Burke G Precooked-Meats Final to-Launch

8/3/2019 Burke G Precooked-Meats Final to-Launch

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Developed and published by

A guide from FastCasual.com

Tis guide analyzes the health and menu trends impacting Americanrestaurants and explores the cost, saety and training benets that theuse o precooked meats can provide.

Sponsored by

Precooked Meats:

Improve Your Menu and Operations


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2 2011 NetWorld Alliance LLC | Sponsored by Burke Corporation

Contents

Page 3 About the sponsors

Page 4 Introduction Precooked meats: Menu maximization

Page 5 Chapter 1 | Government set to shape restaurant industry trendsMexican is hotter than ever

Local and sustainable

Page 9 Chapter 2 | Precooked meats: Consistent and adaptableQuality

Cost impact

Efciency

Versatility

Page 13 Chapter 3 | A world o optionsComort ood

Pizza

Breakast

Mexican

Greek

Asian/Tai

Page 22 Chapter 4 | Cost, use and risk management

Food saety

Page 25 Chapter 5 | Marketing and social mediaFood by Facebook

racking ROI

Some good tools

Page 29 Conclusion | A meaty decision

Precooked Meats: Improve Your Menu and Operations
http://www.fastcasual.com/showcase/80/Burke-Corporationhttp://www.fastcasual.com/showcase/80/Burke-Corporation


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About the sponsors

Published by NetWorld Alliance. 2011 NetWorld Alliance LLCAll photos courtesy oBurke Corporation, unless otherwise speciied.Written byValerie Killier, senior editor, oodservice division.Updated byRichard Slawsky, contributing editor, FastCasual.com.

Dick Good, CEOom Harper, president and publisher

Andrew Davis, executive vice presidentJoseph Grove, vice president and executive editor

Burke Corporation manuactures and markets ully cooked meatproducts that can be used as ingredients in pizza, entres andappetizers prepared by restaurants, oodservice establishments andmanuacturers o prepared oods. Product lines range rom traditional

pizza toppings such as pepperoni and Italian sausage to other popularully cooked meats, including bee crumbles, meatballs, Mexicanfllings and breakast meats.

FastCasual.com is owned and operated by Louisville, Ky.-basedNetWorld Alliance. Te ood services division is a leading verticalpublisher in the restaurant industry. ogether with PizzaMarketplace.

com and QSRweb.com, NetWorld Alliance provides the oodserviceindustry with thought-provoking news and updates on the latesttrends.


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Introduction Precooked meats: Menu maximization

By Valerie KilliSenior edito

FastCasual.com

In todays busy restaurant environment,the use o precooked meats in recipesis one tool oodservice operators can

employ to make their jobs easier whilemanaging growth and quality.

Precooked meat products help ensurethat menu items are prepared in aconsistent manner an importantaspect o quality control and customerretention. When precooked meats areused, the resulting quicker throughput

and simpliied employee training translateinto reduced labor costs. At the same time,operators avoid the ood saety dangersassociated with raw meat, especiallycross-contamination. And the vast arrayo precooked meat options availablein todays market ensures maximumversatility throughout the menu.

his guide, sponsored by Nevada, Iowa-based Burke Corporation, looks at thequality, eiciency and versatility that

using precooked meats in ast casual andquick-service restaurants can provide. Inaddition, this guide explores consumertrends and the cost and saety implicationso using ully cooked meats.

Burke Corporation manuactures andmarkets ully cooked meat productsthat can be used as ingredients inentres and appetizers prepared byrestaurants, oodservice establishmentsand manuacturers o prepared oods.Product lines range rom sausage and beecrumbles and pepperoni to meatballs,Mexican meat toppings and illings andbreakast meats.

No matter what type o menu arestaurant has, its easy to incorporateprecooked meats into recipes. oday,a wide selection o precooked meats isavailable and ready to use as ingredientsin a variety o recipes.

For example, Burkes sausage and beetoppings line provides an array o lavorsand sizes. he company also oerspepperoni, meatballs, Canadian bacon,chicken strips, bee strips, shredded meats,

Mexican-style meats and more. And allo these products can be used in multipleapplications.

Restaurant operators have hundreds ooptions when it comes to ully cookedmeats that are used as ingredients, said

Liz Hertz, marketing director or Burke.When selecting precooked meats, theynow have the opportunity to select thelavor proile and product characteristicsthat best suit their needs.

You cant come to a ully cooked meatscompany any longer and just say youwant the Italian sausage. Especiallywith something like meat crumbles andtoppings lavor, shape, size, color youname it, its available.

When precooked meats are used, the resultingquicker throughput and simplied employee

training translate into reduced labor costs.


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Restaurant operators arent just goingto be serving customers in 2011 andbeyond. heyll also be serving the

government.

he healthcare reorm bill, passed inMarch 2010, requires restaurants with 20or more locations to list calorie countson the menu. How operators handle thatchallenge while keeping their customerssatisied will likely dictate the direction othe industry or years to come.

Both the government and consumerswant healthier menu options, butrestaurant-goers are also very concernedabout value and how their ood tastes, saidEric Giandelone, director o oodserviceresearch at Chicago-based Mintel MenuInsights, a market research irm. Keepingboth parties satisied might be a challengeas we move into 2011.

Mintel researchers outlined some o thetrends restaurant operators are likely toencounter in 2011:

rend No. 1: Healthy by association.Sixty-two percent o consumers say theyplan to eat healthier in the upcomingyear, but many complain that healthierood doesnt taste as good without theadded sugar, sodium and at. Restaurantswill address this problem by swappingin healthier ingredients to their patrons

avorite dishes, and positioning them toappear better or you. For instance, acoBell has quietly reduced sodium at 150stores in the Dallas market, while JasonsDeli promotes its ood as being ree romhigh-ructose corn syrup (HFCS), transats or pesticides. Consumers enjoy visitingrestaurants that are perceived as healthybecause these venues make them eel good

about themselves and their meal choices.Consumers might opt to visit the healthy

restaurant, but be wooed by the not-so-healthy LOs oered at these places.

rend No. 2: Automated menus.Convenience and technology will ormthe perect union this year as restaurant-goers will see an increase in automatedmenus at their avorite establishments.hese electronic order-takers willprovide customers with the opportunityto order ood to their speciications indo-it-yoursel style, thus reducing the

restaurants reliance on ront-o-housesta, as well as ull-time employees.Automated menus, in addition to mobileapplications, will allow restaurants to reacha younger, more mobile consumer.

rend No. 3: ransparency. Consumerswant to know what theyre eating, and therecently passed healthcare bill mandatessuch disclosure. Restaurants with 20 ormore units will soon be required to listcalorie counts on their menus. Consumers

seem happy with the impending disclosure,as 61 percent agree that restaurants shouldpost nutritional inormation, such ascalorie counts and at grams, on menus.More cities will start requiring restaurantsto visibly display their letter gradesrom local health departments, urtherincreasing menu transparency.

