Nation's Restaurant News On the Go Newsletter #15
Nation's Restaurant News
The #1 source of news and business intelligence for restaurant and foodservice industry professionals
Menu moves at the big chains
Hi. I’m Bret Thorn, senior food and beverage editor of Nation’s Restaurant News, with some thoughts on recent menu innovation.
With the beginning of Lent, there’s a lot of menu news about new seafood items (or returning ones from last Lent), but some of the large chains have other fish to fry, so to speak.
Starbucks got coffee lovers’ attention with the introduction in Italy of Oleato, which is coffee mixed with a spoonful of cold-pressed extra-virgin olive oil. The hot takes, mostly from people who haven’t tried it, but also from some who have, haven’t been particularly welcoming, but the Seattle-based company does have a history of changing the coffee game, starting with its audacious and extremely successful approach from the outset of convincing customers to spend two or three times what they were used to spending on coffee. Then they convinced huge numbers of people that autumn wasn’t autumn without pumpkin spice. The chain’s introduction of cold foam five years ago came with less fanfare, but aerated cold milk spooned over coffee is now a standard offering at most major coffee concepts.
Don’t dismiss Oleato out of hand, is what I’m saying.?
Meanwhile, Papa Johns has been undertaking a string of innovations, starting last year with its Papa Bowls (all of the toppings, none of the crust, sold in trays sort of like a casserole),?followed by Papa Bites, which are kind of like garlic knots in chicken Parmesan, Jalape?o, and Oreo Cookie flavors (with more to come) and most recently pies with Parmesan crusted on the bottom.??
My colleague Joanna Fantozzi pointed out, in reporting on Papa Johns’ earnings, that these innovations helped keep guests engaged while not adding much complexity in the kitchen.
And KFC is now expanding on its successful chicken sandwich line by testing variations in Tampa, Fla. — the Ultimate BBQ KFC Chicken Sandwich, with honey barbecue sauce, fried onions, bacon, cheese and pickles, and the Spicy Slaw Chicken Sandwich with the chain’s existing coleslaw, spicy mayonnaise and pickles. ?As with Papa Johns’ items, these sandwiches bring news and flavor with minimal kitchen complexity.??
Doing more with less is certainly going to be an ongoing menu theme for 2023. Although labor and supply-chain issues have eased somewhat, now chains are dealing with skittish customers who seem to be eager to trade down. The upside is that limited-service chains have the opportunity to capture more customers, as long as they get their attention.
Starbucks adds olive oil-infused coffee drinks to the menu in Italy
Starbucks is debuting a new drinks platform called Oleato — infusing Starbucks premium coffee drinks with cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil — coming exclusively (for now) to Starbucks stores in Italy.
The Oleato beverages served in cafes will include a caffe latte (made with Starbucks’ blonde espresso infused with Partanna extra virgin olive oil and oat milk), iced shaken espresso (made with espresso and oat milk infused with the Partanna extra virgin olive oil), and Golden Foam cold brew (a cold brew coffee topped with extra virgin olive oil-infused foam).
How Papa Johns used menu innovation to fight against inflationary pressures
Although during the pandemic, Papa Johns was one of the highest performing “pizza darlings” of the industry — taking advantage of consumers’ need for cheaper, easier to order for takeout during lockdowns — the restaurant industry and Papa Johns’ soaring sales have since stabilized. Since then, Papa Johns International Inc. has managed to keep its head above water despite inflationary wage and commodity pressures by tapping into its third-party delivery partnerships and constant stream of menu innovations.
How KFC is working to attract younger consumers
In 2015, KFC recruited Saturday Night Live alum Darrell Hammond to play Colonel Harland Sanders in a series of commercials declaring, “I’m back America!” The campaign gained some traction and the chain’s celebrity carousel continued to turn for the next several years, with Colonel interpretations from Norm Macdonald, George Hamilton, Rob Lowe, Reba McEntire and several others. The campaign was credited in part for helping to drive KFC’s turnaround – bringing the chain back to positive sales and positioning it for net new unit growth for the first time in nearly 20 years.
In June, KFC introduced a new celebrity partnership with fellow Louisvillian and Grammy Award nominee Jack Harlow, though this time around, Harlow plays himself – a definitive shift for the brand. And an intentional one at that.
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The Cheesecake Factory development pipeline focuses on Fox concepts
The Cheesecake Factory Inc. will lean into its Fox-created concepts for the lion’s share of its development this year, executives said Wednesday.
The Calabasas Hills, Calif.-based company, which acquired the Phoenix, Ariz.-based Fox Restaurant Concepts in 2019 in a deal valued at about $353 million, plans to return to unit growth after the pandemic retrenchment, with as many as 20 to 22 planned openings.
Of those, David Overton, Cheesecake Factory CEO, said on a fourth-quarter earnings call that included five to six Cheesecake Factories as well as five to six North Italia locations and 10 FRC concepts, including three to four fast-casual Flower Child units.
Tech Tracker: Restaurant QR codes are evolving and so should yours
QR codes may have only started popping up a few years ago as a pandemic-era contactless technology, but customers are already starting to age out of the original static experience that’s no different than picking up a paper menu. Why not take advantage of opportunities to learn more about your customers through data provided by QR code ordering and payment?
We spoke with Olo CEO Noah Glass about the new features being added and expanded to the Olo technology platform, including Borderless technology that remembers guest login details and enhanced QR code ordering capabilities that improve communications between the server and guest.?
NRN Chicken Showdown Finalists Announced!
NRN’s Chicken Showdown pitted nine chicken chains from all over the country against one another and based on your votes we have narrowed it down to two finalists: Slim Chickens and Starbird. Which chicken chain will be the winner? Vote in our LinkedIn Poll and let us know !
Read more on our Chicken Showdown, Sponsored by Texas Pete.
Can Amazon Crack the Code on Grocery?
Get a sneak peak of into what's holding back Amazon’s grocery growth with Chloe Riley, Executive Editor of Supermarket News, NRN's sister publication.
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1 年Tell me I didn’t just read that KFC is introducing an ultimate chicken (not real chicken) sandwich with enough calorie busting toppings including deep fried onion rings (real onions) to stop the healthiest heart from beating. All this to appeal to the tree hugging, plant loving, chicken hating segment of newly found customers.