Burger King’s test kitchen has been such a hive of activity that it’s hard to recollect all the new or newly revised products that have recently moved beyond the test phase. Carrols Restaurant Group, the chain’s largest franchisee, provided a recap to its investors yesterday. Here are the highlights:
--A new, thicker cut French fry that’s being quietly rolled out. Quality Restaurants, another large franchisee, switched to the new sides a few weeks earlier. Carrols adopted the thicker cut in late October.
--Better bacon. The coarser-cut strips are delivered raw to stores and cooked on the premises so they’re a fresher garnish or breakfast side.
--The Chef’s Choice, a one-third-plus (5.5-ounce) premium burger with a price to match: $4.99. Although Carrols officials didn’t say it, the sandwich appears to be Burger King’s answer to McDonald’s one-third-pound Angus line.
--BK Toppers, a line of garnished, 3.2-ounce burgers priced as a middle option, at $1.99. The array fills the gap between the new BK Minis, the sliders that were introduced earlier this year, and the Chef’s Choice and Whopper.
--Soft-serve ice cream, introduced this summer as a loss leader (buy a meal, get one free; Carrols said it provided 100 free cones a day during the warmer weather.)
--Smoothies, which appear to be still in the refinement stage.
Carrols said it’s encouraged by the performance of the products it’s recently adopted. “We are optimistic and hopeful that as we move forward, Burger King will begin to regain market share, expand its customer base and experience sustainable traction in its performance,” said president/COO Dan Accordino, who’ll be taking over the burger operation when longtime CEO Alan Vituli retires at the end of the year.
Accordino didn’t acknowledge the menu change that made headlines this week, the rollout of new kids meals that bring back the chain’s giveaway crown, once a BK signature. The meals are available with apple slices instead of French fries, a counter to the health-oriented option that McDonald’s is currently adopting.
Showing posts with label kids menus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kids menus. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Kids' stuff. And lots of it.
While Muffy and Scooter learn their isotopes at physics camp, restaurants are rethinking how to deal with the little dears and their schoolyard posse.
Recent days brought two major industry initiatives for bolstering school-aged patrons’ health.
Meanwhile, mom packs are forming in the blogosphere to shame a restaurant that decided it’d rather not risk the time-out behavior of bad boys and girls. McDain’s is banning all pint-sizers under age 6 from its dining room. You’d think from the reaction that the Pittsburgh-area establishment had suggested the tots be banished to Devil’s Island with nothing but a sharp knife.
Clearly, kids are in the foodservice spotlight, for better or worse. It’s no surprise, given how exalted they are in general society. The trophy industry must be going gangbusters now that hardware is bestowed on any tyke who’s a part of a team, class, playgroup or other social unit. If they show up, the big brass is theirs.
Along with the pampering comes a degree of protection that falls just short of a mandatory bubble-wrapping of any nippers who ventures outside their child-proofed home. That’s why we have a mother in Arizona who visited the playgrounds of 50 fast-food restaurants to video unsafe situations or to swap hard surfaces for bacteria. (In her defense, she found plenty.)
It’s also why a cross-agency federal task force has suggested that food sellers voluntarily meet certain nutrition standards for any product they advertise to youngsters.
Ironically, that effort came to light just as the restaurant industry was finalizing a program to offer more healthful choices to kids. The Kids Live Well initiative, officially announced today, will spotlight menus with better-for-you options for children. Nineteen chains representing some 15,000 establishments have already signed on for the program, a collaboration of the National Restaurant Association and the operator of HealthyDiningFinder.com.
The unveiling came six days after the Culinary Institute of America went live with Menu for Healthy Kids, a website that provides recipes for schools and other operations that’d like to offer more nutritional kids’ fare. It also provides statistics on the issue of childhood obesity.
Those may be the big tidal developments in regard to healthier dining by children. But there are countless small developments.
Consider, for instance, that Olive Garden just changed its serving standards. Instead of giving youngsters French fries, they’ll now get grapes. In place of milkshakes, they’ll now sip fruit smoothies.
