Tis the season

Brands help operators change up their menus

by JEFF BATEMAN

Just as the seasons turn, turn, turn in quarterly cycles, so ideally do menu strategies at restaurants across the country. The logic is simple enough. As diners,our appetites reliably change as the thermostat yo-yos between winter’s deep freeze and the heat waves of summer. Light and tasty salads packed with freshly harvested vegetables are just the ticket in June, July and August. With the advent of shorter days and sweater weather in the fall, thick soups and hearty entrées again take centre stage.

New-breed bistros riding the slow-food train have no problem following a fresh, organic and seasonal approach of the kind championed by Ancaster, Ontario executive chef Jeff Crump in his celebrated 2009 cookbook Earth to Table. But what about chain operations where volume turnover is the norm and year-round menus packed with proven favourites are expected and demanded by customers? Here limited-edition, short-term campaigns involving a select handful of dishes can showcase innovation, salute the season and satisfy the modern diner’s hunger for novelty.

“Seasonality in the larger chains typically involves an LTO (limited time offer) where they can take advantage of seasonal products and timely pricing structures from suppliers without reprinting the entire menu,” explains John Placko, director of culinary excellence for ThinkFOOD!, the multi-purpose R&D division of Maple Leaf Foods. “Ideally we’d be seeing new menus produced on a seasonal basis, but that is prohibitive in terms of printing costs and the amount of staff training involved.

Perhaps in time more chains will be rolling out new main menus twice a year in the spring and fall.” For now, though, creative promotions are doing the job of keeping chain operators attuned to the march of time. Advertising buys, a fresh-sheet addition to the menu and tabletop promotional cards drive these campaigns, which typically will pay dividends for six weeks or so. “That’s the general rule with seasonal promotions,” says Placko. “You’ll see a lift and sales uptick in weeks one, two, three and sometimes four, then interest will drop off.” Placko speaks knowledgeably of this bell curve from experience. His résumé includes stints with Cara Operations Ltd. (Swiss Chalet) and Prime Restaurants (Casey’s, East Side Mario’s). “Some seasonal promotions become guaranteed winners year after year. Just look at the enduring popularity of Swiss Chalet’s festive special,” he notes of the chain’s popular winter promotion with Lindor chocolates.“The key is consistency, pricing and timing.

And there’s really no better way to field test a dish and see whether it is popular enough to become a permanent menu addition.” Working seasonal specials satisfying expectations of loyal dinners is job one for Humpty’s Family Restaurants, the Calgary-based chain of 49 mostly franchised outlets in western Canada. “Generally our customers know what they want at breakfast, lunch and dinner, and it’s up to us to ensure they’re not disappointed,” says CEO Don Koenig. “Seasonality has never been much of an issue for us,” he adds in explaining that thechain’s small-town, blue-collar demographic is mainly interested in good, rib-sticking food no matter the season. “Sure we sell more salads in the summer, but our reputation is built on value and consistency.”

Ensuring that customers can pick and choose from new items is part of Humpty’s game plan, however. And never more so than in a new series of promotional specials coordinated by Koenig’s wife and business partner Jan in association with the chain’s innovative kitchen team. Every three months for the foreseeable future, a menu insert headlined “join us for something new” will feature five quarterly specials – some of them seasonal items, others favourites from bygone menus. The promotion is backed by newspaper ads and radio spots. Salad specials and a creamsicle cheesecake were on the summer menu at Humpty’s, while the fall promotion was set to feature harvest-themed sweet potato wedges, turkey with homemade stuffi ng, pumpkin pie and, to bump up cheque averages, a cranberry spritzer cocktail. The recipes are being dreamed up in-house, says Jan, “though we will take an idea from an ED Smith, for instance, and do our own thing with it. We have a very long and good relationship with people like Campbell’s, Heinz and other major brands.” Echoing John Placko’s comments, the Koenigs are using their seasonal promotions to roadtest new recipes. “It’s important to give customers some fresh tastes while at the same time fi nding new additions that will be popular year round,” explains Jan. “I’m sure several of the dishes we introduce this year will be added to the full menu when the next one is produced in March.”

Customizing the menu

Stacks of smoked meat and corned beef are anytime staples in the world of traditional delicatessens. Yet seasonality does have some impact at Druxy’s Famous Deli, the popular Ontario-based chain with 50 franchised locations and a history dating back to the Trudeau era. “Mainly we see the seasons in terms of customer buying patterns salad sales rise in the summer and soup goes through the roof in the winter,” explains VP marketing Peter Druxerman.

Supplying essentially the same diverse set of sandwich and salad ingredients year-round remains a basic philosophy of Druxy’s newly instituted “fresh deli revolution,” which allows customers to assemble their own unique salad or sandwich combinations from no fewer than 50 toppings – proteins and vegetables included. “Last year we had a bit of a freeze in Florida that affected the fruit, but it’s possible to source most items year-round,” says Druxerman. “In Ontario, there is so much hothouse that we can be sure of getting our peppers, broccoli, cauliflower and cukes 12 months a year. Our attitude is you win on pricing in the summer and you lose in the winter, and in the end the averages balance out. We want to give our customers full freedom to choose what they want when they want it to the best of our ability.”

For most chains, however, calendar-driven specials are “a wonderful opportunity to take advantage of good pricing on particular proteins or seafoods, leverage a great product and feature it for the short term,” notes Maple Leaf’s Placko. Like other leading brand suppliers, his ThinkFOOD! team assists operators in creating innovative, costeffective menu additions. “There’s no question we as diners want variety and our tastes change along with the weather.” A steak sandwich is perfect for patio dining in the summer, he says, while hardier fare like chicken pot pie or a slow-cooked beef barbacoa qualifi es as fi rst-rate comfort food when the temperatures plummet. Whatever the season, it’s always the right time for bonappetit!