With summer comes more travel, and it’s a sure bet that some of these travelers will be ending up in our restaurants, as the pursuit of “gastro-tourism” (travel specifically to enjoy the food of a particular destination) continues to gather steam.

This year gastronauts have a new tool with The Flavors of the USA, a website launched last month by Brand USA, the
government-backed destination marketing organization charged with boosting international tourism to the U.S. Though created with visitors from Europe, Asia, South America and other international countries in mind, this “culinary content hub” is good for anyone who realizes that you can’t possibly understand a place without eating its food.

Check out the site, and its associated guidebook, whenever you get a chance. And have a safe, happy, and tasty summer, whether you’re planning to travel or not.

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Clean Cuisine: Enlightened Eating Accelerates

By Joan Lang, Editorial Director

As with so many restaurant industry developments, it all started with Chipotle. Or at least there’s a good argument to be made that the mainstream move toward local/sustainable/minimally processed/fair trade/non-GMO/humane and other forms of enlightened eating—we’re dubbing it “clean cuisine”—has its roots in the mission statement of this bellwether brand.

And make no mistake: this is more than just a menuing trend. The clean cuisine movement is more like a seismic shift in the industry, and it’s already proven itself to be a disruptor, just as Chipotle has been all along. Because now other large chains are following suit with their own commitments to enhanced transparency, among them Panera, McDonald’s (with varying perceptual success), Noodles & Company, and most recently Subway, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, the latter with its plan to cut “unnatural ingredients” and show that Less is Mas.

In other news, Dunkin’ Donuts has committed to ditching the use of “nanoparticles” in its powdered sugar, Carl’s Jr. is selling a burger made with grass-fed beef, and Starbucks has announced that 99% of its coffee is ethically sourced.

It’s one thing for a company like Chipotle to commit to menu transparency, which has been a brand pillar since Day One, and improved upon ever since. For large old-school chains, however, it’s no small endeavor. Taco Bell has pledged to remove all artificial flavors and colors from its menu items, along with a laundry list of no-no’s that includes palm oil, trans fat and high fructose corn syrup. (Not coincidentally, many of these are also on the hit list for manufacturers who are equally concerned with the need for enlightened eating option; in fact, many Big Food players are reformulating products to eliminate additives, sugar and more.)

Consumers want this, especially Millennials. At this year’s National Restaurant Association Show, clean eating revealed itself as a major consumer trend affecting the restaurant industry: Three in five consumers say they are more likely to visit a restaurant that offers organic or environmentally friendly food, and ingredients and foods that are more natural and/or minimally processed foods are among the top five trends in the National Restaurant Association’s most recent What’s Hot annual survey.

The Hartman Group’s new report on “Diners’ Changing Behaviors” reveals that the ultimate symbol of quality on a foodservice menu is “fresh,” (cited by 55% of respondents), followed by “pesticide free” (37%), “real” (36%) and “hormone free” (31%). These descriptors start to put some meat on the bones of what consumers perceive as healthy in this post-diet marketplace.

As Nation’s Restaurant News puts it, in order to attract consumers today, what’s not on the menu is just as important as what it. “Real” food is food that does not have antibiotics, hormones or artificial ingredients. And with social media now so vigorous, guests have become increasingly aware of these attributes.

But it’s hard work to keep it real in past-paced, high-volume settings. Sourcing antibiotic free and naturally raised proteins, such as chicken and pork, intersects with growing concern about humane animal treatment, and that costs more money. In addition, in this point in the history of the food supply chain, there may not be enough of these products to go around, a reality that Chipotle has come up against with its pork.

When suppliers are asked to curtail the use of antibiotics by a company like McDonald’s, this will have a huge effect on the supply chain. For one thing, it’s expected to raise prices of chicken by as much as five to seven cents a pound, and to delay the maturation of birds to slaughter age by up to 20%. In the meantime, the effect on human health may actually be negligible. Is the typical McDonald’s customer willing to pay for that?

Multiply that by the almost-certain efforts of other mainstream chains that are sure to follow suit, to say nothing of independents and smaller and more progressive fast-casual chains that have such practices baked in to the concept (such as LYFE Kitchen), and the scenario is one of sweeping change within the entire supply chain.

