Many restaurants now offer more healthful options, and there are indications that consumers like the choice of eating something they perceive as better for them.
But oftentimes, the call of the cheeseburger is too powerful, and just as restaurants continue to roll out lighter options, they also offer a growing array of indulgent food that is the gastronomic equivalent of a comforting hug.
“A lot of people, although they say they want to eat healthy, as soon as they have the opportunity, they go for something more indulgent that they might crave,” said Dan Corrigan, director of marketing for Wing Zone, a 109-unit chain focused on chicken wings. “We all have the best intentions at heart, but sometimes the craving of bacon or a burger or cinnamon maple will overtake us,” he said.
Americans ordered 3 percent more hamburgers in 2014 than they did in 2013, according to consumer research firm The NPD Group. A number of chains tapped into that trend with even more indulgent versions of America’s favorite entrée.
For example, Johnny Rockets introduced a line of Inside Our Cheesy Melts, sandwiches with cheese melted both on the inside and outside. The limited-time offer was available through mid-February.
Jack in the Box added its new Buttery Jack burger to its permanent menu. The Classic is a quarter-pound patty topped with garlic-herb butter and tomato sauce, green leaf lettuce, tomatoes and provolone cheese on a new signature bun. The Bacon & Swiss Buttery Jack has the same patty, garlic-herb butter and new bun, but also comes with bacon mayonnaise, hickory-smoked bacon and Swiss cheese.
Bruegger’s Bagels joined the burger fray last summer with its Bistro Burger, a beef patty with Cheddar cheese, secret sauce, lettuce, tomato and pickled onions on a bagel, and a Barnyard Burger, which is topped with a fried egg. The burgers were introduced in Minneapolis during the summer and are currently being rolled out systemwide while the 300-unit chain experiments with other versions, such as the recently introduced Bacon & Burger Melt — its version of a patty melt — with a beef patty and bacon, Swiss cheese, blue cheese and apple cider coleslaw, served on rye bread.
Bruegger’s is also experimenting with indulgent grilled cheese sandwiches, such as the Cheese & Tomato Melt made with Muenster, Cheddar and tomato on rye bread.
Au Bon Pain also introduced a grilled cheese sandwich for a limited time earlier this year. The Country Grilled Cheese with Tomato & Bacon is a grilled cheese sandwich with sliced tomato and applewood smoked bacon on country white bread.
Pizza is another popular indulgent meal, and while some chains have begun offering lighter or multigrain versions — 27-unit Pieology Pizzeria recently made vegan cheese available — both Pizza Hut and Little Caesars are turning up the volume on indulgence.
In January, Pizza Hut introduced a Triple Cheese Covered Stuffed Crust pie as a permanent offering. The crust is coated with Parmesan, Asiago and Cheddar cheeses.
In late February, Little Caesars started wrapping whole pizzas in bacon. The Bacon Wrapped Crust Deep!Deep! Dish Pizza is also topped with pepperoni and bacon. It will be available through late April.
Quick-service burger chain Krystal encouraged customers to indulge in the Hushpups it introduced as a limited-time offer at the end of December by playing on its Southern heritage. The Hushpups are the 350-unit chain’s version of the fried cornmeal dough hushpuppies that are popular throughout the South. Krystal adds the signature onions that stud its sliders.
“Our Hushpups complement not only our menu items but also our heritage,” chief marketing officer Jason Abelkop said in a press release.
Eight-unit Dog Haus celebrated the lifting of California’s ban on foie gras by promoting the fatty duck liver in its Duck the Police sausage. It offered 100 of the dogs between Jan. 24-25. They were made with grilled turducken sausage, micro pea greens, fig relish, foie gras and brown-butter-toasted hazelnuts on a toasted roll.
Win customers with shareable items
One approach to encourage customers to order indulgent items is to make them shareable. That’s what Beef ‘O’ Brady’s did with its Funnel Fries — French fry-shaped funnel cakes made of fried dough and served with caramel or chocolate dipping sauces.
Vice president of marketing Heather Boggs said she and the product development team first came across them in June, and they tested “off the charts” among focus groups.
“Young, old, male, female… they were a huge hit,” Boggs said.
The chain introduced them at the end of December for $4.99. “They kind of fit every need,” she said, and they are often shared by tables.
So are the items from the menu’s shareable appetizer section, including Land, Sea & Air, which includes three cheeseburger sliders, eight fried shrimp, boneless breaded chicken pieces and fries, served with honey mustard and cocktail sauces.
“We tend to see them as shareable appetizers, but we have seen people order them as a meal, so it goes both ways,” Boggs said.
Desserts are by definition indulgent, and although funnel fries have been a hit at numerous restaurants lately, culinary mashups have also proven popular in the dessert category.
In March, Baskin-Robbins introduced salty-sweet Snacknado ice cream as its Flavor of the Month at its nearly 2,500 domestic locations. The salted caramel-flavored ice cream has chocolate-covered potato chips and pretzels swirled with pieces of chocolate fudge and a salted pretzel ribbon.
Krispy Kreme, meanwhile, has turned a popular ice cream flavor into a doughnut with its Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Doughnut, a glazed yeast ring with a cookie-dough-flavored filling and a milk chocolate drizzle.
The Cronut — the croissant-doughnut hybrid invented in New York City — also continues to spread. Dunkin’ Donuts introduced a Croissant Donut as a limited-time offer in November, and after selling 8.5 million of them at its more than 7,600 domestic locations, made it a permanent item earlier this year.
IHOP took a different approach with its Criss-Croissant, croissant dough cooked in a waffle iron. The item is available at participating restaurants through April 5 in two flavors: Blackberry Lemonade, filled with lemon cream and topped with blackberries; or Strawberry Rhubarb, filled with sweetened cream cheese and covered with a strawberry-rhubarb topping.
Of course, some indulgent items are intended for shock value, such as the Arby’s Meat Mountain that went viral last year. It was made with two chicken tenders, roast turkey, ham, Swiss cheese, corned beef, brisket, Angus steak, Cheddar cheese, roast beef and three strips of bacon on a bun.
Right after the Super Bowl, Wing Zone introduced the Widowmaker, a hamburger with four quarter-pound patties, four slices of American cheese and four slices of bacon on a brioche bun.
“We wanted people to say, ‘Holy crap, that is a big sandwich,’ director of marketing Dan Corrigan said. The sandwich was first tested last year at the chain’s full-service location in San Antonio, Texas, where the restaurant sold two to three a day. Corrigan said he is interested to see how it will sell nationally, and hopes that it might develop a cult following on social media.
Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected].
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