FSR July 2023

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FULL-SERVICE RESTAURANTS : SETTING AMERICA’S TABLE

NO. 115

HAWAII’S ECO-EATERY KNEAD HOSPITALITY’S RISE

DISTILLED SPIRITS SOAR LATE NIGHT DONE RIGHT

INDEPENDENT RESTAURANTS THESE INDIE EATERIES SHOWCASE AMERICA’S DIVERSE RANGE OF CULINARY EXCELLENCE TOP 50

‘TOP CHEF’ JEREMY FORD ’ S FLAVOR-FILLED JOURNEY

HOW STUBBORN SEED IS EARNING MICHELIN STARS AND HEARTS IN MIAMI

PLUS INSIDE ILLINOIS’ FEMALE-LED SCRATCHBOARD KITCHEN

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CONTENTS 30

FSR July2023 No. 115

CHEF JEREMY FORD FEATURES A ROTATING TASTING MENU FORMAT AT STUBBORN SEED, WHILE HIS PASTRY CHEF BELLA PINELLI SERVES UP ELEVATED DESSERTS LIKE THIS PEANUT BUTTER CHOCOLATE CANDY BAR.

30 Inside Jeremy Ford’s Flavor-Filled Journey e ‘Top Chef’ Season 13 winner took an unusual journey to becom ing an independent restaurateur and opening Stubborn Seed, which is now earning Michelin stars and hearts in Miami. 34 Top 50 From intimate family-owned gems to chef-driven destinations, these 50 indie eateries showcase the range of culinary excellence found across America’s dining landscape. CHEFS & INGREDIENTS 15 Inside Illinois’ Female Led Scratchboard Kitchen Chef Grace Goudie has paved her own culinary path, from crafting recipes in home economics class at 12 years old to opening up a restau rant in the suburbs of Chicago. 20 Late Night Done Right Streamlined menus are key to creating a winning after-hours pro gram, according to leaders at Big Whiskey’s and Norms Restaurants. LIQUID INTELLIGENCE 26 Distilled Spirits Soar High-quality spirits boost restau rant bottom lines as cost-conscious customers sip better value, avor, and freshness for their buck. Independent Restaurants

MICHAL PISARRI / MAKOTO

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CONTENTS

51 FSRmagazine.com July2023 No.115

EDITORIAL

SALES & BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Danny Klein dklein@wtwhmedia.com

GROUP PUBLISHER Greg Sanders gsanders@wtwhmedia.com NATIONAL SALES DIRECTOR Eugene Drezner 919-945-0705 edrezner@wtwhmedia.com NATIONAL SALES MANAGER Amber Dobsovic 919-945-0712 adobsovic@wtwhmedia.com NATIONAL SALES MANAGER John Krueger 919-945-0728 jkrueger@wtwhmedia.com NATIONAL SALES MANAGER Edward Richards 919-945-0714 erichards@wtwhmedia.com

FSR EDITOR Callie Evergreen cevergreen@wtwhmedia.com QSR EDITOR Ben Coley bcoley@wtwhmedia.com ASSOCIATE EDITOR Sam Danley sdanley@wtwhmedia.com DIRECTOR OF CUSTOM CONTENT Peggy Carouthers pcarouthers@wtwhmedia.com CUSTOM CONTENT ASSOCIATE EDITOR Charlie Pogacar cpogacar@wtwhmedia.com CUSTOM CONTENT ASSOCIATE EDITOR Kara Phelps kphelps@wtwhmedia.com CUSTOM MEDIA STUDIO

