The breakfast daypart has taken a hit during the pandemic as many commuters stopped commuting and ate their morning meals at home, but the low-cost, highly satisfying foods associated with breakfast have migrated to other times of day as work patterns shift and solo diners don’t have to worry about what others think of their choices.
That was one of the many lessons learned in a two-part “Idea Exchange” with corporate chefs and marketers called “The Rebirth of Breakfast,” hosted by Nation’s Restaurant News and sponsored by Johnsonville Foodservice.
Indulgent breakfasts are in
The fruit-plate-and-oatmeal crowd has always been the minority when it comes to breakfast, but the stresses of the past year — and the absence of prying eyes — have really encouraged people to go for the pancakes and sausage, according to the Idea Exchange’s panelists.
“Indulgence is crushing anything healthy,” said Juliet Greene, senior corporate chef of Charlie Baggs Culinary Innovations, summarizing a conversation between one group of panelists. She and Baggs helped facilitate the conversations.
“During the weekdays pre-pandemic, nobody was really drinking and nobody was overindulging.” said Jason Knoll, vice president of culinary for Another Broken Egg Café, based in Orlando, Fla. “And then everybody's working from home, so their bosses don't know where they are. We have sold more alcohol on the weekdays and more indulgent items on the weekdays than we ever have.”
“We're in a neighborhood that's very Millennial focused, and the alcohol mix was higher than anything we've ever seen in New Orleans,” Jennifer Weishaupt, founder and co-CEO of the Ruby Slipper Restaurant Group said.
Jennifer Weishaupt, founder and co-CEO of the Ruby Slipper Restaurant Group based in New Orleans, thought she would find a more abstemious crowd when she opened locations in Charlotte, N.C., an important banking center.
“We're in a neighborhood that's very Millennial focused, and the alcohol mix was higher than anything we've ever seen in New Orleans,” she said.
Rob Morasco, senior director of culinary development and performance at onsite giant Sodexo, said it’s to be expected that the peer pressure of a more corporate setting encourages more moderate eating.
“When there's 200 or 300 people sitting in a gorgeous [corporate] cafe, you kind of tend to eat healthier. It's just the way it is,” he said.
Early risers also tend to eat healthier, Knoll observed.
“We will see the majority of our healthier offerings are ordered by those overachievers that are up early in the morning,” he said. “But after 9:00, when the real world wakes up, the more fat and the more calories, the more it sells.”
The clockless diner
Knoll said that, increasingly — early risers eating more healthfully aside — the time of day is less of a factor in what people eat.
“We have something we call the clockless diner,” he said. “People work all different times of the day, they just have to meet certain objectives.”
Chris Ford, executive chef and vice president of operations of Frisch’s Big Boy based in Cincinnati, Ohio, said his customers have long ordered breakfast throughout the day. In fact, the family-dining chain has a longstanding tradition of breakfast buffets starting at midnight on Friday and Saturday.
“We have something we call the clockless diner,” Jason Knoll, VP of culinary, Another Broken Egg Café said. “People work all different times of the day, they just have to meet certain objectives.”
Morasco said that has long been the tradition at universities, too, “but we have to be careful that we don't overdo that, because the customer in that kind of environment can say, ‘Wait, why do we have breakfast at dinner three times a week?’”
Baggs said that, even within his own company, one staff member likes to work at night.
“So they might eat breakfast at 3 in the afternoon. … I think that’s going to resonate post-pandemic,” he said.
The importance of packaging
Takeout and delivery have gone from a miniscule amount of service before the pandemic to upwards of 20% at most restaurant even as in-room dining has resumed, meaning that Styrofoam clamshells don’t cut it for off-premise dining anymore.
“We use all vented packaging now,” said Kirk Biondi, director of Menu Development of Huddle House, based in Atlanta. “So when you get your waffles or pancakes they still hold up their crispness. On the bottoms we have ridges so if any liquids go to the bottom, it doesn't sog out the bread or your pancakes.”
“Benedicts don't travel well,” said Laura Boles, marketing manager of Eggs Up Grill, based in Spartanburg, S.C. “We toyed with not even putting them on the online menu, but we got a lot of pushback from our franchise partners unless we did, and we just kind of changed the way that we packaged them. And in the restaurant they will undercook them a little bit knowing that they’ll continue to cook in the to-go packaging.”
David Cox, vice president of food and beverage and the corporate executive chef at Norms Restaurants based in Bellflower, Calif., said he had issues with melting lids: While the main delivery containers were microwaveable, the lids were not; some even crumbled under heat lamps or hotboxes, he said.
Paying attention to how you package the food is important, too, as is what you encourage customers to order for delivery. So for Ruby Slipper’s shrimp & grits, Weishaupt said they pack the grits separately from the shrimp and sauce, allowing the guests to assemble the dish themselves.
“Benedicts don't travel well,” said Laura Boles, marketing manager of Eggs Up Grill, based in Spartanburg, S.C. “We toyed with not even putting them on the online menu, but we got a lot of pushback from our franchise partners unless we did, and we just kind of changed the way that we packaged them. And in the restaurant they will undercook them a little bit knowing that they’ll continue to cook in the to-go packaging.”
But some panelists observed that many customers knew what would travel well and those sales dropped in favor of more portable items like breakfast bowls and burritos.
Controlling costs
But good packaging costs more Boles added.
“Our franchise partners are not very a happy about that,” she said. “And on top of that they're paying [third-party delivery] commissions that they have never had to pay.”
Negotiating hard for packaging prices can help, but many of the panelists also streamlined their menus.
Morasco said bringing in fully cooked meats, whether breakfast sausages or brisket, cut down on labor and could reduce waste.
“Not everybody in all of our sites have the ability to smoke beef or do this or do that,” he added “You have to figure out a way you're going to deliver on that menu to that client base.”
“Not everybody in all of our sites have the ability to smoke beef or do this or do that,” Rob Morasco said. “You have to figure out a way you're going to deliver on that menu to that client base.”
Eric Cleveland, director of culinary at Shoney’s, based in Nashville, said he’s trying to focus on using what they already have in the pantry to develop new menu items, and also working to attract guests from those independent restaurants that haven’t survived the pandemic.
“We're calling out [specialty ingredients like] chipotle a little bit more, and some other Latin flavors, and more of some trendy items,” he said. “Marketing plays a big role in that piece. In a handful of Shoney's we have alcohol, so through that we do some featured Mimosas and Bloody Marys on the weekend specials, and Margaritas and stuff like that.”
These two video conferences were part of an ongoing series, CREATE: The Future of Foodservice, of which Johnsonville Foodservice is a founding sponsor. Although this Idea Exchange was a private event, much more CREATE content can be viewed live or on-demand via create.nrn.com.
There will also be an in-person event in Denver October 4-6.
Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected]
Follow him on Twitter: @foodwriterdiary