And there are other components to the larger trend of so-called “mindful eating,” which also includes environmental sustainability and waste reduction, as well as the gluten-free movement. Meanwhile, GMOs (genetically modified organisms) are becoming an area of increasing concern for consumers, even as they continue to be widely misunderstood.

And now Chipotle (remember them?) has become the first chain to cook with non-GMO ingredients. It’s a sure bet that the company won’t be the last.

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Top 10 Brand Marketing Tips

By Karen A. Brennan, Marketing & Branding Strategy

Having interned at the Indianapolis TV station where David Letterman was the weatherman, I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for Top 10 lists. So in honor of his retirement, here are the Top 10 things I’ve learned about restaurant brand marketing over the last 30 years.

# 10: Customers own the brand

A brand is a set of expectations, and if what you’re promising isn’t aligned with what your guests expect, it might as well not be true.

A family dining executive whose unresearched remodeling was intended to move the brand from family dining to the next “Starbucks” had a rude awakening when sales spiked up after the remodel and then settled back to before-repositioning levels. His customers weren’t buying it.

Customers are in charge. Brands that don’t find out what their customers are thinking will leave their base behind.

# 9: The simple secret: Make them want to come in… then make them want to come back

Marketing promotion can drive initial visits, but execution really drives repeat visits and frequency. Marketing may set the expectation, but operators execute that promise all day, every day, with every guest they serve.

The simple question What will make them want to come back? is the key to executing the “touch points” that make and keep loyal guests.

# 8: Marketing is a philosophy, not a department

Marketing is everyone’s job, from the hostess to the CFO to the unit-level manager. In an operations-driven business where making customers want to come back is so important, it is everyone’s job to think about the business from the guest point of view.
Years ago restaurants used to solve guest complaints by offering a complimentary dessert, but when a guest is complaining about how long a meal took, making them wait around for a free dessert is completely tone deaf.

# 7: You’re not selling food, you’re renting chairs to people buying food

Restaurant capacity is the secret. The highest volume, most profitable restaurants I know of are usually the ones that are busy all day, every day. Unlike retail, a busy Saturday night can’t really make up for being slow every other shift. Maximizing every daypart is the secret.

Operations and Marketing working as a team can make it happen by pushing through-put, being aggressive on reservations, expediting table turns, managing check averages when guest counts are low or creating new dayparts like carryout, catering or food sales in the bar.

The trick is to find where the excess capacity is and what you can do to maximize it—new products, promotion or execution.

# 6: If you want people to talk about you, give them something to talk about

“Word of Mouth” is the #1 reason people go to a new restaurant, but if you don’t give people something specific and concrete to talk about, they have nothing to say. That’s the reason negative word of mouth is more prevalent than positive word of mouth…it’s easier to talk about the bad stuff because it is specific and concrete and something that connects emotionally with guests.

Sometimes it’s as simple as the size of the menu item—really, really big like the Great Wall of Chocolate at P.F. Chang’s or really, really small like the shot glass desserts at Season’s 52.

With the rise of digital media and social sharing, this concept is even more important. Digital media is just that—it’s media—and marketers have to provide the content. You still have to give your customers something specific and concrete to talk about by orchestrating events that people care about—new products, promotions, etc. If you don’t, digital media runs the risk of being just another better and faster way to transmit coupons and guest complaints.

# 5: Marketing can only make promises Operations can exceed

The restaurant business is “no excuses.” Guests don’t care that the reason their great aunt’s 80th birthday was ruined was because it was a shift change and you had two servers call in sick. But even that is more understandable than a promotion gone wrong. It all depends on flawless execution, creating an experience that will drive a return visit.

A simple thing like promoting a long ticket-time appetizer versus an easy pick up item can negatively affect the guest experience. French Onion Soup was a great signature item for a restaurant I worked with once, but we had to back off from promoting it because it came off the broiler, which didn’t have the capacity to support high volumes. Again, a signature item for the brand, but a promise we couldn’t keep.
An average plan flawlessly executed is better than a creative plan inexpertly executed.

