Simple Sparks
New twists on traditional foods provide cost-effective updates for noncommercial menus
By Margaret Sheridan, Senior Editor -- Restaurants & Institutions, 3/15/2004
Customers constantly are in search of new sensations, and it’s not hard to sate that hunger, according to chefs and operators in the noncommercial sector. To jazz up a menu, raise participation or earn rave reviews, rethink the basics with attention to simplicity, popular ingredients and eye appeal.
The popularity of low-carbohydrate, high-protein diets dovetails nicely with Sizzling Salads, a new food-court station in Holloway Commons at the University of New Hampshire, Durham. What looks like a traditional 40-item salad bar is far more because it includes a choice of freshly cooked proteins (chicken, beef, pork, scallops, shrimp or tofu) to top greens. Customers help themselves to salad ingredients, then select one of three proteins offered daily. Cooked in small batches, the proteins are served in 3-ounce portions.
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The coupling of cool and hot ingredients has won a following among health-conscious students and faculty. Along with pizza and burger kiosks, the station rates as a favorite, says David May, executive director of university hospitality services. Holloway Commons, opened in September 2003, serves 35,000 meals weekly. It features continuous service with an all-you-can-eat policy for meal-plan holders.
At the Sizzling Salads station, one employee oversees cooking and serving from three electric-induction woks. The station is efficient, says May, who adds that cooking in small batches minimizes waste and ensures that food stays hot. Servers are careful about portion control, and the continuous-serving policy and all-you-can-eat approach minimizes the urge to overfill plates. Holloway Commons’ overall food costs are lower than those of two other campus dining outlets.
“Students know they can return anytime,’’ says May.
Layered look
At University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame, Ind., strata—a
baked, layered, cheese casserole—has been around longer
than Executive Chef Denis Ellis, a 17-year veteran. The recipe
has evolved into nine variations used for catering, meal plan
and special events, food-court entrées and monthly menu
cycles.
“Strata’s potential is endless,’’ he says. It can be updated with whatever ingredients are popular to change taste, flavor, texture and look. It is acceptable to most diets and is easy to make in any size batch. Stratas are assembled the night before and refrigerated to allow flavors to meld and liquid to be absorbed.
Baked just before service, strata is served from 12-by-20-inch hotel pans or from chafing dishes for parties. One pan yields 24 to 32 servings. Portion size averages 8 ounces, smaller if it is served with other items. For a recent brunch for 3,500 alumni, Ellis’ crew made 145 pans. Food cost varies from 79 cents to $1.27, depending on ingredients, Ellis says.
Learning how to wow
For a catered reception and dinner for 350 at Cobb Galleria
Centre, Atlanta, the clients budgeted $150 per guest, allowing
Executive Chef Tom Burchell to create dazzling appetizers.
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“The ‘wow factor’ was critical,’’ says David Ryback, director of food and beverage for the convention center. Burchell created single-teaspoon appetizers such as lobster-and-beef carpaccio roll perched on a dollop of spicy mustard. “They looked spectacular, very simple without excess garnish,’’ says Ryback. But they were labor-intensive. It took eight employees six hours to create 500 pieces each of lobster-beef carpaccio. Given the per-head expense, Burchell was able to limit food cost to 20%.
Word-of-mouth raves have prompted more requests for mini-appetizers. The teaspoon-sized portions are easy to eat and deliver intense flavors. Burchell’s latest is foie gras with vanilla extract. And such novelty doesn’t drain the silverware supply: The center has service for 4,000.
Sweet touch
Each year, students at the State University of New York
College at Brockport vote on their favorite dessert.
For three years
running, the winner has been a childhood favorite: crisped-rice
cereal marshmallow treats, says Joseph Buttons, manager
of dining services. Nothing could be easier to make or
more cost-effective.
“They’re more popular than chocolate-chip
cookies, and those cost me 35 cents each,’’ he
says. With food costs per piece of 10 cents, the marshmallow
squares sell for
50 cents to 70 cents depending on size. Though leftovers
are rare, the sweets hold well in plastic wrap.
Two cooks take four hours to make 14 to 17 pans per week, with each pan yielding approximately 70 pieces. The task is labor-intensive because sticky pans and hands require frequent washing.
“When I drizzle chocolate over the top, or add cocoa cereal or peanut butter or caramel pieces, the marshmallow squares really go fast. Almost any variation sells,’’ Buttons says. His latest creation, a quarter-sheet birthday cake version customized with name, sells on the school’s Web site for $10.
Comfort station
Not every big idea has a price tag and profit margin. Turkey
sandwiches do more than any special food to raise goodwill
and emergency-room morale at Beebe Medical Center in Lewes,
Del.
The simple sandwich comes with lettuce, tomato and condiments on white bread. Visitors and patients find them wrapped and stocked in the refrigerator in the emergency room alongside juices, fruit and puddings, says Kathi Fryling, director of nutritional services.
Dining in the emergency room appears to be on the increase, she says. The number of trays sent to the emergency room has grown from 138 to 276 in three years.
“We don’t have a food police to see who’s eating what or grabbing turkey sandwiches,’’ she says. But the homely sandwich has a life of its own. Patients, visitors and staff request them. “It’s nothing fancy, just familiar. Having food in the refrigerator is about hospitality,” says Fryling. “It’s that simple.’’
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