I think the inner kid in all of us comes out at breakfast. The morning daypart is a whimsical food playground for both research chefs and the patrons who simply can’t turn away from what they see. Culinary dreams are made of cereal, waffles, donuts and pancakes.
It is certainly common to take the breakfast imagination to other day parts like Mooyah Burgers, Fries & Shakes has done with its current Froot Loops Shake LTO. But operators are waking up to the idea of bringing the sensibilities of other menu sections and dayparts over to first meal.
Wrap your mind around Caramel Frappe Pancakes. Snooze, an A.M. Eatery just ended that LTO that featured pancakes made with espresso sugar and topped with espresso cream, almond streusel, whipped cream and caramel sauce. What about delivering cornbread via French toast? Turning Point, based in Newark, Delaware, did it, albeit masking the savory flavor with strawberries, blackberries, pineapple, banana, toasted coconut and sweet bourbon sauce.
I’m definitely not the only one who sees this play on dayparts. The 500-plus professionals who took part in the National Restaurant Association’s 2023 What’s Hot Culinary survey ranked “unique handhelds” as the second leading breakfast trend. Operators who put that lens on are finding that it’s worth waking up and going to work in the R&D kitchen. Look at these five current or recent unique breakfast handhelds for inspiration.
- Grilled Chee Donut. It truly is a grilled cheese sandwich made with a donut. The name is a play on the restaurant name, Cincinnati-based Tom & Chee with 12 locations in seven states. They list the sandwich on the menu under the “Sweet Cheets” category.
- Pigs in a Blanket are usually party fare. But for an unspecified limited time at Perkins, the dish is three grilled pork sausage links each wrapped in a pancake. There’s syrup for dipping. They are accompanied by two eggs and choice of potato.
- Montecristo Waffle made it to the breakfast menu at San Francisco’s The New Spot on Polk restaurant. The handheld waffle is topped with fried chicken strips on a bed of homemade jam and topped with melted Swiss cheese.
- Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Pancake Tacos are now permanent on the menu at Pancake Kitchen by Cracker Barrel. That is, two buttermilk pancakes each folded and filled with bacon, fried egg and shredded Colby cheese. Of course the taco sauce is maple syrup on the side.
- Donut Glazed Biscuits with or without chicken are available for a limited time at Krystal. For breakfast only, guests can order the Donut-Glazed Spicy Chick Biscuit, or a non-spicy version or just a donut-glazed biscuit on its own.
Each of these easily generates an Instagrammable breakfast buzz while leveraging the popular portability theme, though they all seem a little too sloppy to eat in the car on the way to work. They also present a fun, playful “new” form for ingredients already inhouse with the potential to cross daypart boundaries as all-day offerings.
Tell me what you think!
Jody
Comments
You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.