# 4: Avoid “Tactics in search of a strategy”

There are plenty of great marketing ideas out there—people love to brainstorm them. Unfortunately, those ideas often don’t work. Successful marketing requires quantifiable goals, strategies designed to achieve those goals, and then smart tactics that can accomplish your goals. Always ask, “What’s the goal?” and “How does this get us there?”

Brand Marketing is a discipline; marketers must make the ROI (return on marketing investment) case by establishing a baseline and measuring progress relative to the baseline. If you don’t measure, you waste money and effort—not just the waste from the cost, but also the “opportunity cost,” the value of what you could be doing if you weren’t so busy with ineffective tactics.

# 3: The name of the game is Reach and Frequency

In this cluttered and fragmented media world, it’s getting tougher and tougher to make an impression. They used to say that people had to see/hear a message at least three times to even know they had heard it. That number has been going up steadily since then, so smart marketers try to not only reach their target segment, but to reach them enough times to break through.

What this suggests is that sticking to one message at a time and getting lots of repetition on that one point is a better strategy than trying to tell your whole story all the time and never breaking through.

# 2: Only steal from the best

OK, I’m not proud of it, but I have, on occasion, borrowed inspiration from my competitors. Having said that, when one is “poaching” ideas, there are two major caveats: 1) Always evaluate if the idea fits your brand and matches your competencies, and 2) Only steal from the best.

Copying the competition is dangerous. The restaurant business is not unlike an iceberg—only about 10% of an iceberg is above the surface. So much of what makes a restaurant chain successful is below the surface and can’t be seen when you walk in the front door for a competitive visit. A restaurant’s success is based on its culture, systems, infrastructure, and the core elements of the brand which may not be obvious from the outside, like purchasing arrangements, training programs, marketing strategies, etc.

Years and years ago when Taco Bell first started the value wars with 39-cent tacos, I saw their CEO John Martin present the “back story” of the behind-the-scenes re-engineering and process improvement necessary to drive down the costs so that they could offer the enhanced value. How many restaurateurs do that before they hop in to the value fray?

There is only one way to copy a great idea: Make it your own.

#1: You’ll never be first by following the competition

I often see small companies avidly watching the competition and “re-appropriating” ideas for their own brands. When I was the head of marketing for a small restaurant chain in the ‘80s, we spent a lot of time camped out at our local TGI Friday’s to see what they would do next. But the truth is, that kind of “me too” approach will never make you Number One.

Following your guest, not your competition, is the secret to being Number One. Once we learned that lesson, we were able to focus on our guests’ specific needs, wants and expectations, and deliver an experience that lived up to their expectations rather than being a second-rate TGI Friday’s. The real secret is: Run your own race.

Need help beefing up your brand strategy? Call Synergy Restaurant Consultants for an evaluation.

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The New Definition of Salads

By Joan Lang, Editorial Director

 

It’s been a long time since the word “salad” on a menu meant a bowl of lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers, with maybe a chef’s salad thrown in to appease the dieter. Today a salad can be anything from a room temperature shared plate of roasted tri-color carrots with toasted cumin vinaigrette, to a tossed-to-order creation encompassing all of a guest’s favorite customized ingredients.

At Cheesecake Factory, for instance, the salads section comprises seven appetizer selections and 10 more substantial salads, from the obligatory Caesar to a Seared Tuna Tataki Salad with wasabi vinaigrette.

A Category Apart

Webster’s dictionary defines salad as “a cold dish of various mixtures of raw or cooked vegetables, usually seasoned with oil, vinegar, or other dressing and sometimes accompanied by meat, fish, or other ingredients.”
But in 2015 a salad can comprise almost any ingredients, especially as shareables, small plates, and increased creativity with seasonal produce, beans and grains are transforming menus. A salad doesn’t even necessarily need to be cold. If it walks like a salad and it talks like a salad, it can be enjoyed like a salad, even if it’s menued as a main course or appetizer.