At the very least, that sort of effort deserves a trophy.
Recent days brought two major industry initiatives for bolstering school-aged patrons’ health.
Meanwhile, mom packs are forming in the blogosphere to shame a restaurant that decided it’d rather not risk the time-out behavior of bad boys and girls. McDain’s is banning all pint-sizers under age 6 from its dining room. You’d think from the reaction that the Pittsburgh-area establishment had suggested the tots be banished to Devil’s Island with nothing but a sharp knife.
Clearly, kids are in the foodservice spotlight, for better or worse. It’s no surprise, given how exalted they are in general society. The trophy industry must be going gangbusters now that hardware is bestowed on any tyke who’s a part of a team, class, playgroup or other social unit. If they show up, the big brass is theirs.
Along with the pampering comes a degree of protection that falls just short of a mandatory bubble-wrapping of any nippers who ventures outside their child-proofed home. That’s why we have a mother in Arizona who visited the playgrounds of 50 fast-food restaurants to video unsafe situations or to swap hard surfaces for bacteria. (In her defense, she found plenty.)
It’s also why a cross-agency federal task force has suggested that food sellers voluntarily meet certain nutrition standards for any product they advertise to youngsters.
Ironically, that effort came to light just as the restaurant industry was finalizing a program to offer more healthful choices to kids. The Kids Live Well initiative, officially announced today, will spotlight menus with better-for-you options for children. Nineteen chains representing some 15,000 establishments have already signed on for the program, a collaboration of the National Restaurant Association and the operator of HealthyDiningFinder.com.
The unveiling came six days after the Culinary Institute of America went live with Menu for Healthy Kids, a website that provides recipes for schools and other operations that’d like to offer more nutritional kids’ fare. It also provides statistics on the issue of childhood obesity.
Those may be the big tidal developments in regard to healthier dining by children. But there are countless small developments.
Consider, for instance, that Olive Garden just changed its serving standards. Instead of giving youngsters French fries, they’ll now get grapes. In place of milkshakes, they’ll now sip fruit smoothies.
At the very least, that sort of effort deserves a trophy.
Friday, May 14, 2010
Getting caught up on the news
A surge in work is typical before the NRA Show, and even a freelance restaurant writer wasn’t exempted this year, a sign itself that business conditions are improving. A barrage of assignments frustrated RestaurantRealityCheck from reporting several trends that merit winces or ooohs from the industry. Here, in several installments, are a few newsreel-worthy subjects that shouldn’t slip past unnoticed.
The obesity witch hunt is waning. Chain restaurants have been vilified for years as the agents of excess who made kids fat. If those glitzy temples didn’t sell families so many shakes and fries, the argument holds, the tykes wouldn’t be consuming more calories than they burn. We wouldn’t have a childhood obesity problem in the United States.
Somewhere along the way, reason snuck into the discussion. Talk of who’s to blame has given way to a new topic of discourse, the encouraging concept of “healthy communities.”
A more holistic approach, it holds that the problem has to be rectified by overhauling communities—their infrastructures and their sensibilities—instead of hanging one component as the culprit.
In this fresher way of thinking, communities have to consider such factors as how they inadvertently discourage routine exercise. Do they have sidewalks? Safe playgrounds? Bike paths? Can kids walk to school, or have the layout and customs all but guarantee that youngsters get a ride?
Similarly, are healthful options even present? Are there markets where the right sort of foods can be purchased, or has the community lapsed into a nutritional desert, where most of the choices come in single-serving cellophane bags?
Fast-food places are still part of the scrutiny, as any food emporium should be in a broad-stroke approach. After all, the very notion is that every component of a community has to do its part.
So proponents look at factors like the ratio of processed-food outlets to markets featuring fresh, ideally locally grown fare.
Similarly, they haven’t abandoned the controversial notion that restaurants should filter their communications to children since parents often don’t.
Indeed, under pressure from no less a force than the White House, where First Lady Michelle Obama is championing the healthy communities approach, the Federal Trade Commission plans to start taking fast-food marketers to task. The watchdog agency’s chairman has indicated that he may subpoena chains to see if they upheld promises made in 2005 to change what and how they market to kids. He’s suggested that regulation may be the fallback if volunteer curbs weren’t implemented.
