy paste and Asian fish sauce are loaded with it (there’s a reason they’re a surprising “secret ingredient’ in so many recipes); so are cured meats like prosciutto and even garden-variety condiments like ketchup and Worcestershire.
In fact, many scientists now believe that umami is the taste of protein, and that our ancient caveman ancestors would have sought it out just as they craved foods that were sweet (the flavor of energy-giving carbohydrates) and avoided those that were bitter (poisonous plants). Most humans’ first encounter with umami, in fact, is breast milk, which contains roughly the same amount of umami as broth. Yet surprisingly, many people denied the very existence of umami until researchers found its receptors in the form of tastebuds, paving the way for the discovery of specific tastebuds for the other four tastes.
Many umami-rich foods are some of the most satisfying foods in the world—think of a big sizzling steak with sautéed mushrooms and a baked potato, or a big bowl of pasta and tomato sauce, showered with grated Parmesan cheese. Foods like these have a deep, almost universal appeal; we crave them. That’s umami in action.
In general, the more umami that is present in food, the more flavorful and satisfying it will be. That applies not just to ingredients, but also to the techniques used to cook or process them, from grilling to drying and aging. Aged cheeses are more flavorful than young ones (or than milk, for that matter); sun-dried tomatoes have a more concentrated umami tomatoey-ness than fresh ones. That steak with sautéed mushrooms derives flavor not just from the meat and mushrooms themselves, but also from the caramelization and intensifying of flavors that take place on the grill and in the sauté pan, creating a real “u-bomb” of flavor. Fermentation also produces lots of umami, especially when you start with foods that are rich in the stuff to begin with (such as cabbage, turned into sauerkraut and kimchi).
Upping the umami factor in food has a number of benefits, not the least of which is enhanced flavor:
• Umami-rich foods increase the feeling of satiation, causing people to enjoy food more and potentially eat less of it
• The use of umami flavors reduces the need for added salt in food
• Umami piques the appetite; it could serve to counteract the decline in taste and appetite that comes with aging and certain types of illness
• Umami softens the bitterness of foods, which could lead to its use in the formulation of healthier diets for children, who are very sensitive to bitter flavors—such as those present in many vegetables
In everyday cooking, umami can make the difference between a great recipe and one that is merely meh. Many Italian braised and sautéed dishes start with a sofrito that contains a judicious amount of anchovy—including osso buco and sautéed escarole—which really bumps up the flavor factor without being perceived as salted and brined fish. A bit of tomato or aged balsamic vinegar adds not only a lively jolt of acidity to food, but also umami complexity. And we all know about that shower of freshly grated Parmesan at the table.
The Evolution of the Sandwich
By Joan Lang
You know when Bon Appetit magazine does an entire cover story on cheffy sandwiches (“The Greatest Things since Sliced Bread”) that the upscale sandwich trend has hit critical mass.
Once relegated to the role of convenience-oriented breakfast and lunch foods, sandwiches have now attained signature-level cachet, worthy of the attentions of serious chefs and demanding diners throughout the day.
Although the trend started with burgers, many boldface-name chefs are bringing their own take to sandwiches with sophisticated flavor combinations and meticulously sourced ingredients. In the process, they’re making their food more accessibly priced and in tune with today’s expectations for more casual dining experiences—and changing the definition of what a sandwich is.
Chefs like Tom Colicchio (‘wichcraft), Rick Bayless (Tortas Frontera), the team behind Diner and Marlow & Sons (Saltie), Graham Elliot Bowles (Grahamwich), Roy Choi (Kogi Korean BBQ), Nicholaus Balla (Bar Tartine) and Michael Voltaggio (Ink.Sack) were early to the party, in various degrees, and their success has helped to ignite a firestorm of demand for better sandwiches.
One of the newest star-chef entrants is David Burke, who is said to be working on a sandwich concept in Chicago’s James Hotel.
Meanwhile, there have been all sorts of interesting sandwich specialty shops opening up:
• Bel 50 touts itself as a purveyor of artisan sandwiches “curiously crafted,” and indeed sandwiches like burrata cheese with fresh basil and EVOO and grilled Portabella mushroom with roasted tomato, goat cheese and roasted pepper aioli are built on thin, flexible waffles, instead of bread
• Duran serves pretty little open-face European-style sandwiches with dozens of different toppings, ranging from tzatziki and French-style vegetable salad to Mediterranean Tuna, caviar and crab salad
• Animals, a 15-seat sandwich emporium in New York City, features such unusual items as a pulled bacon torta with refried baked beans and chile mayo, and a sandwich filled with curried cauliflower, walnut pate, pickled onions, frisee, cucumber, mint and spice pureed cauliflower “mayo”
• The new Blue Rooster Food Company in Portland, ME, has a wide-ranging selection, from porchetta (sausage-stuffed pork belly, pickled tomato, arugula and citrus mayo on house focaccia) to the Seoul Dog (housemade local natural-casing hot dog with housemade spicy kimchi, toasted peanuts and roasted garlic mayo)
• The selection at Project Sandwich is another world tour of sandwiches: Brazilian (grilled steak marinated in smoked salt, mozzarella, tomatoes, pickles and garlic cilantro chimichurri sauce); Middle Eastern (a vegetarian combo of grilled zucchini, summer squash, eggplant, and roasted red peppers dressed with lemon-garlic hummus); and New Zealand (Nutella and banana)
• Mile End has helped to revitalize the sagging deli segment with its focus on upgraded classics like housemade chopped liver, smoked brisket, smoked lamb sausage and turkey rillettes
• The Spanish chain 100 Montaditos comes to the United States, bringing its eponymous, traditional little 5-inch sandwiches with it, stuffed with everything from turkey, tomato and olive oil to fried calamari
Note the focus on fun condiments, unique breads, and all kinds of textural flourishes. Not surprisingly, the trend is starting to trickle down to the fast-casual and QSR segment in the form of new sandwich platforms, upgraded breads, fillings, condiments and more.
• Wendy’s is introducing a new line of artisan flatbread sandwiches, while Tim Horton’s has its paninis
• Dunkin’ Donuts has latched on to the mega-hot grilled cheese sandwich trend with its Texas Toast Grilled Cheese
• The trend to spicy, crunchy condiments is playing out on Erbert & Gerbert’s new Luna, which includes tangy-sweet chili coleslaw, oven-roasted turkey breast, Swiss cheese, avocado and tomato
• Blimpie had so much success with its pretzel bread test that it’s adding the option to the menu full-time
For information on how to upgrade your sandwich offerings—or open your new dream sandwich shop—contact Synergy Restaurant Consultants.
Tip of the Month
Want more information about umami? The Umami Information Center is a great source of research, recipes, FAQs, events, detailed information about umami-rich ingredients and lots more. There is also a very detailed article about “Unleashing the Power of Umami” on the IFT (Institute of Food Technologists) website.