Chapter 1 Government set to shape restaurant industry trends

Both the government and consumers wanthealthier menu options, but restaurant-goersare also very concerned about value and how

their ood tastes. Keeping both parties satisedmight be a challenge as we move into 2011.

Eric Giandelone, director of foodservice research, Mintel Menu Insights


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CHAPTER 1 Government set to shape restaurant industry trends

rend No. 4: Indigenous ingredients.While the local ood movement continuesto grow, the push toward indigenousingredients takes that trend a step urther.In 2011, restaurants will be incorporatingmore traditional or authentic ingredientsto their ethnic or globally-positionedentrees. One example o this trend isFrontera Grills Panucho Yacateco, anentre that boasts a traditional Yucatancrispy tortilla illed with black beans andhard-boiled egg with shredded chicken

in tangy escabeche sauce. Local as aningredient marketing claim has grownby 15 percent rom the second quartero 2009 to the second quarter o 2010,according to Mintel Menu Insights, andits likely that number will increase in thecoming year.

rend No. 5: Exemptions to the rule. Avast majority o restaurants will have todisclose calorie counts on their menus,but that rule doesnt apply to limited

time oers, or LOs. Operators will takeadvantage o this loophole by oeringless-than-healthy novelty or seasonal menuitems, allowing customers to indulge in aguilty treat without eeling pressured tomake a healthier menu choice. As it stands,43 percent o consumers say theyre likelyto change what they order when caloriecounts are listed on the menu. LOs allowconsumers the occasional opportunity toindulge in a meal out.

Mexican is hotter than ever

Mexican ood continues to increase inpopularity, and Mexican and Mexican-inspired dishes are on more menus thanever, according to restaurant research irmechnomic, based in Chicago.

he rise in popularity o Mexican ood is

the culmination o a number o actors allconverging in oodservice at this moment,said Mary Chapman, director o productinnovation at echnomic. he ast casualboom is certainly part o the equation Mexican concepts it well into the astcasual model. Consumers are also callingor authentic ethnic dining experiences andspicier, more lavorul oods, so Mexicanconcepts and menu items are on trend in anumber o ways right now.

According to echnomics research:

Te number o Mexican entres on U.Srestaurant menus was up 3.3 percentrom the rst hal o 2009 to the rsthal o 2010, with 5.4 percent morerestaurant chains ofering Mexicanmenu items over that time period.

Mexican dishes are appearing on more menus than ever.


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While chicken and bee are still themost prevalent ingredients in tacos,the number o sh tacos on restaurantmenus was up an impressive 22.5percent rom the rst hal o 2009 tothe rst hal o 2010.

Consumers have begun to respondto regional preparations o Mexicanitems, much like uscan or Sicilianwithin the Italian category orCantonese and Sichuan varieties o

Chinese ood.One actor that may be driving thepopularity o Mexican ood is theincreasing diversity o the United States.hose o Latino heritage are making up anincreasing part o the population.

According to the Pew Research Center,the population o the United States isprojected to rise to 438 million in 2050,rom 310 million today. More than 80

percent o the increase will be due toimmigrants arriving rom 2005 to 2050 andtheir U.S.-born descendants.

he Latino population will make up thebulk o that population increase. Hispanicswill make up 29 percent o the U.S.population in 2050, compared with just 14percent in 2005.

Local and sustainable

Healthy, local and sustainable continue tobe hot topics or restaurant operators.

According to the National RestaurantAssociations Whats Hot in 2011 survey,the top menu trends or next year will belocally sourced meats and seaood, locallygrown produce, sustainability as a culinarytheme, hyper-local items and childrens

nutrition as a culinary theme.

he Association surveyed 1,527 AmericanCulinary Federation member ches inOctober 2010, asking them to rate 226individual ood items, beverages, cuisinesand culinary themes as a hot trend,yesterdays news or perennial avoriteon restaurant menus in 2011.

While organic, green products are increasinglyattractive to customers, its important to know whatthe dierent terms actually mean.

Organic. According to the USDA, organic meat,poultry, eggs and dairy products come romanimals that are given no antibiotics or growthhormones. Beore a product can be labeledorganic, a government-approved certierinspects the arm where the ood is grown to

make sure the armer is ollowing all the rulesnecessary to meet USDA organic standards.Companies that handle or process organic oodbeore it gets to a supermarket or restaurantmust be certied as well.

Natural. Contains no articial ingredients and isonly minimally processed (i.e., a process whichdoes not undamentally alter the raw product),according to the USDA. Te label must explainthe use o the term natural (such as no addedcolorings or articial ingredients; minimally

processed).

Sustainable. A philosophy rather than alabeling standard, which encourages ood beingproduced using methods that are healthy, do notharm the environment, are humane to animals,respect workers, provide air wages to armersand support arming communities.

Understanding the terms


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Locally sourced ood and a ocus onsustainability is not just popular amongcertain segments o consumers anymore;it has become more mainstream, saidACF president Michael y. Nutrition willcontinue to play a key role in 2011. Dinersare requesting to know where their oodcomes rom, and are concerned with how

their choices aect the world around us.

But while 84 percent o consumers say theyregularly buy green or sustainable oodand drink, some are unaware o what theclaims actually mean.

Packaging claims such as recyclable oreco- or environmentally riendly are airlywell known to consumers, but sustainableproduct claims such as solar/wind energyusage or Fair rade have yet to enter the

mainstream consumer consciousness, saidDavid Browne, senior analyst with Mintel.hey may have heard o the terms, buttheyd be hard-pressed to deine them.

O those surveyed by Mintel, 40 percenthave never heard o the solar/windenergy usage claim. he 37 percent thathave heard the claim say theyve neverpurchased ood or drink bearing the claim.Reduced carbon ootprint/emissions isanother lesser-known claim, as 32 percenthave never heard o it. hirty-our percentsay theyve never heard o the Fair radeclaim.

So why do they buy?

According to Mintel research, 45 percento sustainable ood and drink users cite aperceived belie in superior quality as thereason behind their purchases. Meanwhile,43 percent say they buy sustainable oodand drink because theyre concerned aboutenvironmental/human welare and 42percent say theyre concerned with oodsaety.

hese reasons vary in importance across

dierent demographics, Browne said.Whats most important to young adultsmay not be the primary deciding actoror aluent consumers. Marketers shouldconsider this in their claims closely;noting that health, welare and saety areimportant or nearly all consumers.