Caesar Lives

Before leaving the topic of Caesar salad, this classic concoction of Romaine, parmesan, egg, anchovies and croutons—said to be invented by Caesar Cardini in Mexico in 1924—has turned into one of the most enduringly popular menu items of all time. Its first documented menu listing was in 1946 at Lawry’s The Prime Rib in Beverly Hills, and during its earliest heyday it exemplified glamourous dining, especially when made tableside.

That traditional recipe is still much-loved, and much-menued, but the variations have become legion, from the addition of a la carte toppings like grilled chicken or shrimp, to versions made with grilled Romaine, butter or other soft lettuce, sous vide egg, white anchovies, frico (parmesan crisps) instead of croutons and/or grated cheese…. And now, of course, it’s the kale Caesar salad (and the secret to that is trimming the ribs rubbing the leaves with dressing to break down the fibers and make it more tender).

You can do anything to a Caesar, it seems, except kill it off.

New Classics

Beyond Caesar, there are other “heritage” salads that are still going strong, either in their traditional or experimental forms:

Cobb: Present it as a tossed salad, rather than composed. Vary the classic ingredients of turkey, blue cheese, avocado and hard-boiled eggs (i.e., smoked turkey, poached egg)

Niçoise: Use hot grilled tuna or another fresh fish

Wedge Salad: Use heirloom iceberg and/or tomatoes, upgraded bacon (i.e., house-cured)

Salad Frisee Lardon: Substitute frizzled prosciutto or smoked salmon for the traditional bacon lardons

The Local, in Coral Gables, FL, is a great example of how the classic-salad variations comes to life, with a short rib-topped Caesar salad and a wedge made with grilled lettuce.

Going with the Grain and Bean

One of the hottest new ideas in salad is the incorporation of newly popular ancient grains, legumes or beans, creating a more substantial, nutrient-dense salad that can, with a little adaptation, also be menued to vegetarians, vegans, and the gluten-averse.

For example:
• Quinoa Salad (radish, avocado, tomato, almond, cucumber, lime vinegar) – Circa 59, Riviera Palm Springs Hotel

• Thai Buckwheat Noodle Salad (avocado, mint, daikon radish, Thai basil, roasted mushrooms, cashew, spicy sesame, nam pla) – Flower Child, Scottsdale, AZ

• Chipotle Cowboy Salad (romaine, roasted chicken, pepper Jack cheese, black beans, cilantro, crunchy onions, chipotle vinaigrette) – Just Salad, New York City

• Farro Salad (served with warm broccoli rabe, chorizo and mustard vinaigrette) – Compere Lapin, New Orleans

• Hummus Tahina Salad (shredded kale + chopped romaine, tomatoes, red onion, cucumbers, pita chips, local feta, housemade hummus, baked falafel, cucumber tahini yogurt) – Sweetgreen

Tossed to Order

The customization megatrend has hit salads in a big way, and that doesn’t just mean the salad bar. Bespoke, tossed-to-order salads like those offered at The Salad Bowl, in Kitty Hawk, NC, or Chop Stop in Burbank, CA, are the next generation of the self-serve bar, allowing customers to choose their own greens, toppings, dressing and more. The new menu at Bonefish Grill features a mix-and-match salad option that includes a choice of four different base salads with signature protein toppers such as wood-grilled salmon and herb-grilled chicken.

Build-your-own salad concepts have proven particularly successful in the growing fast-casual segment, with its emphasis on fresh made-to-order foods with a healthy spin.

• Salad specialists, like Toss’d and Saladworks, have built the bulk of their menu around create-your-own salad platforms, plus a selection of specialty salads for those who can’t decide.

• Uno Fresco, Pizzeria Uno’s entry into the f-c arena, offers both Designed for You and Design Your Own salads on its roster of salad choices.

• Moe’s Southwest Grill offers the ultimate mix-and-match menu, wherein customers can choose salad, bowl, burrito, wrap, stack or more as the platform on which to build and layer ingredients like black beans, tofu, Southwestern slaw, pickled jalapenos, queso and other toppings.

