A Bird for All Seasons

The National Turkey Federation has long argued that turkey isn’t just for Thanksgiving. It looks like the industry might finally be listening. By Sabrina Davis

Kitchens soon will be filled with the expected aroma of a favorite American comfort food—turkey. This year, as in most, millions of pounds of the low-fat, high-protein meat will be consumed in homes and family restaurants. Yet, despite its popularity, as far as the restaurant industry is concerned turkey is primarily a seasonal ingredient. Delis and sub shop menus are the exception.

But in July, Jack in the Box took a bold, some say risky, move when it debuted what it calls the first major quick-serve offering of a turkey burger, the Turkey Jack. “This is a permanent system product,” says Tammy Bailey, director of menu marketing and promotions for the burger chain.

“This is about choices. Consumers have had the same things offered for years and years. They’re looking for alternatives.”

Jack in the Box spent about a year and half developing its turkey burger, priced at $3.29 in most markets. Customers also can substitute the turkey patty on their favorite burger for 50 cents. “We’ve gotten rave reviews on the flavor profile of the Turkey Jack,” Bailey says. “It has the texture and flavor of hamburger, but [is] a little milder.

Jack in the Box’s move thrilled the team at the National Turkey Federation (NTF) who says it’s about time quick-service realized that there is a market for turkey beyond deli sandwiches. According to a 2002 NTF survey of restaurants, which included 192 “casual/theme” restaurants, 74 percent of “casual/ theme” units reported offering turkey in some form. That was up from 59 percent in 2001.

Most of that growth can be attributed to casual and fast-casual restaurants that are offering high-quality cuts on sandwiches and salads, and even their own version of the turkey burger.

In fact, that’s where Jack in the Box got the idea for its Turkey Jack. “We looked to casual dining and saw that consumers were substituting turkey products for other menu choices,” says Bailey.

Burgerville’s Pat Klinger says chicken hangover is what prompted his restaurants to add turkey. “We looked at the marketplace in 1995 and everybody was making more chicken sandwiches. There was spicy chicken and crispy chicken and this kind of chicken and that kind of chicken. No one else was doing turkey and we saw it as a product of the future. We saw it as a point of differentiation and we took time to find the right product.” Two years, in fact.

Burgerville, based in Vancouver, Washington, introduced its turkey burger, which it claims was truly the first in the fast-food industry, in 1995 and completely changed it for a chainwide rollout in 1997. “We started with a product I didn’t like,” Klinger says. “It was pretty flavorless, though it was from a recognized brand.”

After a year of tasting and learning about turkey, Klinger says he found the best turkey burger he’s ever tasted at a family-owned processor in Sonora, California, Diestel Turkey Ranch, that raises range-grown turkeys who are fed a low-fat, vegetarian diet. Diestel has been making Burgerville’s turkey burgers since 1996. Burgerville markets the burger, which is seasoned with mixed-in barbecue sauce, as “unmatched in the industry.”

“Every year it’s more popular. If [restaurants] are looking for a quick fix, I wouldn’t recommend it, but if they’re looking for something with a future, I would highly recommend it,” Klinger says. “We wanted an alternative, but it had to be a good alternative.”

Still, Burgerville’s turkey burger makes up only 5 percent of its sales. That’s not enough to keep a turkey burger on most fast-food menus, argues Nancy Black, director of food service marketing at Carolina Turkey. Black has nine years in the turkey business, including several with Wampler Foods, parent company of Pilgrim’s Pride.

Jack in the Box spent about a year and half developing its turkey burger.

“Turkey burgers have been tested on a rotating basis over the last six years throughout the chains. They are a good limited time offering, but they don’t work year end and year out,” Black says. She doubts Jack in the Box will keep its Turkey Jack on the menu long-term, despite announced plans. “Consumers will pick it up because it’s new and different to the menu. But it won’t hold their loyalty. [Turkey burgers] don’t taste like turkey. They taste like a white meat burger, which has limited patron appeal.

“We think higher quality turkey breast items in fast-casual and salad items in fast-food are really going to move the mark in turkey consumption. When places like Panera Bread feature turkey on their menu, it normally becomes their No. 1 seller and they have four to six placements of turkey on their menu, in just sandwiches.

According to Black, at least one “top 10” and several other fast-food chains are conducting proprietary tests of turkey-topped salads in an effort to better compete with fast-casuals and recapture sales. “The reason [fast-food eateries] are looking at salads is they don’t want to put slicers in the back room.”

Based on Carolina Turkey’s research, the chains that have done general testing of a turkey concept and turkey flavor have found “an 80–85 percent acceptance of turkey in consumer panels. Before even tasting a product, they subliminally bond with it.”

What causes the subliminal bond? Images of grandma in the kitchen and family gatherings say NTF and quick-service culinary teams. But despite high consumer approval, turkey has been slow to break into the fast-food market.

Across the board, turkey consumption has increased 180 percent since 1975, according to the NTF. Most of that growth was between 1975 and 1990. It was during this time that consumers began eating more turkey at home year-round. Ten years later quick-service research and development teams are taking a serious look at turkey.

Tammy Bailey of Jack in the Box says the time frame is normal. “Consumers get onto a new trend with food choices, then it slowly goes into casual dining. Quick-serves usually are a little behind.”

Burgerville’s Klinger says the problem is few fast-food operators are thinking about what consumers want. “Many people in the industry just sit back and wait for the people who are supposed to know what they are doing to do something. Whatever the leaders like McDonalds are doing must be OK.”

But, say others in the industry, the matter is not as simple as that.

