Craveworthy Brands operates 14 diverse concepts, with menus ranging from Asian bowls to wings, cookies and burgers. Becca McIntyre, VP of culinary and supply chain, heads up menu R&D for them all.
She’s a big fan of limited-time offers to showcase food and drink innovation, engage guests and evolve a brand, but her menu strategy varies with each concept.
“Newer brands see more LTO action as it helps us to understand the guest and see what resonates with them,” said McIntyre. “After significant R&D over the past two years at our legacy brands, like Genghis Grill, bd’s Mongolian Grill and Flat Top Grill, we are going back to a quarterly release of limited-time offers, as some LTOs have rotated onto the regular menu.”
Matching LTO goals to concept
Before she sets idea to paper, she answers these questions:
•Does the menu item meet the cost model and price point?
•Can we get product?
•Does it fit the core guest?
•How much training is required to execute it correctly?
•What are we trying to accomplish?
Restaurant Business sister company, Technomic, regularly surveys consumers on their response to limited-time offers (LTOs) according to several criteria. Menu items that score high for purchase intent indicate overall appeal, while high scores for craveability can drive incremental sales and those for draw can drive traffic. Limited-time offers rated as “unique” differentiate a brand from its competitors.
For Craveworthy, sales are not always the goal or an indicator of success, said McIntyre. Splashier LTOs may be loss leaders but build awareness.
At Wing It On!, for example, Craveworthy held a competition to create a wing LTO. The winner was a Lavaberry Pop Rocks Wing infused with watermelon and strawberry Pop Rocks and coated in a Sriracha rub. The unique item garnered lots of attention and “splash” that didn’t necessarily translate to sales, she said.
Genghis Grill tends toward safer launches. “Rice bowls are always a win,” said McIntyre, but she likes to try out different flavor profiles and ingredients to gauge guest acceptance. She created a shrimp bowl with beurre blanc and grilled lemon, but the classic French butter sauce didn’t fly with guests.
“We then tried shrimp with a Cajun flavor profile instead, and the rice bowl was a win,” said McIntyre. It resembled jambalaya and it was well-accepted by guests. LTO wins at other legacy brands include Orange Chicken at bd’s and Lobster Fried Rice at Flat Top Grill.
McIntyre cross-utilized empanada skins to create dessert hand pies, a menu win at Budlong Hot Chicken.
Budlong Hot Chicken, newer to the portfolio, offered a successful dessert LTO recently that translated the menu’s empanada from savory to sweet. “We cross-utilized the empanada skins and created cherry and Mexican chocolate hand pies,” said McIntyre.
Generally, she leans into more favorably priced ingredients for LTOs so the brands can offer them at a good price point to customers. In her dual role of managing both culinary and supply chain, McIntyre is working to streamline purchasing for all the brands—a priority as more concepts are coming under the Craveworthy portfolio.
“I’m pulling more items under one broadliner, while keeping multiple vendors for others,” she said.
While some products, like gloves and packaging, can be consolidated into one purchase order across all the brands, she has to source from several vendors for many others. “Even specs for a commodity like chicken are different for each brand and it can take a whole year to create synergies with a supplier,” McIntyre said.
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