• At Bo’s Steak & Grill, the new fast casual sibling of the Ponderosa and Bonanza steakhouse chains, guests are welcome to create their own salad with a choice of eight different toppings, plus a la carte proteins like chicken and brisket.

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Tip of the Month

If you’re interested in an alternative view of the future of farm-to-table, take the time to read Corby Kummer’s excellent article in Vanity Fair.

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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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.

It wasn’t so long ago that a number of operators banned “foodstagramming” in their restaurants (of course, some still encourage guests to turn off their cell phones when they’re dining).

Now, of course, most have either embraced Instagram or given in to the fact that certain people will take pictures of their food no matter what. But there’s no denying that the food porn trend goes beyond simple photography—in fact, it could be argued that Instagram and all the other social media are accelerating what is already the crazy-fast adoption of new food trends. And there’s also the ever-present danger of chefs and customers alike focusing (get it?) so much on picture-taking that they forget about how it tastes, or even tasting their food at all. Read the article on restaurateuring in the age of Instagram for additional perspective.

It could also be argued that the whole Bone Broth thing is also a function of social media and its tendency to make this a business of food fetishists. If you want to get on board, our culinary development associate Justin Braly shares a recipe for simple chicken (bone) broth.

And speaking of trends, there’s one that simply shows no sign of being over: better burgers, always and ever. We’ve got 15 different ways to tap it.
To your success,

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In the Age of Instagram

By Joan Lang, Editorial Director

 

If it seems like one minute a restaurant has a certain thing on the menu and two weeks later everyone else has the exact same thing, you’re not imagining it. And it’s not just the foodie press and bloggers and the Food Network. It’s Instagram.

A picture is worth 1,000 words, and food pictures on Instagram say it all: what’s in a dish, what the diner thinks of it, and exactly what it looks like. And that makes this business more competitive than ever.

Or call it the age of food fetishes, and the Cronut was just the start. Thanks to social media—in particular the picture power of Instagram—food trends are now spreading, fully formed, with lightning speed. They’re being hatched, and then they’re being replaced almost as quickly.

Another cheese and meat board—really? More roasted Brussels sprouts with fish sauce replaced by more kale Caesar salads supplanted by more seared cauliflower steaks and now it’s Avocado Toast? Yes, indeed.

There are lots of other implications, besides menus becoming increasingly similar.

As far as Instagram goes, restaurateurs need to decide whether they’re “fer it or agin it” (a policymaking conundrum that not surprisingly tends to split along Millennial lines). As of now, more operators appear to be agin it, or at least not on board, as a recent Smart Brief poll showed the great majority of respondents either not using Instagram or not knowing how to leverage it.

A nice-looking plate is now called “Instagram-worthy” by both guests and reviewers. Can you say “focus on presentation”?

Instagrammers have become the new bloggers, reaping fame and contracts from their posts. And we all know how influential the blogosphere became to the restaurant industry.

Everyone wants to know how to take better Instagram photos, now that they have that fancy iPhone. (We may need to consider changing the lighting to facilitate picture-taking—or anticipate more early-bird specials or growth in the breakfast daypart, just because natural daylight is almost always better.)

Last but certainly not least, savvy marketers are turning to the medium to get their message across.

• Applebee’s has, among other things, turned its Instagram account over to its fans for a year in order to gather user-generated content aimed at helping the aging brand establish its standing as the go-to hangout spot

• Chefs and independents who use Instagram often end up on Must Follow lists that invite more followers (and potential customers) by the hundreds

• Taco Bell uses Instagram very effectively to promote new menu-item launches and LTOs

• Frank Prisinzano, the outspoken chef-owner behind a number of popular New York restaurants, has used his account to critique his own restaurants—getting lots of attention in the process

• Domino’s old sign/new sign “scavenger hunt” has helped draw attention to the chain’s rebranding efforts

• Zoe Nathan Loeb is using her proximity to beautiful food to promote both her restaurants and her new cookbook

Using Instagram needn’t be a big involved campaign. Even something as simple as posting photos of the days specials or inviting fans to post selfies taken in your restaurant can reap beautiful rewards.

