This is a special message from Schwan’s Food Service.
Restaurant operators will agree that pie is high on the list of customer-pleasing desserts. One way to make it truly extraordinary is to crown it with candy brands that Americans have loved for generations. It gets even better if you pre-slice the pie into eight perfect slices and offer it ready to thaw and serve for maximum convenience, presentation and profitability.
That’s the idea of the new Edwards® crème pies from Schwan’s Food Service. Building on the Edwards® brand legacy of great desserts dating back to 1950, Schwan’s has launched a new line of four co-branded, candy-topped, pre-sliced pies for foodservice:
• REESE’S® Peanut Butter Cup Crème Pie contains creamy pie filling made with Reese’s® peanut butter, finished with crumbled REESE’S® Peanut Butter cups, resting on a chocolate cookie crust.
• SNICKERS® Crème Pie starts with chunks of delicious SNICKERS® candy bar surrounded with rich peanut butter nougat and a graham cracker crust.
• HERSHEY®’S Chocolate Crème Pie is rich chocolate artfully blended with vanilla and drizzled with HERSHEY®’S syrup, all atop a chocolate cookie crust.
• BUTTERFINGER® Crème Pie contains swirls of creamy filling and tempting bits of BUTTERFINGER® in a delicious crumb crust.
Taste-wise, the candy-topped Edwards® pies “are like a symphony,” said Ciaran Duffy, C.E.C., manager of culinary services and corporate chef for Schwan’s Food Service. “The crunchiness of the crust, the smoothness and lusciousness of the cream, the delicious bits of candy bars — they all combine to make something fantastic.”
“These co-branded crème pies can help any foodservice operation looking for ways to increase dessert incidence,” added Jonathan Garrett, category marketing manager for Schwan’s Food Service. “They are a particularly good fit for independent restaurants and small chain restaurants as well as health care and lodging operations.”
The flavorful foursome arrives at a time when pie is ascending in popularity. In fact, pie heads the 2011 restaurant trends list compiled by Andrew Freeman, a San Francisco-based restaurant and hotel consultant. Freeman declared that pies are moving “from the State Fair to seriously craveable fare.” Restaurants around the country are adding enticing pies to their dessert lists. The brand-name candy ingredients add a lot to the appeal. In the 2010 Dessert Consumer Trend Report by Technomic, 59 percent of consumers said they will try a dessert made with brand-name ingredients.
Operators minding the bottom line will appreciate that these whole pies are pre-sliced and packaged with paper dividers. Pre-slicing makes portion control a breeze and eliminates the waste caused by broken slices.
“We hear that operators can easily lose one slice in the process of cutting and plating a 10-inch pie,” said John Fields, principal food scientist for Schwan’s Food Service. “That is a pretty dramatic loss and a disincentive to have pie on your menu.”
Chef Duffy spoke from experience as an operator who has lost slices of pie due to breakage. “You always have issues taking that first slice of pie out of the pan,” he said. “If it breaks, you don’t want to serve it to guests. But with these Edwards® pies, that problem is completely alleviated. You save a lot of money, labor and waste by using pre-sliced pie. You know each pie will have eight attractive slices.”
To make sure the pie arrives at the kitchen with crust and topping intact, it is packaged in a snug box that has eight points of contact with the pie plate, holding it in place without shifting.
Thus Edwards® candy-topped, pre-sliced pies help operators make the most of their labor force while they offer customers a unique and delightful dessert experience. “You don’t always have the skilled labor in the back of the house to devote to slicing pies,” said Garrett. “With these new Edwards® pies, you can reallocate your labor in a more effective way.”
To find out more about Edwards® candy-topped, pre-sliced pies, click here.
