SheeFood

The Rise of Turkey

Let’s talk turkey. Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. are, surprising as it may seem. The sister restaurants are rolling out a line of charbroiled turkey burgers nationally, and are the first in the quick-serve realm to do so.

I don’t know. I have a hard time reconciling their well-known “sell burgers with sex” marketing strategy with this new “offer them turkey burgers to improve their health” campaign. The two restaurants make no secret of the fact that men are their target audience. And so, it’s little wonder that the brains behind the three turkey burgers each chain now offers was Men’s Health magazine and its “Eat This, Not That” program (There’s an iPhone app for that). Men are encouraged to swap out the bad food they might normally choose for good food and count their calories. (The turkey burgers have less than 500 calories.)

I think this is the first case I’ve seen where a magazine has had that much influence on a restaurant menu. Just really, how did that happen? Call me crazy, but I don’t think the studly kind of guy Hardee’s aims for is going to order a turkey burger.

But I should reserve my judgement. They surely must have done some market research indicating that men will eat turkey burgers. And who knows, maybe they taste good.

We are, after all, living in a new age where better nutrition is being given a fighting chance. I don’t think I’d eat a turkey burger under any circumstance, but some would. According to Mintel Menu Insights, the number of turkey burgers on restaurant menus in the past three years has increased 90%. Someone is clearly eating them.

Really, Hardee’s & Carl’s Jr. might be betting on something we haven’t seen the likes of yet. Soon we’ll be hearing about a new restaurant, LYFE Kitchen (Love Your Food Everyday), under developement by some former McDonald’s executives. The theme behind this new concept is better-for-you food developed by Oprah’s former personal chef Art Smith and well-known vegan/vegetarian chef Tal Ronnen. Flavor will be key with all dishes coming in under 600 calories. The first LYFE Kitchen will open in California in August, and within five years, there could be 250 more of them.

Time will tell about all this. But for now, let’s see how those turkey burgers do.

Tell me what you think.

Wild About Bacon

Spring looks to be a perilous time for pigs—a good time for bacon on menus. For some reason, restaurants are really bringing home the bacon, right now!

I’ve seen and heard so much about bacon recently that it’s as if restaurants just discovered it. And this after trend predictors declared that bacon had run its course. Chefs have moved on. Well, how about a Maple Bacon Sundae from Denny’s? We’re talking vanilla ice cream dripping with maple-flavored syrup and topped with chopped bacon sprinkles. This fits in line with a true trend, combining sweet and savory. Upscale chefs have been onto this for awhile. But chain restaurants haven’t done a lot of that. Good for Denny’s.

But back to bacon. Denny’s is taking the lead with its whole-hogged commitment to bacon. It’s calling its LTO bacon extravaganza Baconalia! A Celebration of Bacon. Seven bacon-centric dishes cover the whole menu—breakfast, lunch and dinner. The ice cream is the most interesting.

What other interesting things are happening with bacon now? Wienerschnitzel chose to celebrate its 50^th anniversary, not with cake, but bacon. For a limited time, it has added a bacon-wrapped hot dog line. Besides the obvious, it also has bacon-wrapped hot dogs with chili and bacon-wrapped street dogs with grilled onions and condiments.

Also of note, Dunkin’ Donuts is moving beyond donuts and coaxing consumers in for a real breakfast. Between two slices of Texas toast, you can get two peppered fried eggs, four slices of cherrywood-smoked bacon and a slice of American cheese. It’s called the Big ‘N Toasty Breakfast Sandwich. It sounds substantial.

So, one interesting thing to watch, moving forward, is how these places differentiate their bacon. Until now, restaurants have thought they were cool with applewood-smoked bacon. But notice, Dunkin’ Donuts is offering cherrywood-smoked bacon. Until the end of April, Papa Murphy’s is running a new Bacon Bacon Bacon pizza special combining Canadian bacon, pepper bacon and crispy bacon. 

One thing is certain, bacon isn’t going anywhere but up. According to Mintel Menu Insights, the number of restaurant menu items that mention bacon as an ingredient has increased 36% in the past two years. Restaurants are finding that you can’t offer too much of a good thing.

Do you have a favorite you’d like to mention?

Jody