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The Bone Broth Boom

By Justin Braly, Culinary Development

Whether you call it stock, consommé, brodo or broth, there is no mistaking that the bone broth craze is upon us. Bone broth is heralded for its beneficial nutrients such as collagen (good for hair and nails), glucosamine (great for joint health) and glycine (which is great for removing toxins), but what exactly is it this delicious yet simple elixir?

Bone broth, in theory, is as simple as it gets. Broth by definition is soup consisting of meat or vegetable chunks, and often rice, cooked in stock, and bone broth is even simpler. Bones, with little bits of meat still attached, are cooked with any assortment of vegetables and aromatics for upwards of 24 hours—much longer than most recipes call for—in simmering water until the bones release their collagen and nutrients. This mixture is skimmed of fat regularly as it cooks and strained through a fine mesh sieve when it’s finished… voila! You have bone broth, which has become a cornerstone of the Paleo diet.

The amount of blog posts and websites dedicated to bone broth is astonishing, and small towns even seem to boast at least one person at the farmers market peddling this magical elixir, noting that their broth will change your health for the better. But in major cities, the craze is even bigger. In New York, chef Marco Canora may have started the craze with Brodo: A walk-up window that sells piping hot cups of broth (in three different sizes) to hungry customers in the morning, daring them to “rethink their hot beverage.” In San Francisco, there are at least six places selling “liquid gold.” Will bone broth rival Starbucks one day? Probably not, but maybe instead of a morning juice or afternoon cuppa, people will gravitate towards broth for their nutrients and vitamins.

Like all trends, bone broth has many different iterations. Restaurateurs, chefs and bartenders are taking advantage of the bone broth trend, because if it’s hip consumers will buy it, even in a cocktail format. At Los Angeles’ Pistola you can get “From the Kitchen With Love,” a $22 bone broth cocktail consisting of six ounces of lamb consommé plus two ounces of Glenlivet 15. Consider it a play on French Onion Soup.

While I don’t see the broth cocktail scene taking off, bone broth for kitchen use will stick around, so why not make your own? This recipe for Chicken Bone Broth is a great place to start.

Chicken Bone Broth:

5 lb. chicken bones
1 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
2 gal. cold water (enough to cover the ingredients)
2 medium yellow onions, roots cut off and halved
4-5 carrots, washed and cut in half
6-8 celery stalks, washed and cut into thirds
6-8 cloves of garlic
1 bundle thyme (fresh)
3 bay leaves (fresh)
1 tsp. salt

1. Place chicken bones in a large stock pot. Add apple cider vinegar and water to cover the bones.
2. Cover and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to keep a low simmer for 24 hours. Stir once or twice in the first few hours, and then a few times for the duration of your simmer, adding additional water as needed.
3. After 24 hours add the vegetables, garlic, salt, thyme and bay leaves to the pot. Increase heat to bring back up to a boil, then cover and reduce heat to maintain a simmer.
4. Cook for 8 hours longer, stirring every hour or so. Let simmer with lid off for the last 2 hours.
5. Strain all ingredients by pouring bone broth from one pot to another through a colander or strainer.

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15 Shades of Burger

By Joan Lang, Editorial Director

 

Quick: What’s one of the most successful and enduringly popular menu items in all the restaurant universe, from mainstream fast food chains to destination dining? What can guests never seem to get enough of? What inspires cult followings and seemingly endless creativity? And what has nearly every revered chef in this country tried a hand at?

Although its exact origins are shrouded in late 19th century obscurity, the hamburger has emerged as one of the iconic pleasures of American dining, and a bulwark of the restaurant menu. From circa-1921 White Castle “belly bombers” to db Bistro Moderne, with its game-changing Original db Burger (a $35 sirloin burger filled with braised short ribs, foie gras and black truffle Parmesan bun, first introduced in 2001), there’s almost nothing that can’t be done to and with a burger.

No wonder sales of burgers keep growing—in 2014, according to NPD, the number of hamburgers sold increased 3%, in part because rising beef prices incented more restaurants to add them and more customers to order them.

