Food for Thought - October 1, 2003

By The Editors -- Restaurants & Institutions, 10/1/2003

Chains Get Reborn Identities

Two established restaurant chains are taking to heart the adage that there’s always room for improvement. Madison, Ga.-based Hops Grillhouse & Brewery and Charlotte, N.C.-based Bojangles’ Famous Chicken ’n Biscuits are both introducing branding strategies that include a combination of new menu items, concept names and building designs.

Formerly known as Hops Restaurant-Bar-Brewery, Hops Grillhouse & Brewery’s new moniker aims to reflect the chain’s updated brand-positioning strategy. The program’s centerpiece is a new menu featuring aged beef; fresh seafood and chicken entrées; and signature beers. Standout items include World-Class Pork Chops (two bone-in chops grilled with maple glaze and served with mashed potatoes) and Chinese Chicken Salad (napa cabbage, pea shoots, pineapple, mango, won-ton crisps, scallions and grilled chicken in Chinese vinaigrette). Also part of Hops’ branding push are new uniforms of classic black pants, white shirt and black apron as well as a revised training program.

Bojangles, a quick-service chain known for fried chicken and biscuits, seeks to upgrade its image by design rather than menu. The updated look builds on softer colors and modern architectural elements such as brick facing, columns and archways inside and out. The 3,800-square-foot, 96-seat prototype restaurant in Charlotte features earth tones and more-understated signage that replaces the concept’s traditional bright reds and yellows.

Off Course

Dessert sales at restaurants were down 2% in 2002 versus the previous year, according to Port Washington, N.Y.-based researcher NPD Foodworld. Every commercial segment experienced a dessert deficit last year, it found.

The Low-Carbonation Diet

The recall vote on its governor hasn’t been the only issue gripping Californians. The state also has been obsessed with school children’s weight problems. In late August, the California legislature passed a bill banishing soft drinks from all elementary schools beginning in July 2004. Juice drinks are acceptable if they are at least 50% juice and do not have additional sweetener. In middle schools, soda can be sold after school hours and brought from home. High schools are free to set their own rules, and school districts in Los Angeles, Berkeley and several other communities already have set restrictions on what can be sold when. The West Contra Costa Unified School District has banned all branded foods (including pizzas) and beverages from cafeteria lines and vending machines.

Though many media reports credited California with being the first state to oust soft drinks from schools, Texas showed soda the door before the current school year began. “Foods of minimal nutritional value”—including gum and candy as well as soft drinks—were prohibited as of Aug. 1, 2003, by an edict issued by Texas Department of Agriculture Commissioner Susan Combs. Violations can result in suspension of federal school meal program reimbursements.

Menu Focus

Few vegetables define fall and winter menus better than squash in the forms of acorn, butternut, spaghetti, buttercup, delicata, turban and kabocha. Baked or roasted, squash’s firm flesh turns soft. The delicate flesh then is ideal for a full range of menu applications.

BERKELEY, CALIF.
Downtown Restaurant: Whole roasted black bass with wild rice and butternut-squash pilaf

COLUMBUS, OHIO
Martini Italian Bistro: Veal scaloppine with portobello mushrooms, truffle mashed potatoes and spaghetti squash

CORVALLIS, ORE.
Oregon State University: Butternut-squash ravioli with fennel cream and seasonal vegetables

DENVER
Solera Restaurant and Bar: Roasted kabocha squash with mushroom risotto, sautéed greens, beet salad and green-onion vinaigrette

DETROIT
The Rattlesnake Club: Roasted rack of lamb with caramelized Anjou pears, turban-squash (above) ravioli, syrah essence and rosemary oil

DURHAM, N.C.
Four Square Restaurant: Black lacquered squab stuffed with dates and acorn squash served on lentil confetti with yellow wax beans and squab jus

RUMSON, N.J.
Fromagerie: Pan-roasted cod with lump crab meat, buttercup-squash Napoleon and sage sauce

WASHINGTON, D.C.
Galileo: Roasted suckling pig with kabocha squash timbale and black-truffle sauce

Hit the Sack

School foodservice-prepared lunches rate higher in nutritional value than lunches brought from home. That’s the finding of research conducted by Alice Jo Rainville, associate professor in the human nutrition program at Eastern Michigan University (EMU) in Ypsilanti.

She compared the nutritional quality of reimbursable school lunches with meals brought from home during a 3-month study in 2001. The average school-made lunch derived 29% of calories from fat while lunches from home averaged 33%. Rainville and seniors in EMU’s dietetics program observed and recorded contents of 570 lunches brought by second-, third- and fourth-graders from 10 districts in the Ann Arbor, Mich., area. Most sack lunches contained convenience foods and very few fresh fruits and vegetables. Children who eat school lunches that include milk, fruits and vegetables are more likely to meet dietary recommendations set by U. S. Department of Agriculture, she observes.