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Chapter 2 Precooked meats: Consistent and adaptable

Bacon calzones, pasta, pizzas, salads, subs, soups

Grilled chicken calzones, pastas, pizzas, salads,subs, soups

Ham calzones, pizzas, salads, subs

Pepperoni antipasto, calzones, pizzas, salads, subs

Salami antipasto, calzones, pizzas, salads, subs

Steak calzones, pasta, pizzas, salads, subs

urkey salads, subs

Precooked meat menu variations

In todays market, restaurant operatorscan easily source ully cooked meatproducts that oer quality, eiciency

and versatility. In turn, these precookedmeats can help provide the consumer withconsistent menu items. All are importantaspects in attracting and retaining a broadcustomer base.

Quality

Whether in a single independent

restaurant or across a chain, ully cookedmeats can help with quality control.hrough the use o precooked meats,operators can more easily provide meat-centered products consistent in lavor, size,texture and appearance, regardless o whocooked the meal.

John L. Raulerson, quality assurance,research and development director orJacksonville, Fla.-based Firehouse Subs,said having a consistent product is crucial

to a restaurants operation, especially thoserestaurants that are looking to expand orthat have multiple locations.

I you gave employees raw, they couldeach cook it in a dierent way, Raulersonsaid. Were really going uphill here, sowe have to be more consistent than (ourcompetitors).

Cost impact

Stepping up to a higher-quality meatmay cost a bit more, but the impact on arestaurants reputation can be huge.

And while cost-conscious operators mayear the bottom-line impact o spendinga bit more, in act, that impact may benegligible.

For example, consider a scenario where anoperator might be considering an upgradein meat toppings on a 12-inch pizza, roma topping that costs $2 per pound to onethat costs $2.50 per pound.

While at irst glance the operator might belet with the impression that the increasein per-pound cost might equate to a 25

Precooked meats oer consistency and help withquality control.


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CHAPTER 2 Precooked meats: Consistent and adaptable

percent increase in ood cost, thats not thecase.

he website o precooked meats providerBurke Corp. oers an online calculatorto help operators determine the eectso upgrading meats or a variety o menuitems. Under the described scenario, orexample, the impact o upgrading to ahigher-quality meat only impacted oodcost by 19 cents per pizza. An operatorcan recover the dierence in ood cost by

raising the price o that pizza by only 75cents.

Efciency

Precooked meats also aid in the timelinesso pushing orders out, another importantactor or ast casual and quick-servicerestaurants.

For example, Firehouse restaurants

can push orders through in about eightminutes using ully cooked meat products.Raulerson said that ability promotesrestaurants operational eiciencybecause they can serve customers in atimely manner. It also reduces waste and,subsequently, costs.

For a chain that serves approximately 26million subs a year and uses about 1.2million pounds o precooked steak, theeiciency gain is signiicant.

Versatility

A good way to ensure that ood inventoryis requently rotated is to cross-utilize asmany items as possible. I ully cookedpre-grilled chicken strips are already used,they can also be used to top a pizza, added

to a salad or chopped and put into a wrap.hat broadens the menu without adding tothe inventory sheet. It also tends to tightenood costs because it reduces waste.

Mark Ulrey, vice president o marketing orthe seven-unit Flyers Pizza in Columbus,Ohio, points to an added beneit o cross-utilization.

It creates some excitement or the brokerand the manuacturer, which gets us abetter cost when we start moving cases orthem.

Ulrey said that beore his company adds anew item to its inventory, the sta works

to use it in multiple applications.

We try to igure out how to makeeach product extend itsel past the oneapplication we brought it in or, Ulrey said.We use steak or a Philly steak pizza andour steak sandwich, and our marinatedchicken goes on salads, subs and pizzas.

In principle, most items can be cross-utilized, but in practice, thats not alwaysthe case. Diced pepperoni is great orpreparation speed on the make line, andit can be used to make spicy, uniquebreadsticks. But it may not work ona sandwich or look impressive on anantipasto platter.

Likewise, steak strips are great on pizzasand do well on sandwiches, but they may

While cost-conscious operators may ear thebottom-line impact o spending a bit more,

in act, that impact may be negligible.


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Yield: 6 sandwiches

15 oz. pizza sauce

1/3 c. apple jelly

2 tsp Italian seasoning

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. ground black pepper

30.5-oz. Premoro Fully Cooked Bee & Pork Meatballs, Italian-Style

6 hoagie buns, sliced lengthwise

1 c. mozzarella cheese, shredded

In a large saucepan, mix pizza sauce, apple jelly, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper.Bring to a boil over medium heat. Place meatballs into the sauce mixture. Cover andsimmer over medium heat or 15 minutes, or until meatballs are heated thoroughly,stirring occasionally. Place in split hoagie rolls on a large baking sheet. Place ivemeatballs and desired amount o sauce in each roll. Layer with mozzarella cheese.Place in a 425 F conventional or pizza oven. Bake open aced or 3 to 4 minutes oruntil cheese is bubbly but not browned.

Recipe compliments o Burke Corporation.

not be convenient i customers need to cutthem in a salad bowl.

o get a better understanding o howully cooked meat items can be cross-utilized, operators can ask distributorsor manuacturers or samples and recipe


Seconds Flat Meatball Sub Sandwich

suggestions. Most have menu ideas andproven, tested recipes, not to mention agood idea o marketplace and regionaltrends.

In the meantime, experiment with newideas or try some o these:


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Yield: 10 servings

16 oz. Premoro FullyCooked ItalianSausage, Spicywith Garlic

8 oz. Premoro Sliced Pepperoni,cut in hal

1 c. yellow onion, chopped1 bsp. garlic, minced

1 c. green chilies, chopped

2 bsp. cayenne pepper

2 bsp. jalapeos, minced

2 bsp. cumin

1 bsp. oregano, dried, crumbled

2 qt. tomato puree

2 c. water

3 c. kidney beans, canned,drained, rinsed

Mozzarella cheese, shredded

Green onions, minced

In a heavy 4- to 5-quart pot, saut sausageand pepperoni over medium-high heat or 3minutes. Add onion, garlic, chilies, cayennepepper, jalapeos, cumin and oregano. Saut,stirring mixture or 5 minutes. Add tomatopuree and water. Simmer uncovered or

20 minutes. Add beans and simmer or anadditional 10 minutes.

Ches note: Serve chili in large bowls and topeach serving with shredded mozzarella cheeseand minced green onions.