Similarly, a report issued earlier this week by the White House has stoked calls for a heavier sales tax on foods that pose a health risk.
After reviewing all the obesity-focused legislation passed by states last year, the National Conference of State Legislatures concluded that children’s health advocates are increasingly framing their efforts as the pursuit of healthy communities. It’s clearly become the prevailing way of looking at the issue, a refreshing change from the blame game.
Restaurants need to embrace and promote that more reasonable approach, even if it means shouldering some responsibility and making some significant changes.
The obesity witch hunt is waning. Chain restaurants have been vilified for years as the agents of excess who made kids fat. If those glitzy temples didn’t sell families so many shakes and fries, the argument holds, the tykes wouldn’t be consuming more calories than they burn. We wouldn’t have a childhood obesity problem in the United States.
Somewhere along the way, reason snuck into the discussion. Talk of who’s to blame has given way to a new topic of discourse, the encouraging concept of “healthy communities.”
A more holistic approach, it holds that the problem has to be rectified by overhauling communities—their infrastructures and their sensibilities—instead of hanging one component as the culprit.
In this fresher way of thinking, communities have to consider such factors as how they inadvertently discourage routine exercise. Do they have sidewalks? Safe playgrounds? Bike paths? Can kids walk to school, or have the layout and customs all but guarantee that youngsters get a ride?
Similarly, are healthful options even present? Are there markets where the right sort of foods can be purchased, or has the community lapsed into a nutritional desert, where most of the choices come in single-serving cellophane bags?
Fast-food places are still part of the scrutiny, as any food emporium should be in a broad-stroke approach. After all, the very notion is that every component of a community has to do its part.
So proponents look at factors like the ratio of processed-food outlets to markets featuring fresh, ideally locally grown fare.
Similarly, they haven’t abandoned the controversial notion that restaurants should filter their communications to children since parents often don’t.
Indeed, under pressure from no less a force than the White House, where First Lady Michelle Obama is championing the healthy communities approach, the Federal Trade Commission plans to start taking fast-food marketers to task. The watchdog agency’s chairman has indicated that he may subpoena chains to see if they upheld promises made in 2005 to change what and how they market to kids. He’s suggested that regulation may be the fallback if volunteer curbs weren’t implemented.
Similarly, a report issued earlier this week by the White House has stoked calls for a heavier sales tax on foods that pose a health risk.
After reviewing all the obesity-focused legislation passed by states last year, the National Conference of State Legislatures concluded that children’s health advocates are increasingly framing their efforts as the pursuit of healthy communities. It’s clearly become the prevailing way of looking at the issue, a refreshing change from the blame game.
Restaurants need to embrace and promote that more reasonable approach, even if it means shouldering some responsibility and making some significant changes.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
You have the answers?
Recent days have left me with some nagging questions about the restaurant industry. For instance…
What if “local” doesn’t necessarily mean “better”? Patrons are clamoring right now for more local ingredients in their restaurant meals, a propensity stoked by the belief that foodstuffs grown nearby have to be fresher, more flavorful and more nutritious.
But does that equation pencil out? Don’t growing conditions make some areas the ideal source for produce, even if they’re hundreds or thousands of miles away? And can a farmer with a truck always beat a well-oiled supply chain in getting materials to a kitchen?
That thought came to mind as I was making a salad with lettuce I’d grabbed up in my local supermarket because the bag was marked, “Grown Here On Long Island!” A half-hour later, I was trying to chop the leathery Romaine, a task akin to slicing wet tissues. The heads might’ve been produced locally, but perhaps not in the current calendar year.
Nor was the flavor as good as some of the mass-market brands available here, like Andy Boy or Dole.
