Flatbreads on the riseFlatbreads on the rise

The flatbreads at Maggiano’s Little Italy are tied with calamari as the chain’s most popular appetizer.

Flatbread, a food item prepared since ancient times, is showing up on an increasing number of trendy restaurant menus as operators recognize its customizability, healthful perception, modest cost and ability to be shared by guests.

While most flatbread recipes call for only three ingredients — flour, water and salt — the simple bread, which was introduced in the Middle East thousands of years ago, lends itself to a variety of inventive options and preparations.

Menu makers at casual-dining chains like Chili’s Grill & Bar, Maggiano’s Little Italy, Seasons 52 and Boston’s Restaurant & Sports Bar are showcasing flatbreads on their menus. Meanwhile, Pizza Hut, which added flatbreads in June, also is trying to tap into the trend.

Experts said flatbreads are gaining in popularity now because they hit on a perfect storm of food trends. They can boast a low food cost at a time when profit margins remain tight. They possess an upscale connotation, particularly when topped with higher-end ingredients. They’re perceived as more healthful than other bread products like pizza because they have a thinner crust. And they’re easy to prepare: All a restaurateur needs is the dough, a traditional or impinger oven, and toppings.

Another attraction, trend watchers said, is that they can be shared by guests.

“It’s shareable, [and] it’s portable in the sense that you can pick it up with your hands,” said Dean Small, founder of Synergy Restaurant Consultants in Laguna Niguel, Calif. “People like the idea of sharing and tapas,” and flatbreads play right into that trend.

And, he said, “It allows you to showcase artisan ingredients. It’s not about big doughy products. … It’s more thoughtful and mindful of the ingredients that are used.”

At Darden Restaurants Inc.’s Seasons 52, where all menu items contain fewer than 475 calories, flatbread is a means of introducing new seasonal and unique flavor profiles, said Darren Tristano, executive vice president at Chicago-based foodservice research firm Technomic Inc. Meanwhile, at a restaurant like Chili’s, it’s largely an attempt to poach market share from pizza-centric chains, said pizzeria consultant Michael Shepherd.

Making the flatbread

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At Dallas-based Brinker International Inc.’s Maggiano’s chain, adding flatbreads to the menu was a logical choice, especially for the appetizer section, said Michael Breed, director of marketing at the 44-unit chain. They’re priced at $4 during happy hour at the company’s more than 40 locations, he said, and are tied with calamari as the chain’s most-purchased appetizer.

The flatbreads were introduced in 2009, he said, adding, “Today, we sell over two times as many flatbreads as we did when they first launched.

“We already had [impinger ovens] in our kitchen, which is how we bake our flatbread,” Breed said. “It was using a piece of equipment that we already had that employees already knew how to use.”

The employee working the pantry station is responsible for handling flatbread orders, he said. The dough is topped with whatever the recipe calls for — Italian sausage, cheese or other ingredients — and is run through the oven. It only takes about three minutes to bake the item, he said.

When it is removed from the oven, the flatbread is garnished and cut into eight slices for sharing, Breed said.

“It’s something that we feel makes our offerings differentiated,” he said. “It’s a good starter without taking over your meal.”

Small of Synergy said he’s seen flatbreads prepared in a cheese melter, underscoring just how simple they are to make.

“The crust is just a canvas,” he said. “It’s a canvas for an artist.”

About 32 percent of all pizzas sold at Boston’s Restaurant

At 44-unit Boston’s, the flatbreads initially added to the menu three years ago weren’t even called flatbreads — they were Neapolitan pizzas, said Bill Hancox, vice president of foodservice at the Dallas-based company.

“We started playing on [thin crust], but they were never able to resonate with the consumer,” he said.

But about two years ago the term flatbread began to come into wider use, and the preparation struck a chord among Boston’s customer base.

Flatbreads are cooked for five minutes at Boston’s instead of the seven minutes required for pizza, and they were easy to add to the menu since Boston’s already had the dough in its pantry and the know-how to make a pizza, Hancox said.

About 32 percent of all pizzas sold at Boston’s outlets are flatbreads, Hancox said, with the best-selling being the flatiron flatbread, topped with thinly sliced steak.

Boston’s also offers a create-your-own flatbread option to allow customers to get exactly what they want, he said. However, customers are cautioned by servers not to pile on eight toppings — flatbreads are better kept light, he noted.

“I see it as a product you can continue to develop,” he said. “It’s staying. It’s growing. Each year we say, ‘Hey, this isn’t a fad. Let’s go and see what you can build with this.’”

Flatbread vs. pizza

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The difference between pizza and flatbread is largely marketing semantics, experts said, but there are a few attributes that seem to be generally agreed upon as characteristic of flatbreads.

First of all, the flatbread crust is thinner than it would be for a traditional American pizza, Synergy’s Small said.

“Generally, it can be the same dough; the difference would be how thin it’s rolled. You don’t want the dough to rise,” he said.

Pizza consultant Shepherd said that the dough is often parbaked for flatbread but made fresh for pizza. Flatbreads, he said, are more “idiot proof” — although, as a pizza expert, he said he’s a bit biased.

“I think what’s happening is some of these mainstream American casual-dining places are wanting to get some of that pizza money that’s going to their competitors,” he said. “Pizza has never been a competitor to these places, and now they’re stealing dollars from each other.”

At 10,000-plus-unit Pizza Hut, flatbreads are considered a form of pizza, said Doug Terfehr, director of public relations at the Louisville, Ky.-based Yum! Brands Inc. subsidiary.

The toppings, Terfehr said, are the same as they would be for pizzas, with such options as pepperoni, jalapeños and chicken.

“Flatbread is how pizza originated,” he said. “The difference is just the crust — it’s the thickness and the crispiness.”

Credibility

While more chains are planning to introduce some fashionable flatbreads to their menus, it’s important for companies to evaluate whether the product fits in with their core messaging, Technomic’s Tristano said.

Chili’s Grill

Citing Chili’s decision to add flatbreads, he said, “It’s a nice addition because pizza [and flatbread] are really high-consumption, high-appeal products. But I just don’t know that it fits with the Chili’s brand.”

Edithann Ramey, vice president of the 1,550-unit chain, said that credibility was a core concern from ideation through to the debut of the pizzas and flatbreads in April. The company addressed that by giving away 1 million servings of its flatbreads, she said.

“We wanted people to come in and try them because then, they’d love it,” she said.

Taco Pizza is the best-selling pizza, Ramey said, and the best-selling flatbread is the California Grilled Chicken, which is topped with avocado.

“Our flatbreads and pizzas are made the Chili’s way,” she said. 

Contact Erin Dostal at [email protected].
Follow her on Twitter: @erindostal.