Yield: 1 serving

1 bsp. salsa, thick and chunky

1/8 tsp. garlic, minced

1 slice ciabatta bread

1 oz. ezzata Fully CookedChorizo-Style Pork opping

1 bsp. black olives, sliced

1 oz. Monterey Jack cheese, shreddedMix salsa and garlic together in a bowl;spread over bread surace. Evenly sprinklechorizo topping, black olives and cheeseover salsa. Place in a preheated 400 Fconventional or pizza oven. Bake 8 to 10minutes or until crust is golden and cheeseis bubbly and beginning to brown.

Ches note: Operators may substitute garlictoast or cheese bread or ciabatta bread.


Pasquales Spicy &Chunky Italian Chili

Chorizo Cheese Bread


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Chapter 3 A world of options

The convenience o precooked meats makes iteasy to oer new menu options, as well as tting

with many existing menu options. The ully cookedoption makes operators jobs easier as they expand

their menus and grow their businesses.

Liz Hertz, marketing director, Burke Corporation

Precooked meats are a good it ormany types o applications acrossa variety o menus and dayparts.

Breakast-lavored or chorizo-style sausagecan be used in breakast burritos, pizzasand omelets; bee strips can be used orGreek-inluenced salads or wraps andprecooked bee or pork sausage crumblescan enhance pasta dishes, pizzas andcalzones.

he convenience o precooked meats

makes it easy to oer new menu options,as well as itting with many existing menuoptions. he ully cooked option makesoperators jobs easier as they expand theirmenus and grow their businesses, saidBurkes Hertz.

Comort ood

As worried consumers seek to easetheir minds over economic uncertainty,

they increasingly are taking comort insimple, amiliar oods made with upscaleingredients.

Popular comort-ood dishes, accordingto restaurant consultant Nancy Kruse,include bee strogano, bread bowls andmelted sandwiches.

For example, Kruse said, there has beena resurgence o the patty melt in additionto seasonal melts, such as La Madeleines

turkey and cranberry melt. Panera Breadalso made waves with its new Cubansandwich. Kruse said sandwich melts canbe used to provide vegetarian, breakastand open-aced oerings.

According to echnomic, comort oodswill continue to be a dominant trend in2011.

Homestyle Southern are, rom gritsto seaood, will remain popular, saidechnomic researchers, as will retroItalian, including meatballs; gourmetdonuts and popsicles or dessert; amily-style service ormats and amily-sizeportions.

Pizza

No other ethnic ood is perhaps moreloved by Americans than Italian. And thismight be a great place to start with a menuexpansion.

Italian are is showing up on menus acrossast casual and quick-service segments,and leading the charge is pizza. Within thepast two years, Salsaritas Fresh Cantina,Dunkin Donuts and Subway have allexperimented with pizza on their menus.

Its hard to talk about pizza without talkingabout meat toppings.

hough the birthplace o pizza is creditedto Italy, according to Evelyn Slomon, meattoppings are Americas contribution.Slomons doctoral thesis ocused on the


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CHAPTER 3 A world of options

history o pizza and eventually became theseminal work he Pizza Book.

You look at wherever pizza is, and whatson it is what the people there eat most,said Slomon. Italians arent the meateaters we are here in the United States,so you see pretty simple toppings there:basil, good cheese, some seaood andoccasionally a little meat.

Slomon said she hasnt been able to

pinpoint when pepperoni irst appearedon pizza, but she believes it was sometime

between 1930 and 1950. During that time,pizzas popularity began a westward crawlrom East Coast cities heavily populatedwith Italian immigrants to Midwesterncities where it had never been servedbeore. Near those cities were vastherds o livestock, and in the cities wereslaughterhouses and ood productionplants churning out large quantities omeat.

In the decades since, pork sausage, ground

bee and pepperoni have become thestandards or pizza toppings. Beyond


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the also-popular mushroom, demand oralmost all other toppings is much smaller.

Over the past decade, chicken toppingshave become popular as well, irst asa specialty topping and more recentlyas a menu standard. At the 47-unitDoubleDaves Pizzaworks, based in Austin,exas, barbecue chicken pizza is a strong

seller. Garlic chicken strips sell well onpies at Shotgun Dans in Sherwood, Ark.,but as that three-store companys generalmanager points out, winged toppings willnever ly like those made o bee and pork.

While sausage has reigned as the mostavored pork topping, Sugardale Foodsdirector o oodservice sales, Mark


Yield: 1 14-inch pizza

1 14-in. pizza shell

1 c. pesto sauce, prepared

c. roasted red peppers,coarsely chopped

10 oz. MagniFoods Fully CookedChicken Breast Strips with

Garlic Flavor8 oz. mozzarella cheese, shredded

10-12 resh basil leaves

Spread cup o pesto sauce evenly overpizza shell, up to -inch rom the edge.Sprinkle roasted red peppers over pesto.oss chicken with remaining cup opesto sauce and layer chicken evenly overcrust. Sprinkle on mozzarella. Place inpreheated 450 F. conventional or pizzaoven. Bake 12 to 18 minutes or until

crust is golden and cheese is bubbly andbeginning to brown. Just beore serving,garnish pizza with resh basil leaves.

Ches note: For variation, sprinkle cupo pine nuts on pizza when it comes outo the oven.


Pollo Alla Pesto Pizza(Chicken and Pesto Pizza)

Yield: 4 servings

3 bsp. extra-virgin olive oil

c. yellow onion, chopped

12 oz. MagniFoods Fully Cooked Chicken Breast Stripswith Garlic Flavor

c. chicken broth or stock, canned

1 lb. baby spinach, resh2 tsp. garlic, minced

12 oz. ettuccine

c. pine nuts

8 bsp. Parmesan cheese, grated

Salt and pepper to taste

In a saut pan or skillet, warm olive oil over medium-highheat or 1 minute. Add onion and cook, stirring until onionsotens (about 2 minutes). Add chicken. Cook and stir or 2minutes. Add chicken broth, spinach and garlic.

Meanwhile, cook pasta in a large pot o boiling salted wateruntil al dente. Drain well. Divide pasta and sauce equallyamong our heated pasta bowls. Sprinkle pine nuts overeach serving, ollowed by Parmesan cheese.

Che s note: Using baby spinach saves cleaning andtrimming time. And in the end, it delivers better results.


Fettuccine with Chicken,Spinach and Pine Nuts


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Slaughter, says bacon has become theastest-growing meat topping category inthe past 10 years. he Massillon, Ohio,company produces ully cooked toppings,such as diced bacon.

We cut it so it looks like somebody riedit up in the back room and chopped it upwith a knie; its got a natural look to it, nota cookie-cutter look, he said.

