Adding Asian

Asian flavors are easily brought into non-Asian concepts all the time. You see on many burger menus the teriyaki burger, pan-fried dumplings, or potstickers on many bar menus and of course the ever popular southwestern egg rolls that keep popping up. Moe’s is also looking at incorporating such flavors with the possible test of a chicken teriyaki burrito or the possible Thai chicken burrito.

— Dan Barash
Director of R&D, Moe’s

Asian flavors have been sneaking into non-Asian menus for years. At Boneheads we take sautéed fish tacos and fill them with Asian slaw and garlic chili–laced sour cream sauce. The wide variety of Asian spices and flavors lend themselves perfectly for creation of new flavors on any menu. 

— Scott Vogel Director of Operations and Culinary Development, Boneheads Grilled Fish & Piri Piri Chicken

Insights that can be leveraged from Asian cuisine are how to enhance the flavor profile of a product by manipulating the balance of not only sweetness and heat but bitter, sour, salt, and umami as well. Working within this framework, you can start introducing exotic Asian flavors by weaving them in with the more familiar. An example could be using lemongrass instead of lemon or kaffir lime instead of traditional lime, then pairing it with more accessible flavors like honey or thyme or incorporating them into the flavor profile of a familiar item like tortilla chips or fries.

— Stephen A. Kalil Executive Chef, Frito Lay

We are seeing more and more fusion of ethnic flavors all around and Asian influences can make things very interesting. Take Pandini’s for instance: here we have Asian influences blended with traditional Italian like in our Thai chicken pizza and pasta, Asian noodle salad, [and] Asian chicken pizzas.

— Rob D’Orsi Executive Chef and Director of Product Development, Retail Brand Group

[Try an] LTO entrée or “carton-packaged meal” introducing a new flavor or ingredient to attract curiosity and trial. Create an item new to quick-service from a full-service success story like snack lettuce wraps.

— Jon Miller Director of Research and Development, El Pollo Loco

For us it is about using the flavor blocks of sweet and heat we find in Thai and Szechwan cooking, also the introduction of ginger as a flavor in our frozen custard line-up as well as mango and other Asian-based fruits. We can’t just drop authentic Asian dishes on our menu; it has to make sense for our brand. But the flavors can be weaved into both salads and sandwiches based on guest desire for these items.

— Jim Doak Director of Research & Menu Development/Executive Chef,Culver’s

Trickle-Down Dining Trends

Small bites and portions with a variety of flavors to choose from are trickling down from restaurants that provide tapas menus. It is not important to position them as tapas to be appealing. The appeal is in choice and variety. The customer can have a full meal with a variety of tastes or a quick, small flavorful snack between meals.

— Stephen A. Kalil
Executive Chef, Frito Lay

Layered flavors are a concept that can be easily communicated and understood by quick-service customers with real consumer payoff. By developing products that deliver in terms of separated flavors and textures, we are already seeing the trickle down with current quick-service advertising that describes ingredients, flavors, and textures along with the consumer benefits.

— Jon Miller Director of Research & Menu Development, El Pollo Loco

Sourcing local ingredients will be making its way into quick-service in the next five years. As going green and organic foods are increasing in popularity, people are seeking out restaurants that support these initiatives, which also includes local sourcing. With repeated food recalls, using local ingredients can help reassure the customer where their food is sourced. 

— Nola Krieg Tastemaster, Research & Development, Kahala Co.

New grains because of affordability and availability.

— Katy Malaniak Senior Director of Food & Beverage, Quaker Steak & Lube

Hearts of palm has held a place on fine-dining menus, and we will look at including this interesting vegetable on our menu beyond this coming year. 

— Joe Giannetti VP of Franchise Services: Training & Distribution, R&D, Saladworks

You will continue to see more local sourcing, particularly where you can source local artisan items that are produced on a large enough scale. We only buy Wisconsin cheese for our sliced cheese program. About one-third of our restaurants are located in Wisconsin so for them it is locally sourced. Layered flavors and more extreme flavors will continue to move forward as the guest expects to find them in more places.

— Jim Doak Director of Research & Menu Development/ Executive Chef, Culver’s

Local sourcing and going green is not the exception, it’s becoming the rule. I am sure across the board in quick-service people are not only thinking about it, but starting to act on it more and more. With gas prices sky high and continuing to rise, it’s almost forcing people to look local to meet their needs economically. Companies and consumers are increasingly aware of the environmental impact of small decisions—such as the size of the carbon footprint just to have tomatoes on a salad.

— Rob D’Orsi Executive Chef/Director of Product Development, Retail Brand Group

Many of our cold prepared salads use layered flavors, as do our line of soups. It has always been a culinary technique that gives depth to my products. We try to locally source ingredients, but costs end up being the determining factor, unfortunately.

— Molly Mancini Director of Research & Development, Wintergardens