“Parents are too time-pressed to pack more-nutritious foods. It seems kids pack their own meals,’’ Rainville says. Sack lunches often contained chips, snack foods, sweetened juice-blend drinks and candy.

Schools need to better market the good news, she insists. “Parents need to know school lunches are the ultimate convenience.’’

Peculiar Pari Perks Up Hooters Menu

How does Hooters, best known for servers clad in snug T-shirts and skimpy shorts, serve up a chicken-wing dinner that earns the designation of gourmet? Simple: Add a bottle of top-shelf French champagne to a 20-wing order and price the pairing at $124.99.

“It’s a little bit tongue in cheek, there’s no question about that,” says Mike McNeil, vice president of marketing for Atlanta-based Hooters of America. “It’s kind of humorous, kind of unusual.”

Most stores sell only about one Gourmet Chicken Wing Dinner per month, he says. Because of the limited demand and frequency of Hooter’s liquor deliveries, the restaurants typically keep only one or two bottles on hand. When customers do order the champagne combo, it usually commemorates a special occasion or celebration. Pre-bachelor party gatherings, work promotions or servicemen being shipped overseas are the most common instances, McNeil says.

Show Time in New York City

Architect and interior designer Jeffrey Beers is the keynote speaker at the 23rd annual International Hotel/Motel & Restaurant Show, to be held Nov. 8-11 at New York City’s Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. He is the founder and a principal of New York City’s Jeffrey Beers International, which has designed such hospitality operations as DB Bistro Moderne, Fiamma, China Grill in New York City and Rum Jungle Restaurant in Las Vegas.

Other speakers and seminar leaders of particular interest to foodservice operators include Niki Leondakis, executive vice president of Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant Group, San Francisco; Tony May, owner of New York City’s San Domenico; Michael Lomonaco, chef-owner, Noche, New York City; and Drew Nieporent, president, Myriad Restaurant Group, New York City.

More than 55,000 are expected to attend this year’s show, which will feature 1,800 exhibitors divided among five marketplaces: Décor; Essentials; Flavors; Restaurants; and Technology. Some 1,000 companies will exhibit in the Restaurants and Flavors markets. Front- and back-of-the-house products including equipment and supplies, furnishings, table linens, tableware, uniforms and menus will be represented in the Restaurants marketplace; food and beverage providers will exhibit in Flavors.

The Culinary Resource Center will host the eighth annual Chefs’ Championships competitions, and a demonstration kitchen will provide live exhibitions throughout each day.

Registration is $25 before Oct. 10 and $50 thereafter. To register, visit www.ihmrs.com/register or phone (914) 421-3206.

MRG Finds its Apex

Metromedia Restaurant Group (MRG) is under new management following announcement of a strategic relationship between the Plano, Texas-based company and Apex Restaurant Group LP, based in Irving, Texas.

Apex acquired a significant minority stake in MRG and will manage day-to-day operations for all MRG brands, which include Bennigan’s Irish-American Grill & Tavern, Bonanza Steakhouse, Ponderosa Steakhouse and Steak and Ale Restaurants. Apex President-CEO Mark Bromberg will also serve as MRG chairman; Apex COO John Todd adds the title of MRG CEO.

Concurrent with the announcement, Michael Kaufman, MRG president, said that he had stepped down after nearly 10 years with the company, during which time he has commuted between Dallas and his New York City home. “In bringing Apex to the table, I saw an opportunity for MRG to benefit from new leadership,” Kaufman said. He added that the transaction “affords me the chance to pursue opportunities closer to my home and family.”

The equity relationship announced on Sept. 5 replaces a March 13, 2003, agreement between MRG and Apex under which Apex was to have acquired the Bonanza, Ponderosa and Steak and Ale brands, with MRG retaining the Bennigan’s concept.

Apex also manages operations for several other chains, including Left at Albuquerque Southwestern Grill and Blue Chalk Cafe.

Ivy Idea

Servers at new Smith & Wollensky (Ivy ’03) units receive extensive training, including hours of instruction devoted to understanding beef and the restaurant’s in-house aging process. They learn to differentiate between aged and nonaged cuts by taste so they can explain them to guests, says Smith & Wollensky Restaurant Group Director of Marketing Jessica Bride. “We take great pride in our steaks,” she says, “and in our waiters’ knowledge of them.”

Contributors: Scott Hume, Allison Perlik, Margaret Sheridan, Laura Yee.