BreakastA study by echnomic inds that nearlyhal o consumers surveyed (46 percent)say they would like to see ull-servicerestaurants oer breakast throughoutthe day. About a third o consumers (32percent) would like breakast oered allday in limited-service restaurants. In bothcases, emales were signiicantly moreinterested in breakast items or lunch ordinner than were males.

Operators looking to expand breakastinto other dayparts should be mindulo their customer base and developnew oerings accordingly, said Darrenristano, executive vice president atechnomic. Understanding the generallavor, ingredient and preparationpreerences held by emale consumers canhelp operators and suppliers introduce themost appealing breakast options beyondmorning hours or these guests.

Operationally speaking, adding breakastitems to a menu isnt that diicult,especially i youre using ingredientsthat could easily cross over rom otherdayparts.

Hertz points to a wide variety o availableully cooked meat products that are well-suited or a number o breakast items.

You could use everything rom traditional

breakast-lavor, sage and black pepper,sausage to bacon bits to Canadian baconor ham, she said. You can be evenmore creative and add chorizo to make aMexican-style breakast pizza, omelet orwrap.

Easily added breakast items include eggand ham or egg and sausage sandwiches,served on bagels, English muins or avariety o artisan breads. McDonaldscurrently leads the quick-service breakast

daypart; the entire domestic breakastmarket totals $65 billion.

oday, there is no question that breakastis more important than ever to limited-service restaurants. Recent invigoratedbreakast eorts include Jack in the Boxs

Precooked meats help restaurants oer a breakast menu, meetingcustomer needs.

Photoc

ourtesyofiStoc

k.



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all-day breakast service, McDonalds testo the same and Subways introduction obreakast sandwiches.

Breakast is the new big thing, said JerryCouvaras, chie executive and president oAtlanta Bread Company, in the FastCasual.comarticle, Brawling over breakast.

Everyones got lunch but the last o thedayparts let up or grabs is breakast, hesaid.

But breakast meals dont have to belimited to the sandwich variety.

Hertz ound another potential marketingopportunity in the results o a study on eggconsumption.

According to research by Wayne StateUniversity, eggs have a 50 percent greatersatiety index a tool or measuringhunger and eelings o ullness thancereal or bread. est subjects who ate eggsor breakast ate 274 ewer calories per dayon average.

hat really speaks to adding eggs back toour diets, she said.

In a highly competitive business, Hertzadvised operators considering a breakastoption to analyze every angle beoremaking the leap. Prepare a business plan

that details the competitive situation, shesaid, and research the market to see icustomers really want it.

Operators have to ask themselves howtheyre going to bring traic in and whotheir breakast customers will be, shesaid. Even i the idea doesnt sound like aslam dunk, its probably still a worthwhile

consideration or generating positive salesgrowth.

Mexican

Americans have long had a ascination orMexican cuisine, taking derivatives in theorm o enchiladas, tacos, tamales, burritosand tortas or restaurant menus across theUnited States.

In act, Mexican ood has become somainstream, it is hardly considered ethnicanymore. Nearly six in 10 respondents to asurvey conducted by Mintel Menu Insightssay they have cooked Mexican ood in thepast month.

Nearly 65 percent o the $2.2 billionAmericans spent on ethnic oods werespent in the Mexican/Hispanic segment.

Mexican ood not only has inluenced

Americas meals, it also has had asigniicant eect on market sales. Salsanow outranks ketchup as the No. 1condiment in the country, and the use o


Precooked Mexican-style meat quicklyadds avor to a restaurants menu.


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guacamole on Cinco de Mayo, Super BowlSunday and Easter each account or about5 percent o annual avocado sales.

Corn and beans are two main oodsindigenous to Mexico, and much oMexican cuisine is based on these twoingredients. When the Spanish arrivedin Mexico in the 1500s, they beganexperimenting with the new oods theydiscovered, resulting in recipes such as

Yield: 1 serving

Salsa Ranch Dressing

2 bsp. salsa, thick and chunky

2 bsp. ranch dressing

Mix salsa and ranch dressing in a bowl. Set aside.

For the salad

4 oz. ezzata Fully Cooked Mexican-Style BeeCrumbles

c. baby spinach, resh

1 c. romaine lettuce, torn into bite-sized pieces

2 bsp. black beans, canned, drained

2 bsp. corn, canned, drained

2 tomato wedges

1 bsp. green onions, sliced

1 oz. cheddar cheese, shredded

1 oz. tortilla chipsHeat bee in a microwave oven until warm, but do notoverheat. Place spinach and romaine in a salad bowl.op with the warm bee, black beans, corn, tomatoes,green onions and cheese. Serve with a side o tortillachips and Salsa Ranch Dressing.


Santa Fe Salad


Americans are nally discovering the truebeauty o Mexican cuisine ... its one o

the most complex and favorul cuisines,rivaling classical European cooking. Its

such an exciting time or Mexican ood inthe United States in general, and especially

or modern Mexican cooking.

Richard Sandoval, chef, Modern Mexican Restaurants

Yield: 1 14-inch pizza

c. salsa, thick and chunky

c. pizza sauce

1 14-in. pizza shell

10 oz. MagniFoods Fully CookedChicken Breast Strips withGarlic Flavor

c. green bell pepper, diced

c. red bell pepper, diced

c. red onion, diced

c. jalapeos

8 oz. provolone cheese, shredded

c. cilantro leaves, resh

Mix salsa and pizza sauce together in abowl. Spread sauce evenly over pizza shell,up to -inch rom the edge. Place chicken,

peppers, onions and jalapeos (i desired)evenly over pizza surace. Sprinkle oncheese. Place in a preheated 450 Fconventional or pizza oven. Bake 12 to18 minutes or until crust is golden andcheese is bubbly and beginning to brown.Remove rom oven and top with cilantro.


Chicken Fajita Pizza


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lomo en adobo, pork loin in a spicy sauce,and chile rellenos, chilies stued withcheese, bee or pork.

Restaurant operators can easily add south-o-the-border lair to their menus by usingprecooked Mexican-style meat to preparetraditional ethnic dishes, such as tacos ortamales, or usion creations, such as ajitapizza, Mexican calzones or Santa Fe salad.

Precooked shredded meats, bee tacoilling, chicken or bee strips, and chorizocan be used to quickly prepare quesadillas,enchiladas and nachos, without the wasteor ood saety concerns that result romusing raw meat.