KNEAD HOSPITALITY + DESIGN / MERRIMAN’S HAWAII

FIRST COURSE 7 True Food Kitchen’s Incredible Evolution The wellness-focused brand recently debuted a total menu overhaul and the launch of its first quick-ser vice location. 8 Franchise Frenzy Midwest favorite Culver’s is making waves in the South while breakfast concept Eggs Up Grill is seeing visits soar. Both franchise brands are growing rapidly. BACK OF HOUSE 51 Knead Expands and Retains ON THE RISE Knead Hospital ity + Design is growing its upscale concepts, MI VIDA and Bistro Du Jour, while focusing on employee well ness. 53 Hawaii’s Eco Eatery BEHIND THE SCENES Chef Peter Merriman is creating

sustainable dishes at Merri man Waimea, Hawaii’s first carbon-neutral restaurant, by making connections with local farmers. 55 Start Me Up Five of Rodney Scott’s Whole Hog BBQ restaurants are permanently shifting from counter service to a full-serve casual-dining format. ALSO IN THIS ISSUE 3 Highlights from FSRmagazine.com 3 Brand Stories in Print and Online

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE Tracy Doubts 919-945-0704 tdoubts@wtwhmedia.com CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE Mitch Avery 919-945-0722 mavery@wtwhmedia.com

DESIGN

ART DIRECTOR Erica Naftolowitz enaftolowitz@wtwhmedia.com

ADMINISTRATION 919-945-0704 www.fsrmagazine.com/subscribe FSR is provided without charge upon request to individuals residing in the U.S. who meet subscription criteria as set forth by the publisher. REPRINTS THE YGS GROUP 800-290-5460 fax: 717-825-2150 fsrmagazine@theygsgroup.com Sponsored content in this magazine is provided to the represented company for a fee. Such content is written to be informational and non promotional. Comments welcomed at sponsoredcontent@ fsrmagazine.com.

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4 Editor’s Welcome 55 Advertising Index

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FSRMAGAZINE.COM THE MOST POPULAR STORIES ON OUR WEBSITE, OR WHAT YOUR PEERS ARE READING Online

A NASHVILLE PIZZA POP-UP FOUND ITS PERMANENT HOME Chef Michael Hanna revived sfin cione-style pizza as a pandemic project under the St. Vito Focac ceria banner, with a community driven approach. FSRmagazine.com/Permanent-Pizza TWIN PEAKS BUILDS TRIUMPHANT POST-COVID FUTURE The casual-dining brand seeks 200 stores by 2027 and expects to surpass $1 billion in sales. FSRmagazine.com/ Twin-Peaks-Triumph GOLDEN CORRAL TO DEBUT FAST CASUAL SPINOFF The location will have a drive thru and feature new and famil iar dishes, like a Cajun Mac & Cheese Bowl. FSRmagazine.com/ Golden-Corral-Spinoff Why Charcuterie Boards Are Expected to Grow 25 Percent Charcuterie boards are the ulti mate shareable item. SPONSORED BY BOAR’S HEAD BRAND This Versatile, Chef-Driven Item Is One to Watch The bite-sized potato product has fast become a hit. SPONSORED BY MCCAIN FOODS How Firebirds Manages Its Kitchen Consistency Solutions that deliver bold flavor. SPONSORED BY SUPHERB FARMS ONLINE

TURNING POINT

Turning Point Seeks Growth, But Won’t Compromise Core Values The 24-unit breakfast concept has been franchising since early last year, and it’s keeping strict guidelines to ensure restaurants are being put in the hands of worthy operators. FSRmagazine.com/Growth-with-Values

PLUS FREE SUBSCRIPTIONS / HEALTHY EATING / LEADER PERSPECTIVES / RESEARCH REPORTS / WEBINARS

Brand Stories From FSR

IN PRINT

TRENDING ON THE MENU

12 Tackle the Trend: Lasagna Why the fan-favorite dish is surg ing on menus. SPONSORED BY BARILLA 22 Making Better Donuts No longer just a breakfast item, donuts are having their moment. SPONSORED BY STRATAS FOODS