Lest you think I’m palate-damaged numbskull who can't grasp the advantages of local fare, keep in mind that my father ran a millionaire’s estate/farm when I was growing up. One of my jobs was to head down to the garden and get the lettuce, cucumbers and tomatoes that would figure into my family’s dinner, typically served a few minutes later. I know freshness, and I know what good lettuce tastes like. And, in my experience, local lettuce doesn’t always equate to better. Ditto for strawberries, melons, tomatoes and broccoli.
What happened to our outrage? Kanye West pulls a dunderheaded move for the ages and, justifiably, he’s almost voted off the planet. On the same day his transgression comes to light, Share Our Strength reports the first flush of an investigation into classroom hunger. Teachers were asked. “Do you see child hunger in your classroom?”
Quoted was a San Antonio instructor identified as Kate, who spoke about a second-grader in her school named Kimberly. The child must have qualified for the school lunch or breakfast program, because, Kate noted, she could count on getting a meal at school.
“Anytime we had leftovers,” Kate said, “she would always want to take them home. She’d wrap up the leftover food to take home to her little brothers and sisters. She was a second grader trying to make sure her family got fed.”
I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t have had a chance if it weren’t for school. It was still the great equalizer in my day, the opportunity that largely offset the accidents of birth. And today we have 7 or 8-year-olds whose attention is diverted from basic math or reading by the need to feed her siblings.
With all due respect to music stars, isn’t that a little more galling than Taylor Swift getting dissed?
Who drugged the nation’s restaurateurs? Being a geek, I peruse virtually all the financial reports of publicly owned restaurant companies. It's like packing your iPod with blues songs and dirges, then putting it on Shuffle mode.
Lately, just to get a bit of relief, I’ve taken to reading the reports of supermarket and c-store chains. They should be delivered with confetti, noisemakers and party hats. The big source of their growth is in prepared meals, partially prepared meals, and rawer foodstuffs that can be turned into meals in lieu of a restaurant outing. In short, they’re eating the industry’s lunch.
Yet the restaurant trade seems oblivious to the loss. The only noticeable reaction has been to strike more licensing deals with food processors. That way, the chains figure, they at least pocket a few pennies from the dollars being spent on frozen entrees and other grocery products.
If you can’t compete on price, as restaurants likely can’t, at least the industry should tout service. Yet have you heard much about experience in restaurants’ commercials or other promotional efforts? Can you recall any marketing push that made a convincing case for restaurant service?
It’s as if the industry is ceding its dinner business, with vows to win it back once the economic climate improves.
But that recovery effort could be far, far more difficult than the industry imagines.
What if “local” doesn’t necessarily mean “better”? Patrons are clamoring right now for more local ingredients in their restaurant meals, a propensity stoked by the belief that foodstuffs grown nearby have to be fresher, more flavorful and more nutritious.
But does that equation pencil out? Don’t growing conditions make some areas the ideal source for produce, even if they’re hundreds or thousands of miles away? And can a farmer with a truck always beat a well-oiled supply chain in getting materials to a kitchen?
That thought came to mind as I was making a salad with lettuce I’d grabbed up in my local supermarket because the bag was marked, “Grown Here On Long Island!” A half-hour later, I was trying to chop the leathery Romaine, a task akin to slicing wet tissues. The heads might’ve been produced locally, but perhaps not in the current calendar year.
Nor was the flavor as good as some of the mass-market brands available here, like Andy Boy or Dole.
Lest you think I’m palate-damaged numbskull who can't grasp the advantages of local fare, keep in mind that my father ran a millionaire’s estate/farm when I was growing up. One of my jobs was to head down to the garden and get the lettuce, cucumbers and tomatoes that would figure into my family’s dinner, typically served a few minutes later. I know freshness, and I know what good lettuce tastes like. And, in my experience, local lettuce doesn’t always equate to better. Ditto for strawberries, melons, tomatoes and broccoli.
What happened to our outrage? Kanye West pulls a dunderheaded move for the ages and, justifiably, he’s almost voted off the planet. On the same day his transgression comes to light, Share Our Strength reports the first flush of an investigation into classroom hunger. Teachers were asked. “Do you see child hunger in your classroom?”