Yield: 1 sandwich

For the sandwich

3 oz. ezzata Fully CookedMexican-Style Bee Crumbles

1 oz. pepper jack cheese, shredded

1 hoagie bun, sliced lengthwise

1 bsp. butter oil

2 bsp. green chilies, chopped3 rings sliced red onion

c. salsa, thick and chunky

Heat bee in a microwave oven until warm, but do not overheat. Add cheese and stirto allow cheese to melt and bind with the meat. Brush bun with butter oil and toaston a lat-top grill or in oven. Place Lime Garlic Sauce on bun heel; top with bee andcheese mixture, green chilies and red onion. Replace crown and serve with salsa.


Torta Especial

Greek

Like Italian cuisine, Greek is enjoyingrenewed interest as part o a generalconsumer-trend upsurge in Mediterraneanoods. While Greek menu items prolierate,the main ingredients have stayed the same olives, onions, tomatoes and eta cheese.

heres not a lot o innovation, but (Greekcuisine) continues to grow so there is

room or innovation, said Maria Carana,director o Mintel Menu Insights.

Greek cuisine also heavily relies on meat-based dishes such as moussaka, pastitsioand souvlaki (the hamburger o Greece,also known as the gyro).


Lime Garlic Sauce

1 tsp. lime juice

tsp. garlic, minced

2 bsp. sour cream

Place ingredients in a small bowland whisk until smooth. Set aside.


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he most common meats used in Greekcuisine are pork, lamb, bee and chicken.And the most common cooking methodscombine the meat with tomatoes and redwine or with lemon.

Moussaka is a blend o eggplant, groundbee, potatoes and tomato sauce, toppedwith a bchamel cream sauce. Pastitsio issimilar to lasagna and is made with pasta,ground bee, tomatoes, onions and garlic,and again, bchamel sauce.

Souvlaki is warmed bee prepared in a pitacoupled with lettuce, tomato, onions, andtzatziki, a cucumber, yogurt and garlicsauce. Seasoned, ully cooked bee stripsor bee topping can be used to make arestaurants version o souvlaki or canbe incorporated into Greek salads, pastadishes, moussaka or pastitsio.

Asian/Tai

wo actors driving the recent popularityo Asian and hai cuisine are health andtravel.

he health trend has been in Japan solong now, whereas here in the UnitedStates it is in its inancy, said SuzyBadaracco, owner o trend-orecasting irmCulinary ides, based in Oregon.

Increased travel to Southeast Asia, China,

Japan (and other regions) has brought thelavors here as travelers come back andlook to duplicate their experience abroad,she said. Boomers are a big push behindhealth and are also the segment that istraveling, so the group marries well withhealth and travel.


Yield: 4 servings

Yogurt Salad Dressing

1 c. plain, nonat yogurt

c. mayonnaise

2 bsp. resh dill, chopped

2 bsp. lemon juice

Mix ingredients in a small bowl and

rerigerate until ready to use.For the salad

8 c. romaine/iceberg lettuce,chopped

1 c. cucumber, peeled, seededand cubed

c. red onion, chopped

16 oz. Premoro Fully CookedGyro-Style bee opping

1 c. Kalamata or black olives

1 c. eta cheese, crumbled

8 tomato wedges

In a large mixing bowl, combinelettuce, cucumber and red onion. Add o the salad dressing and toss to coatlettuce with dressing. In a separatemixing bowl, combine gyro-styletopping with remaining salad dressing.Divide lettuce and onion mix evenlyamong 4 large chilled plates. op eachserving with an equal amount o gyro

bee, olives, eta cheese and tomatoes.


Gyro Salad


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Chains that specialize in Asian cuisine arestepping up to ill the demand, includingast-casual category leader Panda Express,which has more than 1,300 locations in 38states, Puerto Rico and Japan, and postedmore than $1.2 billion in sales in 2008.

Items such as chicken breast, sugarpeas and water chestnuts which areeatured in Panda Express entres caterto the consumers demand or a healthyalternative that is still rich in variety

and lavor, said Kim Ellis, executive vicepresident o restaurant development orPanda Express.

he inusion o several types o lavors alsolends itsel well to restaurants that want toserve Asian-inspired menu items.

Whether mixing Asian lavors andingredients with those o other ethniccuisines or putting an Asian twist ontraditionally American dishes, ches andother recipe developers have a wide varietyo options when it comes to pleasingconsumer palates, said Annika Stensson,spokeswoman or the National Restaurant

Association.

Yield: 4 servings

1/3 c. balsamic vinegar

1/4 c. brown sugar, light, packed

1/2 tsp. ginger, ground

1/4 c. hoisin sauce, jarred

2 bsp. soy sauce

1 lb. MagniFoods Chicken Breast strips with Rib Meat, Garlic lavor, thawed

1 1/2 c. white rice

1 lb. stir-ry vegetables, rozen

Place sauce ingredients in a bowl and whisk until smooth. Pour into a stockpot andbring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat and simmer until slightly thickened.ranser to hot well on serving line. Heat chicken in microwave and place in hot wellon serving line. Cook rice according to manuacturers directions. Hold in hot well onserving line. Steam vegetables in steamer or microwave. Hold in hot well on servingline. For each serving, position 1 cup steamed rice and 1 cup vegetables on plate. Add1 cup chicken strips, topped with cup Oriental Balsamic Sauce.


Oriental Balsamic Chicken



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Chapter 4 Cost, use and risk management

Precooked meats can t into a variety o recipes, helping restaurants stay

exible while remaining cost efcient.

he use o precooked or ready-to-use meats can provide an eicientand consistent alternative or

ingredient control, requiring a minimumo training.

Choosing the right meat ingredients goesbeyond selecting the best lavor proile. Italso includes an analysis o cost and proit-margin goals especially important intodays challenging economic climate.

Firehouse Subs Raulerson said thecompany has never considered switchingto raw meats, mainly because o theexpense.

Raulerson said some operators think theyllsave money by using raw meat, but thecost o equipment and other expenses willcancel out the savings.

When brothers Chris and Robin Sorensenstarted Firehouse Subs in Florida 13 years

ago, money was tight. Instead o taking onthe expense o purchasing the equipmentneeded or raw-meat usage, the pairdecided on precooked meat products tosave on costs.

But just as important in the cost impact oully cooked meats is the ease o portioncontrol. Getting the sta to put the sameamount on every time and establishingconsistency in the inished product and

ood cost is easier with precooked meats.

Cost analysis extends beyond equipmentneeds and portion control. he costo shrinkage, added spices, labor andthe liability o ood saety must also beconsidered. o help restaurant operatorsunderstand the cost dierence between

ully cooked and raw meats, BurkeCorporation provides an online calculatoras well as other tools and resources on itswebsite.