BELGIOIOSO CHEESE

43 Elevated Flavor Gorgonzola adds a premium ele ment to recipes. SPONSORED BY BELGIOIOSO CHEESE, INC.

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Welcome

Craving Comfort and Creativity SOMETIMES, IT CAN BE COMFORTING to know exactly what you’re going to get at a restaurant concept, no matter which location you go to. When those expectations are met, restaurants are rewarded with consumer loyalty. America knows the appeal of chain restaurants especially well— which is why franchised breakfast concepts like First Watch and Eggs Up Grill are seeing visits soar rapidly ( PAGE 8 ). And as price-conscious consum ers are weighing their options for places to eat out, the promise of value at all-you-can-eat concepts can’t be beat, which explains why bu et chains like Golden Corral, Cicis, and Pizza Ranch are experiencing a meteoric rise in tra c ( PAGE 10 ). You also have NextGen Casual concepts like wellness focused True Food Kitchen, which has quickly expanded to 43 locations and counting, and recently rolled out a new menu revamp and a quick service prototype ( PAGE 7 ). But other times, you want to taste what a speci c region or city has to o er, or try an innovative chef’s dish that you can’t nd anywhere but at an independent restaurant. Take Chef Grace Goudie, for example, who began crafting recipes at just 12 years old in home economics class, and is now creating farm-to-table menus at her own restaurant based in the suburbs of Chicago ( PAGE 15 ). en there’s Jeremy Ford, who won the 13th season of Bravo’s “Top Chef” in 2015 and is now winning Michelin Stars and hearts in Miami at his restaurant concept, Stubborn Seed—named after the resilience it takes for plants to grow (illustrating the persistence required to open a restaurant). Ford leads this year’s Top 50 Independent Restau rants, a report which showcases the diverse indie eateries found across the U.S. that are paving the way for the future of foodservice—from intimate family-owned gems to chef-driven destinations across Seattle to New York and everywhere in between ( PAGE 30 ). Elsewhere across July’s issue, you’ll nd stories of Hawaii’s rst carbon neutral restaurant, where Chef Peter Merriman is partnering with local farmers to create tasty yet sustainable dishes ( PAGE 53 ), and how Knead Hospitality + Design is expanding its upscale concepts like MI VIDA and Bistro Du Jour as well as fast-casual concepts like tuTaco, Kneadza and Lil’ Succotash ( PAGE 51 ). Meanwhile, leaders at Big Whiskey’s and Norms res taurants are debuting fun bites in streamlined after-hours programs in a bid to attract late-night diners ( PAGE 20 ), and distilled spirits are outpacing beer for the rst time, boosting restaurants’ bottom lines while cost-con scious customers sip better value and avor ( PAGE 25 ). As always, this issue contains a plethora of stories from restaurant leaders across the country who are sure to inspire—so let’s dig in.

cevergreen@wtwhmedia.com FSRmag @FSRmagazine

On the Cover This month’s cover of Chef Jeremy Ford was shot for Fast Foodies on truTV by Anna Maria Lopez , a Brooklyn, New York-based photographer who spe cializes in environmental portraiture and set photography. Lopez’s work has appeared in CBS, Refinery 29, Cartoon Network, Warner Media, Apple TV, and more. To learn more about her, visit annamariaalopez.com or follow her on Instagram at @annamariaalopez .

Callie Evergreen EDITOR

CALLIE: HOLLY FRITZ / ANNA MARIA LOPEZ

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First Course

True Food Kitchen's menu revamp in April included 30 new food items, plus an updated beverage program including reimagined scratch made cocktails, refreshers, and teas.

