The view of restaurant meals has forever changed, and I think operators’ food offerings may never go back in some ways. In restaurant war rooms all over, I’ll bet cries of “why didn’t we look at it this way before?” are being heard regarding COVID-19-inspired meal tweaks that consumers may love long-term.
Meal combos. Yes, they’ve been around forever. Who hasn’t driven through a fast food drive thru and simply said, “I’ll have a No. 1 and a No 4?” But meal-combo innovation stagnated, I believe, because customization overshadowed it.
So, my husband and I drove through the McDonald’s drive-thru for a quick bite and saw the sign for a Family Meal Bundle for $20. It included eight sandwiches, two large fries and 20 Chicken McNuggets. You know what, for that price, it didn’t even matter what the sandwiches were. In fact, they weren’t even listed. All we saw was $20 and a solution for lunch, dinner and a few snacks for the two of us. It was fun riffling through the two bags we received. We liked it so much, we bypassed Burger King, which was closer, the next time we were out and hungry, and went for McDonald’s Family Meal Bundle.
Could the combo forever morph into bundles… cooked and uncooked? Burleson, Texas-based Muscle Maker Grill just came out with a handful of bundles. Its Breakfast Bundle features 12 eggs, a pound of bacon, a loaf of bread, omelet ingredients, a gallon of milk, a half-gallon of orange juice and a pound of butter. That, my friends, is grocery shopping! (Yes, and note that other chains are also offering groceries now.) Muscle Maker Grill also has a Burger Bundle that features all raw ingredients to make burgers—and chips. And why not pick up some cleaning supplies? It offers the Cleaning Bundle, which is four rolls of TP, two rolls of paper towels, disinfectant spray and a box of 100 disposable gloves. Couldn’t consumers appreciate someone else doing all the thinking for them, and they just order the bundle and make due with what comes with it?
It’s all the opposite of today’s trendy personalization in favor of trying new things or just “going with it.” At Smokey Bones, you can order the Family Feast and you’ll get a pound of pulled pork, a whole BBQ chicken, two large sides and four pieces of garlic bread.
Meal Kits. So there are meal kit companies—plenty more besides Blue Apron. And grocery stores have noticed and gotten in on the idea over the past few years. But restaurants are now full into it, and it might just make sense for them. Smokey Bones has added their versions: Chicken Basics meal kit; Meat Masters Basics meal kit; and Backyard Basics meal kit. Perhaps the difference with these meal kits is that there are no elaborate recipes to follow. You see what you get, and you know what to do with it or you improvise.
Snooze AM Eatery now has the BLT-riffic Kit, which gives expected BLT ingredients (plus avocados), hash browns to cook and 15 eggs. It doesn’t even matter if all the ingredients don’t make sense. You can use them somehow, sometime.
Pizza kits are catching my eye right now. I just saw that fast casual Blaze Pizza now has several DIY Pizza Kits. Its press release states, “Each of the kits are available for pick up or delivery via the Blaze Pizza app or online. You’ll find an image of the Family DIY Pizza Kit below. A quick instructional video for how to craft the pizza (oven settings, etc.) featuring our executive chef can be found at diyblaze.com.” They come with dough and toppings.
So I think the door of innovation in meal bundles and kits has opened wide. Necessity truly became the mother of invention. Maybe consumers are ready to trade off customization for a little whimsy. Time will tell.
Let me know what you think.
Jody