Food saety

he convenience o precooked meatsincludes more than simpliied labor andtraining needs. Fully cooked meats alsoreduce concerns about grease managementand ood saety.

Julian Angelone, owner o 16-store RonzioPizza, based in Lincoln, R.I., said theuse o ully cooked meats simpliies thewhole operation. I dont want the potentialproblems you can run into with grease in


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CHAPTER 4 Cost, use and risk management

Just as important in the cost impact o ully cookedmeats is the ease o portion control. Getting thesta to put the same amount on every time andestablishing consistency in the nished product

and ood cost is easier with precooked meats.

the exhaust hood. I you dont have to, whybother?

An even bigger concern or most operatorsis the ood saety issue associated with

cross-contamination.

No matter how sterile an environment,once you open that package (o raw meat),

all bets are o, said Dick Karn, presidento Karn Meats in Columbus, Ohio.

Karn said the possibility o cross-contamination between raw meat productsand other ood items is a concern or therestaurant industry in general.

he biggest thing to me is ood saety and making sure no one gets sick, saidRaulerson. he best way to do that isto keep raw meat products out o youracility.

Bacteria in raw bee can cause E. coli

Faced with the challenges o arecession coupled with high oodcosts, some managers may look

to cheaper ingredients or menumanagement to solve proitabilityproblems. However, a better placeor restaurateurs to begin their questor improved control and greaterproitability may be at the trash can.

By noting what is being thrown away,observant managers can identiysources o waste, ood-preparationproblems, poorly accepted menuitems, portion-size issues and careless

handling o tableware, says BurkeCorporations Hertz.

I operators repeatedly indspeciic menu items in the trash, itcould indicate that a recipe needsadjustment or that employees donthave the appropriate ood prep skills.

Large quantities o discarded menuitems should alert the manager

to evaluate recipes, portion sizes,preparation expertise and ingredientquality. Depending on the issue, thenext steps might include additionaltraining on preparation or portioning,recipe reormulation or review oingredient specs, Hertz said.

Reducing waste

Improperly cooked meats may look delicious but harbordangerous bacteria. Precooked meats can take the worryout o ood preparation.


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CHAPTER 4 Cost, use and risk management

inection, undercooked chicken can resultin salmonella poisoning and undercookedor raw seaood can result in any number oserious illnesses.

In limited-service restaurants, thepotential or cross-contamination issigniicant. Employee inexperience andunderstaing may result in employeesmoving rom one workstation to anotherwithout washing their hands. Under thoseconditions, raw meat in the kitchen adds

to the potential or an outbreak o seriousood-borne illnesses.

Anything that touches the raw meat hasthe potential to contaminate another(product), said Raulerson. I you cookedraw meat, youd have to have specialcutting boards and could only (have theproducts) in certain locations. We donthave that problem so much, so (precookedmeat) is better eiciency-wise.


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Chapter 5 Marketing and social media

Social media is changing the wayrestaurants reach customers.

I there is a catchphrase that hasdominated marketing discussions inthe past ew years, that phrase is social

media.

Operators are exploring Internetapplications such as Facebook, witter andYouube as ways to drive business in thecomputer age.

As the Salad Creations marketingcoordinator, Jewels Hall starts her day by

logging onto the Salad Creations witteraccount. She spends the irst 15 minuteso her morning twittering rom the SaladCreations page (@saladcreations), tweetinganything rom a new store opening tomenu additions to daily specials. Shealso answers general questions about theSalad Creations brand. I, or example,Salad Creations adds precooked chickento a product, Hall can ask her ollowers itheyve tried the new recipe and receiveeedback on how it tasted.

I keep the page open so Im constantly on,she said. We are ollowing 1,830 accountsand have 1,198 accounts ollowing us. Weollow everyone that ollows us.

Hall took on the task o learning how touse Facebook, Youube and then witterapplications ater it became evident socialwebsites were becoming a consumermainstay.

According to digital measurementcompany comScores, witter had 190million users worldwide as o the end o2010. hat number is ar below Facebooks600 million, but its still a substantialigure given witters only recent rise inpopularity.

So ar, Salad Creations management teamhas had nothing but positive eedbackrom its witter tweets and retweets.

John King, the companys vice presidento marketing, said the service builds onitsel based on retweets (tweets that getorwarded to riends, also known as Rs).

Obviously, it depends on the rightmessages, too, and what youre trying topromote, he said. Were in our inancy soar in this program, but were very excitedabout it.

Food by Facebook

Unlike placing an ad in a newspaper,creating a page on a social networking sitetakes very little time. Posting a messageon a social media such as Facebook orMySpace can be accomplished in just a ewminutes.

With newspapers, you talk to an ad execand then they design it. Its like a two-weekprocess, said Rob Detrick, owner o LinnsPizza Bar and Grill in Frostburg, Md.

Facebook can be a great way to reachnew customers, and remind existingcustomers to visit.


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CHAPTER 5 Marketing and social media

Every two months or so, Detrick said hesends a bulletin to new customers thathe selects based on their age range, theirlocation within a 10-mile radius o hisrestaurant or by their zip code.

We send them an e-mail and tell themi they want to get specials rom us thatthey should sign up to be on our riendslist, he said. In two years, he said his list oMySpace riends has grown to 4,600.

Considering that the population oFrostburg is 16,000, thats pretty good, hesaid.

He has proiles on MySpace, Facebook,agged and Friendster. He uses a sotwareprogram, Friends Blaster Pro, which cansend bulletins once an hour to his riendslist.

he sotware automates it. It does all thesame stu that you could do manually, but

it does it in greater quantities and asterthan you could ever do it, he said.

hough he sends bulletins to newcustomers occasionally, he cautions that itis not a good idea to reach out too oten tothese people.

You dont want to go outside your riendslist too oten, maybe once every month ortwo, he said. When we irst did this, wesent bulletins to everybody all the time.We thought everybody would be happy toget our oers. But we got a bunch o angrye-mails.

racking ROI

Mzinga, a social media-oriented sotwareservice company, released a study inSeptember 2009 that polled 555 businesspeople rom dierent disciplines to seehow they were using and tracking theirsocial media initiatives. he most shockingresult:

While more than 60 percent orespondents had some orm o ongoingsocial media initiative in place ormarketing, interbusiness organization andcustomer service, 79 percent o them didnt

bother tracking the results.

he biggest reason they arent measuringROI is the same reason they have a hardtime measuring it in a lot o things,said Isaac Hazard, director o strategicconsulting or Mzinga. Its a complicatedthing; its hard to extract the value o whatcomes out o a social media initiative.