TRUE FOOD KITCHEN

True Food’s Incredible Evolution BY CALLIE EVERGREEN The wellness-focused DURING CHRISTINE FERRIS’ FIRST DAY as the new social media coordinator for Smashburger in May 2012, she hap

I walked through those doors,” Fer ris said on the second episode of FSR ’s new podcast, “The Restaurant Innova tor.” Fast forward four years, when Fer ris started as the marketing manager for True Food Kitchen, eventually work ing her way up to director of marketing.

brand recently debuted a total menu overhaul and the launch of its first quick-service location.

pened to walk into a True Food Kitchen for lunch. She recalls telling herself, “I want to work for a brand that has such amazing vibrant energy that I felt when

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First Course

Over the course of seven years, Fer ris has witnessed the wellness-forward brand grow from 11 locations to 43 and counting, as well as evolving from culi nary, operations, training, supply chain, and marketing perspectives. “We’re constantly changing and evolving, and we have to, especially in such a busy and crowded restaurant space, and especially in that health driven wellness space as well,” she says. For example: In April, True Food Kitchen unveiled the largest menu revamp in company history. The well ness chain debuted its new spring menu boasting more than 30 new items including burgers, pizzas, bowls, sandwiches, and more. A focus on integrating seasonal and sustainably sourced ingredients was paramount, and the brand also updated its bever age program with reimagined scratch made cocktails, refreshers, and teas. Plus, True Food Kitchen recently announced it was launching a quick service prototype, which will have some of the brand’s classic menu items but also some exclusives, like spiked slush ies. Called True Food To Go, the new model will open in Tempe, Arizona, this summer. “The goal at this location is to see if this footprint in this format really works, and we are really wholeheart edly believing that it will,” Ferris says. Looking forward, Ferris adds True Food Kitchen is launching another new menu on July 12, and in the fall of 2023, the brand will debut new “awesome” partnerships with “some big brands.” In the meantime, the brand will “bulk up on brunch” with more offerings, which it sees as a huge opportunity. “True Food is one of the brands that pioneered the world of healthy dining, but I think True Food is so much more than that,” Ferris adds. “It's extremely important to fuel your body with nutri ent-dense ingredients that make you feel great, and I think you can do that while still enjoying a pizza, or you can do that while still enjoying burrata or a burger. And that's what we want peo ple to know—that you can enjoy us at so many different levels.”

Franchise Frenzy: EGGS UP GRILL & CULVER'S Midwest favorite Culver's is making waves in the South, with visits to the Wisconsin based burger chain up 13.6 percent year over-year, and 6.8 percent compared to February 2020, according to Placer.ai . Meanwhile, South Carolina-based Eggs Up Grill has seen visits soar by nearly 30 percent since 2020, and has grown from 38 stores in 2019 to 59 locations in 2022. With a growing demand for breakfast spots at an affordable price point, Eggs Up Grill is cracking open opportu nities for eager franchisees across the country, and has a 30-unit devel opment deal in Texas already in the works.

EGGS UP GRILL

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First Course

As increasingly price-con scious consumers weigh their options for places to eat out, the promise of bang-for-your Buffets are back in a BIG WAY

buck at buffets can’t be beat. Restaurants with all-you-can-eat offerings like Golden Corral, Cicis, and Pizza Ranch are experi encing a meteoric rise in traffic from cus tomers looking to fill their plates with vari ety. When inflation began to dominate headlines in 2022, buffets’ baseline visit growth started to soar, according to a recent Placer.ai report. Foot-traffic data shows buffets outperforming both the full-service and fast-casual restau rant segments as of early 2023 by 91 percent and 74 percent, respec tively . And with the large array of food offerings buffets serve, the “no

vote” is eliminated—giving buffet chains the upper hand and oppor tunity to drive even more traffic from hungry customers.

TURN SAVVY SPENDERS INTO REWARDS LOYAL FOODIES

RESTAURANT REWARDS PROGRAMS have become a tantalizing recipe for financially savvy customers. Accord ing to MARIGOLD'S RESTAURANT INDUSTRY FORE CAST, 91 PERCENT OF CONSUMERS WILLINGLY TRADE INFORMATION LIKE A BIRTHDAY OR LOCATION FOR A DISCOUNT, and 42 percent of consumers say they’ll rely more on benefits as they continue seeking more value for their dol lars. Consumers also rated rewards programs as the most important aspect (by 67 percent) to building lasting loyalty. Donatos Pizza, for example, added nearly 135,000 new loyalty members in 2022 by mak ing on-demand rewards its key strategy, and increased its program pene tration rate to 51.4 percent as of February.