Stuffed

Packing a tasty bite of something in the middle of an otherwise traditional patty adds not only flavor and juiciness, but it’s also a surprise for the guest and an operational advantage for the house because it keeps messy, melty ingredients like cheese or foie gras off the griddle. And you can stuff a burger with everything from blue cheese or Brie, to caramelized onions, chutney, salsa, olives, chili, sausage or even a fried egg.

Old-School

Although there’s a great deal of debate about what constitutes a “classic” hamburger—that’s the whole point of this article, after all—after several years of burger one-upsmanship there seems to be a move back to a style of burger that’s traditional, but elevated. That means juicy, well-seasoned meat, traditional condiments and toppings like tomato and mayonnaise, old-school American cheese, and a fresh, slightly squishy bun that soaks up all the juices. No elk meat, no kimchi, no lavash flatbread: just best-in-class technique and ingredients.

Mini

Ah, the slider. These fun little mini-burgers made it possible to put the popular overstuffed sandwich on a small plates menu, and spawned dozens of different variations from pulled pork to fried chicken. The Slider House, in Nashville, has one of everything, and guests can mix and match two or three choices with a side for $8.99 or $11.99 respectively. Sliders have also become increasingly popular as bar snacks, as in the two different formulations of Cheeseburger Sliders tucked among the wings and quesadillas on the Snacktime menu at TGI Friday’s.

Blended

Short rib and sirloin. Brisket and filet. Seeking the perfect ratio of fat to lean, flavor to tenderness, burgermeisters are writing special specs for burgers—half of them, it seems, from butcher-to-the-stars Pat LaFrieda. That and sobriquets like “never frozen,” “handcrafted” and “ground in house” are the earmarks of the quality meat trend that’s sweeping the better burger movement. The famous cheeseburger at Husk takes much of its savor from Benton’s bacon ground in with the chuck and flank

Smashed

Differing schools of thought abound on how to cook a burger, and along with grilled vs. griddled and thick vs. thin, there’s the ongoing controversy of minimal compressing on the grill vs. smashing that puppy down with the spatula til the juices sizzle. We’re talking Smashburger, among others, which promises burgers that are “Smashed Fresh. Served Delicious.” Proponents claim the technique of smashing a meatball-thick patty down on the griddle creates plenty of surface and thin edges that pick up a tasty, crisp char. Shake Shack also smashes its burgers, on a Miraclean griddle, which not only builds flavor but allows the meat to cook more quickly.

Other Meats

Though the great majority of hamburgers are probably made with ground beef, there are all kinds of other meats that can be used to make a signature burger, including turkey, pork and lamb, as well as bison, buffalo and more unusual meats. The Breslin Bar & Dining Room, in New York City, has quickly become famous for its chargrilled lamb burger, which picks up additional Greek accents from the addition of feta cheese and cumin mayonnaise. A menu favorite at Tavern in Los Angeles is the Pork Pork Pork Burger, made with ground pork, bacon and chorizo finished with Manchego cheese and romesco sauce on a brioche bun. And Islands Fine Burgers & Drinks, based in Southern California, invites guests to substitute a turkey patty for any of its burgers.

Fish

Here’s a category that tells you how far the “burger” definition has traveled, with patties made from crab meat, ground tuna or salmon, and shrimp. Fishburgers are great for operations because they can be made with non-premium product, including trim, the thin ends of a salmon filet, or broken shrimp, allowing guests to enjoy a luxury ingredient at an affordable price point. Burgers made with seafood have a low-fat, high-protein nutritional profile that appeals to health-conscious diners who still want the indulgence of a “burger.” The neutral flavor and soft texture of fish also take well to ingredients that wouldn’t work with beef—like the Asian Ahi Tuna Burger served rare with Asian slaw and wasabi dressing at Lazy Dog, which has 16 locations in ahi-crazy Southern California.

Ethnic

The hamburger may not actually exist in Korea, but the kimchi burger has certainly caught on here. Fusion mashup
BopNGrill, in Chicago, has other signature burgers that call to mind other ethnic specialties, including the Pizza Burger (topped with mozzarella sticks, marinara, American, Parmesan, and caramelized onions), Bavarian (pretzel bun, sharp cheddar, caramelized onions, bacon, Dusseldorf mustard) and Hawaiian-esque Loco (fried egg, short-rib gravy, caramelized onions, bacon, sharp cheddar).

