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Menu planners agree that flatbreads will be used in more ways by more foodservice operations in the months ahead. The unanimity ends with their predictions of what forms the variation might take.
It’s difficult enough to agree on a name, they point out. Are we talking tortillas, pitas, lavoche, naan, piadine, pappadum, matzohs, or just oversized crackers? “I think there’s a flatbread in every ethnic cuisines, [but] people use different names for them, one of those being pizza,” observes Susan Weller, director of brand development for Aramark’s college-feeding division, Higher Education.
To further blur the current situation, there’s little loyalty to a given flatbread’s ethnic heritage. Buffalo Wild Wings, for instance, uses pizza crust for its Southwestern Chicken Flip, a hearty sandwich, as well as for a global riff on the classic all-American meal, steak and potatoes. The sliced steak is sandwiched with French fries between the Italian flatbread—with tortilla chips and salsa served on the side.
With all those current permutations, and more arising everyday, handicapping the next widespread use of flatbreads is about as easy as picking all six numbers for the Mega Millions drawing.
“It’s like what happened with wraps,” says Stan Frankenthaler, executive chef of Dunkin’ Donuts parent, Dunkin’ Brands, and an engineer of the chain’s flatbread sandwiches, including the health-focused Egg Whites breakfast line. “Wraps have gone a lot of places, in a lot of different forms, a lot of different flavors, a lot of different uses.
Yet “I’d say they’re very limited compared with flatbreads. We’re going to see far more flatbreads, a lot more innovation, with a lot more flavors and textures.”
And that’s not just because of the folks in toques. Chain operations departments, with their focus on process and practicalities, have been champions of pre-made flatbreads because of the preparation speed and consistency they afford, particularly in a quick-service or bar setting. “We can serve a hot sandwich very quickly—more quickly than if you had this big, thick roll,” comments Frankenthaler, who supplies menu ideas to a virtually all-franchised system.
Even the suits in Finance are giving the proliferation a nudge. The flatbreads on Buffalo Wild Wings’ menu “provide better margins than traditional wings,” the casual chain’s specialty, CFO Mary Twinem explained to financial analysts after the rollout late last year.
BJ’s Restaurants, a competitor of Wild Wings, added a line of flatbread appetizers in part to present more selections at “everyday low prices,” chief executive Jerry Dietchle informed the analysts who track his chain.
With all those forces in play, few menu planners would venture a definitive prediction of where flatbreads might be driven. Still, they have their pet expectations—and the speculation wasn’t always so different.
Steve Carey, a chef and menu consultant for The Gilkey Restaurant Consulting Group in Sammish, Wash., foresees texture being the next area of experimentation, not just in terms of the breads’ chewy-ness or crispness, but the overall feel of the finished item.
For instance, one of Gilkey’s clients recently extended its salad line to include an Asian salad served atop a whole-wheat flatbread. The contrasting textures of the greens and the flatbread jazzed up an item as familiar as salad, re-invigorating sales of the menu standby as well, he said.
He also cites that product as an example of flatbread’s increasing role as a gateway product for new sensory experiences. “Consumers are constantly looking for something familiar, but they also like to try new things,” he explains. “You can put items that everyone recognizes on a flatbread, then mix in some items they may not know, and it’s a safe way for them to try something new.”
“Familiar with a twist,” Dunkin’s Frankenthaler calls it. “People love trying something new, but something that’s still familiar to them,” he says, agreeing that flatbreads are the ideal vehicle to deliver that comfortable experimentation.
They’ll get no argument from Aramark’s Weller, who sees that sort of “mash-up” everyday from the college students her company feeds.
“It’s giving people an opportunity to try things in a safe way,” she concurs. “I don’t think there’s a name for it, but people are sort of mashing up flavors, and flatbreads lend themselves to that experimentation quite well. I can blend Asian flavors with something Italian,” or something unfamiliar and exotic with something tried and true. “Our demographic loves that.”
She, too, expects more experimentation on the part of operators with flatbread textures, though there’s still the wide-open question of which ones they’ll adopt.
“We’re currently taking a look at tortillas—thin, thick, corn, flour, crispy, soft,” she says, sounding taxed by the breadth of possibilities. “We figure we’ll have to offer more than one type, and probably a lot of types.”
Still, that’s one more vote for a focus on texture, and another chime-in on flatbreads being used to combine the novel and the familiar. Might there yet be a consensus on where flatbreads are headed?
Don’t bet on it.
“It’s much more than moving in any one direction,” asserts Weller. “The best part of flatbread is its ability to move into all sorts of things.”
“We’re going to see incredible innovation with flatbreads going forward,” says Frankenthaler. “You’ll continue to see new flavors—playing with the breads themselves, playing with the ingredients, playing with the sauces.
“It’s wide open,” he declares.
For more ideas and exciting flatbread options, click here, contact your Schwan’s Food Service sales representative, or call 1-800-302-7426.