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SPONSORED BY BARILLA

TACKLE THE TREND:

LASAGNA

kitchen sta f continues to be a huge challenge, especially when it comes to line execution and complex pan work,” says Chef Michael Slavin, vice president of culinary and menu innovation at Houlihan’s Restaurants, Inc. “Lasagna and other baked pastas allow for the intricate work to be performed in the prep kitchen. That makes for a faster line, even with less pro cient cooks.” Barilla Lasagne Chef sheets are an ideal tool for chefs looking to capitalize on the ongoing lasagna trend—they t perfectly inside a traditional hotel pan and come ready to be popped into the oven, no boiling necessary. Chef Slavin recently usezd the Barilla Lasagne Chef sheets to build a Carbonara Lasagna, uniting two of the biggest pasta trends in a single sumptuous dish. “The inspiration for my Carbon ara Lasagna was my love for both pasta applications,” Slavin says. “And also the realization that I hadn’t really seen a rendition of a lasagna that played o f the spirit of the venerable carbonara.” In order to represent the richness of the egg yolk necessary for a true carbon ara dish, Slavin brushed Barilla Lasa gne Chef sheets with a seasoned egg yolk and cheese mixture, giving it two minutes to bake-to-set, before build ing in the other traditional carbon ara elements: roasted bacon, Romano cheese, salted pasta water, and a touch of cream. Slavin’s Carbonara Lasagna is something just about any diner would love—and something just about any kitchen can execute. “By skipping the rst stage where you boil and shock the pasta, you speed up the process,” Slavin says. “But you also remove all of the variability with under or overcooking. A convection oven is a great tool for nishing the dish, giving the kitchen very stable and predictable results.” BY CHARLIE POGACAR

BARILLA

Why the fan-favorite dish is surging on menus. NATIONAL LASAGNA DAY will be cel ebrated on July 29. There is plenty to celebrate: The pasta, and dish, is a fan favorite amongst chefs and diners alike. “Lasagna and other baked pastas allow for the intricate work to be performed in the prep kitchen.”

Datassential reports that lasagna is now the second most popular variety of pasta on menus and the third-most popular type of pasta dish. Diners seem to love the dish for its comforting, traditional blend of pasta, ricotta, and meat sauce—that classic version of the dish is an American adap tation of Lasagna Bolognese, which was a traditional celebratory dish made in winters in Bologna. Even within Italy, however, there are many other takes on lasagna, exhibiting its versatility—that’s something increasingly being unlocked

on American menus, too. Lasagna is a chef favorite because

of how simple it can be to prep ahead of time. With 62 percent of operators reporting they do not have enough sta f to meet demand, according to the National Restaurant Association, the low-labor nature of lasagna simpli es kitchen operations. “Finding and retaining quali ed FOR MORE ON TACKLING THE TREND, VISIT BARILLAFS.COM/LASAGNE.

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Chefs & Ingredients

CULINARY INSPIRATION AND STORIES FROM INDUSTRY TRAILBLAZERS MENTIONED IN THIS SECTION SCRATCHBOARD KITCHEN • • •

FRENCH LAUNDRY • •

• BIG WHISKEY’S • •

• NORMS

CHEF GRACE GOUDIE HAS PAVED HER OWN CULINARY PATH, FROM CRAFTING RECIPES IN HOME ECONOMICS CLASS AT 12 YEARS OLD TO BECOMING A 'CHOPPED' CHAMPION AND OPENING UP HER OWN RESTAURANT IN THE SUBURBS OF CHICAGO.

