Versatility is another quick-serve challenge, Haugen notes. If the healthy item has ingredients new to the chain, can operators use the ingredients in multiple applications? And what about shelf life? “If it’s coming from the manufacturer to the distribution center and on to the restaurant, how old is it before it gets here, and how much time is left to sell it before you have to discard it? Those are huge challenges right there.”
To bring out new menu options, Burger King works closely with its supplier partners, Trevino says. “Our research and development team works with them to come up with new ideas and extensions we want to work on.”
Menu Inspiration
Some of the big consumer brands have active foodservice divisions ready to help foodservice operators deliver a healthy breakfast option.
Last May, Sara Lee Corporation in Downers Grove, Illinois, introduced a line of two Superior Hot Breakfast Smoothies designed to be made and dispensed in a restaurant’s cappuccino machine. “We are leaders in the cappuccino category. We’re always looking for the next greatest innovation,” says brand manager Patty Kopitas. “We thought it was time to break away from cappuccinos and see what new drinks would be appealing.”
After putting 25 test ideas in front of consumers, the hot breakfast smoothie came out the winner. The beverage comes to operators as a powder in one of two flavors: brown sugar cinnamon and mixed berry (with raspberries and strawberries). Both derive their ultimate thickness and satiating power from oatmeal. The mixed berry version also has dried berry pieces.
“It goes into the machine as dry powder, mixes with water that whips it all together and gives it a froth. It’s blended smoothly and dispenses at the bottom. With a push of the button, you have hot breakfast,” Kopitas says. Each 8-ounce serving has 120 calories and a range of vitamins, minerals, protein, and antioxidants.
The Dannon Co. Inc. of White Plains, New York, has a spoon in breakfast smoothies and parfaits with its yogurt, Activia digestive system regulator, and DanActive probiotic dairy drink.
The growth of yogurt as a breakfast item has about doubled over the past 10 years, says Jim Brown, Dannon’s marketing director for its Away From Home division.
Partnering with Dannon, Subway is testing Dannon’s Activia on the breakfast lineup in Los Angeles. To help increase awareness of the product, Subway is advertising Activia as part of a healthy breakfast in that region.
This month 24-ounce versions will be available to foodservice. “That would be great for parfaits. It comes in vanilla and plain,” Brown says.
Though consumers easily could purchase individual servings of any yogurt product and have it for breakfast at home, fewer people are eating breakfast at home, says Eric O’Toole, Dannon’s vice president of business development. “Quick-service outlets have become part of consumers’ morning routine—with Starbucks or the convenience store gas station—they are making choices there that might not be as complete as those they would do if they were at home.”
Parfaits have expanded beyond McDonald’s. Last January, Starbucks added fruit and yogurt parfaits to its lineup. The chain has been pleased with customer reception to it, says Lisa Passé, program manager within the company’s Global Communications division.
With a more upscale clientele, the fast-casual, Burlington, Vermont-based bagel bakery Bruegger’s Enterprises Inc., began testing parfaits in July using fresh seasonal fruit. Made with low-fat vanilla yogurt, fresh fruit, and granola, the parfaits will be tested through a few colder months to see how seasonality plays into consumer interest and if the demand justifies the cost and availability of fresh fruit, says Philip Smith, director of new products and services. The chain must use fresh rather than frozen fruit since its bakeries do not have freezers.
Health and nutrition already was in the bagel bakery’s sights. It offers whole-grain bagels that have the Whole Grain Council’s Stamp of Approval.
To find inspiration for new breakfast offerings, go to the grocery store and examine all the products available that consumers consider healthy, says Ron Paul, president of research and consulting firm Technomic Inc., Chicago. The company published “The Breakfast Category Report,” in 2007. “Packaged goods have given a wide array of healthy breakfast options, which could work in foodservice and the fast-food arena,” he says.