Quoted was a San Antonio instructor identified as Kate, who spoke about a second-grader in her school named Kimberly. The child must have qualified for the school lunch or breakfast program, because, Kate noted, she could count on getting a meal at school.
“Anytime we had leftovers,” Kate said, “she would always want to take them home. She’d wrap up the leftover food to take home to her little brothers and sisters. She was a second grader trying to make sure her family got fed.”
I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t have had a chance if it weren’t for school. It was still the great equalizer in my day, the opportunity that largely offset the accidents of birth. And today we have 7 or 8-year-olds whose attention is diverted from basic math or reading by the need to feed her siblings.
With all due respect to music stars, isn’t that a little more galling than Taylor Swift getting dissed?
Who drugged the nation’s restaurateurs? Being a geek, I peruse virtually all the financial reports of publicly owned restaurant companies. It's like packing your iPod with blues songs and dirges, then putting it on Shuffle mode.
Lately, just to get a bit of relief, I’ve taken to reading the reports of supermarket and c-store chains. They should be delivered with confetti, noisemakers and party hats. The big source of their growth is in prepared meals, partially prepared meals, and rawer foodstuffs that can be turned into meals in lieu of a restaurant outing. In short, they’re eating the industry’s lunch.
Yet the restaurant trade seems oblivious to the loss. The only noticeable reaction has been to strike more licensing deals with food processors. That way, the chains figure, they at least pocket a few pennies from the dollars being spent on frozen entrees and other grocery products.
If you can’t compete on price, as restaurants likely can’t, at least the industry should tout service. Yet have you heard much about experience in restaurants’ commercials or other promotional efforts? Can you recall any marketing push that made a convincing case for restaurant service?
It’s as if the industry is ceding its dinner business, with vows to win it back once the economic climate improves.
But that recovery effort could be far, far more difficult than the industry imagines.
Friday, August 7, 2009
Busted at belly bombing
The con’s over for the 10-year-old desperados who profess to be my nieces. The adorable little flimflammers have been playing me for years, laser-targeting those doe-eyed looks of sainthood to wheedle a pre-dinner soda or ice cream bar. After all, I’d think as I slid some sugary snack their way, the little dears don’t know any better. Why not indulge their misguided innocence, just this 15th time?
Then I read a research report from Technomic and C3, an agency that specializes in kids’ marketing. Seems that kids are well aware of what’s healthful to eat. But, just like lots of adults, they don’t want to eat it.
Nearly nine out of every 10 ankle-biters know that fresh vegetables and fruits are good for them, for instance. The problem is that many prefer the fruit filling of a PopTart or jelly doughnut.
Similarly, 78% cited salad as something they should eat for health reasons, and 76% mentioned steamed vegetables, no doubt as they were munching on some fries.
One of the more intriguing questions raised by the research is how the kids might’ve learned what’s healthy. Indeed, that unanswered point of interest could turn the data into a weapon for both sides on the obesity debate.
Those who assert the industry should be required to offer healthier options for kids can underscore the finding that salads are now among the most common items on the kids’ menus of full-service restaurants. Put salads on the menu, and the youngsters learn this is what they should be eating. The push-what’s-good-for-them proponents can point to that and claim victory.
Yet the restaurant industry can just as readily contend that, first, they are providing plenty of healthful choices to kids and their parents, and, second, that doesn’t mean behavior is going to change. The kids have to want the healthier fare, or be taught to eat it by their parents. Public health advocates can demand all the healthful menu choices they want, but it doesn’t mean the little folk are going to order them.
Indeed, the study found that children aged 9 and under—the ones who are most likely to depend on Mom or Dad for guidance in ordering within a restaurant—are more likely than their older siblings to order the type of stuff that drives Michael Jacobson crazy. Technomic found that those kids will go for the fries, chicken fingers and pizza, while children aged 10 to 12 will opt for dinners like salads, seafood or steak.
Yet, the study found, restaurants are continuing to develop menu options that are perceived as healthy, particularly certain beverages and natural or organic items.