Inside Illinois’ Female-Led Scratchboard Kitchen

SMITHFIELD CULINARY

GRACE GOUDIE HAD HER FIRST experience cooking a dish with for mulated recipes during a home economics class, and it left her craving more. She went home to her parents and told them she was going to become a chef. She was 12 years old at the time, so her parents naturally brushed the idea aside and figured she’d change her mind as she grew older. But at 15, she started working her way through restaurants, start

BY CALLIE EVERGREEN Chef Grace Goudie

champions continual culinary progress in both herself and the male-dominated industry.

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JULY 2023

CHEFS & INGREDIENTS CHEF PROFILE

ing in the front-of-house. When college came along, Goudie’s interest in food hadn’t faded, but she was also curious about the world of journalism, so she earned a degree from the University of Missouri in communications and food science with a focus in hospitality. “From there, I was like, ‘I still want to do culinary school, it’s still kind of my calling,’ so I went out to California to Napa Valley and went to the Culinary Institute of America and did kind of a fast-track program,” says Goudie, who completed a 10-month intensive kitchen program where she mastered classic culi nary techniques and honed her skills—

which quickly paid o . In what felt like a dream sequence, Goudie was then hired by Chef omas Keller to work in his restaurants— rst as sous-chef at Ad Hoc and then at the three Michelin-starred French Laundry, which has won multiple awards from the James Beard Foundation. Keller is the rst and only American-born chef to hold mul tiple three-star ratings from the presti gious Michelin Guide, as well as the rst American male chef to be designated a Chevalier of e French Legion of Honor, the highest decoration in France. “With the full intention to come back to Chicago, which is where I’m from, I kind of took the job on a whim. And it really changed my life and the trajectory of my career,” Goudie says. In 2019, she went on a year-long international culi nary expedition to Thailand, Sweden,

and Italy, where she developed her love for di erent cuisines and cultures. While in Italy, Goudie was asked to teach at a cooking school in the famous Umbria region, which was a special experience. “I take little tidbits from everywhere I go. I’m French-technique trained, which always stays super strong within me,” she notes. “I’d never call myself a fusion chef by any means, but little ingredients, dif ferent spices or seasonings nd their way into my food. I more so get inspired by various ingredients I see that are not nec essarily common to food here in the U.S.” Invigorated and “in love” with worldly foods and different culinary cultures, Goudie then had the opportunity to return to Illinois at 27 years old and cre ate her own restaurant—Scratchboard Kitchen, which she opened in April 2020 in Arlington Heights. “Coming from one

CHEF GRACE GOUDIE

“The most rewarding thing is seeing the effects your creation has on others, and the joy and community it can create. The one universal language we have in the world is food.”

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SCRATCHBOARD'S FRIED CHICKEN SANDWICH FEATURES PIMENTO CHEESE AND PICKLED ONIONS ON A BRIOCHE BUN, WITH THE OPTION TO MAKE IT SPICY OR 'DANGEROUSLY' SPICY.

SMITHFIELD CULINARY

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CHEFS & INGREDIENTS CHEF PROFILE

of the best restaurants in the world and then going to a suburb of Chicago was not necessarily how I saw my life going,” she admits. “But it was either take a job under someone else in the big city, or go o on my own, and being out in the suburbs was an opportunity to go o on my own.” Looking back, Goudie now appreci ates being able to get her “feet wet” in the suburbs as a young chef, because it a orded her the opportunity to evolve

cha with vanilla and a salted honey chai latte with steamed milk, as well as craft cocktails like a raspberry hazelnut mar tini with cold brew, a garden margarita with ginger, carrot, and lemon juice, and a chamomile whiskey sour. “Opening a restaurant, I knew I wanted unique dishes to us, and to drive on nostalgia, evoking feelings and emo tions. at has never changed,” Goudie explains. “I always like to tell a story

more that you will be willing to learn and see what you can do to become better.” “Also, one piece of advice I was always given is never stop learning. e min ute you stop learning is when you should quit,” Goudie continues. “It’s an interest ing industry where there’s always a new technique to learn, something to learn about yourself or your leadership skills, and you should always be reading and researching, and looking at others for

SCRATCHBOARD'S MENU FEATURES BRUNCH, SEASONAL GRAIN BOWLS, TOASTS, AND SANDWICHES.