“We’ve always wanted to serve turkey,” says Billy Jacob, executive chef at Popeyes. “It was a matter of going back to the vendors themselves and saying, ‘We have to think of things we can sell.’ We can’t just put a 30-pound turkey in the oven and then try to figure out what to do with it.”

Jacob’s position is one that many turkey vendors are encountering as they seek to convince more fast-food restaurants to try turkey year-round. As result, companies like Carolina Turkey are changing their sales strategy.

“When I look at a chain, I spend time in their restaurant,” says Carolina Turkey’s Black. “I eat their food then design specific menu concepts to fit their needs. Then we make an appointment to see them. The industry used to just show up at their door, throw a piece of turkey breast on their table and say now, ‘How much do you want to pay for it?’”

Carolina Turkey put together focus groups of fast-casual and fast-food operators in early 2003. What they learned was that operators wanted manufacturers to come to them with specific menu offerings, specific to their customers that worked well with their ingredients, and worked within their kitchen. Lastly, operators told Carolina Turkey they wanted ideas that didn’t require more labor.

The two fully-cooked turkey products offered by Cooper Farms fall into that category, says Chuck Staugler, director of sales and marketing. And, says Staugler, the products have received positive responses from operators in both traditional fast-food and fast-casual. “For years people said, ‘Why do we need turkey when we have chicken?’ But now people have been chickened to death. Maybe there’s a chicken hangover out there.”

"No one else was doing turkey and we saw it as a product of the future," says Burgerville's Kinger.

Or maybe it’s a flavor thing. Processors and chefs both say turkey picks up flavor even more intensely than chicken, when cooked right. But cooking turkey right is a well-known challenge, which is why Popeyes began offering to cook its customers’ Thanksgiving turkeys for them 20 years ago.

The chain now sells its Popeyes Cajun Turkey, a deep marinated, slow roasted and crispy fried whole turkey, online year-round and through 800 restaurants during the holiday season. Popeyes recently began featuring a turkey breast cooked the same way on its web site.

In addition, Popeyes is test-marketing a new line of oven-roasted turkey products, including a sandwich, center-plate item, and salad. Medallion-sliced tenders are being served on the Oven Roasted Turkey Po’Boy sandwich and the Oven Roasted Turkey with Fire Roasted Vegetable Rice plate from October through December in Chicago, New Orleans, and Biloxi and in one Atlanta model market store. “This is the finest part of the turkey, the filet mignon of the turkey—the turkey tenderloin. The quality of the product is incredible,” says Jacob. “We’ve had very positive response. The perceived health benefits are through the roof.”

Although nutrition is the main reason operators add turkey as an alternative to their menus, few advertise it that way. Turkey has fewer calories and less fat, cholesterol and sodium than other meats and more protein. (And for the record: There is no “sleepy drug” in turkey. It contains a small concentration of the natural amino acid, tryptophan, which in large amounts can induce sleep. Pork, beef, chicken and cheese have roughly the same amounts of tryptophan.) But since today’s consumers find health talk to be a turnoff, most operators instead focus on flavor.

“We have three different flavor extremes: spicy with the pepper, savory with the balsamic vinegar, and robust with the sun-dried tomato,” says Arby’s Corporate R&D Chef Calvin Harris in describing the turkey sandwiches found in the chain’s new bistro line. The Napa Valley Turkey is stacked with banana peppers, black olives, cucumber, greens, and a champagne vinaigrette dressing with pepper nodes on a baguette. The Portafino Turkey is topped with smoked mozzarella, Portobello mushrooms, roasted red peppers, greens, and balsamic vinaigrette on herb focaccia bread. The Asiago Turkey is made with Asiago cheese, sliced tomato, greens, and sun-dried tomato spread on focaccia.

“As we speak, we are looking at some different builds from pepper-crusted turkey to smoked turkey to sweet maple turkey. It’s unlimited in terms of flavor profiles,” Harris says.

Another chain focused on exploiting the flavor possibilities of turkey is Heavenly Ham. The concept is offering its new Cranberry Turkey Temptation sandwich from October through December. The sandwich features a cranberry spread with cream cheese, havarti cheese, lettuce, and tomato on a croissant. In the fall 2002, Heavenly introduced its Tangy Turkey sandwich with its orange marmalade and horse radish spread as a limited time offering. It’s been a popular regular item ever since then.

“We’re excited about our turkey and continue to do things with it,” says Ken Caldwell, senior vice president.

Despite the buzz around turkey and its various menu options, Cooper Farms’ Staugler is not alone in thinking turkey won’t break into breakfast any time soon. He’s considered trying to sell a turkey sausage product that could be topped with a piece of cheese and served on a bagel or English muffin. But turkey bacon has limited appeal, according to both chefs and vendors.

“What’s out there today needs to be upgraded to compete,” Staugler says. “At a retail level, it’s really just successful enough to keep it out there; it’s not generating a lot of sales.”

“I looked at turkey bacon a number of years ago,” says Burgerville’s Pat Klinger. “I was not impressed. People who order bacon want bacon.”

Arby’s Harris agrees, “They would have to enhance the flavor and re-engineer the product,” he says, adding that he holds out little hope that turkey bacon ever could compete with Arby’s thick-sliced, peppered bacon.

This explains why most turkey processors remain focused on what they believe will compete in the fast-food market—whole muscle, fully cooked, flavor-enhanced products. Black is betting turkey will start showing up on salads, then in soups. Others believe in burgers and sandwiches.

“I’m excited about the potential,” Staugler says. “I just hope it happens. We have to make it happen. More people are listening, but then there’s a reason to listen now.”

“Anytime a major player like Jack in the Box does something like they did, people are going to pay attention,” Klinger says. “People will read about it and think about it and eat it. The time has come for turkey. The time has come—five or six years ago.”