Top-of-the-Line

The Original db Burger notwithstanding, restaurateurs and chefs have been trying to outdo each other with the most expensive or most luxurious burgers for years, using ingredients like Wagyu beef, truffles (even Smashburger has a truffled menu entry), lobster, wild mushrooms and even a bottle of Chateau Petrus (served on the side). Not surprisingly, many of these burgers can be had in Las Vegas, but a clutch of upscale restaurants in San Francisco are serving more-ish versions of sliders, like the escargot patties topped with foie gras on the menu at Bisou Bistronomy.

Over the Top

Size and variety also make an impression with burger fans. Chomp Kitchen and Drinks in Warren, RI, has amassed a cult following for its over-the-top Stack Burger 3.0, a towering assemblage consisting of a beef patty with American cheese, spicy fried chicken with smoked gouda, smoked BBQ beef, bacon, ranch dressing, and onion jam with lettuce and tomato. And three-location Cowfish Sushi Burger Bar features an extensive menu that includes 19 different burgers plus additions and substitutions ranging from six different breads to sake-marinated sauerkraut.

Regional

There are regional sandwiches, and regional sodas, so no surprise that burgers come in regional styles, too. In Northeastern Mississippi, for instance, the ground beef is mixed with flour and soy meal and fried, to create something called a Slugburger, while the Deep South is home the Pimento Cheeseburger, a tasty conglomeration that has recently gone trendy outside of its native habitat, as at the new ABV in the Mission District of San Francisco.

Vegetarian

There are veggie burgers and there are veggie burgers, and lately restaurants are catering to guests who avoid meat but crave burgers with versions made from soy, nuts, grains, ground vegetables, and other tasty concoctions. Oshi Burger Bar, part of the Jeff Johnson Restaurant Group in Memphis calls its organic veggie burger the Conscientious Objector, topping it with tomato, crushed avocado, red onion, Swiss, lettuce and burger sauce. Michael Mina makes a Fava Bean Falafel Burger with Gamble Creek Farms organic cucumber yogurt, tomato confit and tahini at Locale Market in St. Petersburg, FL. Even White Castle has a Veggie Slider.

Grass-Fed

Socially conscious sourcing is big in the burger segment, with antibiotic-free and grass-free meat a centerpiece of many business plans. For higher-end independents, many with chain aspirations, grass-fed and local beef is the way to go. Crave Real Burgers, with three locations in Colorado, works with local ranchers for its beef. Breakaway Café, in Sonoma, CA, sources its organic pastured beef from SunFed Ranch. The Burger Lounge chain has been selling grass-fed burgers, local produce and a green lifestyle since 2007. But now even Carl’s Jr. has jumped on the bandwagon with an all-natural, grass-fed offering.

DIY

The Counter was arguably at the forefront of the customizable menu item trend—burger or otherwise—back in 2003 and it’s still going strong, with locations all over nine states plus Ireland, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. With a mix-and-match selection of patty meats and sizes, breads, cheese, toppings and sauces, the concept touts a possible 312,120+ different burger combinations, “unique to each customer,” plus dozens of already-designed options. Of course, it’s easy for just about any restaurant to offer a DIY options: just look at Friendly’s.

Patty Melt

Thanks to the unending popularity of classic American comfort food, it stands to reason that the patty melt would also get the better burger treatment—and the trending success of both grilled cheese sandwiches and artisanal toast hasn’t hurt. Hardee’s Bacon Velveeta Patty Meltdown is in-your-face retro, but the new Snappy Pattys, in Medford, MA, delivers “upscale contemporary American food” including a sixsome of signature patty melt sliders made with grass-fed, hormone- and antibiotic-free beef with scratch-made sauces on house-baked olive oil brioche.

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Tip of the Month

Want more advice and ideas for using Instagram? Check out these articles from the National Restaurant Association, F&B Kibbutz, and Pizza magazine.