SMITHFIELD CULINARY (2)

her own culinary style in a safer environ ment and community. “Only 7 percent of executive chefs are female; I think that’s something that people say a lot, but I’m really proud of it,” she adds. “I’m only 31, and being so young, and being an execu tive chef that is female, I’m very proud of that fact, because it’s not very common. You don’t see it a lot.” Goudie created a farm-to-table menu for Scratchboard Kitchen, featur ing rotating seasonal items like cherry co ee cake with brown butter cherry blossom streusel, and a seasonal grain bowl with quinoa, peas, radishes, mush rooms, and smoked honey vinaigrette. The menu focuses on brunch, salads, bowls, toasts, and elevated sandwiches, like the Umeboshi Grilled Cheese with salted blueberries, muenster, and provo lone. A robust beverage program o ers seasonal lattes like a rare tea cellar mat

with my food and make people feel com forted but experience something di er ent at the same time.” In 2022, Goudie joined the Food Network’s competitive cooking show, “Chopped: Casino Royale” as a contes tant, and simply hoped to make it past the rst round. Goudie ended up win ning all three rounds during the episode and became a Chopped champion. When asked what wisdom she would pass on to younger chefs just starting out, Goudie says “don’t be so hard on yourself. at’s so cliché, but as a chef, a lot of us are perfectionists and hyper aware of what we’re producing, and how good we’re doing it,” she says. “And I think that you can only get to a cer tain place by making mistakes; you have to fail in some aspect in order to suc ceed and progress and learn. And I think that the less hard you are on yourself, the

inspiration to take more knowledge and information in to become a better chef and person in the end.” As for the future, Goudie is focused on getting Scratchboard “really steady” and launching a dinner program, but she doesn’t rule out potentially grow ing to more locations or creating di er ent restaurant concepts down the road. “I always went into the restaurant indus try for one goal: to make others happy,” Goudie says. “That’s always the most rewarding thing, what you do for oth ers in the industry. It’s not a self-serving career, it’s more a career to impact oth ers, and help make others go to a place to escape.” “ e most rewarding thing is seeing the e ects your creation has on others, and the joy and community it can create,” she adds. “ e one universal language we have in the world is food.

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Late Night Done Right

BY SAM DANLEY Streamlined menus are key to winning late-night guests, say leaders at Big Whiskey’s and Norms.

CONSUMERS ARE CRAVING MORE LATE-NIGHT EXPERIENCES POST- COVID.

STARBOARD AND PORT

AS THE DAYS GROW LONGER and the sun sets later, consumers begin embrac ing leisurely evenings and seizing oppor tunities for socializing and imbibing at bars and eateries. And with college stu dents picking up foodservice jobs dur ing the summer months, restaurants are leveraging boosted staff levels and extended hours with revamped late night menus, like Big Whiskey’s Ameri can Restaurant & Bar. “After a few years of not meeting up at 10 p.m. during the pandemic, people are

starting to come back to late-night,” says Paul Sundy, co-founder and COO of the Missouri-based franchise which just sur passed 10 locations. “We’ve always used summer to remind people about our pro gram. It’s the perfect time to meet up with friends, especially on the patio.” With its flagship location in Spring field open until midnight Sunday Wednesday and until 1 a.m. Thursday Saturday, late-night is a valuable daypart for Big Whiskey’s, and accounts for around 6-8 percent of the casual-din

ing chain’s total sales. Sundy says the key to crafting a winning program is focus ing on speed and efficiency with a pared down menu that can be executed by a skeleton crew. “We’ve had to be aware of our kitchen staff and think about what we can accomplish in a quick environment with out sacrificing quality,” he says. “You need a late-night menu that cooks can accomplish while they’re still closing up shop. We wanted to go far enough that if a manager wants to get the cooks off