Meanwhile, I have to perfect my withering comeback for the next cupcake request. They already (successfully) put the bite on me for ice cream, including a cone of some fluorescent pink flavor called Crazy Cotton Candy.
Then I read a research report from Technomic and C3, an agency that specializes in kids’ marketing. Seems that kids are well aware of what’s healthful to eat. But, just like lots of adults, they don’t want to eat it.
Nearly nine out of every 10 ankle-biters know that fresh vegetables and fruits are good for them, for instance. The problem is that many prefer the fruit filling of a PopTart or jelly doughnut.
Similarly, 78% cited salad as something they should eat for health reasons, and 76% mentioned steamed vegetables, no doubt as they were munching on some fries.
One of the more intriguing questions raised by the research is how the kids might’ve learned what’s healthy. Indeed, that unanswered point of interest could turn the data into a weapon for both sides on the obesity debate.
Those who assert the industry should be required to offer healthier options for kids can underscore the finding that salads are now among the most common items on the kids’ menus of full-service restaurants. Put salads on the menu, and the youngsters learn this is what they should be eating. The push-what’s-good-for-them proponents can point to that and claim victory.
Yet the restaurant industry can just as readily contend that, first, they are providing plenty of healthful choices to kids and their parents, and, second, that doesn’t mean behavior is going to change. The kids have to want the healthier fare, or be taught to eat it by their parents. Public health advocates can demand all the healthful menu choices they want, but it doesn’t mean the little folk are going to order them.
Indeed, the study found that children aged 9 and under—the ones who are most likely to depend on Mom or Dad for guidance in ordering within a restaurant—are more likely than their older siblings to order the type of stuff that drives Michael Jacobson crazy. Technomic found that those kids will go for the fries, chicken fingers and pizza, while children aged 10 to 12 will opt for dinners like salads, seafood or steak.
Yet, the study found, restaurants are continuing to develop menu options that are perceived as healthy, particularly certain beverages and natural or organic items.
Meanwhile, I have to perfect my withering comeback for the next cupcake request. They already (successfully) put the bite on me for ice cream, including a cone of some fluorescent pink flavor called Crazy Cotton Candy.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Chipotle offers update on value-menu test
Chipotle Mexican Grill said it will maintain the test of its new lower-priced menu items at the current single-market extent, though “we are seeing some encouraging signs,” co-CEO Steve Ells told financial analysts Wednesday. One of the more reassuring finds of the Denver sales trial, he explained, was the effect on check averages: Customers tended to spend the same amount, even though they could trade down to less-expensive options.
Co-tested with those value-oriented selections was a kids’ menu. “We have seen enough demand for our kids menu that we plan to test that part of the menu in all of our Salt Lake City restaurants as well,” Ells said.
CFO John Hartung noted that at least half of Chipotle’s new stores in 2010 will be conversions rather than newly built outlets.
Co-tested with those value-oriented selections was a kids’ menu. “We have seen enough demand for our kids menu that we plan to test that part of the menu in all of our Salt Lake City restaurants as well,” Ells said.
CFO John Hartung noted that at least half of Chipotle’s new stores in 2010 will be conversions rather than newly built outlets.
Friday, April 24, 2009
At a time of menu makeovers, BJ's resets the bar
It looks as if restaurant chains have been pumping espresso into their menu development staffs again. A current project requires me to study recent changes in the bills of fare for several dozen major concepts, and the turnover is astounding. An OSHA crackdown may be in the offing, because some test-kitchen crews are clearly being worked 'round the clock.
Next month could bring a new standard to beat. Yesterday the CEO of BJ’s Restaurants ticked off the changes that’ll be evident in the casual chain’s May menu—as “many as 25 to 27,” said Jerry Deitchle.
Included, he said, will be “10 to 12 new bar drink recipes,” an effort that complements BJ’s ongoing efforts to add more craft beers, upgrade its wine selection, and adopt a “more contemporary” non-alcoholic beverage program.
