Bravo Brio Restaurant Group has combined product development, marketing and team building by getting its unit-level chefs to compete to create the top dish for October, which is National Pasta Month.
Chefs at the 62 Brio Tuscan Grill units and 49 Bravo! Cucina Italiana locations submitted recipes for the pasta promotion. Three finalist recipes for each concept were put on the menu. The chef whose dish sells best will win a trip for two to Italy.
Brian Harvey, corporate executive chef for Bravo, said 25 chefs from Brio and 20 from Bravo submitted recipes which he and Brio corporate executive chef Alison Peters reviewed to make sure they were on brand, fit specifications in terms of cross-utilization of ingredients they already had, and were within proper cost parameters.
“They all pretty much did videos,” which were posted on the company’s internal website, Peters said. Training videos are normally made for every new item at Bravo! and Brio, Harvey said, “So they’re used to it.”
Harvey and Peters selected their 10 favorite submissions for each brand. “Then we re-costed the recipes to make sure they were correct, and then knocked out two right off the bat,” Peters said.
Then Harvey and Peters cooked them and presented them to their usual tasting group, comprised of around 10 employees who fit a variety of demographics appropriate to each brand.
The panel narrowed the items to the final three, which are on the menu through Oct. 29.
This isn’t the first time Bravo Brio has pitted its chefs in competition.
Peters said they used to hold regional competitions, winners of which would go to corporate headquarters in Columbus, Ohio, to make the dishes for a panel of 10 to 15 high-profile judges.
“We would invite the media and get donations from vendors,” Peters said. “We liked the idea of doing something like that, but we didn’t want it to get that involved again. This seemed like a happy medium.”
She said the company’s marketing department suggested the competition for pasta month.
“They did a great job organizing it and keeping us on track,” she said.
The Bravo items are being marketed as dinner for two, priced at $29.95, including a choice of one of three starter salads, a mini dessert — cannoli crumble, chocolate brownie or crème brûlée — and one of the three featured pastas:
• Sausage & Pepper Spaghettini with Oven Roasted Tomatoes: Barilla spaghettini, sweet Italian sausage, peppadew peppers, roasted grape tomatoes, caramelized onions, basil, tomato compote, ricotta and fresh oregano
• Seafood Pasta: Barilla linguine, shrimp, bay scallops, calamari, spicy tomato white wine sauce, rosemary, basil and green onions
• Shrimp Picante Spaghettini: Barilla spaghettini, spicy sautéed shrimp, cilantro, roasted broccoli, tomato compote, basil and Boursin cheese.
The pastas are also available à la carte, priced at $12.99 at lunch and $14.99 at dinner.
Brio’s items also are offered as a three-course meal, but for one guest instead of two, priced at $19.95. They’re available à la carte, priced at $13.95 at lunch and $15.95 at dinner.
They are:
• Chicken, Sweet Potato & Brown Butter Campanella: Barilla campanelle pasta, crimini mushrooms, spinach, pancetta, thyme, Parmesan cheese, Champagne brown butter sauce and toasted breadcrumbs
• Picante Chicken Spaghettini: Barilla spaghettini, grilled chicken, red peppers, asparagus, bacon, Boursin cheese, Picante sauce, crispy onion straws, feta cheese and cilantro, $13.95 at lunch, $15.95 at dinner
• Sausage Napoli: Barilla spaghettini, sausage, crimini mushrooms, spinach, garlic, creamy charred tomato sauce and Parmesan toasted breadcrumbs
“Whichever sells most is the winner,” Harvey said. “So we’re kind of off the hook. Now it’s in the hands of the guests.”
He said the contest was “a great way for the chefs to get creative, and it’s a great morale builder, and it keeps the company motto that it’s chef driven.”
He added that, although the chefs didn’t know it when they entered, each one who entered a recipe will receive a monetary gift.
Peters also said the test items might make it to the regular menu, since the chefs who entered them know what their customers want.
“They’re the ones who are up front day to day with the guests and have a feel for them,” she said, adding that if those items do make it to the core menu, they might name them after the chefs who created them.
Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected].
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