JULY 2023

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“There’s a whole lot of fried goodness on that plate, and that seems to be something people crave late at night... Appetizers have always proved to be popular with this crowd.”

the clock for labor purposes, they could still go and whip things up themselves.” He says the good news for a concept like Big Whiskey’s is late-night custom ers typically aren’t looking for heavy plates with large portions—which is why the company is leaning into popular appetizers with featured discounts for shareable options. “Old-school staples” like beer cheese pretzels and nachos resonate with late-night guests, Sundy notes. Another standout item on the updated menu is Bu alo Chicken Won ton Nachos, which features crispy won ton chips topped with bu alo chicken dip, melted mozzarella cheese, and gor gonzola cheese crumbles. “Wonton chips are wildly popular at our stores, so we’ve taken those and turned them into nacho appetizers, which is a great nontradi tional spin that gives it a little more of a gourmet twist,” he says. Big Whiskey’s is also leaning into craft cocktails like its Blood Orange Whiskey Sour, which combines bourbon with sweet and sour mix, blood orange fruit puree, and simple syrup, garnished with an orange wheel and a Filthy Black Cherry. “With late-night in the summer time, people are looking for drinks that are a little bit nicer, but still approachable and cost e ective,” Sundy says. “What’s worked really well for us is adding a happy hour price range with discounted beers while still featuring a gourmet cocktail.” For Norms Restaurants, a new late night menu is part of a broader strat egy to get more stores back to 24/7 ser vice. e diner chain—founded in 1949 in Los Angeles, California, by used-car salesman Norm Roybark—is known for staying open around the clock, but a restrictive labor pool made those hours unfeasible during the pandemic. David Cox, executive chef and director of pur chasing at Norms, says stores that o er late-night service outperform those with limited operating hours. Getting more of its 22 restaurants open around the clock has been a key priority for the company. It’s also proved to be a signi cant chal lenge in the wake of COVID-19. “Coming out of the pandemic, it’s been increas ingly di cult to sta our restaurants,

NORMS IS TRYING TO GET ALL ITS STORES BACK TO BEING OPEN 24/7, AND IS USING ITS NEW LATE-NIGHT MENU TO ATTRACT MORE CUSTOMERS.

NORMS RESTAURANTS

especially for the late-night and grave yard shifts,” Cox says. “As we’ve been catching up on our hiring, we realized we needed to simplify things.” Typically, with late-night, Norms is down to just one or two cooks. “Instead of three di erent stations on the cook line, we tried to think about ways we can close up one of the stations and execute everything from the remaining two sta tions, which limits the amount of steps and the amount of movement,” Cox says. e company revamped its late-night menu using a Dog Star report, which segments menu items into stars, work horses, and dogs. ose insights led to an updated program centered around what Cox calls “the greatest boots.” ere’s classic breakfast items, like omelets, French toast, and waffles, along with the Lumberjack Breakfast, which comes with three hotcakes, three eggs, three strips of bacon, and three sausage links. “We also included things that we felt would appeal to the late-night customer

base, which includes a lot of people com ing out of bars and clubs,” Cox says. “Over the top” menu items like a Jala peno Bacon Cheeseburger and a Double Bacon Cheeseburger resonate well with those late-night customers, as well as comfort bites like Cajun Tots. “ ere’s a whole lot of fried goodness on that plate, and that seems to be something people crave late at night,” Cox says. “Appetizers have always proved to be popular with this crowd.” Norms has been returning to 24/7 service on a store-by-store basis, and Cox believes the streamlined menu will help speed up that process. e company has two new restaurants slated to open this year that will o er the late-night menu from the start. “We’ve been around since 1949, and we’re known for being that place that you can go when nobody else is open,” Cox says. “We’re the place you can go in the middle of the night or early in the morning, and we’ve always taken pride in that.”

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JULY 2023