Other changes include the addition of two new full-size pizzas, a flatbread appetizer pizza, an “absolutely terrific” Thai shrimp lettuce wrap, a new version of Texas-style chicken-fried steak, an updated pot roast, a revamped an renamed Italian chopped salad, and new presentations of its crispy potato skins and meatloaf.
The overhaul was based on a what officials described as a gap analysis of what competitors didn’t offer.
“We didn’t look and say, gee, we need to have a $5.95 lunch bowl or some $5.95 lunch item or a $9 item that we could bring in there,” CFO Greg Levin told analysts during the conference call. It's not "a value perspective that maybe you’re seeing from of [our] peers."
Meanwhile, a store in Austin is testing BJ’s gamble that it can become “the premiere retailer of craft beer in casual dining,” in Deitchle’s words. He explained that BJ’s proprietary brews are “surrounded” by 24 craft beers on tap. The set-up increased the likelihood that patrons would order beer, and boosted the overall average check, he disclosed.
The extended array has already been rolled into at least 20 more stores, Deitchle indicated. “We’re still learning a bit from it,” he said, but “every economic and consumer indication has been very, very positive.”
At the same time, just to keep corporate chef Ray Martin busy, BJ’s is working on a new kids’ menu.
Deitchle mentioned that Martin would be rewarded for his work with a free nine-month cruise around the world. Actually, he didn’t say that, but I figured I’d plant the idea. I feel for you, Ray.
Next month could bring a new standard to beat. Yesterday the CEO of BJ’s Restaurants ticked off the changes that’ll be evident in the casual chain’s May menu—as “many as 25 to 27,” said Jerry Deitchle.
Included, he said, will be “10 to 12 new bar drink recipes,” an effort that complements BJ’s ongoing efforts to add more craft beers, upgrade its wine selection, and adopt a “more contemporary” non-alcoholic beverage program.
Other changes include the addition of two new full-size pizzas, a flatbread appetizer pizza, an “absolutely terrific” Thai shrimp lettuce wrap, a new version of Texas-style chicken-fried steak, an updated pot roast, a revamped an renamed Italian chopped salad, and new presentations of its crispy potato skins and meatloaf.
The overhaul was based on a what officials described as a gap analysis of what competitors didn’t offer.
“We didn’t look and say, gee, we need to have a $5.95 lunch bowl or some $5.95 lunch item or a $9 item that we could bring in there,” CFO Greg Levin told analysts during the conference call. It's not "a value perspective that maybe you’re seeing from of [our] peers."
Meanwhile, a store in Austin is testing BJ’s gamble that it can become “the premiere retailer of craft beer in casual dining,” in Deitchle’s words. He explained that BJ’s proprietary brews are “surrounded” by 24 craft beers on tap. The set-up increased the likelihood that patrons would order beer, and boosted the overall average check, he disclosed.
The extended array has already been rolled into at least 20 more stores, Deitchle indicated. “We’re still learning a bit from it,” he said, but “every economic and consumer indication has been very, very positive.”
At the same time, just to keep corporate chef Ray Martin busy, BJ’s is working on a new kids’ menu.
Deitchle mentioned that Martin would be rewarded for his work with a free nine-month cruise around the world. Actually, he didn’t say that, but I figured I’d plant the idea. I feel for you, Ray.
Friday, February 13, 2009
BJ's focuses on operations, including the bar
BJ's, one of casual dining's stronger performers, hopes to add sales momentum during the current downturn through a series of operational and menu tweaks. Those initiatives, detailed to investors this week, include a new high-speed, energy-saving pizza oven, as well as a new centralized reservation system for large parties.
The chain is also testing catering and new dining-room configurations that aim to maximize seating capacity.
On the menu side, BJ's is experimenting with a new roster of craft beers, a new children's menu, higher quality wines, non-alcoholic beverages and "new signature menu items," said CEO Jerry Deitchle. He did not provide details.
The chain is also testing catering and new dining-room configurations that aim to maximize seating capacity.
On the menu side, BJ's is experimenting with a new roster of craft beers, a new children's menu, higher quality wines, non-alcoholic beverages and "new signature menu items," said CEO Jerry Deitchle. He did not provide details.
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