Everything has its price, and with social media, its not money, its time. I

(executives) arent ready to invest that yet, they have to understand thatpotential customers are talking about them, so at the very least they need

to monitor that conversation, and i someone had a bad experience, correctthat, because its the second most signicant thing in a buying decision (or a

restaurant). And i they have a good review, share that ino with other people.

C. Lee Smi th, president, Ad-ology


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hough many industry experts argue thatsocial media initiatives can be measuredlike any other medium, the platormsparticular one-to-one, even personal,nature makes customer sentiment anadded, conounding thing to gauge.Luckily, gurus are engineering bothscientiic and organic solutions to helpbusinesspeople see the bigger picturetheyre painting with every tweet, LinkedInupdate and Facebook event they execute.

Operators need to understand the natureo social media beore they can measure itseects, experts say. Social media is a two-way conversation, much dierent than themass media animal that employs a one-to-many broadcast dynamic.

Even i you have 500 witter ollowers, itsabout having 500 dierent conversations,said C. Lee Smith, president o Ad-ology,a market research irm. So its aboutmanaging (many relationships) through a

vehicle.

According to Ad-ologys latest studies onMedia Inluence on Consumer Choice,positive online comments in blogs andorums are the media that most aectconsumers choice o restaurant. hesecond biggest inluence was negativecomments online. Online restaurantreviews came in third. hat should giverestaurateurs their irst directive or howto monitor social media: Start with theconversations you havent started.

Everything has its price, and with socialmedia, its not money, its time, Smith said.I (executives) arent ready to invest thatyet, they have to understand that potentialcustomers are talking about them, so atthe very least they need to monitor that

conversation, and i someone had a badexperience, correct that, because its thesecond most signiicant thing in a buyingdecision (or a restaurant). And i theyhave a good review, share that ino withother people.

Some good tools

hose restaurateurs who are ready toinvest the time to start applying ongoingmetrics have a wealth o options to chooserom. But irst, as with any other mediameasurement, its important to establish

baseline parameters: What is beingmeasured, where is the company now inthat initiative, and where does it want to bein X amount o time?

Social medias No. 1 use or restaurantsis in the orm o marketing to raise brandawareness, ultimately to bring people intoseats. In this sort o equation, Katie Paineo marketing measurement irm KDPaine& Partners said the best way to measurethe role social media has played in gettingpeople there is to simply apply old metricsto this new measurement.

(You have to measure) sort o the sameway you ever did beore with sort oyour standard survey questions, Painesaid. And give them a couple o options:Facebook, witter, newspaper or press.

(You have to measure) sort o the same way youever did beore with sort o your standard survey

questions. And give them a couple o options:Facebook, Twitter, newspaper or press. You just have

to add the social media option to that (survey).

Katie Paine, KDPaine & Partners



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You just have to add the social mediaoption to that (survey).

She also recommends adding Googleanalytics to the back end o a companywebsite, especially i its linked to socialmedia platorms. hats one way to seehow many people are being driven to acompany website rom company socialmedia outlets, and ultimately to thebusiness.

hat may seem like a roundabout way odoing things, but it is only one o severalmeasurements that can and must be takento see the overall eects o social mediainitiatives, according to Hazard. He saidthere are several overlapping metrics andmeasurements that should be taken, andever speciic and technologically savvyways to employ them.

You can use social media to aect a loto dierent parts o your business

marketing is one, customer service isanother, he said. Managing your talentthrough training is another. All o thoserequire a dierent kind o way to measurereturn on investment.

For the very important matter at leastrom the Ad-ology survey indings ohow potential customers eel about a brandas relected on their online conversations,there are some very sophisticated

sentiment analysis tools that can calculate,based on semantics, whether people arespeaking positively or negatively about the

brand overall. A quick Google search willreturn a bevy o results.

But Hazard said that social media alsois widely employed to resolve customerservice issues, in which dollar-typemetrics can be useul but tricky.Again, ultimately, more than one metricmeasurement can and should be employed.

Remember that ROI doesnt have to bein terms o increased revenue, but also

in decreased costs, Hazard said. Whenmeasuring the hard ROI in my customerservice department the average cost ohandling issues through the call center is$10 to $12, while through a social mediaoutlet, its closer to 25 cents.

But Hazard also points out that a customerservice department itsel isnt measuredjust on dollar metrics, but rather, viacustomer satisaction and retentionstatistics. A similar approach can be

employed or social media initiatives.

Whatever the operators goal, then, thepoint is to assess it rom many dierentangles just like with a relationship.

Put your initiative in place, then wait ayear, and then measure what it looks like,Hazard said. On the organic side, measurenumber o posts, community members;lay that over and make sure its telling a

consistent story.



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Conclusion A meaty decision

Precooked meats allow operators to manage costs andincrease menu options, without sacricing taste.

During the economic turmoil o thepast year or so, many operatorswere ocused simply on surviving.

hey analyzed every aspect o theirbusiness, looking or ways to save a ewdollars.

hrough the use o precooked meats,restaurant operators can manage laborand other costs while ensuring consistencyand quality, and maintaining versatility ormenu creativity. All o this ultimately keeps

the ocus on the needs o the customer.

he No. 1 job o most operators isbuilding and maintaining the restaurantsreputation, which means keeping an eyeon quality. In many ways, consistencyequals quality, and precooked meats helpto ensure consistency in lavor, size andappearance.

odays customers are looking or value.Satisying those customers sometimes

requires nothing short o operationalgenius. he convenience o precookedmeats is one tool that can help makethe restaurant more eicient and theoperators job easier. Since employees onlyhave to open a bag and measure or weighthe amount that is needed, there is lesswaste, and training is much easier. hetime savings help improve throughput,keeping both the customer and themanager happier.

Another advantage o precooked meats isood saety. By using ully cooked meats,the operator avoids the ood saety dangersassociated with raw meat, especially cross-contamination within the kitchen.

In the end, consumers are satisied becauseproducts are consistent rom one visit tothe next, and the ood arrives more quicklyat the table.

Operators are happier because quickerthroughput means increased sales.

here are ewer worries about oodsaety hazards, and employee training issimpliied. And employees are happierbecause ully cooked ingredients are mucheasier to work with than raw meat.

On the lip side, operators may believethat using a precooked product is moreexpensive than cooking rom raw.However, ater adding in the cost oshrinkage, which is generally about 25percent; additional spices; labor and

speciic equipment needs, plus the liabilityo ood saety, raw meat loses its costadvantage.

he use o precooked meats as ingredientscan help restaurant operators achieve whatconsumers want, while saving time andmoney in the process.

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Burke G Precooked-Meats Final to-Launch

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